2025: Mobile and Online Game Recap

I don't venture into the mobile space often for games unless it's tied to an offer wall. Sad but true. Interesting games aren't hard to find; however, finding games that don't have a high requirement in terms of processing and memory is becoming difficult.

Mobile Games - Android

This is as far as I got
with this game. The
ads were too much.

The first mobile game that I've played was Goods Master 3D. It was an okay game but was in the category of needing constant internet connection just to play. Moreover, it was riddled with ads in a very bad way. I can understand ad interruptions before and after levels, but when they surface during a level - especially one that is timed with the game not pausing during this interruption - you're in for constant level restarts.

Even more so if you don't have any functioning work-a-rounds. I played this one for as long as a could until I just called it quits. After this, I played Fruit Merge: Juicy Melon Puzzle of which I wrote about in August 23, 2025.

After Fruit Merge came Colorwood Sort Puzzle and Word Search Sea. Colorwood was okay at the start, but quickly ventured into the mildly frustrating category. The main problem I ran into is that once blocks are grouped, your have to move the entire group which means if there's no space elsewhere, you're either stuck or have to restart the level.

Word Search Sea was another mildly infuriating adventure that reminded me of why I avoid games of this particular type. It doesn't recognize all known words and the pool of words for solving puzzles is small. And even when you find a good word to fill a spot, it goes into the bonus queue.

Even more mind numbing is the process for finding each sea creature. Each creature level is excruciatingly long even with assists it feels like there's no end in sight. After this came Jewel Hunter: Lost Temple.

This particular game felt like a blast from the past with some differences. The gameplay is similar to Bejeweled 3 - my favorite go-to from years ago - and progressing levels/stages is straightforward. With that said and like other games mentioned prior, there are ads present.

There are inlaid ads that are stationary beneath the active game area, there are mini-ads on the level complete screen and if you're playing long enough, there are break-in ads that will either play for a few seconds, play for a few seconds and then give an option to skip, ad chains (ads with multiple windows that need to be closed one-by-one) and then there are out of the blue redirect types.

After this came Merge Inn. This was the last mobile game that was played and game time ended abruptly. Despite the engagement factor, it took a while to get things done. Even more so when the ingredients/items you need most don't drop consistently when you need them.

Though the most annoying experience of the game, like the games mentioned previously, there is a mandatory internet needed requirement. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but this game behaves differently when it comes to internet connections. The biggest issue that I couldn't remedy, was its failure to recognize that I was connected to the internet.

No matter how many times I tried to connect which included going through the troubleshooting tutorials, there was no improvement of any kind. What made it worse was the face that it was part of an offer wall task. It was a downer and was so close to completing one of the collections, too. 

Online Games: Browser-based

June's Journey 

Still on Orchid Island. The area with the villa
is the latest expansion but I have a long way to
go before the entire island is cleared.

June's Journey was one of the first games I paid a revisit to after who knows how long. There were a lot of changes and additions since last login. The in-your-face pop-ups about side games and events is still present. In fact, one of the events that was live when I logged back on revolved around Wicked. There were themed decos, community challenges on the social pages and a themed event.

On top of this, there is an addition of a game shack in the form of a house where you can find Mrs. Talbot and play a round of blocks (what I call it, not sure of actual name but it is a puzzle).

Moreover, there are lots of co-op game modes which renders participation fruitless as you need a plus-one in order to progress pass key points. With that said, island decorating is still intact. Unfortunately, I had to get use to completing scenes again to get the supplies needed to expand.

In addition to this, you can't fast-forward progress. There are no shortcuts for getting expansion materials, nor for speeding up island renovations. You have to physically sign on daily to complete each renovation stage. There were suggestions for how to go about renovations, but that was easier said that done.

Mall World Game

Getting ready for
the Fashion Show.

It's still going strong and is one of the only fashion games left out of the ones I played during the time I was first introduced to this game. Of the two revisits, this one was a little easier to get back into the swing of things. With that said, I needed a refresher on the controls along with how leveling worked - yes, it was that long.

There were new wardrobe and fashion additions along with an active player base. The only issue I had was in the early days of restarting. Nothing in the store was selling and my neighbors weren't visible at all. After a while of playing plus a check-in from one of my neighbors, stuff started to sell and I was able to visit my neighbor (I only have one now) and create new looks for them in the Look Book.

One of my favorite looks from the book is from my neighbor that somehow created a Sailor Moon-like outfit for me. Just glad the game is still within reach and didn't go the mobile only route like the others.

Hero Wars Dominion Era

No duh right? Attention is on this game majority of the time when compared to the other three. I still take breaks, but they aren't as long as they use to be. This is still a go to of mine that I can jump in whenever without waiting for something to come in. Though some milestones were reached over the past several months and I'm really happy I was able to pull them off without going overboard.

I now have 7 out of 10 pets at Violet Rank - January's Great Storm event was quite productive. Moreover, the new hero Fluffy Event yielded some nice resources that were used to upgrade some heroes to Orange +3 and +4. I think there were two that got to red, but the gear drop rates are abysmal. Still working on titans and am waiting for hero events that have gear shops.

Are There Any Other Titles On The Radar?

There are no other titles on the radar that I'm looking to play at the moment. I try not to get my hopes up since a lot of the games that peak my interest tend to have a lot of system requirements to meet. Still miss my Sims 3 where I had a little simoleon making empire going all while living in simburbia.

I make take the plunge some day into some obscure title on the PC or something on mobile that's outside of the casual gaming arena. For now, it's just a handful games that are getting revisits. Though I'm kind of tempted to a piece or two on Mall World Game since it's been gaining some traction with medium to long play times.