Thinking about taking your mobile gaming relationship to the next level and learn how to play Android games on PC? Here’s everything you need to know about getting your favorite games running on the big screen with minimum effort involved.Back in the day, your run-of-the-mill Android device came with a mediocre processor and barely a gigabyte of RAM. These specs were decent for the simpler times when you expected your mobile phone to be, well, a mobile phone. Android manufacturers have improved the hardware to such as extent that there’s finally some room for serious mobile gaming.Mobile gaming is incomparable to PCs and consoles, but we’ve come a long way from Candy Crush and Angry Birds. Mainstream gaming studies like Rockstar and Electronic Arts have heavily invested in the mobile gaming platform for all the right reasons. But the smaller screen can hinder your gaming experience, giving you the itch to find out how to play Android games on PC.
How to play Android games on PC with BlueStacks
But how is it possible play games that are designed for the Android OS to work on your computer? All you need is a decent emulator to get things going, and we’ve selected BlueStacks for this project. This awesome Android emulator is all that you’ll need to help you understand how to play Android games on PC the easy way.Our testing rig: The system we used to test out this guide on how to play Android games on PC comes with a 6th generation Intel Core i5 processor. Paired with Intel HD graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch Full HD display, the system is running Windows 10 Home Edition. The performance of BlueStacks and the Android games you emulate may vary based on your system configuration.Step 1: Setting up BlueStacks
BlueStacks is built upon the Android SDK Tools provided by Google to help developers in designing and testing their apps. BlueStacks has become popular as one of the favorite Android emulators for computers, along with its own BlueStack Gaming Platform.To get started, you need to download and install BlueStacks 3 on your Windows computer. Go ahead and visit the official BlueStacks website and download the software using the link given down below.Download BlueStacks 3 for Windows
Once you’ve installed BlueStacks on your computer, the entire setup process should take just a couple of minutes. Right off the bat, you’ll be asked to set up your Google account with BlueStacks, just the same way you’d need to on a new Android device.BlueStacks will work like a regular device, with the difference that you’ll be able to use it on your computer. From installing almost any game from the Google Play Store (or even APK files) to running multiple screens of Android devices at once, you can do it all with BlueStacks.Step 2: Configuring BlueStacks settings
The performance you get when you try out how to play Android games on PC completely depends on your computer. BlueStacks comes with default settings to provide you with a rich user experience. However, you might need to tinker with the Settings menu to gear up the performance of your Android gaming emulator.- From the BlueStacks main screen, head over to Settings using the slide-out menu.
- Under the Display tab, choose the lowest Aspect ratio (1280 x 720) for maximum performance.
- Use the Engine tab, choose either OpenGL or DirectX depending on the one your computer system supports.
- Under CPU & RAM allocation, set the CPU cores to the maximum number and the Memory all the way up to the available amount.
Step 3: Installing an Android game on PC
With the software set up on your computer and the settings configured, you’re all set. Fortunately, you won’t need to run around fetching APK files to learn how to play Android games on PC. BlueStacks comes integrated with the Google Play Store to bring you support for hundreds and thousands of popular apps.- Go ahead and take a look at all of the apps and games that you can install with App Center.
- To begin, use the search bar and type in the game you want to install on your virtual Android device.
- The entire experience is familiar to the Google Play Store you’d use on your regular Android device. Simply hit the Install button and wait as the game downloads.
- Once the app is installed, it will automatically be added to the My Apps
Step 4: Setting up the controls
Once you have your favorite Android game installed on your computer, you’ll properly need to get used the new controls. Lucky for you, understanding how to play Android games on PC is made a lot simpler with keyboard remapping. BlueStacks not only enables you to remap the controls for each and every game but also comes with gamepad support.- Once you’ve launched a game, you’ll be able to see the Keyboard controls UI button right at the bottom of the screen.
- Pressing the button will bring up the entire interface that allows you remap the virtual keys with your keyboard.
- You can also plug in a controller and use the hotkeys to configure any game with it.
- Moreover, the UI comes with special features for shooting games, MOBA games and even support for the accelerometer.
- Once you have reconfigured the keys, hit the Save button and you’re good to go.