Incoming! Our 11 most anticipated iPhone, iPad, and Android games for December and beyond

The year is coming to a close. Only a few weeks remain for developers to get their games on Google Play and the App Store in 2013.

The following 11 hotly anticipated iOS and Android games should make the cut, though.

We'll be looking out for these apps - featuring walking twigs, pirates, genestealers, and space snakes - in December.

Given the unpredictable nature of mobile game development, though, (and the not-insignificant fact that Apple sends its App Store approval crew home for Christmas), don't blame us if these games 'slip' into 2014.

Blek
By Kunabi Brothers - heading to iPad on December 3rd

Kunabi Brother's Blek could end up being one of the most smart and satisfying puzzle games on the App Store once it hits iPad next month.

It's all about drawing a squiggle with your pinky. When you let go, the doodle will repeat itself until it tumbles off-screen. Your aim is to construct a self-perpetuating pattern that will come into contact with all the coloured dots without hitting the black ones.

This beautifully minimalist puzzler gets devilishly hard, but that only makes you feel even more like a genius when you figure out a solution - especially as it's a solution, not the solution. It doesn't matter what you do... as long as it works.

Assassin's Creed Pirates
By Ubisoft - heading to iOS and Android on December 5th

Hoist the main sail. Swab the decks. Walk the plank. This Assassin's Creed IV tie-in is all about commanding your very own pirate ship, sailing about the Caribbean, and getting in tussles with other brigs.

Battles play out like simple timing-based encounters as you swap cannonball fire with peg-legged foes. In other missions, you sneak past patrol boats and race against the time.

But the game comes into its own when you're just cruising around, with waves crashing against your ship, whales emerging from the ocean, and your scurvy-addled crew breaking out into sea shanties.

Warhammer: Space Hulk
By Full Control - heading to iPad on December 5th

The latest Warhammer adaptation on iPad is boardgame Space Hulk, which has been developed for tablets by Frontline Tactics maker Full Control.

You are in control of a squad of Space Marine Terminators, who are infiltrating a downed spaceship to clear it of aliens called Genestealers. There's a single-player campaign, plus multiplayer (which works cross-platform with PC and Mac).

That desktop version received mixed reviews, with critics calling it limited, lacking in content, and peppered with bugs. We'll let you know if Full Control has fixed things up for the tablet version.

Supernauts
By Grand Cru - rolling out to more countries on iOS on December 6th

Those in the know will tell you that Supernauts will be the next big free-to-play juggernaut to dominate the App Store. And the elevator pitch for it - Minecraft as a social city builder - certainly ticks all the right boxes.

The idea is to building a floating island in space to house refugees from a flooded Earth. You'll have to manage resources, solve puzzles, and build blocks to make a perfect home.

Finnish dev Grand Cru has had the game in soft launch mode for months and raised about $11 million in investment cash. We'll see if it was all worth it when the game goes live in more territories next month.

The Room 2
By Fireproof Games - heading to iPad on December 12th

We could fill this entire article with the accolades we've heaped on Fireproof's puzzling box opener The Room. We gave it a Gold Award, selected it as one of our best games of 2012, and decided it was the 7th best iOS game of all time.

To say we're excited about the sequel is probably the understatement of the year, then.

Once again, you'll be solving tricky logic puzzles as you open a endless matryoshka doll of puzzle boxes. This time, you can move around the room for large-scale puzzles, and you'll be pawing at boxes in lots of different locations.

Colossatron: Massive World Threat
By Halfbrick - heading to iPhone and iPad in 2013

Colossatron is a colour-matching puzzler. Wait! Wait, come back!

I was just about to say that it's a colour-matching puzzler played out on the back of a rampaging space snake intent on wiping out humanity.

By mixing and matching Colossatron's serpent segments, you'll make new colours (red and yellow turn into orange, for example). Your pet monster will then have new weapons with which to defeat his military foes.

The game's by Halfbrick, of Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride fame, so you'll know it will 'destroy' at least a few weeks of your life.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
By Rockstar Games - heading to iOS and Android in December

GTA 3 was big. Vice City was bigger. San Andreas will have one of the biggest game worlds on mobile.

You'll get to drive, shoot, parachute, and cycle about an entire state, which is a mish-mash collage of California and Nevada, with Vinewood mansions, Grove Street gangbangers, a giant desert, a casino strip, and even a secret military base.

The entire PS2 game will be squeezed down into your phone, albeit with improved graphics, longer draw distances, a reworked checkpoint system, and support for those nifty new iOS 7 controllers.

Republique
By Camouflaj - heading to iPhone and iPad in December

It's been more than a year since Camouflaj launched Republique (these guys need a dictionary) on Kickstarter, but this dystopian stealth adventure should finally be available to play in December.

In the game, you'll be helping a girl named Hope escape from a totalitarian state. You'll watch her from surveillance cameras, and hack into electronic devices to help keep her alive.

The game's got some top talent behind it, including Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter and FemShep voice Jennifer Hale.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
By Sega - heading to iOS and Android in December

If you've run out of energy in go-kart game Angry Birds Go!, you might want to consider switching over to Sega racer Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

This has got the transformation feature from the console game, where your car can switch into a boat or a plane at a moment's notice.

Plus, it boasts a re-imagined World Tour; four-player local and online races; and loads of social integration.

Botanicula
By Amanita Design - heading to iPad in December

Botanicula is almost the exact opposite of Amanita Design's other point-and-clicker Machinarium. Where that latter game is all man-made metals and automatons, Botanicula's world is organic and 100 percent natural.

Even the cast of heroes in Botanicula is a hodgepodge collection of things you might find on the forest floor, like a twig, a mushroom, a poppy head, and a feather. And the world is made from trees, flowers, and sticks.

It does have a few things in common with Machinarium, though, namely great puzzles, charming characters, and an engrossing storyline told without a single word.

Broken Sword - The Serpent's Curse
By Revolution - heading to iOS and Android in December

British point-and-click favourite Broken Sword will be the latest game to 'make' a long-awaited comeback, thanks to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

This time around, snarky lawyer George and his on-off girlfriend Nico are on the trail of a conspiracy that started when a cursed painting was nicked from war-torn Europe.

You'll be solving puzzles, picking up everything that's not glued to the floor, and getting by with little more than your wits and your witty comebacks.