The Machine's Garden By: Too Much Tomato I love when a puzzle game seems simple at first, then quickly opens up into a brain-splitting monster that shows no mercy. That's what happened with The Machine's Garden from Too Much Tomato. It starts off as a basic line-drawing puzzler on a hexagonal grid, but before long new mechanics are added that completely change everything. The goal remains throughout to cover every tile, but…
Circulous By: Chain Reaction Games / gary gogis Two years ago, then-14-year-old developer Brayden Gogis of Chain Reaction Games made all of us feel very inadequate by releasing his narrative puzzler called The Company Game. Since then he made Solisquare, a unique take on the classic Solitaire, which has been getting regular updates with new themes. Now he's back with what is perhaps his most ambitious project yet, a puzzle adventure called…
Creaks By: Amanita Design Over the last few years, Amanita Design has become one of my favorite developers, from whom I know I can expect a game with tons of personality. They first won me over with Samorost 3, but then I went back to catch up with Botanicula, an equally charming point-and-click adventure. I've since had the pleasure to play through CHUCHEL and Pilgrims, both of which are more playful than…
Beyond a Steel Sky By: Revolution Software I'm a big fan of the classic point-and-click adventure series, Broken Sword, and even still have my copy of the original on Game Boy Advance. But for some reason, I never played Revolution Software's earlier game, Beneath a Steel Sky, which released 26 years ago. It's been on iOS for while now, but as a spoiled modern gamer, it always looked a bit dated to…
SPHAZE By: Mateusz Janczewski At first glance, SPHAZE appears to be everything I could want in a puzzler -- gorgeous Monument Valley-inspired low-poly graphics, one-handed portrait play, and simple touch controls. The name comes from the combination of "sphere" and "maze" and has you solving round labyrinthine mechanical puzzles. You're guided by a cuddly little robot called RoBeep who you must help through each maze, along with his robot friends. It starts…
The Almost Gone By: Happy Volcano / Playdigious There are some games you know are made for you just from a couple of screenshots or GIFs. That's how it was with The Almost Gone from Happy Volcano and Playdigious. I'd been eagerly awaiting its release since I first caught glimpse of it, with its single-screen dioramas and low-poly art style. After playing through it, I can tell you it was certainly worth…
Little Orpheus By: Sumo Digital / The Chinese Room Sumo Digital and The Chinese Room somehow managed to keep a tight lid on their latest Apple Arcade title, Little Orpheus, until the very last moment, so I hadn't the slightest clue what to expect from it. Their teasers in the days leading to its release included cryptic quotes and two-dimensional artwork that turned out to be from the game's opening theme, but…
Slay the Spire By: MegaCrit / Humble Bundle One of the genres I've really gotten into in the last few years is the card-based roguelike. If designed well, they can be the perfect fit for iOS, since they focus on strategy rather than reflexes and therefore should be playable just about anywhere. Slothwerks' Meteorfall is a superb mobile-centric version that I still play every day. So it was hard to ignore all…
