Scroll down below to find out more about the best gacha games not named Genshin Impact.
Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius is one of the three gacha games available on the market. But, it is the one that has the most content and collaborations. The game is set in the fictional world of Lapis where your feelings and thoughts take form and manifest either as physical visions and Magic Crystals. You’re then put in the shoes of Rain, a Grandhselt Knight tasked to save the world from a supernatural threat. All the while you’re also trying to navigate your way through the complicated politics of the five nations of Lapis. The turn-based format is perfect for beginners and players will love how the game lets them summon anyone from other Final Fantasy titles and popular Square Enix franchises. If, however, you find yourself turned off by the game’s developer’s blatant greed, there is an alternative. Final Fantasy Record Keeper is just as good of a gacha game albeit with far more generous developers with arguably weaker gameplay. It features an all-original cast of characters and follows its own story with a more familiar ATB battle system, as well as feature characters and battles from other games in the Final Fantasy franchise. Either way, if a Final Fantasy gacha game is what you want, it’s hard to find anything better than these two.
Pokemon Masters EX
Not all Pokemon trainers want a traditional Pokemon experience. Some prefer a game that’s along the lines of an RPG title, and although it’s a gacha game, Pokemon Masters EX is a good example. In Pokemon Masters EX, players get to form teams composed of three Pokemon-Trainer tandems. You’ll then fight it out against other player-controlled tandems and AI-controlled pairings. The best part about this is that the game has lots of content for you to play through. This includes a rather robust endgame experience. Where the gacha kicks in is when players get a chance to “combine” and form their own teams. As a bonus, the story of the game gets the occasional cameo or two from other more popular and mainstream Pokemon titles.
Raid: Shadow Legends
Raid: Shadow Legends is probably the most recognizable gacha game on our list. At least, outside of Genshin Impact. This freemium mobile game has received quite a generous marketing boost over the years. The developers have spent tons of money hiring influencers and celebrities to endorse the game in a commercial to some extent. Of course, this isn’t just a game where the developers poured money to and expected hefty returns. This beautiful game gives players tons of heroes to buy and collect, with a constant stream of new content and updates added to the game by the developers.
Dragon Ball Legends
Are you looking for a more action-packed game based on a popular anime franchise? Well, look on further than Dragon Ball: Legends. The game features an all-original story with unique characters designed by the anime’s creator, Akira Toriyama, himself. This includes the protagonist, Shallot, who is a Saiyan from the past who finds himself with zero memories of who he is and was. What makes this action-packed title unique is that it uses a card-based skill system that players can use to trigger special abilities when doing battle against AI-controlled teams featuring villains from the franchise. Fans of the anime series will love how the game’s gacha elements tie perfectly to the gameplay as it lets them create their own team of characters from the Dragon Ball series. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that the game’s story is right on par with the quality of the anime.
MARVEL Strike Force
If we’re being completely honest, we hesitated to add this game to our list. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s not totally good either. Basically, what MARVEL Strike Force is that it’s a typical Western gacha game. What we mean by that is the developers charge a premium for any new character added to the game. You have a rather unfair advantage over the competition if you keep up with new content. Luckily, while MARVEL Strike Force has a pretty greedy gacha mechanic, the PvE element is quite decent and there’s tons of content available for you to play through so that you don’t always have to resort to playing PvP. We recommend staying for the story and leaving the PvP element of the game alone. Do that, and you’ll find yourself enjoying MARVEL Strike Force at its best.
AFK Arena
Most gacha games are a bit complicated in the sense that, well, you actually have to play them. Not everyone has the time to do that. AFK Arena is for gamers who just want to watch something pretty that needs minimal involvement. It puts players in control of five Heroes as they fight across multiple story stages and defeat all sorts of evil creatures. What separates AFK Arena from the other idle games is that it looks good and features collaborations from multiple franchises. In the game, you’ll be able to take advantage of the gacha mechanic to take control of protagonists from other popular video game titles. This includes franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Japanese animation series’ like Overlord, among many others. With the developers periodically updating the game to keep things interesting and fresh, AFK Arena is a great gacha game to throw money into when you don’t have that much time to play.
Lord of Heroes
Lord of Heroes is one of the newer gacha games on the market. It features turn-based combat set in a world where your ultimate goal is to expand your influence to other regions. You can do this either by conquering them or forging alliances. What makes Lord of Heroes so good of a gacha game is that it’s composed of multiple immersive chapters and missions. Not to mention, your decisions carry a lot of weight. The outcome of the game adjusts and changes depending on your choices. This includes affecting which characters you can recruit to join your cause. TLDR; Lord of Heroes is a visually stunning game with beautiful backdrops and fluid attack animations, as well as a deep story. It’s the perfect mobile gacha game for those who prefer a traditional RPG experience.
Fire Emblem Heroes
Gacha games make for such a good business that not even Nintendo could resist getting their hands on it. Lucky for us, Nintendo wasn’t content to go off creating a game and make a quick buck. Fire Emblem Heroes is actually a really solid game that’s right on par with Nintendo’s other Fire Emblem titles on their other platforms. The story and gameplay mechanics, in particular, is similar to that of Fire Emblem games on the Nintendo DS and 3DS consoles. Nintendo also tries to give players a heads up before spending their money as they actually have the percentage of summoning the better units in the game shown. And, oh, speaking of units, you’ll get a chance to summon characters from other Fire Emblem titles.
Dragon Quest Tact
Another recent release, Dragon Quest Tact is the latest installment in the well-known RPG franchise, Dragon Quest. Naturally, because it finds itself on our list, it’s slightly different from its predecessors in that it features gacha mechanics. But, for a game that should encourage you to spend more money, it’s actually really easy to get by it without a penny invested. The game puts players in the shoes of a protagonist left with the legendary item, Tact. The player then has to use the powers of the Tact to try and find out why the monsters around the world are becoming more violent and hostile.
Fate: Grand Order
Fans of the Fate franchise will definitely love Fate: Grand Order. This gacha title doesn’t revolve around its gacha mechanics. In fact, it’s one of the few gacha games where you can completely enjoy what it has to offer for free. But, of course, the more you spend money, the more you’ll become invested in the story. Not to mention, you’ll also get access to the other available characters in the game and find out who they are. The game uses a chapter-like progression system that lets you move through missions and unlock new levels at your own pace. Unfortunately, players in Japan get access to story content earlier. This is because they are a bit further along there. However, even if you’re playing the global version, the game has tons of content available already and many more coming.
