Edition 04 · Week of 3 August 2026
The ones that need a friend
Some mobile games are quietly unplayable on your own — not because they lock you out, but because the experience they were designed around assumes somebody else is there. This week, three games sorted by how much company they need.
Compiled by Dana Whitfield
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Team battle · Moonton
A five-against-five lane game, roughly fifteen minutes a match, and the single most company-dependent game we cover. Playing it with four strangers and playing it with even one person you know are close to different games. With friends you get to pick complementary roles and actually talk about what went wrong; without them you get whatever the matchmaker hands you.
If you are starting from nothing, learn one role rather than sampling all of them. The game has a wide cast and a narrow set of jobs, and knowing your job is worth far more early on than knowing many characters.
Hill Climb Racing 2
Physics driving · Fingersoft
Two pedals, a hill, and a fuel gauge. The whole game is deciding how hard to push when a slope is about to tip you over, and it reads as trivial for about ten minutes before the physics start to matter.
It sits in the middle of this week's list: perfectly good alone, noticeably better if somebody you know is on the same leaderboard. A rival's time on a track you both drive is a much better motivator than the game's own progression.
Temple Run 2
Endless runner · Imangi Studios
The control case. Nothing about it wants a second player, and nothing about it suffers for the absence. You run, you turn, you eventually make a mistake, and the entire arc takes as long as you want it to.
Keep it for the gaps in a day rather than the evenings. It is the least demanding game we cover in every sense — attention, hardware, and other people.