Guides / Best Games
Popular Idle Games in Japan in 2026: What Google Play Shows Japanese Players
ONI Games · Published
The idle games Google Play shows players in Japan in 2026: our ranking of 241 games from 15 Japanese searches, from Legend of Slime and Cell to Singularity to Japanese favorites such as Rogue with the Dead and Nameko.
The idle games Google Play shows players in Japan are led by Legend of Slime (放置系RPG！スライム伝説), which reached the top 10 of 7 of our 15 Japanese searches, followed by Cell to Singularity (進化は終わらない), the indie hack-and-slash Rum's Spring and Dungeon (ラムの泉とダンジョン) and Cat Gunner (にゃんこ銃士). On October 10, 2026, we ran 15 common Japanese idle-game searches on Google Play Japan, in Japanese, and ranked the 241 games they returned.
The ranking
| Game | Type | Installs | Rating | Ads | Offline tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 放置系RPG！スライム伝説 (Legend of Slime) | idle RPG | 10M+ | 3.97 | yes | no |
| 進化は終わらない (Cell to Singularity) | evolution clicker | 10M+ | 4.49 | yes | yes |
| ラムの泉とダンジョン (Rum's Spring and Dungeon) | idle hack and slash | 100K+ | 4.53 | no | yes |
| にゃんこ銃士 (Cat Gunner) | idle RPG | 1M+ | 4.51 | yes | yes |
| モンスタースレイヤー (Monster Slayer) | idle RPG | 1M+ | 4.64 | yes | yes |
| ローグウィズデッド (Rogue with the Dead) | idle RPG | 1M+ | 4.69 | yes | yes |
| 放置少女 (Houchi Shoujo) | idle RPG | 5M+ | 3.99 | no | no |
| フォレストアイランド (Forest Island) | relaxing idle | 5M+ | 4.40 | yes | no |
| ソウルストライク (Soul Strike) | idle RPG | 1M+ | 4.02 | yes | no |
| The Silent Archivist | idle RPG | 100K+ | 4.59 | yes | yes |
| ザクザクキング (Idle Miner Tycoon) | idle tycoon | 100M+ | 4.19 | yes | yes |
| 金とゴブリンの採掘 (Gold and Goblins) | merge tycoon | 50M+ | 3.78 | yes | no |
| 木こりの帝国 (Lumber Tycoon) | idle tycoon | 100M+ | 3.73 | yes | no |
| 放置ゲーム：スレイヤーアドベンチャーRPG (Idle Slayer) | idle runner | 5M+ | 4.31 | yes | yes |
| テールデーモンスレイヤー (Tailed Demon Slayer) | idle RPG | 1M+ | 3.84 | yes | no |
How we ranked them: a game earns 30 points for first place in a search, 29 for second and so on down to 1 for 30th, added up over all 15 searches, and the table lists the 15 highest-scoring games with at least 100,000 installs. Installs and ratings are Google Play's rounded figures from the Japanese store, and the Offline tag is the one Google Play itself shows there.
Idle RPGs lead the searches
放置系RPG！スライム伝説 (Legend of Slime)
You lead an army of slimes defending their forest from human heroes, in auto battles that keep growing your slimes while you are away. It is the only game in the top 10 of seven different searches, including 放置ゲーム, 放置RPG and ほったらかし ゲーム, and it has more than 10 million installs.
にゃんこ銃士 and モンスタースレイヤー
Cat Gunner (にゃんこ銃士), out since April 2026, puts guns in the paws of a cat squad and already reaches the top 10 of five searches with a 4.51 rating. Monster Slayer (モンスタースレイヤー) is first for 放置RPG and rated 4.64.
Idle RPGs from Japanese studios
Some of the best-rated results come from Japanese studios: room6's Rogue with the Dead (ローグウィズデッド, 4.69) has just turned four, Bank of Innovation's Memento Mori (メメントモリ) is known for its songs and art, and DMM GAMES' Dot Abyss (ドットアビス, June 2026) mixes pixel art with hack and slash. Rum's Spring and Dungeon is a one-handed idle hack-and-slash with up to 20x speed and no ads at all (4.53).
Relaxing raising games
In Japan, idle games are also a way to unwind. Cell to Singularity (進化は終わらない) follows life from the first cells onward, Forest Island (フォレストアイランド) fills an island with more than 280 animals, Cats & Soup (猫とスープ) has cats cooking soup in a forest, and the classic Nameko (なめこ栽培キット) grows 358 kinds of nameko. They do well in the 放置ゲーム and 放置 育成 (idle raising) searches.
Tycoon and management games
Western tycoons rule the 放置 経営 (idle management) and 放置 シミュレーション searches: Kolibri Games' Idle Miner Tycoon (ザクザクキング, more than 100 million installs), Idle Restaurant Tycoon (じゅうじゅうキング) and Idle Bank (マネーキング), and AppQuantum's Gold and Goblins and Lumber Tycoon.
Tower defense
For 放置 タワーディフェンス, Grow Castle (グローキャッスル) comes first, ahead of Kingdom Rush and Summoners Greed.
What Japanese players search
- 放置ゲーム (idle game) is the main term, and 放置RPG the most common genre search.
- ほったらかし is the everyday word for leaving something alone, and ほったらかし ゲーム returns the same idle RPGs.
- 育成 (raising), 経営 (management), ドット絵 (pixel art) and ハクスラ (hack and slash) narrow the results to one style.
- インクリメンタル (incremental) returns mostly English-language indie games, and クリッカー (clicker) returns auto-clicker apps rather than games, so 放置 is the word that finds idle games in Japan.
Our idle games in Japanese
Our idle games are all available in Japanese: Idle Ronin: Cyber RPG, a cyberpunk idle RPG, Idle Summoner: Pixel RPG, a pixel monster RPG, Idle AI Factory: Robot Tycoon, Idle Restaurant: Miami and Dark Tower: Idle Villain TD. None of them is in the top 30 of these searches yet.
FAQ
What is the most popular idle game in Japan?
In our searches, Legend of Slime (放置系RPG！スライム伝説): it reached the top 10 of 7 of the 15 searches. By installs, Idle Miner Tycoon and Lumber Tycoon lead with more than 100 million each.
Which idle games in Japan work offline?
Cell to Singularity, Rum's Spring and Dungeon, Cat Gunner, Monster Slayer, Rogue with the Dead, The Silent Archivist, Idle Miner Tycoon, Idle Slayer and Nameko carry Google Play's Offline tag in Japan.
Are there idle games without ads?
Yes: Rum's Spring and Dungeon, Houchi Shoujo, Memento Mori, Dot Abyss and AFK Journey show no ads; they earn from in-app purchases.
Sources
- Google Play Japan, store pages and search results in Japanese, October 10, 2026.
- ONI Games: our study of 15 Japanese idle-game searches and 241 games, October 2026.
