A plain guide to mobile game genres

Store categories are a mess, so here's how I actually think about genres when deciding what to review. RPGs on mobile usually mean a party, levels, and a story, with combat that's either turn-based or lightly real-time.

Strategy covers a huge range, from slow base-building to fast tower defense. The thing to check is whether it respects your time or expects you to log in every few hours to collect resources.

Casual is the catch-all for games you play in short bursts without a learning curve. They live or die on feel. Adventure games lean on story and exploration and tend to be the ones I remember longest.

None of these labels are rules. The best mobile games borrow across genres, and the worst use a label to promise something they don't deliver. Read past the tag and look at what you'll actually be doing minute to minute.