Best iPhone Games – TouchArcade: Recent Episodes
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Howdy folks, and welcome to the end of 2023! What a year it has been for mobile gaming, but that’s pretty much true for every year. As I’ve said before, there are so many new games hitting the App Store each and every week throughout the entire year that if even just one or two of those games are good each week that’s still a whole heck of a lot of great games that pile up by the end of the year. Throw in the subscription services like Apple Arcade and Netflix, and newcomer Crunchyroll, and the quality and quantity of premium mobile games has only risen during the course of 2023.
That being the case, it’s always tough to come up with these “Best Of" lists. We are a tiny staff of just three people, and trying to corral the sheer number of releases throughout any given year into some sort of manageable list is a daunting task for even a well-staffed outlet. It’s also tough because so many of the games released during the year, while maybe not being the greatest games ever made, do at least exhibit some noteworthy qualities that are worth highlighting. So it can be painful to leave certain games off because you feel like, gosh darn it, they deserve to be noticed!
Well, all this is to say we’ve followed our formula from last year’s Best Games of 2022 list. Starting out you’ll find each of our Game of the Week picks from the entire year, which if you’re familiar with how calendars work gives us just over 50 great games to check out. Of course there are almost always more than just one good game released each week, so beyond those Games of the Week picks you’ll find our honorable mentions broken down by Apple Arcade games, Netflix games, and regular old App Store releases. And while this specific article is mobile focused, do check out our Best of 2023 picks for both Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck.
Games of the Week for 2023
January
- Rocco’s Island: Pocket Edition
- TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (Netflix)
- Static Shift Racing
- Madness/Endless
February
- 1 Bit Survivor
- Endling: Extinction is Forever
- Dust & Neon (Netflix)
- Ultra Blade
March
- Stuffo the Puzzle Bot
- Cyber Protocol
- How We Know We’re Alive
- Well Word
April
- Brotato
- Generations
- Pocket City 2
- Super Meat Boy Forever
- Peglin
May
- Laya’s Horizon (Netflix)
- Lost Words: Beyond the Page
- Rytmos
- Super Cat Tales: PAWS
June
- Dig Odyssey: Cosmic Mining
- Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon (Netflix)
- Little Big Workshop
- Bright Reappear
- Teeny Tiny Town
July
- McPixel 3
- Ridiculous Fishing EX (Apple Arcade)
- Geo Gods
- Return to Monkey Island
August
- Stone Story RPG
- Molecano
- Gorathar
- Pizza Hero
September
- Undead Horde 2
- Pirate’s Boom Boom
- Grab The Apple
- DERE Vengeance
- Cypher 007 (Apple Arcade)
October
- IGNISTONE
- Subpar Pool
- Kingdom Eighties
- Slayaway Camp 2 Netflix & Kill (Netflix)
November
- Wizard of Legend
- Tiny Connections
- Gubbins
- Coromon
December
- Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal
- Sonic Dream Team (Apple Arcade)
- Little Nightmares
- Grand Theft Auto Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (Netflix/Standalone)
Best Games on Apple Arcade in 2023
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
- finity.
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Junkworld TD
- NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition
- Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!
- Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go
- TMNT Splintered Fate
- What The Car?
Best Games on Netflix in 2023
- Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
- Storyteller
- Terra Nil
- Valiant Hearts: Coming Home
- World of Goo Remastered
Best App Store Games of 2023
- Baldur’s Gate – Dark Alliance
- Bugsnax
- Coffee Golf
- Conjury
- Cozy Solitaire
- Daily Dadish
- Elderland
- Happy Game
- Honkai Star Rail
- Legend of Keepers
- The Legend of Tianding
- LEGO Bricktales
- The Longing Mobile
- Luck be a Landlord
- Monster Hunter Now
- Myst Mobile
- Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
- Raging Bytes
- Refind Self
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil Village
- Roto Force
- Shapez Mobile
- Sid Meier’s Railroads!
- Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out
- SpongeBob – The Cosmic Shake
- Underground Blossom
- Unpacking
- Vactics
- Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
- Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden
- Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
- Warcraft Rumble
- Warm Snow
- Wavecade
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. Hopefully this directs you towards some good games that might have slipped past you over the course of 2023, and since it’s impossible to list each and every great game that came out feel free to list anything you think we missed down in the comment section below. I’ll also take this opportunity to direct you towards our Patreon page where you can choose to support us financially for the work that we do here. It’s our main source of keeping the site going, and the only reason we have been able to remain a wholly independent outlet over the course of our 15 year existence. I’ll also list all of our previous Game of the Year articles down below if you want to go through and relive some mobile gaming memories. Thank you very much to everyone who has read and supported our site in any capacity over the years, we wish you a very Happy New Year and can’t wait to see what’s in store in 2024!
Previous Best of the Year Round-Ups:
- The Best Games of 2022
- The Best Games of 2021
- The Best Games of 2020
- The Best Games of 2019
- The Best Games of 2018
- The Best Games of 2017
- The Best Games of 2016
- The Best Games of 2015
- The Best Games of 2014
- The Best Games of 2013, Part 2
- The Best Games of 2012
- The Best Games of 2011
- The Best Games of 2010
- The Best Games of 2009
- The Best Games of 2008
Alongside picking a Game of the Year, we also like to highlight all the many great games released during the year that were excellent in their own right but didn’t quite make it to Game of the Year status. In the world of mobile, this is always a daunting task. Dozens of games release each week, and even if in each of those batches there’s only one or two good ones, you’re still staring at more than 100 noteworthy games by the end of any given year. It’s very, very difficult to try to pare down that list into something that’s manageable for an end of year feature. There’s been years where we’ve just gone ahead and done a top 100 list, but that is an enormous amount of work and we are a very tiny staff operating on an even tinier budget. Heck even a top 50 list is many man-hours that we just don’t have.
So for 2022 I’ve decided to do something a bit different. Below I’ve compiled all of our Game of the Week picks for 2022. All of these would have been on a Best of 2022 list anyway, but instead of us having to painstakingly write individual summaries for every game, you can simply click the link to the Game of the Week article where I’ve already previously written several paragraphs about each game and why it’s great. That gives you a solid list of 51 (there was no GotW last week) games to sift through looking for anything you might have missed, and with more information on each one than our traditional Best Of lists would have anyway. That seems like a win-win!
Of course, there were more great games than just what made our Game of the Week picks, and so below all of those you can find our Honorable Mention picks for both Apple Arcade and Netflix, and then a short but sweet list of other regular App Store games that we loved this year.
Games of the Week for 2022
January
- Dungeon Reels
- Cards Infinity
- Krispee Street
- Micro RPG
February
- Dungeon and Gravestone
- Mourning Star
- Kaiju Attack
- Siralim Ultimate
March
- Labyrinth City – Pierre the Maze Detective
- A Musical Story
- Shift Shaft
- Fury Unleashed
April* Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield * Maximus 2 * Hot Lap League * Crux: The Great Outdoors * Watcher Chronicles
May
- Knotwords
- Donut 80
- Dysmantle
- Streets of Rage 4
June
- MoriArashi
- Almora Darkosen
- Poinpy
- Hero Emblems II
July* Incoherence * Dicey Dungeons * Banana Kong 2 * Into the Breach * Soccer Rally
August
- Card Crawl Adventure
- That’s a Cow
- Pocket Skate
- Automatoys
September
- Golf Guys (fka Golf Royale!)
- Railbound
- Lucky Luna
- Loose Nozzles
- Tallowmere 2
October* Momentum: Turn Based Roguelite * Retro Abyss * EverCrawl * Monster Train
November
- Skies of Chaos
- Xeno Command
- Wreckfest
- Station 117
December
- Sling Ming
- Vampire Survivors
- Afterplace
- Pine Tar Poker
Apple Arcade Honorable Mentions:
- Air Twister
- Frogger and Rumbling Ruins
- Gibbon: Beyond the Trees
- JellyCar Worlds
- Shovel Knight Dig
Netflix Honorable Mentions:
- Desta: The Memories Between
- IMMORTALITY
- Into the Breach
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Lucky Luna
- Reigns: Three Kingdoms
- Relic Hunters Rebels
- Skies of Chaos
- Spiritfarer
- Twelve Minutes
App Store Honorable Mentions:
- 20 Minutes Till Dawn
- Ace Attorney Trilogy
- Alliance Alive HD Remastered
- Another Tomorrow
- Apex Legends Mobile
- Dadish 3
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- DEEMO II
- Descenders
- Diablo Immortal
- Disgaea 4
- Dragon Quest Builders
- Dungeons of Dreadrock
- El Hijo – A Wild West Tale
- Final Fantasy VI – Pixel Remaster
- Finding Paradise
- Gunfire Reborn
- Hindsight
- Iron Marines Invasion
- Isle of Arrows
- A Memoir Blue
- Mr. Traffic
- OPUS: Echo of Starsong
- The Past Within
- ScourgeBringer
- Sigma Theory
- SIMULACRA 3
- Slime Labs 2
- Sokobond
- Torchlight: Infinite
- Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Phew! That is A LOT of games, and believe me when I tell you that this list was twice as long when we began this whole process. I think that if TouchArcade is somehow still kicking around by the end of 2023, we’ll start the process well in advance and just try to include every-damn-thing that we thought was cool from the year. If there are things you thought should have been included on our lists but wasn’t, be sure to list them in the comments section below, as there are no doubt many great games that we weren’t able to feature and you might just help someone find something cool to play that they never would have known about otherwise. Isn’t that why we’re all here in the first place? Thanks to everyone for reading TouchArcade in 2022 and we’ll look forward to another banner year of mobile gaming in 2023!
Previous Best of the Year Round-Ups:
- The Best Games of 2021
- The Best Games of 2020
- The Best Games of 2019
- The Best Games of 2018
- The Best Games of 2017
- The Best Games of 2016
- The Best Games of 2015
- The Best Games of 2014
- The Best Games of 2013, Part 2
- The Best Games of 2012
- The Best Games of 2011
- The Best Games of 2010
- The Best Games of 2009
- The Best Games of 2008
Well here we are, 2022 is past us and we’re now on our way into 2023. As is always the case in the world of mobile gaming, there were A LOT of really great mobile games released in 2022. And it’s not just the games themselves but the landscape of mobile gaming always seems to be changing as well. Back in 2019 Apple Arcade launched and ushered in the subscription gaming format into the App Store. With Apple always holding its cards so close to its chest it’s hard to gauge how successful the service actually is, but one thing I can say for certain is that the Apple Arcade library is stuffed with some truly excellent games, both re-released classics and original stuff.
But something pretty interesting happened in 2022. Well, technically it started in late 2021, but 2022 was really where it came into its own. Netflix, known for their streaming video content service, launched their own gaming initiative on mobile devices. The deal is basically that anyone with an active Netflix subscription would be able to download a variety of games published under Netflix’s label in both the iOS and Android app stores, and then use their subscription login to be able to play those games in full with absolutely no ads or in-app purchases. While the Netflix Games service started off a bit slow on launch, in 2022 they seriously pumped out some hits, and it was common to see both them and Apple Arcade trading blows by announcing high-profile games headed to their respective services.
Of course this competition to outdo each other with big game releases meant that we gamers got to sit back and bask in all this gaming goodness. It also presented a problem in terms of an article like this one. We’ve long treated Apple Arcade like its own separate thing from “normal" App Store game releases, even giving it its own Game of the Year award in years past. So should we treat Netflix Games the same? It feels weird to give something like a Game of the Year award to a game locked behind a subscription since not everyone has the means or desire to subscribe to a service like that. So it’s always been very important to make sure our iPhone and iPad Games of the Year are normal releases that anyone can just download or buy, but we’d be excluding a lot of truly wonderful games if we didn’t have a way to consider games in subscription services.
So all this overly wordy explanation is to say that for this year’s Game of the Year we have an iPhone entry, an iPad entry, an Apple Arcade entry, and a brand new Netflix entry. All four of these categories had plenty of great games to choose from, and we’ll be putting together a big list of all the best games of 2022 across all of them in the very near future (we really ran short on time this year). For now just kick back and enjoy our various Game of the Year picks, and if your own picks differ from ours then feel free to sound off with what you would have picked down in the comments below.
iPhone Game of the Year 2022: ‘Marvel Snap’
MARVEL SNAP, Free – [Review] – When some key members behind the most popular digital card game of the past decade, Hearthstone, decide to strike off on their own and bring something new to the CCG genre, chances are pretty good that they’ll come up with something pretty good or, at the very least, unique. In the case of Second Dinner’s Marvel Snap, they accomplished both. Hearthstone proved that there was an appetite for a digital card game that could be played on mobile that wasn’t dumbed down to the point that it was no longer strategic, but it’s still a pretty complex game at its core, meaning it required a certain level of dedication to learn that a lot of more casual mobile gamers just didn’t have.
This I think is the main problem Second Dinner set out to address with Marvel Snap. Each player’s deck features just 12 cards, which is very easy to manage and just enough cards to still offer strategic variety. Games revolve around trying to win 2 of the 3 territories in each game, and each territory has its own special effects or parameters that also add to the strategy of the game. Finally there’s the “Snap" mechanic which is a risk/reward element that adds tremendous drama to every game. This simple set of core mechanics provides games that are competitive, exciting, and strategic, and the icing on the cake is that they only last a few minutes each.
All of this comes together to make for a pretty close to perfect mobile gaming experience. And that’s not even touching on the Marvel license that’s in play which means there are hundreds of well-known characters to draw from for cards, each with multiple versions perfect for upgrading those cards. This is all done within a free-to-play system that is very (perhaps overly) friendly, which also doesn’t mess up the balance or competitive nature of the game.
It’s hard to find much bad to say about Marvel Snap, at least at this point in time. I guess if you just plain don’t like card games this might not be for you? But also if that’s the case you might be pleasantly surprised to see how Marvel Snap can pull you in, even if you haven’t clicked with competitive card games in the past. I also suppose that there’s the possibility that too much new content or modes could muck up the simplicity of the game (Hearthstone has suffered from this a bit), or some new monetization method could muck up the current free to play system. But right here, right now, Marvel Snap is almost too good for words, and has risen above the many other great releases in 2022 to earn our Game of the Year nod. – Jared Nelson
iPad Game of the Year 2022: ‘Total War: MEDIEVAL II’
Total War: MEDIEVAL II, $14.99 – [Review] – [Kingdoms Review] – While we try to keep the iPad Game of the Year for iPad-only games like with Divinity Original Sin 2 last year, Total War: MEDIEVAL II surpassed our high expectations when it arrived earlier in 2022. Total War: MEDIEVAL II is one of Feral Interactive’s best conversions for iPad and mobile yet, and the Kingdoms expansion cemented it as one of the best strategy experiences you can have on iPad. It is playable on iPhone, but feels perfect on iPad with the larger canvas. It even excels above the PC original which is hard to go back to after experiencing the iPad version.
Feral Interactive is known for amazing conversions for mobile platforms, but Total War: MEDIEVAL II with its Kingdoms expansions feels like a cut above everything else so far. It may not be as graphically impressive as Alien: Isolation from the same publisher, but the deep strategic gameplay and all the new enhancements for the iOS version make it an easy recommendation to not only fans of the genre, but also newcomers looking to sample the best it has to offer. I can’t wait to see what Feral Interactive has in store for us in 2023. Total War: MEDIEVAL II is easily our favorite iPad game of 2022. – Mikhail Madnani
Apple Arcade Game of the Year 2022: ‘Horizon Chase 2’
Horizon Chase 2, – [Review] – The original Horizon Chase first launched the better part of a decade ago, and it has seen a constant barrage of new content via frequent updates over the years. It’s the kind of game that’s difficult to top, but somehow Aquiris Studio did just that with Horizon Chase 2. The first thing you’re likely to notice is that this sequel features a more realistic and impressive visual style over its predecessor, but somehow it manages to still feel neo-retro the same way that first game did. For my money this is one of the more graphically impressive games on Apple Arcade.
Next is an online component that many fans of the first game had clamored for, as well as some robust vehicle customization and upgrade options. When it comes to the gameplay though, they didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken. This is an arcade racer through and through, with a tremendous sense of speed and a massive new World Tour to play through featuring tons of excellent new tracks to race. Horizon Chase 2 can be described with just two words: More and better. That is generally my favorite approach for a sequel to a game I adored, and that formula worked perfectly to make this our overall favorite Apple Arcade game of 2022. – Jared Nelson
Netflix Game of the Year 2022: ‘Poinpy’
Poinpy, Free – [Review] – Following up Downwell was never going to be an easy task, but developer Ojiro Fumoto pulled it off with Poinpy. In some ways it’s the obvious twist on its spiritual predecessor. Instead of going down a well, you’re going up one. But even that choice was going to be a more difficult thing to sell players on. Falling is easy, falling with style slightly harder. Climbing takes a bit more work, and climbing with style hasn’t been successfully pulled off since Sylvester Stallone rocked the box office with Cliffhanger in 1993.
Poinpy isn’t as easy to take to as Downwell as a result, but it’s equally rewarding to stick with. At first you’re just trying to stay alive by climbing up as quickly as possible, hoping to stay ahead of the pursuing beast as long as possible. Then you start making combos. Then you start making specific kinds of combos. Then you unlock some new abilities and upgrades. A steady curve up the hill, and one that consistently makes you feel the mastery you’re slowly building up. Throw in some extra modes to keep the good times rolling after you’ve finished the game and an incredibly charming presentation, and you’ve got a fantastic reason to subscribe to Netflix. – Shaun Musgrave
Previous Game of the Year Picks:
- TouchArcade 2021 Game of the Year: ‘Rocket League Sideswipe’
- TouchArcade 2020 Game of the Year: ‘Genshin Impact’
- TouchArcade 2019 Game of the Year: ‘Dead Cells’
- TouchArcade 2018 Game of the Year: ‘Oddmar’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2017: ‘Death Road to Canada’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2016: ‘Crashlands’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year ‘Land Sliders’ and the Best iOS Games of 2015
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2014: ‘Wayward Souls’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2013: ‘Ridiculous Fishing’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2012: ‘Waking Mars’
- TouchArcade Game of the Year 2011: ‘Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP’
- 2010 iPhone Game of the Year: ‘Space Miner: Space Ore Bust’
- 2010 iPad Game of the Year: ‘World of Goo’
- 2009 iPhone Game of the Year – ‘Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor’
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