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[More_Badass]

Each month, the iOS GAF community hosts a thread for new game releases, rumors and discussion that define the fast-moving world of iOS gaming.

The OP will contain recommended games that released during the previous month. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the GAF 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.

If you're a developer who wishes to have your game featured, please talk about your game in the thread and if the GAF community at large likes the game then your wish just might be granted. Please note that there's a difference between posting about a game you made and just advertising your game with no further interaction with the community, this thread is not for the latter and such advertising behavior is frowned upon.

Directory
1) Introduction & Recommended Games
2) Recommended Games continued
3) Upcoming Releases, Past Threads & Other Links

Site | App Store
Love You to Bits is a crazy cute, purely visual, puzzle-filled, point-and-click, sci-fi adventure spanning all around the universe.
You will follow the journey of Kosmo, a clumsy, rookie space explorer in search of Nova, his robot girlfriend. After a fatal accident, all of Nova’s pieces get scattered in outer space! So now Kosmo wants to retrieve all Nova’s bits, rebuild her, and get back together.
Explore the strangest worlds and planets, full of fantastic aliens, space-time puzzles, and hidden objects to collect. As you complete levels, you will discover Kosmo and Nova’s heartbreaking love story!

By level 3 of LU2B, it's pretty clear this is going to be an awesome experience.
- The structure is essentially the same as Tiny Thief. Aside from the tutorial/prologue, each planet so far is its own separate single-screen level.
- It's just as charming and cute as Tiny Thief
- Same basic controls and gameplay, but evolved. More manipulating with the environment. The puzzles aren't just place-this-item-here

Loving the game so far, takes all the great things about Tiny Thief and builds off them even more.

This game has a ton of charm. The memories that unlock as you pick up the special items are way too cute.

Absolutely - filled *to the brim* with cuteness and charm. Game is all the more amazing for it, too.

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Site | App Store
Blackbox is a tribute to being different. Explore over 50 unique puzzles where finger swipes mean nothing. Use visual cues to expand your creative thinking and solve puzzles by turning, shouting, clicking, snapping, and traveling while discovering secrets along the way…

This game is brilliant, It's like real-life The Room and might be the best game since Device 6 to blend the iDevice itself with puzzles

I've played it. It's pretty cool and innovative, will have to put some more time into it.

This is cool. I've managed to figure out most of the gimmicks pretty quickly though and now it wants me to buy the advanced pack. There's still a few lights I can't get yet.

This reminds me of weird browser puzzles I used to play where you would have to edit the URL and find hints in the source code to progress.

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Site | App Store
Shadow Blade is an action-platformer set in a visually striking world where the ancient teachings of ninjas and samurai clash upon a modern landscape. Sprint through stages littered with traps, slaying enemies along your path without hesitation as Kuro, the blade of shadow!

Finally grabbed it and it's fabulous. Loved the original and this is like 10x better graphically and gameplay wise. Don't hesitate to buy it, especially if you enjoyed the original.

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Site | App Store
_PRISM is a visually stunning journey through a microcosmic galaxy. Touch shapes and patterns to unfold sacred geometry and reach the ethereal soul. Each level is a push and pull of cinematic design, mythology, and intuitive touch exploration.

A gorgeous tactile and abstract puzzler

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Site | App Store
Tomb of the Mask is an arcade game, which takes place in an infinite procedurally generated vertical labyrinth. Seeking for adventure you get into a tomb, where you find a strange mask. You wear it and suddenly realize that you can now climb walls - easily and promptly. And that's when all the fun begins.
You'll face a variety of traps, enemies, game mechanics and powerups. And as far as time doesn't wait, get a grip and up you go!

Tomb of the Mask is out. Kind of an endless maze arcade game that feels like a mix of Pac-Man and Downwell. Pretty fun and addicting. F2P with the usual "watch a video" for revives type approach, which isn't bad.

Tomb of the Mask is really, really good.

Tomb of the Mask is pretty fabulous.

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Site | App Store
The Swords is an action game of ancient martial arts. It tells the story of a sword master's life and his deep immersion in the art of swords. Amidst the ink wash painting is the light and shade of swords, which embodies the fighting and pursuit of a sword master.

Instant classic. Ingenious gameplay. Music to die for. Flawless implementation.

Much like "A Ride into The Mountains", I can already tell this well never leave my phone and/or any devices I own.

Complex simplicity melded with a beautiful aesthetic and bounding with challenges. Kudos, regret has been vanquished along with the amateur level. Great stuff indeed.

This is really an awesome experience. I love the art, story and music too. Each level is fresh the mechanics keep on changing. But note that this game is designed to challenge you so be prepared.

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Site | App Store
Abzorb is a tilt game about consuming orbs by getting as close as you can to them without touching. By tilting your mobile device, collect blue orbs as fast as you can while evading the time-stealing reds.
Master 65 challenging levels and unlock new color schemes with the stars you earn along the way.

Okay, now this is this week's hidden gem

I think it might be my favorite tilt-control game since Tilt To Live

It has a large variety of different mechanics, silky-smooth tilt controls, a nice level of challenge, and a hefty amount of levels

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Site | App Store
Ellipsis is an action-packed puzzle game with minimalistic, yet powerful retro styled visuals. Your finger guides a ship through a mysterious universe. Be smart and be fast to overcome the challenges of your journey. You will face countless enemies crossing your paths and a stunning universe unfolding before you.

A stylish slick neon arcade game with a lot of content

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Site | App Store
Super Tribes is a turn based strategic adventure. It's a game about ruling the world, fighting evil AI tribes, discovering new lands and mastering new technologies.
Auto generated maps make each game a new experience, with unlimited replay value.
Pick and choose among different tribes. Wander in the dark cold forests of Barduria, explore the steamy Kickoo jungles or claim the lush field of the Imperius empire.

Has anyone else been playing Super Tribes? I think it's a fantastic little game. It's Civilization lite with a 30 turn limit. Your goal is a high score. It's free to play with 4 tribes available and a fifth as an iap for 79p. It's a lot of fun and each game only lasts about 15 minutes.

There's also no tutorial so the first couple of games are all about figuring out how to do things. If you're a fan of civ though, I would definitely give this a go.

Thanks for the recommendation! The game's quite fun but I'd like to see an endless mode added. I know it sort of goes against the game's philosophy but it's sometimes frustrating that it ends right when you're starting to turn things around.

 

[More_Badass]

Site | App Store
Relive the excitement of Final Fantasy Adventure―a timeless classic remastered for a new generation.
Adventures of Mana's battle system grants you the freedom to move about the playing field without restriction, allowing for thrilling combat in which you decide when to attack and how to evade.
Bloodthirsty enemies are not the only things standing in the way of completing your quest. You will need both tools and your wits to overcome the many challenges encountered in the world of Mana, ranging from locked doors to hidden rooms to traps growing progressively more complex as the game progresses.

Played about one hour and I'm finding the game to be surprisingly close to Zelda. I'm playing A Link Between Worlds and the structure is fairly similar, even if Zelda focuses way more on the puzzle aspect. The whole screen to screen transition plus exploration and acquiring new items to access different areas screams old school Zelda.

It's nowhere near as tight and polished though. Obviously.

I'm enjoying it though. My main gripe is how easy the bosses are so far.

Just got to the Marsh Cave. iOS version is great. It's a 1:1 remake of FFA all the way down to the positioning of terrain obstacles, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

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Site | App Store
In the distant future, mankind is scattered across a vast and dangerous universe. The crews of massive space stations live in a constant struggle for survival. How many can you save?

Everything's slipping out early this week, awesome

A little something I write about this game on TA:

ABSOLUTELY the most novel runner I have played in some time. Quite unlike any others I've ever played. It's just completely perfect at doing what it does. It has a level of focus that I have never seen before in a Foursaken game.

And BOY did Foursaken nail the gritty sci-fi atmosphere.

They actually managed to make the world of this little endless runner feel lived in, having all the different little rooms you run by be sublimely detailed, making the atmosphere of this game actually be its most convincing aspect

I'm not that into endless runners but I have to admit that All is Lost really clicked with me after a while.
Not sure my iPhone will survive the rage, but it's pretty good and gets really tricky after a while, especially when you try to save the admiral or the captain in upper ranks

You guys weren't kidding about All is Lost. After the 1st escape I was sold and bought the IAP to remove ads. Love me a good endless runner.

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Site | App Store
Lost Portal is a collectable card game that involves exploring dungeons and fighting AI enemies and bosses, collecting treasure and leveling up your character to gain new abilities.

I first heard about this game today. It was a nice surprise to have it available so quickly. As for my impressions (kind of all over the place):

A level consists of a tile based map that you explore to reveal NPCs, enemies and objects to interact with. There's a world map where you can travel to other areas. It seems like locations will become available as you gain quests. You can only move your character in straight lines. This means that you can't tap an explored tile around a corner to take the shortest path there all the way there, like in Dream Quest. You can't interrupt movement either...

The writing is well done so far. It's concise with a D&D feel. In contrast, I found Dream Quest to ramble on.

The game seems good so far and it has definitely captured my interest. There are some odd design choices but I need to spend more time with it to form a better impression.

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Site | App Store
Space Grunts combines fast paced arcade action with turn-based gameplay.
You play one, out of a team, of Space Grunts, and your mission is simple: find your way into the moon-base, and figure out what has happened. You'll have to fight your way through aliens, robots, security drones and base-systems. Find the lower levels of the moon-base, and get to the core of the problems.

No story. Endless, turn based roguelike in a scifi setting. Nice variety of weapons and enemies. Just fun!

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Site | App Store
Whether you know how to drift or not you’ll enjoy sliding sideways around the corners to compete for the highest score.

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Site | App Store
The thrilling final game in the Blackwell series
A dead man's soul cries out against the force of a ferocious blizzard. He cries for help. He cries for answers. Then he screams as he is torn apart like damp tissue paper.
This wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last.
The police are powerless to stop it, so the duty falls to the only ones who can. What force could be so powerful – and so malevolent – that it would destroy the very core of a life in order to get what it wants? Rosa Blackwell and Joey Mallone mean to find out, even if it means risking themselves in the process.

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Site | App Store
elling over 5.5million copies since its release in 2000, FINAL FANTASY IX proudly returns on iOS!
Now you can relive the adventures of Zidane and his crew in the palm of your hands!
Enjoy this classic FINAL FANTASY experience with no additional fees or purchases.

 

[More_Badass]

Pathfinder Adventure - March 29th

Super Arc Light

Verreciel

Zenge

SEN

More releases to be added soon
___________________________________________________________________________

iOS Gaming February 2016 | Crashlands Bandicoot
iOS Gaming January 2016 | Should old applications be forgot?

Visit the January 2016 thread for links to all 2015 iOS Gaming threads
Visit the January 2014 thread for links to December 2013 through November 2012 threads!

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This website keeps track of all the controller enabled games. It gets updated regularly.

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Genuine thanks to our iOS Gaming community for keeping these monthly threads alive!
Special thanks to Tunesmith for his fantastic thread format and month after month of hard work in maintaining these threads
Also thanks to Tunesmith for the great thread title this month

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Another great OP for iOS gaming. Great job More_Badass.

 

[awp69]

Thanks MB! Hope you feel better!

 

[jon bones]

warbits... please...

 

[Heel]

warbits... please...

Update from one of the devs:

going to send a build to be approved tonight, once it is, we’ll get all the neogaf signups invited

NeoGAF beta signup page here.

 

[jon bones]

Update from one of the devs:



NeoGAF beta signup page here.

oh shit, thanks! how old is that msg?

 

[protonium]

.

 

[nampad]

Update from one of the devs:



NeoGAF beta signup page here.

Good to know, thanks. Signed up again using the neogaf link.

 

[Heel]

oh shit, thanks! how old is that msg?

Around 3 hours ago. There's a Slack chat to give feedback and make maps for the beta. Pretty neat!

 

[GWX]

Good to know, thanks. Signed up again using the neogaf link.

Yep, same here! Hoping to enjoy some Warbits goodness soon

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Looking like a great month ahead! Hopefully that message from the Dev is correct and we get Warbits by the end of the month. That would basically wrap up my most (known) anticipated games for the year and anything else will be extra goodness.

 

[bestpersonevar]

Is FFIX $16.99? I think that was just the first week sale price

 

[RustyO]

Nice thread as always MB.

 

[PittaGAF]

Woot!!!!
Thanks More_Badass!!!

 

[SteveWD40]

Pathfinder Adventure has been on my radar for a while now, I like the idea of a singleplayer CCG.

 

[PittaGAF]

Pathfinder Adventure has been on my radar for a while now, I like the idea of a singleplayer CCG.

I somewhat like (but not crazy about) the real life ACG (I much prefer WHQ ACG even if a bit different) but I sense it can be awesome on digital, taking away all the issues with deck shuffling and preparing the board (a real chore).
Actually...I know some people that are playing the beta and I'm hearing only awesome things about it...really looking forward to it.

As far as I know it will be free to download with the tutorial and first adventure playable, then you pay for the adventures DLC.

 

[PittaGAF]

WOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

I'm 3 notches away from last boss in Lost Socks.
What a unexpected masterpiece!!!!

 

[Nyx]

I'm still playing Kingdom Rush games the most on my phone, now busy with doing every level on Veteran difficulty, damn that can be hard!

 

[ekim]

Love you to bits is utterly amazing and fun. I just miss a lot of the collectibles in the later levels and I have no idea where they could be. Especially in the Limbo style level.

 

[One Foul Note]

Pathfinder Adventure has been on my radar for a while now, I like the idea of a singleplayer CCG.

Me too with that one. I've never played the real game but I've put some time into the LotR and Warhammer Quest coop card games and rather enjoy them, although it is hard to find the time and effort to set them up for solo games.

 

[Matt Frost]

I need new games and the OP is the perfect place to look for them. Great job M_B!

Wow Tomb of the Mask looks like is a game made for me. Downloading...

Ellipsis - Touch. Explore. Survive. Looks amazing as well.

Lost Socks looks amazing with that graphics and is a runner. Haven't played one in a while, hoping that is a Premium Game.

 

[killercow]

I need new games and the OP is the perfect place to look for them. Great job M_B!

Lost Socks looks amazing with that graphics and is a runner. Haven't played one in a while, hoping that is a Premium Game.

Lost Socks is indeed premium with no iAPs.

 

[Matt Frost]

Lost Socks is indeed premium with no iAPs.

Oh, amazing news, instant buy then... Thanks KillerCow!!

 

[PittaGAF]

Not only Lost Socks is premium without any iaps, according to the dev it releases TONIGHT.
Actually....in about 11 hours (the dev out up a countdown on TA).

 

[infiniteloop]

I'm cautious about Lost Socks. iOS GAF has a tendency to over-hype coughCrashlandscough will pick it up when it has MFi support. Also sounds like they will eventually ratchet down the difficulty.

 

[protonium]

.

 

[FerranMG]

Tomb of the Mask is a pretty cool game that's eating up between 2 and 3 MB of data per game.
iOS is telling me it used 40 MB of data in the 30-40 minutes I've been playing. This is ludicrous.

 

[awp69]

I'm cautious about Lost Socks. iOS GAF has a tendency to over-hype coughCrashlandscough will pick it up when it has MFi support. Also sounds like they will eventually ratchet down the difficulty.

Where did you hear they are ratcheting down the difficulty?

 

[infiniteloop]

Where did you hear they are ratcheting down the difficulty?

i didn't, but if people are saying that it's ridiculously hard, you know people are going to complain about it and they'll either tweak the difficulty or add an easy mode.

 

[More_Badass]

i didn't, but if people are saying that it's ridiculously hard, you know people are going to complain about it and they'll either tweak the difficulty or add an easy mode.

A lot of people complain about a lot of games. Roguelikes being too hard, asking for easy modes in Volgarr and other hard-as-nails games on other platforms. Some devs appease, others don't. It's not a given that the devs will tone down difficulty because some people find it too hard

 

[Matt Frost]

Not only Lost Socks is premium without any iaps, according to the dev it releases TONIGHT.
Actually....in about 11 hours (the dev out up a countdown on TA).

Instant buy then, tonight it is. Any IAPs to be found, Awesome graphics, Amazing runner... A Triple AAA indeed xD

 

[infiniteloop]

We'll see i guess. An auto-runner that's not f2p is a tough sell as it is, imo.

 

[More_Badass]

Siralim 2 got announced today
http://www.siralim2.com/

 

[More_Badass]

We'll see i guess. An auto-runner that's not f2p is a tough sell as it is, imo.

The first two Rayman runners were paid. And Polara, Joe Danger, Canabalt, Ski Safari, Bit.Trip.Run, Tiny Wings, etc.

Plus this one has big guns and a lot of explosions so it already has an edge over the others

 

[One Foul Note]

Anyone else playing anything of _PRISM? I put some time into it and the controls are real jumpy and kinda unpleasant. When it is working I am quite liking it but like every fifth tap the game is miss reading and sending the entire prism I am working on spinning wildly.

 

[PittaGAF]

I wouldn't really count on Lost Socks devs tuning down difficulty to be honest.
Even in the app description they are addressing the hardcore gamers.

And to be honest, it may be just me (I'm clearly in love with the game, imho it's leaps and bounds better than almost everything in the same vein I played in last years) but as someone who isn't a pro in these games by any means, I never found the game frustrating.
Don't be fooled, it IS hard as nails...but there is always something new to do, see or look forward in the immediate...I think they really nailed down the pacing and stages length.
Also a big plus....restarting a game after failure is ultra fast on iPhone 6S, less than the blink of an eye.

For example, you aren't gated to 3 star and crown a level to proceed....you can play level after level for quite a bit before being underpowered (the game warns you).
Only then you have to go back to earn stars and crowns to unlock next weapon...that usually grants you a big leap in baddassness (is that a word?) to let you play further levels.
And when you actually go back to previous levels...they feel a lot different when you go for the highscore crown or the 3 stars than when you first played...and this adds a lot to variety (this is particularly true in world 2 and especially 3).
Actually I think it's impossible to try to 3 star and crown level after level...you have to go further, unlock better gear, then go back to unlock even better gear.

At least this is my experience, I wonder if it's the same of the others already playing.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I'm cautious about Lost Socks. iOS GAF has a tendency to over-hype coughCrashlandscough will pick it up when it has MFi support. Also sounds like they will eventually ratchet down the difficulty.

Wait, wait hold a minute. You're telling me that people like to talk about games that excite them? And sometimes those games might not be to everyone's taste?

Oh no, what will we do?! Throw the baby out with the bathwater I guess! Anybody who gets excited about a game is suddenly invalid and untrustworthy! You heard it here first!

Spoiler

How about instead of rudely dismissing people's opinions out of hand, you engage with the people in the thread who are playing the game?

 

[infiniteloop]

Wait, wait hold a minute. You're telling me that people like to talk about games that excite them? And sometimes those games might not be to everyone's taste?

Oh no, what will we do?! Throw the baby out with the bathwater I guess! Anybody who gets excited about a game is suddenly invalid and untrustworthy! You heard it here first!

yeah, ok dude. just saying i'll wait a bit while they work out the kinks.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

yeah, ok dude. just saying i'll wait a bit while they work out the kinks.

That's not what you're saying. You're literally dismissing the posts of the posters who are playing the game. Why are you doing that?

 

[More_Badass]

yeah, ok dude. just saying i'll wait a bit while they work out the kinks.

There's a difference between unfair hard and deliberately-designed-from-the-ground-up hard. The former is usually because of some failing in the game design or poor controls or whatnot, while the latter accomdates its challenge and allows the player to overcome through practice, a la Dark Souls or Volgarr. Challenge isn't a kink to work out when the game is designed to be challenging

 

[infiniteloop]

That's not what you're saying. You're literally dismissing the posts of the posters who are playing the game. Why are you doing that?

I'm not. You might want to think about not

Spoiler

"rudely dismissing"

others opinions yourself..

 

[protonium]

.

 

[infiniteloop]

Damn, Whale Trail got an update. That's a blast from the past, used to love that game.

 

[infiniteloop]

New game from Snowman (alto's adventure) called Where Cards Fall. not a lot of info at the moment:

http://www.wherecardsfall.com

 

[Spruchy]

That's not what you're saying. You're literally dismissing the posts of the posters who are playing the game. Why are you doing that?

To be fair he brought up a good example and you just dismissed it as people having different opinions. Crashlands was being lauded as the new hot shit around here until people played for more than an hour and realized it turns into a repetitive drag.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

To be fair he brought up a good example and you just dismissed it as people having different opinions. Crashlands was being lauded as the new hot shit around here until people played for more than an hour and realized it turns into a repetitive drag.

I'm not dismissing infiniteloop's opinion, I'm directly engaging it and challenging it. That's all I'm asking anyone to do.

And the first hour or two of Crashlands is actually fun. Don't blame the posters for posting their honest early impressions, blame the game for trailing off so quickly.

 

[Matt Frost]

Damn, Whale Trail got an update. That's a blast from the past, used to love that game.

I was about to post this... I still have it installed. Love it. Got it via Promo Code a month before it was released and couldnt stop playing until it was released and then way more. Still play it every now and then. Awesome news

The first two Rayman runners were paid. And Polara, Joe Danger, Canabalt, Ski Safari, Bit.Trip.Run, Tiny Wings, etc.

Plus this one has big guns and a lot of explosions so it already has an edge over the others

I absolutely love and adore the runner genre. Endless or not. Can't wait for Lost Socks.

I don't know why the latest Rayman went that route, they could have made something incrediballs (wink wink) but they went for a less than average game instead. Probably didnt make as much money as those two either.

Polara is the best color switching runner.

Bit.Trip Runner 2 (now on PS4!!! ) is the awesomest game of the twitch runners.

Tiny Wings has emotion.

Ski Safari is fun.

Canabalt a pioneer.

Blown Away the puzzliest of them all.

 

[infiniteloop]

I was about to post this... I still have it installed. Love it. Got it via Promo Code a month before it was released and couldnt stop playing until it was released and then way more. Still play it every now and then. Awesome news
.

Yeah, one of my favorite iOS games of all time. I'm glad they found success with Monument Valley.