here honestly aren’t enough good things I can say about Tiny Bubbles. It takes the familiar and well-worn concept of matching colors and reinvigorates the idea with a gameplay formula that truly feels innovative rather than gimmicky. Tiny Bubbles, simply put, is a must-play game. Go get it.

Monsters Ate My Birthday cake is an exemplary puzzler that represents the genre well.

This is by far one of the best games I’ve played on the iPhone. It’s fun, addicting, and simple to play. I strongly recommend checking this one out.

A new and refreshing "mind" game, Big Brain Master is an addictive puzzler that'll keep players entertained for hours.

Unruly Heroes has the polish, personality, and performance of a top-tier platformer despite the things working against it. Its core design also works particularly well on mobile, where the game is ten times less expensive than it is elsewhere. Simply put, this is a no-brainer. Get this game.

Banner Saga 2 is one of the finest combinations of character, gameplay, and narrative that you can find. It's a game that spends as much time on being a fun and varied strategy game as it does on making you care about its world and the reasons why its characters are in the situation they are in. It's really hard to ask much more than that.

This multiplayer card game is delightfully tactical and unique.

Rocketcat Games has refined the foundation that Hook Champ laid down into something truly wonderful with Super QuickHook.

Despite being a game about holes, Donut County is a remarkably complete experience. It’s got the charm and silliness of something like Katamari Damacy, but with some added depth, interesting character work, and compelling storytelling to boot. This is an absolute must play.

Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! is a deeply satisfying and charming management game. Some minor control issues aside, it feels right at home on mobile. Between its great pacing, bright visuals, and satisfying mechanics, there's a lot to like here.

The brilliant dice-based roguelike from 2019 has finally graced the App Store and it’s just as good as it was then, if not better.

This stylish dungeon-crawler is good fun and feels perfectly at home on mobile.

A sensorial buffet to feast on with eyes, ears, fingers, and imagination, Ticket to Ride Europe Pocket is the real deal, a complete and integrative experience for fans of the original version and for those of us ever searching for a delicate bite of lazy fun and pleasure.

Pokémon TCG is a collectible card game done perfectly for mobile.

Arena of Valor is a fantastic MOBA that feels right at home on mobile. It’s packed with variety and gives you a ton of ways to see everything it has to offer, even if you don’t spend a cent on it. If you want to play the game competitively, its monetization scheme might force you to shell out to keep up an edge against the competition, but otherwise the game is remarkably generous, well-tuned, and a heck of a good time.

The best Star Wars game of all time has made it to the iPad in a faithful port by Aspyr, and Knights of the Old Republic shines just as brightly as it did ten years ago.

Pocket Planes addresses the main concerns I had with Tiny Tower in the long-term: that there wasn't much of a point to the game, and little goal to attain. Pocket Planes is much more involved, with concrete goals, but still keeps the principles that make NimbleBit's social titles so fun and addictive. Even haters of 'social' games need to give this a shot.

This first release of Pillars only begins the story of the novel across its seven initial chapters, but if subsequent entries in the series are anything like this one, you have a lot to look forward to. The simple adventure style really works for a game with such a compelling and unique narrative, to the point that I‘m chomping at the bit to play the next games already.

Typeshift is an incredible package because of how sleek its puzzle formula is. It's not a mechanically dense game, and its puzzles are simple variants on word games that have come before it. That said, the way these puzzles are designed and presented makes Typeshift not only a fantastic word game, but the only word game I ever want to play.

Taken as a whole, Ticket to Ride represents one of the very best (if not THE best) translations of a board game to the iPad. Every element works and works well, and the game is seriously engaging and addictive.

No matter how much people gripe about the details though, there is no denying that Aralon is the most impressive RPG to ever hit the App Store. There are others with better stories, but Aralon is the only one that forces you to live and breathe in its fantasy world.

Mikey Hooks takes the casual speedrun formula of Mikey Shorts, and adds grappling hooks for more addictive speedrun fun. Speedfun!

Ridiculous Fishing, Vlambeer's fishing (with guns!) game has been a long time in the works thanks to drama over a clone, but it's finally here and it's spectacular.

As a platformer, Oddmar is among the best ones available on the App Store. It takes tropes from the genre and rearranges them into tight little packages that feel great to run through. It may not be the most original game out there, and its story may leave a little to be desired, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this phenomenal platformer.

Neon Shadow hits the mark at almost every turn, providing players with the authentic space-themed FPS experience they have probably been waiting for.

Bad Piggies is pretty darned flawless, when I think about it.

Sunless Sea is a fascinating game because of its genre-blending and evocative writing and setting. It's also a game that provides both the freedom to let players do what they want and the structure to give players concrete goals to work toward, with both paths feeling satisfying even after several playthroughs of the game. It's truly a remarkable game. Go play it.

Speed of Time is a charming exception to the sentiment of endless runner fatigue.