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Best Games Like AFK Arena

AFK Arena is an idle RPG game made by Lilith Games. It was released in a limited amount of countries as part of a “soft launch” during the middle part of 2018. 

Best Games Like AFK Arena

Lilith then took their time to build up hype for the game up until global release in April 2019. This tactic paid off for the Chinese game developer as AFK Arena became a massive global hit on both iOS and Android.

The game was likely based on another hugely successful game at the time, Idle Heroes. What Lilith did, though, was take the basic concept of that game and improve it in almost every way. They also focused heavily on the world-building aspect, making sure every hero had its own backstory with unique art and voiceovers.

Combat

“Dynamic” or “Turn-Based” combat? These are the words I’m going to use when describing combat in idle games. I have no idea what the actual words for them are in technical terms when it comes to idle games.

Dynamic = Like AFK Arena, all of the heroes on the battlefield move around and attack each other. This creates interesting outcomes and RNG.

Turn-based = Like Idle heroes, basically, the heroes sit in one place and automatically attack random enemies in turns.

Best Games Like AFK Arena

As the game has had a lot of success, it’s introduced many new players to the idle genre. We’ve compiled a list of all the best games like AFK Arena for you to try out.

We’ll be regularly updating this list and adding more games as we find them.

Mythic Heroes

Best Games Like AFK Arena
  • Auto dynamic combat
  • Portrait mode

Mythic Heroes was released this month, and it aims to replicate AFK Arena but add more quality of life features. It has the same dynamic combat as AFK Arena, e.g., the heroes actually move around on the battlefield by themselves. 

As far as idle games go, this is the top contender at the moment for AFK Arena’s crown. The art and animations are high quality, and each character has its own backstory. So far, the events have been fun and engaging to play.

  • The AFK mechanic, called the “Astrolabe”, is more interesting and isn’t just tied to campaign progress.
  • You only need the same copy of a hero to ascend them.
  • The game is based on Greek Mythology and has a similar art style to AFK Arena.
  • It’s F2P friendly, for now. There aren’t any “unique” factions yet, but they might be added later.

Download: App Store | Google Play

Valor Legends: Eternity

Best Games Like AFK Arena
  • Auto dynamic combat
  • Landscape mode

Valor Legends is another new kid on the block. So far, the game is looking very good. It has the same dynamic combat as AFK Arena, and the art and animations are great.

Download: App Store | Google Play

Undead World: Heroes Survival

Best Games Like AFK Arena
  • Auto dynamic combat
  • Portrait mode

Undead World is also a new idle game and it’s actually really fun. The combat looks great when fighting huge hordes of zombies and has more of a 3D look, rather than from the side.

The only downside is the developers don’t seem too interactive with the audience outside of generic Facebook posts. There isn’t even an official Discord yet. To me, that’s a little bit of a red flag when it comes to mobile games. But that can easily be fixed.

Download: App Store | Google Play

Mobile Legends: Adventure

Best Games Like AFK Arena
  • Auto dynamic combat
  • Landscape mode

MLA has been out for a while now and has become quite a well-established game in its own right. The game is based on Mobile Legends, a mobile-only MOBA. It has dynamic combat like AFK Arena, along with high-quality art and animations. 

It doesn’t really change the recipe much from AFK Arena though, and it basically is the same game with a Mobile Legends skin and landscape mode. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though if you love AFK Arena.

Download: App Store | Google Play

TapTap Universe

  • Auto dynamic combat
  • Portrait mode

This is pretty much a carbon copy of AFK Arena. It’s in early access at the moment, but the game does have potential and is probably worth a try. Looks like it’s currently only available on Android.

Download: Google Play

Other Games Like AFK Arena

These are some other games like AFK Arena.

Cookie Run: Kingdom

  • Auto turn-based combat (Kind of)
  • Landscape mode

Fun little game where all the heroes are cookies. It’s got a slightly unique combat system that isn’t quite like AFK Arena, but isn’t turn-based either. It’s a mixture of both, but it looks decent enough. The art style and animations of the game are both good. Worth a try.

Idle Heroes

  • Auto turn-based combat
  • Landscape mode

This is the game AFK Arena was most likely based on. It was one of the first idle games to really breakthrough and become a big success. The game was released back in 2016, but it’s still highly popular and that shows that the game has staying power.

The downside to Idle Heroes, in my opinion, is that it’s extremely event-focused, P2W and once you upgrade heroes you’re stuck with them. The combat is also very outdated, as it’s the same old basic turn-based auto-combat that the majority of low-budget idle games use. This was good for its time, but not so much anymore.

Olympus: Idle Legends

  • Auto turn-based combat
  • Portrait mode

Olympus: Idle Legends is based on Greek mythology, the same as Mythic Heroes. It has a cute chibi art style, but other than that it’s a pretty standard idle game that’s basically AFK Arena with Idle Heroes combat.

Raid: Shadow Legends

  • Auto turn-based combat
  • Landscape mode

Yes, the meme itself. The visuals of this game are very much like a traditional medieval-themed RPG and there just aren’t many idle games that look like that for some reason.

It’s quite P2W though, but it’s insanely popular and will likely be around for a long time due to the amount of ridiculous marketing it has done. The fact that it makes around 20 million dollars a month also helps.

Dislyte

  • Auto turn-based combat
  • Portrait mode

This game is being developed by Lilith themselves and they’re likely hoping that it will be the next big hit. It has all the usual elements of idle games, but is uniquely themed around pop music.

The art and animations are top tier and the music is great. At the moment, though, it’s very grindy, and it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

Awaken: Chaos Era

  • Auto turn-based combat
  • Landscape mode

Awaken: Chaos Era is aiming to be the next Raid: Shadow Legends. It looks and feels very much the same, but a bit more cartoony like World of Warcraft. As Raid is already on this list and it’s a non-anime gacha game I think it’s something that you might want to keep on your radar.

Want to get ahead of the curve? Read our Awaken: Chaos Era Tier List guide.