Welcome to the official mobile gaming thread, where we discuss the best and most interesting titles coming to iOS and Android each and every month. From sales, to exciting new releases, to promising games in the works, mobile gaming is vast and growing medium, with entries in genres of every fashion, premium and free alike.
The main post will contain recommended games that released during the previous year. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the ERA community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
(Images and descriptions taken from TouchArcade.com)
Grindstone (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Card of Darkness (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Void Tyrant
iOS / Android
Dead Cells
iOS / Android
Xenowerk Tactics
iOS / Android
Bleak Sword (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Guildlings (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Path of Giants
iOS / Android
Call of Duty: Mobile
iOS / Android
Witcheye
iOS / Android
Manifold Garden (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Pirates Outlaws
iOS / Android
Immortal Rogue
iOS / Android
Photographs - Puzzle Stories
iOS / Android
Birk's Adventure
iOS / Android
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Mobile Gaming September/October 2018 | A Song of Ice & Dire
Mobile Gaming July/August 2018 | Get Ready to Battle Your Heart Out
Mobile Gaming June 2018 | Apple needs to let off some Steam
Mobile Gaming May 2018 | Mayday! Too many games to play
Mobile Gaming April 2018 | Portable Battle Royale
Mobile Gaming March 2018 | A lovely month for gaming on the go
Mobile Gaming February 2018 | A Thumping good time!
Mobile Gaming January 2018 | New ERA, new year, and so many new games
Mobile Gaming December 2017 | A Frosty X-mas Season
Mobile Gaming November 2017 | Giving thanks for iOS and Android alike
The main post will contain recommended games that released during the previous year. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the ERA community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
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Notable Mobile Games of 2019
(Images and descriptions taken from TouchArcade.com)
Grindstone (Apple Arcade)
iOS
GRINDSTONE is a game of sword-slashing puzzle battles from the award-winning creators of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes and Critter Crunch! Grindstone Mountain is overrun with vicious Creeps! Slay your way up its treacherous peak where fortune, glory (and death) awaits! It'll take sharp puzzle skills and an even sharper blade to cleave your way through the swarms of bloodthirsty Creeps dwelling within Grindstone's dungeons. Battle bosses, loot resources, discover long-lost blueprints for powerful gear, all while cleaving the innards from your deadly foes! 150 levels of intense puzzle-battling madness!
Card of Darkness (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Embark on an epic hand-animated adventure from Zach Gage, Pendleton Ward, and Choice Provisions. Cast powerful spells, slay fantastic monsters, discover ancient secrets, and ultimately save the world — just by picking up the right cards. Card of Darkness is a full-featured adventure designed around an accessible, minimalist, card game core.
Void Tyrant
iOS / Android
Build a deck as you battle across the galaxy, gathering powerful cards along the way. With strategy and a bit of luck you might be able to reclaim the Eyes of Chronos.
A single-player adventure, play with 500+ cards and three unique classes to engineer a custom deck to your own design. Rooted in the simple hit-or-stand mechanics of blackjack, Void Tyrant is an easy to understand roguelike with engrossing depth. Battle quirky aliens, disarm traps, upgrade your spaceport, and face off with the sinister Wruut.
Dead Cells
iOS / Android
Death is not the end.
Play as a failed alchemic experiment and explore the sprawling, ever-changing castle to find out what happened on this gloomy island…!
That is, assuming you're able to fight your way past its keepers.
Dead Cells is a roguevania action platformer that will require you to master frantic 2D combat with a wide variety of weapons and skills against merciless minions and boss.
Xenowerk Tactics
iOS / Android
Play as the commander of an emergency response team after a disaster at a secret lab, hidden deep in the arctic region. Your task is to cover up and maximize profits for the Xenowerk corporation, or to save the world, depending on whom you ask...
EXPLORE
Deploy squads on expeditions into the infected zone. Explore a ferocious landscape scattered with remnants of Xenowerk's absurd research facilities. Use skills, traits and mutations to mitigate the dangers, horrors and mishaps during your journeys.
Push your operatives to the limit, not to waste any precious time. Explore jungles, swamps, laboratories, shelters and factories. Scavenge for valuable resources. Carry out various missions. Secure strategic safe zones. Find and rescue M.I.A. operatives.
FIGHT
Control your squad in real-time combat against hordes of mutants. Use operative skills and mutations, such as Frag Grenade, Bait & Trap, Adrenaline, Pyrokinesis and much more, to skew the odds in your favor. Activate Tactical Pause at any time to give more detailed orders.
MANAGE
Recruit and evolve Marines, Rangers and Scientists as your operatives. But choose wisely, some may obtain dubious traits or mutations.
Spend gathered resources to enhance your base of operations; Barracks, Recruitment, Field hospital, Armory, etc. Spend earnings on treatments, upgrades and recruitment.
Cater for the whims of the Xenowerk Management to keep getting funded. Earn some extra cash-under-the-table by selling off resources on the Black Market. Or maybe try to save the world...
Bleak Sword (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Developed by more8bit Bleak Sword is a dark fantasy action game tasking players to struggle across compact, cursed diorama battlefields. Through nine tense chapters, heroes must lift the curse of the legendary Bleak Sword by striking down all manner of creatures in every forest, swamp, castle, and dungeon on their journey. Invoke powerful magic, uncover helpful items, and level up your character to upgrade your stats before facing down menacing guardians. Once the curse has been lifted the challenging Arena Mode and thirty unlockable achievements await even the most accomplished warrior. Bleak Sword is designed to be able to play it easily with elegant controls allowing heroes to roll, parry, attack and counter-attack using basic movements on gamepads and touch controls. Scored by award-winning composer Jim Guthrie with sound by famed designer Joonas Turner.
Information
Guildlings (Apple Arcade)
iOS
This summer, you and your best friends are heading out on a quest. You'll climb through dark tunnels to reach mystical mountain temples. You'll match wits with goblins, ghosts and sentient coffeemakers. You might even save the world from tearing itself apart.
All you need to get this quest started? A magical phone. Be sure to read the fine print.
This is Guildlings, a new story-driven episodic adventure brought to you by Asher Vollmer (maker of Threes), IGF award-winner Jamie Antonisse, and the team of dedicated indies at Sirvo Studios. Drawing inspiration from classic RPGs, point and click puzzlers and visual novel games, it tells a lighthearted coming-of-age fantasy tale within a modern mobile frame.
Path of Giants
iOS / Android
Path of Giants puts you in control of three explorers on their quest for a hidden treasure up an icy mountain. In this serene puzzle adventure game, each level will require you to use teamwork between the explorers to help them solve the puzzles!
Each level is carefully designed and hand-crafted to create chillingly beautiful scenes, evoking a sense of calm as you explore this long forgotten area of the world.
So put on your thinking cap and join Bern, Matchi and Totch as they explore the frozen mountain and traverse the many puzzles in hopes of finding the lost treasure!
Call of Duty: Mobile
iOS / Android
Official CALL OF DUTY® designed exclusively for mobile phones. Play iconic multiplayer maps and modes anytime, anywhere. 100 player Battle Royale battleground? Fast 5v5 team deathmatch? Scary Zombies action? Sniper vs sniper battle? Activision's free-to-play CALL OF DUTY®: MOBILE has it all.
FREE TO PLAY ON MOBILE
Console quality HD gaming on your phone with customizable controls, voice and text chat, and thrilling 3D graphics and sound. Experience the thrill of the world's most beloved shooter game, now on your phone for easy on-the-go fun.
BELOVED GAME MODES AND MAPS
Play iconic multiplayer maps from Call of Duty®: Black Ops and Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare®, available for the first time for free. Or squad up with friends in a brand new 100-person battle royale survival map. Join the fun with millions of players from all around world!
CUSTOMIZE YOUR UNIQUE LOADOUT
As you play CALL OF DUTY®: MOBILE you will unlock and earn dozens of famous characters, weapons, outfits, scorestreaks and pieces of gear that can be used to customize your loadouts. Bring these loadouts into battle in thrilling PvP multiplayers modes like 5v5 team deathmatch, frontline, free for all, search and destroy, sniper battle, and battle royale.
COMPETITIVE AND SOCIAL PLAY
Use skill and strategy to battle to the top in competitive Ranked Mode or to win the most Clan prizes as you play with friends. Compete and fight against millions of friends and foes in this thrilling free to play multiplayer shooter.
Witcheye
iOS / Android
Witcheye is a big, colorful, old-school platform adventure with a unique touchscreen control system that gives unparalleled control over the hero. Swipe to move and touch to stop, bouncing off of enemies and dodging hazards in six vibrant worlds. Set off on an adventure as a mild-mannered witch who transforms into a flying eyeball of vengeance after a smarmy knight and wizard steal her spell ingredients. You'll guide her through 50+ levels, each containing something completely unique: tricky new enemies, mysterious new environments, and puzzling new secrets. These elements are brought to life with colorful, clean pixel art and a lively, head-bobbing original soundtrack.
Manifold Garden (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Explore a beautiful Escheresque world where the laws of physics are different. Geometry repeats infinitely in every direction, and falling down leads you back to where you started. Manipulate gravity to change your perspective and see the world in new ways. Master the rules of the universe and restore a barren world with vegetation and life.
Pirates Outlaws
iOS / Android
Play cards, build your deck to get the best combos! In Pirates Outlaws pick a character with a pre-made deck. Explore and manage your expedition to get more gold and reputation. Manage your deck and ammo to defeat enemies' strategy, in a turn based combat system.
The path to become a wealthy and respected Pirate will not be easy!
Immortal Rogue
iOS / Android
Immortal Rogue is a brutal, swipe-controlled action roguelike. You play as a vampire that wakes up every 100 years to feed. Who you choose to hunt directly impacts the future and changes the game world. Different timelines offer different enemies to defeat and unique items to discover. You can fight samurai with a rocket fist from a long lost civilization, or take out cyborgs with an enchanted katana.
The combat is challenging, and defeat has consequences. But you can never truly die. The world goes on with both your allies, and your enemies, awaiting your return.
Photographs - Puzzle Stories
iOS / Android
I think you should play Photographs.
I tried to make it a little bit different from most games. It sort of mixes puzzle and narrative in a ( hopefully ) interesting way. You might get stuck on some puzzles, but you should never not know what you need to do to proceed.
So what do you actually do? Well, you search around and solve puzzles, and as you do so you'll be developing a scene in front of you and hearing a story. I want to the story to really stand out, so the game has got really beautiful pixel art and top notch music, combined with gameplay and narrative beats that individually would do a pretty good job of telling that story, but come together to really make something special.
It's a pretty short game too. I would say about three hours. There are loads of games these days and who has time to play them all? I've tried to keep things as condensed as possible rather than add filler, to be as respectful for your time as I can be.
Each story is in a different setting and has completely different gameplay mechanics. It ended up being a LOT of work, but It's kind of necessary: The gameplay itself has a hand in telling the story, so what works for one tale wouldn't work for another.
I don't think there's anything else like it out there, so if nothing else, It should give you a unique experience.
So yeah. That's my pitch, If that sounds interesting to you, give it a shot!
Birk's Adventure
iOS / Android
During a dark, rainy thunderstorm, mysterious forces appear on the skies over the Kingdom of Nidala.
Birk, a brave townsboy, heads over to the old tower where Merlin lives, in hopes of getting some answers from the elder. Birk learns that the King is missing and the sacred stone tablets which have protected the kingdom for generations have been stolen.
Join Birk in a charming, retro-styled pixel adventure on a quest to unravel the mysteries and restore peace to the kingdom.
Explore the lands, talk to the locals, collect weapons and upgrade your character.
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a dreamy arcade game about riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200 mph.
As the heart of a young woman breaks, the balance of the universe is disturbed. A diamond butterfly appears in her dreams and leads her through a highway in the sky, where she finds her other self: the masked biker called The Fool.
Journey through a custom-written pop soundtrack, chase scores, and set out to find the harmony of the universe, hidden away in the hearts of Little Death and her star-crossed allies: Dancing Devils, Howling Moons, Stereo Lovers and Hermit 64.
Let's Pop!
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Previous Threads
Mobile Gaming 2019 | Mega Thread, Mega Backlog!Previous Threads
Mobile Gaming September/October 2018 | A Song of Ice & Dire
Mobile Gaming July/August 2018 | Get Ready to Battle Your Heart Out
Mobile Gaming June 2018 | Apple needs to let off some Steam
Mobile Gaming May 2018 | Mayday! Too many games to play
Mobile Gaming April 2018 | Portable Battle Royale
Mobile Gaming March 2018 | A lovely month for gaming on the go
Mobile Gaming February 2018 | A Thumping good time!
Mobile Gaming January 2018 | New ERA, new year, and so many new games
Mobile Gaming December 2017 | A Frosty X-mas Season
Mobile Gaming November 2017 | Giving thanks for iOS and Android alike
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