If you want the honest one-line answer, the best value in our tracker right now for a friend group is Dying Light - Bad Blood at EUR1.37 on Eneba (a key reseller). It is a small-squad battle royale spin-off, it holds a 95% Steam rating from 492,453 reviews, and at that price it is basically the cost of nothing to get four people brawling on the same night.
That is the top pick. Everything below broadens it out by taste and by budget.
A scout note on the keyword first, because I would rather be straight with you than pretend. Searching for the best games to play with friends on phone usually lands you on party and social-deduction staples like Among Us and Goose Goose Duck, and I have linked both so you can check their store pages directly. GamerScout is a price tracker, and the priced picks in this guide are the PC and console copies our database is actually watching today. So use this as a value map: the games friends genuinely lose evenings to, with the real numbers attached.
Prices verified from our live price database on August 10, 2026.
Top picks, quick and honest
Fall Guys, EUR19.50 at Kinguin (keyshop). The definitive "get five friends laughing in ten minutes" game. No learning curve, no salt, just bean physics and chaos. It sits at 81% of 469,489 Steam reviews and Metacritic 80. It is the priciest party option here, and it is the one I would still hand to a group that has never played anything together.
Dying Light - Bad Blood, EUR1.37 at Eneba (keyshop). The value monster. Squad up, scavenge, survive, betray. Metacritic 87 and 95% of 492,453 Steam reviews is a rating most full-price games never touch. This is a Steam key per the listing.
Paladins, EUR5.49 at Eneba (keyshop). A hero shooter that is easy to teach and forgiving to newcomers, which matters when your friend group has mixed skill. Metacritic 83. If you want the extra content, the Paladins Gold Edition is EUR9.78 and carries 85% of 345,373 Steam reviews.
ARK: Survival Evolved, EUR5.99 at Kinguin (keyshop). The long-haul co-op pick. Tame dinosaurs, build a base, argue about where the base should go. Metacritic 70, runs on PC and Mac, and at EUR5.99 it is the cheapest way to give a crew a shared world to disappear into for a month.
The full list, with live prices
Every figure here is the current buyable price from our tracker. Discounts are shown only where the listing carries one.
| Game | Best for | Current price | Discount | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dying Light - Bad Blood | Cheap squad battle royale | EUR1.37 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| Battlefield 1 | Big-team WW1 shooting | EUR1.90 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| Battlefield 5 - Starter Pack | Team shooter on Xbox | EUR4.34 (Eneba) | , | Xbox Series X, Xbox One |
| Paladins | Beginner-friendly hero shooter | EUR5.49 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | Long-haul co-op survival | EUR5.99 (Kinguin) | , | PC, Mac |
| Squad | Tactical team milsim | EUR8.33 (Eneba) | -83% | PC |
| Paladins Gold Edition | Hero shooter with extras | EUR9.78 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| Rust | Hardcore survival PvP | EUR10.78 (G2A) | -12% | PC, Mac |
| NARAKA: BLADEPOINT | Melee battle royale | EUR13.00 (Kinguin) | , | PC |
| DayZ | Tense open-world survival | EUR13.29 (Eneba) | -72% | PC |
| Fall Guys | Instant party chaos | EUR19.50 (Kinguin) | , | PC |
| Dark Souls 3: The Fire Fades Edition | Co-op boss runs | EUR35.49 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| War Thunder - T29 Pack | Vehicle combat on Xbox | EUR36.55 (Eneba) | , | Xbox Series X, Xbox One |
| New World: Aeternum | Shared MMO world | EUR45.79 (Eneba) | , | PC |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 | Classic team FPS | EUR70.00 (Eneba) | , | PC |
All of these are sold through key resellers (G2A, Kinguin, Eneba, YuPlay). I am describing the store type only where the listing gives it, so treat these as keyshop purchases and read each page before you pay.
By what your group actually wants
Party night, pick-up-and-play This is the true "with friends on phone" territory. For a pocket party, social-deduction games like Among Us, Goose Goose Duck and the wonderfully cruel What is Ultimate Chicken Horse? are the usual reach, so check their store pages for the platform you need. On the priced side, Fall Guys (EUR19.50) is the one that never needs a tutorial. Nobody rage-quits a game about falling over.
Survival with a crew If your friends like a project, this is the group to build with. ARK: Survival Evolved (EUR5.99) is the gentlest entry and the best value. Rust (EUR10.78 at G2A, -12%) is the ruthless one where the real enemy is other players (and sometimes each other). DayZ (EUR13.29 at Eneba, -72%) trades action for dread and long quiet walks that suddenly go wrong. For softer, hand-drawn survival, Don't Starve Together and the co-op sci-fi of Void Crew are worth a look on their own pages.
Team shooters and battle royale Cheap and cheerful rules here. Battlefield 1 (EUR1.90) gives you big-team scale for pocket change, and Battlefield 5 - Starter Pack (EUR4.34) does the same if your crew is on Xbox. Paladins (EUR5.49) is the friendliest for mixed skill levels. NARAKA: BLADEPOINT (EUR13.00) swaps guns for a melee battle royale that rewards timing. Squad (EUR8.33 at Eneba, -83%) is the serious, comms-heavy milsim for groups that actually want to coordinate. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (EUR70.00) is here for completeness, but at that price it is the hardest sell in the list unless it is specifically the one your friends play.
A world to share for weeks Dark Souls 3: The Fire Fades Edition (EUR35.49) is my quiet favourite for two or three friends, summoning each other for bosses and leaving messages on the ground. Metacritic 89 and 94% of 438,346 Steam reviews. New World: Aeternum (EUR45.79) is the big MMO option if you want a single persistent world to log into together. For asymmetric horror evenings, Dead by Daylight is worth pricing separately.
The short version
For the money, nothing in our tracker beats Dying Light - Bad Blood at EUR1.37. It is a small price for a fully-rated squad game, and it leaves plenty of budget for a second pick. If your group is more "laughing on a Friday" than "surviving the apocalypse," put Fall Guys next to it. And if you specifically want to play on a phone screen, start with the party staples I linked and check each page for platform and price before you commit.
Prices move. Everything here reflects our database on August 10, 2026, and each number is the current buyable figure, not a tracked historical low. Check the page before you pay, and buy the one your friends will actually open tonight.
Kai, Scout Team