The only computer access I have right now are my phone and a tablet. I went looking to see if there are any good games, and I can't find any. I have Warlight, which is awesome, but it is more like a board game than video game, and I need another option.
I thought I scored when I found xcom, but it suffers from the same problem that the desktop versions do. It hides a potentially good game inside an unusable interface. They focused so much on trying to make it look good that they sacrificed useability. Units get lost in the scenery etc.
Anything else I saw that looked like it had potential came with in game purchases.
I am also not interested in multi-player or online games.
Please, can someone recommend a good single player game with no in game purchases? I am willing to pay for the game, but not the continuing pay to win bullshit.
I like strategy games best, but am pretty open to anything.
I have a few I like
Alto's Adventure is a relatively peaceful snowboarding game. The endless downhill slope is procedurally generated; you are given challenges by the game in groups of three. Each completed group lets you "level up" to the next set of challenges. Every set of 10 gets you a new unlock (characters until level 50l haven't progressed to 60 yet). The art and music is very well done. The challenges do get harder as you progress, and some are very challenging. I find the game relatively peaceful and can relax while I'm playing.
Plants vs Zombies 2 is a very fun tower defense game that can be legitimately hard at times. I say 2 since 2 is free, as opposed to the first one, and is presumably better. You're likely missing on some of the paper-thin story, but I don't think it really matters. There's a lot of strategy to be hard in this game, so it was a favorite of mine.
Delight Games (that's seriously the name of it) has a free game that's basically a collection of "choose your own adventure" books; they have many with continuing storylines through multiple chapters, and a few standalone; all of them have varying themes and settings, which makes for a good variety.
Transmission is a sort of puzzle game that uses various forms of communications in the real world (telephone, modem, internet, etc) as a very loose basis for the game's various mechanics. The beginning is a bit tedious and slogs a bit, but the later levels are extremely challenging; there were several I couldn't beat. Fortunately, the game doesn't lock you into paths too hard, so you have opportunities to skip around here and there.
The Room, and it's two sequels, are on the Android store, to my surprise. I first saw this game when DDRJake, a Twitch streamer, did a trademark Two Hours of Hell with the first game in the series. Basically, you're stuck in a room, and there's a massive puzzle box in the center. Using all kinds of advanced techniques like "press the button" and "stick the thing in the slot", you're supposed to learn the secrets of the box (or something) and solve the entire massive puzzle. I'm being a bit sarcastic, but it does seem like a legitimately solid puzzle game. I recommend checking out a gameplay video for a few minutes to see if it might be something you like.
Plague, Inc. is a strategy game that puts you in control of a plague of some kind - your goal is to spread yourself successfully to the point where you can are able to eliminate the human race, but watch out! Once they know about you, they're going to start working on a cure, and the more dangerous you are, the more they'll work. I played the game quite a bit a few years ago, and managed to successfully wipe out humanity with almost all the various infections you can use. Different types of plagues (viruses, fungi, prions, etc), work differently, so your strategy has to change a bit for each one.
Vector and Vector 2 are a sort of linear parkour game. Wrapped in a dystopian story, you run along levels attempting to escape your pursuer. You can unlock various parkour tricks with points you collect in the game, and will require them to get three stars on the various levels. Vector 2 is more detailed, and more interesting as a concept; in the sequel there is equipment you can use that will allow you to do things like take alternate paths, avoid death from time to time, and so on.
Shadow Fight and its sequel are fighting games; you can use various weapons and such, and I found a fair bit of strategy in it. It ran a bit slow on my device though, and seemed occasionally cheesy at times (the AI I mean), so I stopped playing. But it was a fine game.
Also, just looking through stuff now, The Bard's Tale is only a dollar. My friend swears by that game; it was a PS2 game that had crude humor; you play as "The Bard" (I don't think he's named), and you go around doing Bard things - being useless, sleeping with women you should not be sleeping with, singing songs in taverns, and generally being a massive pain and burden on society. It's got to be a steal for a dollar - if you thing can run it.
Hope you find some good stuff from this list for you.