As NVIDIA proclaims in every piece of marketing, the box is "the streamer for gamers." It also happens to be the best TV streaming box for playing games developed for Android TV from the Google Play Store. Want to start playing? Here are some games to try.
If you're wanting some more games to play on the go, then be sure to check out our list!
Note: The NVIDIA Shield TV (2019) is not quite as gamer-ready as its predecessors and the Shield TV Pro (2019). NVIDIA went with a 32-bit version of Android TV and also downgraded the RAM on its tube-shaped streaming dongle to just 2GB. This has affected the base model's compatibility with some 64-bit games from the Play Store including several on this list (Metal Gear Solid 2, Half-Life 2, The Witness, and Portal). Meanwhile, the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro (2019) is still fully compatible to play all games developed for the Shield lineup.
Best Android games for NVIDIA Shield:
Death Road to Canada
We've talked a lot about Death Road to Canada here on AC, and for good reason. It's one of those games that offers a unique gaming experience every time you play and is full of unexpected surprises. It offers nearly limitless replayability and plays great on your phone or your Shield TV.
Death Road to Canada is a survival game where your goal is to outrun a zombie apocalypse by driving to Canada. Featuring randomly generated locations, characters, and events, it's a game that's chock-full of surprises that will keep you coming back for more.
Death Road to Canada
Death Road to Canada is a frequent flyer on our lists of the best games and you'll see why as soon as you pick it up. It's a survival game that changes each playthrough, so you have plenty of incentive to go back through again.
Morphite
Morphite is sort of a mix between No Man's Sky and something like Metroid Prime — wherein there's a whole universe of procedurally generated planets to explore like the former, alongside a full-fledged campaign mode with missions that require space combat, puzzle-solving, and platforming.
It's truly a remarkable game, featuring a simplistic art style and calming soundtrack. It leans heavily into the No Man's Sky vibe and that's totally cool. While it plays pretty well on a smartphone, it really reaches new heights on a big TV screen with a controller in your hand.
Morphite
Think of No Man's Sky for Android and you'll have a pretty solid idea of what Morphite is. It's all about exploration with some combat thrown in for good measure.
Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is arguably the best game in Hideo Kojima's legendary series, and you can relive it all in the HD remastered version for the NVIDIA Shield. Step into the role of Solid Snake as he sneaks through a heavily-defended tanker to gather intel on a new Metal Gear weapon in development.
And then play as Raiden, a rookie Spec Ops agent who's on a mission to infiltrate an evil corporation's compound to save the President... and the world!
Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
A fan favorite of the series, Metal Gear Solid 2 HD is a remastered version of the classic. It's got all the hallmarks that the series is known for.
ClusterTruck
ClusterTruck is a frantic physics-based first-person platformer where your goal is to leap between semi-trucks that are just barrelling down roads and getting blown up by falling rocks, laser beams, and all other sorts of crazy obstacles. You want to go as fast as possible, but if you touch the ground you lose.
This is a great game to take turns playing with friends, as it's basically like playing "the floor is lava" with super-human jumping powers and wacky physics-based gameplay.
ClusterTruck
Don't touch the ground in this "floor is lava" game! The twist is that you're jumping to and from horribly-driven trucks.
The Witness
If you consider yourself a hardcore puzzle gamer, you owe it to yourself to check out The Witness, one of the most beautifully crafted and challenging puzzle games ever conceived. At first glance, this appears to be a rather standard puzzle adventure game. You wander around a mysterious island solving grid puzzles all the livelong day, but things become quite layered as you start to unravel the true nature of the island and just how deep the puzzle theme extends.
There are over 500 puzzles to solve and the developer claims that none of them are filler. Each puzzle you solve unlocks more of the story and more of who you are as a character. It's really quite a good game and worth the high cost of entry.
The Witness
The Witness is a beautiful and fantastic puzzle game for the Shield TV. It packs gorgeous graphics with intense puzzles to solve.
Bridge Constructor Portal
Bridge Constructor is a great physics-based puzzle game in its own right, but the Portal spin-off takes the concept and adds in all the wacky elements from Aperture Laboratories. Through 60 test chambers, your goal is to get the test vehicles to the end of the course any way you can using portals, along with propulsion and repulsion gels while avoiding deadly lasers, pits of acid, and sentient turrets.
It's an outstanding cross-over title that provides a challenge that will delight fans of Bridge Constructor and Portal alike. It's the best of the series by far to this day.
Bridge Constructor Portal
Experience a brilliant blend of Bridge Constructor gameplay with Portal's wackiness. Fans of both game series will find a lot to love here.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Right off the top for those wondering, this game is nothing like the stealth action found in Metal Gear Solid, the crown jewel of the Metal Gear franchise. Instead, this is a slick-looking hack-and-slash action spin-off title starring Raiden, whom fans will remember best from the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid 2.
The story revolves around conflicts between rival Private Military Companies, with some corporations actively looking to court chaos to keep the war economy chugging along. We won't dive too much into the plot specifics, but just want to reiterate that this is nothing like the gameplay found in Metal Gear Solid games.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Though a departure from the gameplay that the Metal Gear series is renowned for, Revengeance is nonetheless a visually appealing game.
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is a masterpiece of a game. It's the sequel to 1998's groundbreaking first-person shooter Half-Life. If you own an NVIDIA Shield and have never played Half-Life 2, you owe it to yourself to check this game out. You don't have to have played the first one, but if you need a bit of the backstory: You play as Gordon Freeman, a quiet scientist who previously worked for Black Mesa Research Facility and accidentally opened a portal to another dimension.
Half-Life 2 picks up with Freeman being awoken from stasis, learning that the world has fallen under the control of the Combine, an inter-dimensional empire that has implemented a brutal worldwide police state to control the human race.
Half-Life 2
A legendary game, Half-Life 2 is a pure masterpiece of Valve's past. While the desire for a sequel is one of the internet's oldest memes, you can see what this game is all about on your Shield TV.
Skateboard Party 3
Fans of the classic Tony Hawk Pro Skater games from back in the day who lament the storied franchise's state in the past few years should check out Skateboard Party 3. It's a throwback game to those classic skateboarding games we loved from the late 90s and early 00s before things went awry.
The game physics and controls feel very familiar and you're given a couple of game modes to choose from. In Career mode, you get four minutes to explore the eight different locations and rack up a huge score, collect P-A-R-T-Y scattered around as floating letters, and find other hidden items. Things are unlocked by spending experience points, which you collect by completing challenges and landing tricks.
Skateboard Party 3 ft. Greg Lutzka
Reminiscent of the Tony Hawk games of old, Skateboard Party 3 features classic hallmarks that fans of the older THPS games will love. Get the highest score you can!
Portal
When you're making a list of best games, and Portal is one of the options to include, you know it's going to be in there. It is one of the most fun and inventive games of all time. If you've never played Portal before, I'm actually jealous because it means you get to experience this outstanding game fresh for the first time.
This game is celebrated justly for its brilliantly subtle storyline, mind-bending puzzles, and one of the most celebrated video game villains of recent times. It's been ported beautifully over to the NVIDIA Shield TV via the Google Play Store.
Portal
Another Valve classic, Portal is a puzzle game at heart, but it's so much more. Featuring an iconic antagonist, excellent gameplay, and a great storyline, Portal is a must-play.
Doom 3
Doom is a legendary franchise, both in its classic and modern forms. The original, aka the granddaddy of the first-person shooter, and its direct sequel are available as courtesy of Bethesda. But the third game of the franchise, aptly named Doom 3, is available for the NVIDIA Shield TV.
The BFG Edition features some visual upgrades, achievements, a checkpoint system, and some control tuning. There's also a new mission that was cut from the original game. While we think Half-Life 2 is the shooter to play on your Shield TV, Doom 3 is another good option if you're looking for something more aggressive.
Doom 3: BFG Edition
While less popular than its predecessors and successors, Doom 3 has been revamped for its Shield TV release. Featuring some overhauls and new features, it's a great first-person shooter experience.
The Final Station
On its surface, The Final Station reminds me of Death Road to Canada, mentioned at the top of this list. You're thrown into a zombie apocalypse and you have to make due. But the similarities end there as The Final Station sees you on a train, in control of the few remaining human lives as you travel from station to station.
You're in charge of making sure the train remains functional, plus seeing to passenger needs. You'll pass through swarms of infected to make it to that next station, often seeking supplies and reprieve. There are choices to be made, some of which define who your character is as a person.
The Final Station
The Final Station is a great game that sees you in charge of making sure the train you're on remains functional and your passengers stay safe. You go from station to station, hoping to find supplies and survivors.
There's even more on GeForce Now
Beyond the offerings from the Google Play Store, NVIDIA offers its own service which lets you stream a whole bunch of great PC games from the cloud, including the insanely popular Fortnite. You'll find many games available to play for free, while other AAA titles are available for purchase.
NVIDIA Gamestream also lets you stream your favorite PC games from your gaming rig to your NVIDIA Shield TV — assuming your setup uses an NVIDIA graphics card.
Update November 2020: Added Doom 3 and The Final Station to our list!