15 Mobile Games With the Most Addictive Progression Systems

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Games that never let go.

Nazarii Verbitskiy

Gaming - November 10th 2025, 21:00 GMT+1

15. Zenless Zone Zero

***Zenless Zone Zero*** stands out by combining flashy, combo-heavy battles with a cast that feels more like personalities than just units. Each fight feeds into a loop of collecting characters, upgrading gear, and testing new team setups, which keeps experimentation fresh. With its slick visuals and constant stream of unlocks, the game creates a rhythm that’s tough to break once you’ve settled in.

(Image Credit: miHoYo)

Honkai Star Rail — 14. Honkai: Star Rail

***Honkai: Star Rail*** keeps players engaged with gacha pulls that feel like mini lotteries, always dangling the chance of rare characters. Time-limited banners create FOMO, pushing you to log in daily and never miss a reward. Even the smallest tasks feed into progression, making it easy to justify “just a little more” time in the game.

(Image Credit: miHoYo)

Cookie Run Kingdom — 13. Cookie Run: Kingdom

***Cookie Run: Kingdom*** keeps players hooked with its mix of kingdom-building and gacha-driven cookie collecting. Unlocking new characters and customizing your base gives steady progress, while team-building adds strategy to every battle. Regular updates and rare cookies to chase ensure there’s always another reason to log back in.

(Image Credit: Devsisters)

Mobile Legends Bang Bang — 12. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

***Mobile Legends: Bang Bang*** thrives on fast-paced competition and the rush of winning close matches. Every rank climb, hero mastered, and new skin unlocked delivers that dopamine hit that makes progress feel rewarding. With constant updates and social play at its core, the game keeps players locked into an endless cycle of challenges and achievements.

(Image Credit: Moonton)

11. Brawl Stars

***Brawl Stars*** combines quick matches with a steady grind of unlocking new brawlers, skins, and rewards through stardrops. Playing with friends adds to the fun, but climbing the ranks takes real time and skill, which keeps players invested. The mix of accessibility and long-term mastery makes it one of those games you keep returning to.

(Image Credit: Supercell)

10. Marvel Snap

***Marvel Snap*** makes progression addictive by locking rewards behind steady play and clever psychological hooks. Each short match gives you the chance to climb ranks and unlock new cards, making every win feel like momentum you can’t waste. The constant drip of upgrades and the push to keep your collection growing turn it into a loop that’s hard to walk away from.

(Image Credit: Nuverse)

Raid Shadow Legends — 9. Raid: Shadow Legends

***Raid: Shadow Legends*** is built to keep players grinding through endless battles, unlocking champions, and upgrading gear. The gacha system makes every summon feel like a gamble, creating spikes of excitement that push you to chase the next rare pull. Combined with flashy visuals and constant events, it’s easy to sink hours into chasing progression that never really ends.

(Image Credit: Plarium Games)

8. AFK Arena

***AFK Arena*** keeps players coming back with its idle system that rewards you even while you’re offline. Logging in to find new loot, heroes, and resources waiting creates a steady drip of progress that feels effortless. Layer in hero collection, constant freebies, and the chase for stronger team setups, and the loop becomes hard to step away from.

(Image Credit: Lilith Games)

Pokémon GO — 7. Pokemon Go

***Pokémon Go*** turned mobile gaming into an outdoor adventure by tying progress to real-world exploration. Every walk becomes a chance to catch new Pokémon, fill your Pokédex, and power up your team. The drive to collect rare creatures and outdo other players makes it a loop that never really ends.

(Image Credit: Niantic)

6. Subway Surfers

***Subway Surfers*** looks simple on the surface, but the nonstop runs make it tough to put down. The more you play, the more characters, boards, and upgrades you unlock, which keeps that sense of progress alive. With in-game purchases and limited-time events always dangling new rewards, players often find themselves running again and again.

(Image Credit: SYBO Games)

5. Vampire Survivors

***Vampire Survivors*** is pure dopamine overload, with constant upgrades and flashing rewards hitting every few seconds. Each run showers you with new weapons, evolutions, and unlocks, making survival feel like an endless chain of small victories. Between-run progression adds new characters and permanent boosts, so the “just one more try” urge never really goes away.

(Image Credit: Poncle)

Call of Duty Mobile — 4. Call of Duty: Mobile

***Call of Duty: Mobile*** keeps players hooked with fast matches that are easy to replay. Progression comes from unlocking stronger weapons and gear, so every round feels like a step toward something bigger. Combine that with ranking systems and nonstop action, and it quickly becomes a cycle of back-to-back games.

(Image Credit: Activision)

3. Candy Crush Saga

***Candy Crush Saga*** uses a clever system that caps how many times you can play in a row, forcing you to stop after a handful of losses. That built-in waiting period makes progress feel scarce and turns the next round into something you anticipate more than you’d expect. To keep the momentum going, the game offers paid lives and boosters, so many players spend money just to push past the wall and keep advancing through its endless levels.

(Image Credit: King Digital)

2. Genshin Impact

***Genshin Impact*** is built around a massive open world and a steady stream of events that constantly push you to log back in. Progression relies on unlocking new characters and weapons through its gacha system, which creates a strong fear of missing out when banners and rewards rotate. Beautiful design and music add to the pull, but it’s that endless chase for limited upgrades that makes the game so hard to put down.

(Image Credit: miHoYo)

1. Clash of Clans

***Clash of Clans*** grabs you with the thrill of building your own village and testing it against others. Every upgrade feels like a milestone, and the steady stream of new levels keeps you chasing the next reward. Add in the social battles against other players, and it’s easy to see why people keep coming back.

(Image Credit: Supercell)

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Mobile games are masters at keeping you hooked, and, for the most part, progression systems are the main reason why. They give you a feeling of completion. They make you feel as if you accomplished something even though you've been grinding the game for a while. While some progression systems make it worth your time, some don't.

So, with that said, the following mobile games offer the best. They turn leveling, unlocking, and collecting into loops so satisfying it’s hard to stop playing once you’ve started.

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So, with that said, the following mobile games offer the best. They turn leveling, unlocking, and collecting into loops so satisfying it’s hard to stop playing once you’ve started.