While you would find the world of smartphone gaming dominated by heavy-hitting casual games like Candy Crush Saga or Among Us, you can also find a lot of specific and niche game genres that you can play. In these genres are archery games. When you can’t physically go out to the range and have a go at a real bow, you can happily experience the same thrills by playing one of the best archery games on our list!
What are Archery Games?
First off, what exactly are archery games for smartphones? Notching back an arrow and getting the feel of fletching in between your fingers before a deep breath and letting loose your arrow is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can ever have. First-person view, third-person view, or perhaps just a target reticle, archery games try their best to virtually recreate this experience for players.
Considered as part of several genres, archery games are mostly a mix of sports and simulation games. Depending on the game itself, playstyles can vary from just shooting at a target on a range to hunting quail or ducks out in the wild. Aside from that, games can also have different immersion mechanics that range from arcade-like gameplay to realistic simulation.
The Best Archery Games For Mobile
Although the archery game genre isn’t that big, there have been a fair bit of them over the years on both iOS and Android. For this list, we’ll give you the best that is available by depending on both the Google and Apple store ratings and our own personal experience with the games. We’ll also note down what platforms they are available on and their pricing structure, if there is one.
1. Archery Big Match
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: Mobirix
Price: Free with in-app purchases
The first archery game on our list is Archery Big Match. A traditional first-person shooter (FPS) where you use a bow and arrow, the game is basically a fun little game where you aim and shoot at the fruit, straw men, and other targets. The game features simple graphics that make you feel like a medieval archer competing in a tournament.
Other features for Archery Big Match include multi-play, an offline versus mode, an online achievement and leaderboard, a few mini-games, and support for 16 different languages for menus and instructions. Overall, this game is our pick for the best archery game due to its straightforward playstyle and the inclusion of a “windage” system that subtly deflects arrows.
Get Archery Big Match on the Google Play Store
Get Archery Big Match on the Apple App Store
2. Ninja’s Creed: Origins
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: 707 Interactive
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A game eponymously named after the Assassin’s Creed series, Ninja’s Creed feels a lot like it due to similar “assassination” themes and mechanics. Although it is not actually an “archery simulator” and more of an archery shooter game, Ninja’s Creed lets you hunt your enemy targets using a rather modern-looking recurve bow, complete with pulleys and scope.
Gameplay-wise, the game has a puzzle-like feature where you have to parkour your way through the game map and distract enemies to reach your targets. Aside from that, the game plays as a fun FPS that has you think on your feet while completing missions on a wide map. While playing, it reminded us a little bit about the first few games of the Hitman game franchise without the stealth and disguise elements.
Get Ninja’s Creed: Origins on the Google Play Store
Get Ninja’s Creed: Origins on the Apple App Store
3. Tiny Archers
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: 1DER Entertainment
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Tiny Archers is completely different from other archery games on this list. While can be considered as a form of archery, Tiny Archers is more of a tower defense game. Set in a generic medieval fantasy world, the game deploys you to man a tower in the middle of a map as waves of enemy hordes come at your base.
Slightly reminiscent of Angry Birds, the game shows your trajectory arc as you aim at approaching enemies who then pool up beneath your tower. You lose the game once they’ve bunched up enough to climb up and attack you. Overall, Tiny Archers is an interesting take on both genres.
Get Tiny Archers on the Google Play Store
Get Tiny Archers on the Apple App Store
4. Archery Master 3D
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: TerranDroid on Android and Doodle Mobile Limited on iOS
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A traditional archery game, Archery Master 3D is quite similar to the first entry on this list. It features the same tournament-type gameplay but with a modern theme. Still sticking with the traditional archery FPS mechanics, the game features windage and four different locations. You can test out your skills in a pine forest, an archery field, a desert, and lush rainforest. All locations feature some of the best graphics you can find for the genre, and with more than 70+ million users and downloads, it definitely tells a lot about the game.
Gameplay-wise, the game has a lot of additional bells and whistles compared to other traditional archery games. This title lets you use your gold to buy upgrades and boosters in the online shop. These items range from better bows, sights, and scopes to different arrow types and archers. Overall, Archery Master 3D is a more than decent game even with its in-app purchases.
Get Archery Master 3D on the Google Play Store
Get Archery Master 3D on the Apple App Store
5. Archery World Champion 3D
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: Mediawork
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Although Archery World Champion 3D is one of the newer archery games, it has a lot to offer the player with 390 solo player levels, 270 co-op levels, and 390 hunting levels. Aside from the already feature-filled list, this game also has good graphics with a decent frame rate that complements its simple touch screen controls. If you want a little bit of everything, you should take a look at this game!
Get Archery World Champion 3D on the Google Play Store
Get Archery World Champion 3D on the Apple App Store
6. Bowmasters
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: Miniclip.com for Android and Playgendary for iOS
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Bowmasters is one unique archery game on this list. While this cartoonish title does have a bow as a weapon, Bowmasters is far from your traditional archery game. First off, aside from the memes and references with characters and weapons, the game plays like Angry Birds or the old Worms franchise games. Your chosen character moves and attacks enemies on a side-scrolling map while launching arrows or other weapons using a projectile arc.
Although it is not a simulation or a sports game, Bowmasters is a fun little time-waster. It has 41 different playable characters, a myriad of weapons to use, and several game modes to choose from. If you want to have some fun without the seriousness of simulation-type archery games, this is the one for you.
Get Bowmasters on the Google Play Store
Get Bowmasters on the Apple App Store
7. Archery Elite
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: 707 Interactive
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Another archery game from 707 Interactive, Archery Elite is a more traditional archery game compared to Ninja’s Creed. The game employs an FPS orientation with several modes to choose from such as offline single-player, online multiplayer, shooting gallery, and several different animal hunting modes.
The biggest draw for this game is its hunting modes where you stalk and fire arrows at deer, pheasants, leopards, moose, and bears! While the game is fun by itself, it also offers a lot of items in its online store. These items range from power-ups to different customization for your bow. The downside to that, however, is how much of a grind the game is to play. You may have to shell out some cash to get the items you really want to get.
Get Archery Elite on the Google Play Store
Get Archery Elite on the Apple App Store
8. Archery Bird Hunter
Platform: Android
Developer: KoshitaniApps for Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A game exclusive to Android users, Archery Bird Hunter is best described as a modern clone of the classic 1984 NES game Duck Hunt. There are a lot of similarities to the 1984 game. These similarities include your player character’s stationary position, a canine hunting companion, and, of course, duck hunting!
The game’s mechanics are as simple as its graphics. All you need to do is shoot as many wild animals as you can with your limited arrows and time. Interestingly, the game tells you the maximum number of birds that you can hit per level. You can unlock new levels by either hunting all the birds at a specific level or by paying for it in coins you earn.
Get Archery Bird Hunter on the Google Play Store
9. Stickman Archery Puzzle Master
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: ONESOFT for Android and doan Ian for iOS
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A hard game to find and choose, there are a lot of similarly named “stickman archery” games on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Out of those similarly named games, we chose this one — Stickman Archery Puzzle Master. This game feels and plays a lot like the earlier mentioned Tiny Archers game. Although you may not be atop a high defense tower, your stationary archer can confidently fend off the different enemies that come against you on different maps on the ground. These enemies range from swordsmen and bomb-throwers to dragons and tongue-in-cheek parodies of famous characters like Thanos’ hand.
The game has an in-app store that lets you buy boosters, extra health, shields, and other helpful items, but you can trudge through the game just fine without them. It would take you a bit more time to do so, however. Aside from that, the game is decent and has a few funny costumes and enemies that clearly reference one character or another.
Get Stickman Archery Puzzle Master on the Google Play Store
Get Stickman Archery Puzzle Master on the Apple App Store
10. Gibbets 2
Platform: Android and iOS
Developer: HeroCraft Limited
Price: Free with in-app purchases
A game that is a little morbid at first glance, the game is literally named after the gallows — a place where people are hanged to death. True to its name, however, Gibbets 2 has you deal with people in danger of dying on their ropes. A sequel to a widely popular flash game, Gibbets 2 is the second installment in the Gibbets franchise.
With a similar gameplay style but a revamped art style compared to the first game, you’ll still use your trusty bow to save people from the hangman’s noose. You can do this by shooting your bow through increasingly complicated puzzles to reach the rope before the victims’ time runs out.
Get Gibbets 2 on the Google Play Store
Get Gibbets 2 on the Apple App Store
Other Sports and Simulation Games
That closes out our list for the best archery games on Android and iOS. We hoped you tried out and installed at least one of them! If you are looking for a different type of shooter, though, you might want to look at our list for the top 20 third-person shooter games for mobile.
If you want more sports-related games, you may find your luck on our fun mobile sports game lists like the best golf games and the best skateboarding games!
