Gacha games get a lot of hate, and I mean… it’s not not deserved, seeing as how most of them see your wallet as their personal property. But I have to admit — they’re also so much fun. Unless RNGesus hates you like it hates me. Then it’s still fun, but also frustrating.
My relationship with gacha games dates all the way back to 2014 which means I have well over 10 years of experience. Trust me when I say this, I didn’t just play these games for a couple of hours so I can write this. I have invested well over 1000+ hours in these games, out of pure love and addiction for the genre.
And, because I don’t do things halfway, I spent a good portion of that time deep analyzing each game, the most efficient ways to farm, building teams for PVE and PVP, competing against top players (whales) as F2P, dealing with bad RNG, and so many other things that come with a territory.
I’ve seen and experienced everything that this genre has to offer. That’s why I can confidently recommend these games to you.
Quick Overview of The Best Gacha Games I Played
If you’re too busy to read the whole article, here’s a list with one-sentence overviews of each game I recommend. In case any of them seem fun to you, just click on the link and it’ll skip you over to its section.
- Wuthering Waves — A gorgeous open-world RPG with skill-based combat, generous rewards, and plenty of endgame challenges.
- Umamusume: Pretty Derby — A unique concept, but so much fun.
- Arknights — Gacha with tower defence, and a bit darker overall.
- Reverse 1999 — One of the best-looking games out there, heavy on the narrative.
- Zenless Zone Zero — Managing a VHS store + brawling with monsters? Yes please.
- Summoners War — Many fun collabs with popular media (Witcher, Demon Slayer, LoTR, Frieren, etc.), and plenty to summon.
- Epic Seven — A good-looking gacha with heavy PvP elements.
- Solo Leveling: Arise — If you love the anime, you’ll love this one.
- AFK Journey — Gacha and AFK/idle mechanics in one fun package
- Genshin Impact — Open world, clear pity mechanics, and overall beautiful game.
- Honkai: Star Rail – Turn-based combat done right with an incredible story and top-tier production values.
- Goddess of Victory: Nikke – A cover shooter that mixes fast-paced combat with a surprisingly emotional story.
- Azur Lane – A generous naval gacha with plenty of ship girls to collect and satisfying side-scrolling battles.
- BLEACH: Soul Resonance – The closest you’ll get to reliving the anime with flashy combat and faithful recreations of iconic battles.
- Blue Archive – A charming gacha with lovable characters, strategic combat, and one of the funniest stories in the genre.
- Arknights: Endfield – Great if you enjoy action RPGs, exploration, team building or you’re already a fan of Arknight games.
- Neverness to Everness – Anime style gacha with exploration, character collection and open-world RPG.
- Path to Nowhere – A tower-defense gacha with strategy and some great characters.
- Infinity Nikki – Good for some open-world exploration, collecting outfits, and some relaxing, cozy gameplay.
- Dragon Ball Legends – Best for fans and players who enjoy fast-paced combat, character collection and highly competitive PVP
- Limbus Company – Great if you like dark stories, turn-based combat, challenging gameplay and unusual characters.
- Punishing: Gray Raven – Pick this if you enjoy fast combat, challenging boss fights and anime style gachas.
Last tested in September 2026: Gacha rates, pity systems, F2P economy and platform availability checked against the current versions.
Best Gacha Games to Play Right Now
Wuthering Waves
| Developer | Kuro Games |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 80 pulls |
| Gacha Element (What you’re pulling for) | Resonators(characters) and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can comfortably clear most content without paying anything or being much behind the whales |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15 minutes for basic upkeep, but essentially unlimited if you want to explore and progress |
| Best for | Anyone who wants a great, open world with good atmosphere and skill-based combat, with moderate gacha mechanics |
Wuthering Waves is my top pick if combat is your priority. It’s most commonly compared to Genshin Impact because they have that same gacha open-world that made Genshin such a popular game but I think Wuthering Waves does a slightly better job when it comes to combat. Dodging, parrying, switching characters, and timing your abilities have a big impact on a fight. Especially when you’re fighting bosses.
Exploration is another big reason I’ve enjoyed it so much. Movement feels fast and smooth and there’s always something to find while exploring the world, whether it’s resources, Echoes or some sort of hidden areas or secrets.
The game has also improved so much since launch. They’ve added new characters, a lot of new content and tons of new cool events. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners collaboration event was one the best collabs that I’ve witnessed not only when it comes to gacha games but all the games in general. Hopefully they decide to make a rerun for people who missed it. Also, it sorta raised a bar and set new standards. Now, if other gacha games want to stay relevant, they’ll have to invest more money into other stuff besides the “new weekly shiny pack”.
The only issue that comes to mind is farming Echoes. It can get a bit tedious if you intend to properly optimize your character. Be prepared to spend a lot of time farming the right stats
If you want a game where your skill actually matters, Wuthering Waves is hard to beat. And since there’s no PVP, you’re not competing against other players and can start playing Wuthering Waves at any point without worrying if you’re behind everyone else.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Wuthering Waves review.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby
| Developer | Cygames |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2021 (JP), 2023 (Global) |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 200 pulls |
| Gacha Element (What you’re pulling for) | Support Cards and Trainee Horse Girls(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can make strong characters and clear most of the content without spending, although getting the best support cards and consistently building top-tier racers is much easier with a heavy wallet. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-30 minutes for regular upkeep, but training sessions can last a bit longer when you’re actively building characters. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy character collection, strategy, training systems and competitive progression. |
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is definitely one of the most unusual gacha games I’ve played but it’s also what makes it so interesting. Instead of simply fighting with your characters, you’ll have to train them, help with stats, skills and follow them on a journey as they try to compete as racers.
The training system is probably the most focal point of this game and biggest reason to play. You’re probably thinking where’s the fun in that and I get it. Most of the gacha are about making teams and just letting them run whatever you want. Umamusume isn’t like that.
Every run feels a little different, and getting the right combination of stats, skills, and support cards can make a huge difference when you put your racers in competitions. Luck plays its part in all of this but as long as you know what you’re doing, you should be fine.
The biggest downside of Umamusume is the same thing that makes it great for most hardcore players. Progression can slow down once you reach a certain level. Also gacha is tied with support cards which can make progression slightly more difficult.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Umamusume: Pretty Derby review.
Arknights
| Developer | Hypergryph / Yostar |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2019 (China), 2020 (Global) |
| Pull Rate | 6-star guaranteed every 50 pulls; 5-star guaranteed every 10 pulls |
| Gacha Element (What you’re pulling for) | Operators(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can comfortably clear most content without paying, although having more options make clearing stuff easier. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-20 minutes for daily’s, but you’ll need much more time for team optimizing and clearing harder content. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy strategy, tower defence, character collection, and challenging PVE. |
Arknights is my recommendation for players who want a gacha game that makes you think. It’s a tower defence game where you’ll need to think about not only what operators to bring but also the positioning and timing. It’s what’ll make a difference between an easy clear and mission impossible.
The main selling point is how much freedom you have when building teams. Different operators have different roles and more importantly even low-rarity characters can be useful in certain situations. There’s no meta where only one team works and you need certain characters to pass the stage.
Because Arknights gameplay is more reliant on a strategy than usual raw power, especially in late game, it’s not for everyone.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Arknights review.
Reverse 1999
| Developer | Bluepoch |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2023 |
| Pull Rate | 6-star guaranteed every 70 pulls; 50% chance for the rate-up character |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Arcanists(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can build strong teams and clear all of the PVE content without spending. The only issue as F2P is getting resources to pull every limited character. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-25 minutes for main stuff, but it can be longer if you stay on grind and push campaigns. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy story-focused gacha that looks absolutely beautiful. Also there’s turn-based combat. |
Reverse 1999 is a great gacha game that not only has a great gameplay but also is one of the most visually stunning games that so happens has a brilliant story. I still remember the first time I played it, I was absolutely mesmerized by the looks of it. I’m not a fancy art guy that can look at a picture and tell you the deep meaning behind it but I can tell you that this game’s art brought me a little bit of peace.
The gameplay is also more strategic than it initially looks. It’s a turn-based game that utilizes cards in order to determine which attacks and skills to use. It’s not the most complex system on this list but it’s more than enough to keep things interesting.
The only bad thing that I can say about this game is that sometimes progress can slow down at certain points. Also players who prefer more action based games tend to get bored of it faster.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Reverse 1999 review.
Zenless Zone Zero
| Developer | HoYoverse |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android,PS5 |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 90 pulls; 50% chance for the rate-up character |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Agents(characters) and W-engines(weapons) |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can clear most of the PVE content without spending a dime. Of course it gets a lot easier if you whale, get specific characters and build multiple high-tier teams. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-20 minutes for basic upkeep, but naturally you can play way longer if you’re trying to progress or build new characters/teams. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy fast-paced gameplay Gachas combined with that “retro” style and a fairly decent story |
If you’re looking for a gacha game with fast and satisfying battles then my recommendation is a Zenless Zone Zero. It’s a game made by developers of Genshin and Honkai but this one feels different than those two. The gameplay is more focused on combat paired with quick dodges, parries, combos, and character switching. Okay, so it’s not completely different from them.
What I liked the most is the whole premise of working in a VHS store and the lack of open world. I’m really glad that with this one they’ve decided to go in another direction. This way you can spend less time running aimlessly around a huge map and spend more time actually playing parts of the game that are fun.
Once you reach late-mid to late game, progression can slow down, especially for a F2P player like me. Leveling characters takes time and at some point if you’re lucky enough to pull multiple good ones, you’ll end up with many of them sitting at level 1 because you can’t do it fast enough. It’s more of a mentality problem than anything honestly. You’ll be able to do all of them but it just takes time.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Zenless Zone Zero review.
Summoners War
| Developer | Com2uS |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2014 |
| Pull Rate | Pity is set at 2000 pulls but average rate for 5-star is around 200 pulls. |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Monsters |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can comfortably clear all of PVE content without paying anything or being much behind the whales. Whales get an advantage when it comes to PVP due to being able to pull more units. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~30 minutes for daily quests, but essentially it’s much longer if you’re trying to farm runes, build teams or push competitive content. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy monster collecting, turn-based combat, team-building and long-term progression |
If there’s a “classic” in the gacha space, it’s Summoners War, at least for me. I played it with my wife when we just started dating and now we have 3 kids and we still play it at times, so you can see why. At its core, Summoners War is about building and optimizing teams from a massive roster of monsters, each with their own skills and evolutions. Combat is turn-based, but the real depth comes from rune customization, team synergy, and the sheer amount of stuff you can do.
The gacha system is more old-school than modern titles like Honkai or Wuthering Waves. Pull rates can feel harsher than in most games, and progressing without spending takes patience. Still, the game has matured to the point where generous events, collaborations, and long-term resource systems make free-to-play progress achievable, especially if you’re willing to grind. It’s not the most newcomer-friendly gacha, but if you love depth and routine, it’ll fit like a glove.
If you’re looking for a highly competitive gacha game that’s constantly making improvements and doing cool collabs like Lord of the Rings, JJK, Frieren, and many others then Summoners War is the game for you. To be fair though, since it’s been out for a long time, catching up to other players will take some time.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Summoners War review.
Epic Seven
| Developer | Smilegate |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2018 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 120 pulls |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Heroes(characters) and Artifacts |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can clear most of the PVE content easily but competing in high PVP against whales is an almost impossible battle. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~20-30 minutes for basic upkeep, but essentially unlimited if you want to farm gear, improve teams, and play in PVP |
| Best for | Players who enjoy turn-based combat, anime-style visuals, character collection and competitive content. |
Epic Seven is another great choice if you want a traditional anime gacha that has surprisingly deep combat. The fights are turn-based but there’s so much more than picking the strongest champs with strongest attacks. You have to think about speed, buffs, debuffs, team composition and when to use certain skills, especially when you reach a late stage in the game.
Another reason to play it is the overall presentation. It’s obvious that they put a lot of care into character designs, animation and design of everything else. Since it’s been out for so long, that means that there’s so much content for you to see and enjoy.
Which just so happens to be its downside too. Catching up to players who’ve been playing it since the start is doable but it requires an enormous amount of time and effort. Especially if you start chasing the right stats for your gear, it’s going to take you well over a year to be able to optimize your teams correctly.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Epic Seven review.
Solo Leveling: Arise
| Developer | netmarbleNeo |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, PC |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 90 pulls; 50% chance for the rate-up SSR |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Hunters(characters) and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can clear the main story and most of PVE without ever spending a dime. Although, clearing content is much easier if you have more options in characters and weapons. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-25 minutes for basic upkeep, but it can be longer if you’re farming gear, optimizing teams or clearing other content. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy action RPG, fast-paced cool combat, character collection/progression or simply are fan of Solo Leveling anime/manhwa |
Solo Leveling: Arise is easily one of the best anime-based gacha games available. If you’re a fan of the Solo Leveling series, this game does an excellent job recreating Jinwoo’s journey from weakest to strongest hunter while adding other hunters and a little bit of original new content.
Where many gachas lean on turn-based systems, Arise has fast-paced, real-time combat that puts you directly in control of Sung Jinwoo and other hunters that I still can’t name after rewatching the anime 6 times. The combat in the game, dodging, chaining abilities, and switching between characters is exactly what you expect from the biggest aura farmer in history.
The biggest downside appears in a late game where things tend to slow down. Farming gear and upgrading materials can be a little repetitive. But that’s a common thing with most gachas on this list. Power spikes are lower in late game and any new improvements can feel less impactful.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Solo Leveling: Arise review.
AFK Journey
| Developer | Lilith Games |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2023 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 80 pulls |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Heroes(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can clear a lot of content as a F2P and AFK system makes things so much easier to build a strong account without constant need to grind. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-15 minutes for quick daily stuff, but it can be longer if you’re trying to make progress. |
| Best for | Players who want a relaxed gacha with a character collection, exploration and simple but interesting combat. |
AFK Journey is a gacha game that I can easily recommend to anyone who wants a game that doesn’t require your constant attention all day. It combines the usual character collection, team building/optimization with a cute open world that you can explore freely, making it more than just a log-in simulator where you get in game and pick rewards and leave.
The gameplay is fairly simple to get into but there’s still enough depth to continue playing. Choosing the right character and positioning them properly makes a huge difference in between clearing it in a few seconds and being stuck all day. The AFK progression also means you can keep improving even when you’re not playing.
The biggest downside is also what makes it great. If you’re someone who has a lot of time on their hands, you’ll find yourself extremely bored in the late game where making progress takes a step back.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my AFK Journey review.
Genshin Impact
| Developer | HoYoverse |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android, PS4/PS5 |
| Release Date | 2020 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 90 pulls (with a 50/50 chance for the featured character) |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Characters and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 7/10 → You can easily clear the story and all the PVE content without ever spending. Although as a F2P player it will take you longer to collect certain characters and build various teams. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~20-30 minutes for daily activities, but with all the quests and exploration there’s easily hundreds of hours of gameplay |
| Best for | Players who want massive open world, exploration and action combat. |
This is hands down the most popular gacha game in the world, so putting it on this list is a no brainer. There’s something about the open world of Genshin, it’s huge, filled with content and there’s always something new to discover. Even after all these years it still remains one of its biggest strengths. Also it doesn’t hurt that it’s a visually stunning game.
On top of that, Genshin is still beginner friendly and getting into it is fairly simple but also there’s a lot of depth once you start progressing. Switching between characters to combine different elements, creating reactions and managing skills of characters have a huge impact on how easily you defeat certain enemies, especially when you start dealing with tougher bosses.
The only downside to Genshin Impact that I can think of is that if you let it, it can become extremely time consuming. Farming equipment, collecting for characters, doing all the quests can easily overwhelm anyone trying to finish everything. Collecting all new shiny characters and weapons is expensive, practically impossible if you don’t whale for it.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Genshin Impact review.
Honkai: Star Rail
| Developer | COGNOSPHERE PTE. LTD., miHoYo |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android, PlayStation 5 |
| Release Date | 2023 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 90 pulls (featured guaranteed within 180 if you lose the 50/50) |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Characters and Light cones(weapons) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can clear the story and PVE content easily without ever spending a dollar. Naturally it can be easier if you spend but there’s no real need for it. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-20 minutes for daily quests, but essentially you can play it all day if you decide to make new progress. |
| Best for | Players who want a polished turn-based RPG with an incredible story, and memorable characters. |
Honkai: Star Rail is considered to have one of the best turn-based combat systems in this genre. The combat is easy to understand in the beginning but certainly it can get more complicated when you reach higher levels and you start paying attention to weaknesses, team compositions, buffs, and skill usage.
All that paired with a great story that only gets better as you progress is a chef’s kiss. It has great sets of characters, plenty of memorable moments and genuinely impressive scenes. Also I have to give them props for high-quality cinematography. They do a good job of mixing serious story moments and light content so it doesn’t feel like a constant drama is ongoing.
As someone who’s played entirely as a free-to-play player, I’d say it’s even more generous than Genshin in several ways. That said, some endgame modes are clearly designed with well-built teams in mind, and reaching their full potential often means pulling a few limited characters. I also have a feeling they’re aware of it and they’ve been giving out more pulls each patch.
Goddess of Victory: Nikke
| Developer | SHIFT UP Corporation |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2022 |
| Pull Rate | SSR guaranteed every 200 Mileage Tickets |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Nikkes(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → As F2P you can clear most of PVE content easily but getting specific characters and keeping up with whales is harder. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-20 minutes for daily quests, but you can have longer sessions if you’re clearing campaigns. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy waifu collection, great story, shooting mechanics and a lot of progression. |
Goddess of Victory: Nikke is definitely one of the more unusual gachas on this list. At first, character design is what gets your attention but there’s actually a great game behind the superficial stuff. Goddess of Victory: Nikke is a third-person cover shooter where you control a squad of Nikkes, switch between them and use their abilities at the right time.
This game surprisingly has an emotional and well-written story. Which I have to warn you about without spoiling but there were moments where I was “GOD DAMN, can’t believe that happened” and the few moments after “OH S###, it got worse”. It also does help that the game features an excellent soundtrack that pairs well with everything.
While the game is great, there’s a point where progression slows down as F2P and you have no choice but to wait for the next day. That’s where you can see the real gap between a regular player and someone with deep pockets. Also I’ve heard that not everyone is fond of constant fan service.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Goddess of Victory: Nikke review.
Azur Lane
| Developer | Manjuu, Xiamen Yongshi Network Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Platforms | iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2017 |
| Pull Rate | No traditional pity, but UR banners guarantee a UR after 200 pulls |
| Gacha Element (What you’re pulling for) | Ships/Shipsgirls (characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9.5/10 → You can collect a large roster and clear most PVE without spending, it just takes some time getting there. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-20 minutes for basic stuff with a longer session if you’re building ships, farming stages, or working through events. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy character collection, naval combat, anime style visuals and a lot of content. |
Azur Lane is considered to be one of the most F2P-friendly gacha games available. The monetization is focused on skins and storage. It’s very beginner-friendly and you won’t have any problems jumping into the game and getting things done.
The game turns real-world warships into anime characters but there’s so much more than simply collecting them. You’ll have to build fleets, equip your ships and take them to battles while gradually progressing deeper.
The biggest strength of it is that there’s so much content and so many characters available. There’re hundreds of ships to collect, numerous events, and surprisingly deep equipment and fleet building systems. And on top of that, you can rest from protecting your wallet.
The only downside that I can think of is that it can be overwhelming to newer players with so many things. There’re lot of systems, currencies, equipment, different types of ships and a lot of other content that can make it difficult to know what to focus on first.
BLEACH: Soul Resonance
| Developer | Black Moon Studio |
| Platforms | iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| Pull Rate | 5-star guaranteed every 80 pulls |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Characters and Memories |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → Clearing PVE content is relatively easy as F2P but getting new shiny characters and building stronger teams is for sure easier for paying players. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-25 minutes for daily quests, but essentially you can play way longer if you want to explore or progress in story. |
| Best for | BLEACH fans and players who enjoy fast-paced combat, character collection and stunning visuals |
Bleach: Soul Resonance is a perfect game if you’re a fan of Bleach anime. It faithfully recreates moments from the anime and you get to play with some of the most iconic characters from it.
It has fast-paced combat, beautiful anime-style visuals and most importantly you get to yell “Bankai” while using them in game. I’ve had an absolute blast playing it, so much that I’ve decided to re-watch the anime from the beginning.
On top of everything, the game is still relatively new in this space so you would get a chance to follow as its content improves and evolves. As for the gacha aspect, there’s a slight discrepancy when it comes to premium units but nothing that affects a major portion of the content. It’s mainly a PVP thing, like in every gacha, with more characters you have more options to counter the enemy.
BLEACH: Soul Resonance still feels relatively new and while that can be a good thing, I feel like they still need to learn how to balance and be more lenient towards casual non-spending players.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my BLEACH: Soul Resonance review.
Blue Archive
| Developer | Nexon |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2021 |
| Pull Rate | 3-star guaranteed every 200 Recruitment Points |
| Gacha Element (What you’re pulling for) | Students(characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can comfortably clear most content without paying anything but end game content and getting to top ranks is much easier for whales. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-20 minutes for basic upkeep, but you can definitely play longer if you’re trying to progress. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy character-driven stories, turn-based strategy, anime style visuals and collecting characters. |
Blue Archive. It’s one of those games that completely caught me off guard. I expected a fairly standard anime gacha, but what I got was a surprisingly charming experience with memorable characters, lighthearted humor, and a story that sometimes can be funny and other times very serious.
It’s easy to see why the game has built such a passionate community over the years. Blue Archive is F2P friendly gacha and known to be generous with free pulls and recruitment tickets. Also I would like to say that it’s a game that has no business having music this good. It’s a great game if you’re someone in dire need of some relaxation time.
Arknights: Endfield
| Developer | Hypergryph |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android, PS5 |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| Pull Rate | 6-star guaranteed at 80 pulls, featured character guaranteed at 120 pulls. |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Operators(characters) and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → Clearing most of PVE contents as a F2P player is highly doable. Although building stronger teams and keeping up with the best characters will take more time. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-25 minutes for daily things, but essentially unlimited if you want to explore and progress. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy action RPGs, exploration, team building or a fan of Arknight games. |
This game is completely different from the original title. Instead of tower defence, you get a real time action RPG with semi open-world. If you’ve played Arknights before, this is interesting to see, same universe but much bigger adventure.
The combat is good but what really caught my eye is everything happening outside of it. Exploration, resource gathering, and building up your production system play a big part of your progression. The factory mechanics especially give Endfield something that you don’t see in gachas very often or at all. Which is something that stops it from being another Genshin copy.
But not everything is perfect in Arknights: Endfield. What everyone says makes it unique is also what I dislike most about it. I had such an issue with creating a factory and making it work and initially I thought it was a user error and I was just tired. I tried giving it another chance but it just wasn’t for me. I’m sure many other people will find it an interesting addition to the game.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Arknights: Endfield review.
Neverness to Everness (NTE)
| Developer | Hotta Studio |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android, PS5 |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| Pull Rate | 80 pulls for guaranteed SSR. |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Characters and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can do most of PVE and other content as a F2P but it just takes longer to get everything and fully optimize the roster. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-25 minutes for basic stuff, but can take longer if you’re exploring a city, progressing through the story, or building characters. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy anime style gacha, exploration, character collection and open-world RPG. |
Neverness to Everness (NTE) is a new gacha game that focuses on exploring the city. It also features an interesting story, great set of characters and a lot of other interesting content for you to enjoy. It doesn’t hurt that visually NTE is an absolutely stunning game, it sort of gives me GTA mixed with anime vibe. And I’m all for it.
The biggest reason to play NTE is the open world. You can drive around the city, explore different areas and just enjoy beautiful scenery. On top of that, I feel like they’ve been more than generous with giving free pulls. With that said, the game is still relatively new and needs a lot more improvement and optimizations if they want to compete against giants in this industry.
Path to Nowhere
| Developer | AISNO Games, Ziyi Group HK Limited |
| Platforms | iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2022 |
| Pull Rate | S-Rank Sinner within 80 pulls. |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Sinners (characters) |
| F2P Viability | 9/10 → You can clear most PVE content without paying anything |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-20 minutes for basic things, but essentially unlimited if you want to explore and progress |
| Best for | Players who enjoy tower-defence,strategy and character focused gachas. |
Path to Nowhere is a gacha game that I would recommend if you want something more story focused and slightly darker. You get to play as a Chief of a special prison who is in charge of characters called Sinners. All while trying to deal with danger spreading across the world.
The combat is what drew me initially, it reminded me of Arknights. It has a real time strategy system where you can move your characters during the battle, rather than just simply putting them down and watching it get done. Knowing when to reposition your Sinners, interrupt enemies and use their skill becomes more important in late-game.
Path to Nowhere isn’t nearly as popular as many games on this list but I had to put it for gamers who are looking for something like Arknights. It’s definitely an underrated game that deserves more love.
Infinity Nikki
| Developer | Infold Games |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android, PS5 |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| Pull Rate | 20 pulls for a guaranteed 5-star item |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Outfits |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → You can enjoy the story, exploration and most content without spending a dime. Although collecting every outfit and limited pieces is a big challenge. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~10-20 minutes for basic stuff but can last longer if you start doing quests and other stuff. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy open-world exploration, collecting outfits, relaxing and cozy gameplay. |
Infinity Nikki isn’t my choice when it comes to gacha games but my kids absolutely loved playing it on PS5. I’ve enjoyed watching them work together in order to finish quests, solve “difficult” puzzles and try to collect various outfits. It was a nice experience that helped me bond with them even more.
From what I concluded, the game doesn’t have a typical constant combat but rather focuses more on delivering that cozy feel. And the design is absolutely wonderful. I’ve seen that the game is available on mobile and I can’t wrap my mind around how phones can run it without issues.
Dragon Ball Legends
| Developer | Dimps |
| Platforms | iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2018 |
| Pull Rate | Could Be Better |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Characters |
| F2P Viability | 6/10 → You can comfortably clear most PVE content but as for PVP, it’s heavily geared towards whales. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15 minutes for daily stuff, but it’s longer if you’re farming or doing PVP. |
| Best for | Dragon Ball fans and players who enjoy fast-paced combat, character collection and highly competitive PVP |
Dragon Ball Legends is my recommendation if you’re looking for a gacha game that best represents Dragon Ball. All of the battles are fast, you get to control your characters, and you can dodge attacks, charge your Ki and chain together different cards and abilities to win a fight.
The combat is definitely the biggest strength of this game. Having a bunch of characters and building good teams matters but it’s also important to know how to use them, particularly in PVP. There’s a lot here for Dragon Ball fans, with a massive pool of characters from beloved series but also plenty of original versions and forms.
The big downside of Dragon Ball Legends is PVP, I’ve played it for a very long time and as much as I love this game, competing in high elo is impossible unless you got that oil prince money. And as much as I would love to see that change, I don’t think it’s happening any time soon.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Dragon Ball Legends review.
Limbus Company
| Developer | Project Moon |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2023 |
| Pull Rate | 2-Star (00) Identities: 12.8% (Guaranteed at least one 2-star or higher with each 10-pull)and 3-Star (000) Identities: 2.9% |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Identities and E.G,O |
| F2P Viability | 10/10 → This is one of the F2P friendliest gacha games that you can find. You can clear all of the content without spending and you can acquire all characters and identities easily. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15 minutes for basic upkeep, but clearing story chapters and doing harder content can take more time. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy dark stories, turn-based combat, challenging gameplay and unusual characters. |
Limbus Company is one of the easiest gacha recommendations that I can do. It has a dark setting, strange set of characters and a great story that you’ll have to follow through to the end. It might take some time to get a hold of the story but once you do, you’ll see that writing is one of its best strengths.
Gameplay combines turn-based combat with a clash system where your characters compete against enemy attacks, while different skills and damage types can interact with each other. Limbus isn’t known to be the friendliest to beginners but as long as you take your time and don’t rush through content, you’ll have no trouble with it.
The Limbus Company is also known to be a gacha game that was made by people who don’t know how to make gacha, in a good sense. It means that you’ll have an extremely hard time finding any other gacha game that respects your time and wallet as much as developers of this masterpiece.
Punishing: Gray Raven
| Developer | Kuro Games |
| Platforms | PC, iOS, Android |
| Release Date | 2019 |
| Pull Rate | S-rank guaranteed every 60 pulls |
| Gacha Element(What you’re pulling for) | Constructs (characters) and Weapons |
| F2P Viability | 8/10 → Clearing most of PVE as F2P will pose no issues, although getting stronger characters, weapons and upgrades will take longer. |
| Daily Time Commitment | ~15-20 minutes for daily stuff, but essentially is longer if you are clearing story related content, farming upgrades or building teams. |
| Best for | Players who enjoy fast combat, challenging boss fights and anime style gachas. |
Punishing: Gray Raven is one the best fast-paced action RPG gachas games on the internet. They’re very generous with their gacha and they have an interesting combat system in place. For regular players it takes a little more time to get the hang of it but once you do, it feels amazing.
With that said, I strongly believe that boss fights could be more interesting and challenging if the characters aren’t so damn strong late game. They obviously intended to make it so you need to learn enemy patterns, and learn to dodge properly and time your abilities but with strong characters, I feel invincible. I know it’s a stretch but hopefully they’ve decided to optimize it more in future.
Upcoming Gacha Games to Watch
Ananta
- Developed by: Naked Rain Studio
- Release Date: January 15, 2027
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android.
- Premise: Ananta is an open-world urban RPG where you can play as a supernatural investigator exploring a modern city, fighting strange enemies and discovering the mysteries surrounding the world.
Astrae Oratio
- Developed by: Dynamis One
- Release Date: TBA
- Platforms: Android and iOS
- Premise: Astrae Oratio is fantasy RPG focused on collecting characters, exploring a world filled with magic and battling enemies through turn-based combat.
Lord of Mysteries
- Developed by: SPARK NEXA
- Release Date: China Release went live on August 21, 2026. Global release yet to be announced.
- Platforms: PC, Android, and iOS
- Premise: Lord of Mysteries is a story-driven fantasy RPG based on the Lord of Mysteries universe, where you explore a supernatural world filled with secret organizations, strange powers and dangerous mysteries.
Azur Promilia
- Developed by: Manjuu Games
- Release Date: December 31, 2026 for Asia Regions. Global release window yet to be announced.
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android
- Premise: A colorful open-world RPG where you explore a fantasy world, collect creatures and characters, build relationships and take part in real-time combat.
