Best Clicker Games For PC, Consoles, And Mobile

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Clicker games are awesome when you want to do some casual gaming. So what are they, and what are the best ones? Let’s find out.

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What Are Clicker Games?

Clicker games are also sometimes referred to as “tap games,” “time clickers,” “incremental games,” “auto clickers,” “idle games,” “clicking games,” and “AFK games.” ‘AFK’ means Away From Keyboard.

The gameplay in clicker games is mainly about clicking on stuff on the screen using your mouse or touchscreen.

I enjoy them for some pastime gaming – fx having one running on the second monitor.

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Clicker games are often about grinding away to rack up more in-game currency and updating stuff.

Some clickers almost play themselves at some point and no longer require clicking or tapping. 

That’s why these games can also be referred to as “idle games” or “AFK games” sometimes.

That’s because you can come back to check on the progress to see how things are going in your game world.

At this point, it’s more about managing resources or assigning your player character to do certain things while you’re away from the keyboard.

1. A Dark Room

A Dark Room could be considered a classic game in the clicking game genre. You’ll find it on most Reddit incremental game lists. The story of the game is what makes this one genuinely appealing, and it has an air of mystery, and it uses a minimalist style.

True to the title, the game starts with your character being placed in a dark room. You must light a fire, and then you’ll have to gather wood. The story continues forward from there with many twists and turns. It’s a bit eerie, but it hits all the right notes to make it one of the most satisfying idle games.

A Dark Room is also available on Google Play.

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2. Adventure Capitalist

There are other games like Adventure Capitalist, but this title deserves its place near the top of the idle game genre. You’ll be playing as someone trying to make a fortune as an entrepreneur through investments.

You’ll have a single lemonade stand to work with when you start the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to run many different types of businesses as you continue to move up in the world. 

This is considered among the best idle games because there’s so much you can do. You can manage sports teams, run banks, and make movies as the game proceeds.

Your businesses earn profits, and you can hire managers to keep things going while you’re away. This turns the game from a clicker into an actual idle game. 

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Watching your businesses grow will fill you with a desire to keep going. You’ll gain wealth, and you’ll be able to see just how much this game has to offer.

If you’re looking for an exciting and fun idle game, then Adventure Capitalist might be the best. It has a little bit of everything that makes these grinding games good. 

3. TRIMPS

Trimps is a pretty standard clicker game, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.

You’ll start by clicking to gather a resource, but eventually, you meet beings known as the Trimps. They can be assigned to automatically handle certain tasks, which is useful because you can only do one thing at a time as the player character.

You’ll be growing your horde of Trimps to amass resources. 

Eventually, you’ll be able to build a village, fight monsters, and do many other things in this game. Being able to see your power grow is oddly satisfying.

One thing to note is that, like A Dark Room, Trimps is entirely text-based. If you’re looking for a game with interesting graphics, it might be better to seek another game from this list. 

4. Crusader of the Lost Idols

Perhaps you want something a bit more involved in certain ways. Crusader of the Lost Idols is a clicker game, but it has more elements that make it interesting.

You might be intrigued to hear that this title has RPG and side-scrolling elements. In this title, you’ll be controlling a group of heroes that has to fight through monster hordes. 

As you defeat enemies, you’ll be able to spend the money you earn to get new crusaders. Every character can be leveled up to become stronger, and they also have abilities that you can purchase using gold.

You continue to grow your army of crusaders over time while they get better at damaging enemies. You get to decide the formations of your parties that you send out, and it’s good to send the right combination of characters to maximize the gold. 

Some characters do more damage from the back row while others perform better if placed next to specific classes.

There’s a level of strategy involved that you don’t always see in these mouse-clicking games. It’s a game that will appeal to fans of clicking and tapping games while also appealing to tactics fans.

This is a must-play for most fans of the genre.

You can find Crusader of the Lost Idols on Steam.

5. Cookie Clicker

Cookie Clicker is a famous game because it is considered one of the first incremental clickers.

To start, you’re going to click a large cookie. Clicking allows you to earn a single cookie. You’ll be able to keep earning cookies to purchase new cursors that will do the clicking for you. This means it’s one of the auto-clicking games when you use those cursors. 

Eventually, you’ll be able to do a lot of different stuff. For instance, you can hire grandmas to bake cookies for you in the game. You can plant cookie seeds in fields to get more cookies. You’ll have so many cookies that you won’t know what to do with them all.

Get Cookie Clicker here on Steam.

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6. Realm Grinder

Realm Grinder – found on Steam – has you playing the role of a ruler in a small kingdom.

This game takes place in a fantasy world, and you earn coins by clicking on your realm. The coins you earn can be spent to build things that will generate more income for you.

Some buildings will be able to automatically gather coins for you even when you aren’t actively playing, and this means that it can become a true idle game. 

This all likely sounds fairly standard for the genre at this point. However, this game sets itself apart by allowing players to take the kingdom in different directions.

You can choose evil or good depending on how you want to see things play out. Both sides have unique game content, such as different races, buildings, and upgrades.

7. Clicker Heroes

Playing Clicker Heroes has the potential to be very satisfying. You’ll be playing as a lone warrior to begin the game.

Clicking on a monster only does one point of damage to it in the beginning. Eventually, you’ll recruit allies that can help you damage enemies automatically.

You level up your hero and your allies so that you can wreck monsters and earn more coins. Seeing the damage numbers go up will be one of the most satisfying aspects of Clicker Heroes.

You started out doing one damage to a monster, but you’ll be doing more than that as you continue to play. It’s a satisfying Unblocked game that you can play while relaxing. 

8. NGU Idle

NGU Idle is a game that has to be on the list. The full name of the game is Numbers Go Up Idle. It’s a type of RPG where you play as an amnesiac who woke up in a sewer one day. You’ll need to train so that you can defeat various villains. 

You generate energy each second that you play the game. This energy is meant to be spent training your attack and defense skills. As you level up, you’ll gain access to more skills and get a lot stronger. As your power grows, you’ll also be able to take on stronger foes. 

Playing the game involves defeating enemies, and you’ll also fight bosses. As you might expect by the game’s name, watching the numbers go up is one of the most important parts of the title. If you decide to give it a whirl, you might be very charmed by this NGU adventure.

You can find NGU Idle here on Steam.

9. Plantera

Plantera has you start the game by catching a butterfly in a net. You get one coin for doing this and eventually earn enough money to make a carrot patch.

From this point on, you earn money by planting and harvesting things. You go on to plant a blueberry bush, and you’ll eventually be able to plant many other things. 

As you keep going, you’ll be able to build a large garden with many plants. You gain helper characters that will take care of the plants for you. It’s necessary to protect plants from rabbits and other scavengers. Overall, it’s a pretty fun idle game. 

Notably, this is a Steam idle game. Plantera could be considered to be one of the best Steam idler options. Unlike most games on this list, this one costs money to buy. The art style is very cute and should keep you entertained for a good time.

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10. Time Clickers

Time Clickers is one you should check out if you’re looking for something different than a standard clicking game experience.

You’ll see that Time Clickers is a game that takes inspiration from first-person shooters. It’s a futuristic game where you destroy cubes that drop money. The money can be used to buy guns that automatically shoot for you. 

As you keep playing, the guns will be able to be upgraded. You can make them do more damage, and some can even gain special abilities. This title has different stages that take place in arena settings. There’s a boss character to face at the end of each stage, too. 

Overall, Time Clickers has more substance than many other clicker games.

Bosses do have a lot of HP, so you’ll need to be prepared to face them. They must be defeated in a certain amount of time so that you can advance.

Failing causes you to go back a few stages, but you’ll be able to keep training up to get more powerful so that you’ll be ready to claim victory at some point.

You can find Time Clickers here on Steam. Or you can find it here on Google Play.

11. Creature Card Idle

Creature Card Idle is a card game that is also an idle game experience. You place different cards on the field that will earn you a certain amount of gold each second.

Saving up money will allow you to buy card packs, and you can also unlock slots that will allow you to place more cards. Different cards have special buffs that can make you perform better. 

Your old cards can eventually be combined to make more powerful cards. There’s a bit of strategy that goes into this game. Placing the cards well and understanding how to use the buffs will lead to success.

This makes it more involved than many other idle games, but it’s a good time.

You can find Creature Card Idle here on Steam.

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12. Forager

Forager is an interesting entry on this list because it isn’t just an idle game. You do have active input in this game.

It’s a crafting title where you gather resources, build up a base, and participate in combat challenges. After you’ve put some time in, a lot more things will be automatically done for you, but you don’t get there quick in this title. 

This incremental game has more action elements than many other titles on this list. If you’d like a slightly more active clicker experience, then give this one a go. You might find out that you really like it.

You can find Forager here on Steam.

Conclusion

I think these are some of the best idle games available in 2023.

I hope you have lots of fun hours playing these games whether you’re actively clicking or AFK.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jan has played video games since the early 1980s. He loves getting immersed in video games as a way to take his mind off stuff when the outside world gets too scary. A lifelong gamer, the big interest led to a job as a lecturer on game sound at the University of Copenhagen and several written articles on video games for magazines.

Read more on the About Page.