Can you play Craze City yet?

Craze City is an online open-world life sim in development for iOS and Android, made by Brainbaby Labs in Abu Dhabi. Its city brings together careers, driving, property, an in-game bank, and the walled zombie survival zone called the Deadwood Quarantine. The planned free download includes optional gem purchases, and the gem shop includes premium cars priced in gems.

There is no official public download or public store release to point you to yet. A private development build or an unpublished store draft is not a public launch. The recommendations below are ordered by which part of Craze City brought you here rather than by which game is best.

1. 1

   Roblox

   Best if you came for a city to share with friends

   A platform of worlds built by other players, several of which are cities you can hang around in with people you know. Nothing here is a life sim with an economy behind it, but the social part — being somewhere together, doing something silly — is covered better than anywhere else on a phone.

   Free to play. In-app purchases (in-game currency).

   Pros

   • + Joining a friend is the core mechanic
   • + City and roleplay worlds already exist in quantity
   • + One account across phone, PC and console

   Cons

   • − Quality varies enormously from world to world
   • − The in-game currency is pushed hard throughout
2. 2

   Old School RuneScape

   Best if you came for a shared world with a real economy

   One world, thousands of people in it, and a market run by players rather than by a shop. If the part of Craze City that interested you was money, property and a working economy rather than the driving, this is the closest thing on a phone and it has had two decades to get the economy right.

   Free to play, with an optional paid membership.

   Pros

   • + One shared world, no lobbies or server invites
   • + The same account on the phone and the desktop
   • + Economy is driven by players trading

   Cons

   • − Most of the game sits behind the membership
   • − Pacing and presentation are an acquired taste
3. 3

   Stardew Valley

   Best if you came for the life sim

   Work, money, a house you improve and people you get to know — the life-sim loop, done about as well as it has been done anywhere, and ported to phones essentially intact. It is quiet where Craze City is loud, and it is a full game for one payment with nothing else on the store page.

   One-time purchase. No in-app purchases.

   Pros

   • + Hundreds of hours for a single purchase
   • + Plays entirely offline
   • + Not a trimmed-down mobile version

   Cons

   • − Dense interface on a small screen
   • − Slow by design, which will not suit everyone
4. 4

   Plants vs. Zombies 2

   Best if you came for zombies without gore

   A cartoon from top to bottom: no blood, nothing left on the ground, and zombies that are the joke rather than the threat. It is tower defence rather than survival, so the tension is nothing like the quarantine zone — but as something gore-free to hand to a younger player today, it is the safe answer.

   Free to play. In-app purchases.

   Pros

   • + Cartoon throughout, no blood anywhere
   • + Nothing chases you
   • + Free to start

   Cons

   • − In-app purchases are pushed hard throughout
   • − Not survival in any recognisable sense
5. 5

   Terraria

   Best if you came for a game with nothing to buy

   A 2D sandbox with a very deep progression, ported whole, and one of the few mobile games that takes a single payment and then never mentions money again. If you want a game without a shop, this is the shape of game that delivers it.

   One-time purchase. No in-app purchases.

   Pros

   • + Nothing to buy after the game itself
   • + Huge progression with no paywalls in it

   Cons

   • − Touch controls take adjustment
   • − Setting up a session with friends is fiddly