Review · Physics side-scroller · Frogmind · 13 Aug 2026

BADLAND — one button, a hundred ways to die

You hold the screen to rise and let go to fall. Everything else in the game is a machine designed to remove you from the level.

Silhouetted forest in BADLAND — The forest, rendered as silhouette against colour. Image from the game's official Google Play listing.

The single input

There is one control. Touch anywhere and your creature flaps upward; release and it sinks. That is the entire vocabulary, and the game spends several hours finding new things to do with it — crushers, fans, rotating blades, tunnels that narrow to nothing.

Because the input is so simple, difficulty comes from timing and reading the level rather than from dexterity. It also means the game works perfectly on a phone, which cannot be said of most side-scrollers.

Clones as a resource

Power-ups split your creature into a swarm. Most of them will die, and that is the point: the swarm is a buffer, not a bonus. Losing eleven of twelve to a saw blade and squeezing the last one through is the game's signature moment, and it is repeatedly satisfying rather than punishing.

How it looks

Silhouettes in the foreground, saturated colour behind. It remains one of the best-looking games available on Android and it achieves that without demanding much of the hardware — our four-year-old test phone ran it without a stutter.

Machinery hazard in BADLAND — Later levels lean on mechanical hazards rather than terrain. Image from the official listing.

What it costs

A one-off payment for the game. There are optional extras available, and the store listing shows exactly what they are; nothing in the main campaign is gated behind them. Prices and fees appear only in the store at checkout.

Where it grates

Repetition of failure. Some sections require the same twenty seconds to be played six or seven times before the timing clicks, and the restart is quick enough that it is easy to lose half an hour without noticing. Whether that is a flaw depends entirely on your tolerance for it.

The second, smaller complaint: the level select is cluttered once the extra content unlocks, and it is not always clear which set you are working through.

Who it suits

Anyone who wants a beautiful game they can play with one thumb, and who does not mind dying often. It is the easiest entry point of the four covered here.

Our verdict: the strongest single-input design on Android, and still worth installing years after release.

← Back to all four