Top 25 best iOS and Android games of 2019
So long 2019. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Actually, do.
One thing that's kept us relatively sane over this past 12 months has been the stellar array of mobile games that have graced out smartphones and tablets. It really has been a high class year.
You might even call it unimpeachable, if you wanted to use a very 2019 word.
The Pocket Gamer crew has had its say on their personal favourites of 2019. You can find out what Dann, Dave, Cameron, Stephen and Jon had to say by following the appropriate links.
If you just want a definitive statement of the best iOS and Android games PG has played over the past 12 months, well, this is as close as you're going to get. We wouldn't say it's comprehensive, as there are still plenty of brilliant games that would have been more than worthy to join the ranks.
But this offers a decent impression of what we were all playing and enjoying on our mobile phones and tablets in 2019. And as such, it offers a pretty accurate overview of the various trends and highlights of the year.
Notably represented is Apple Arcade, which arrived at the end of the year like an impeccably designed sledgehammer to deliver an almighty blow to the mobile gaming status quo. We're not sure it'll stop up the endless flow of free-to-play slurry that seems to be flooding the App Store and Google Play Store, but it should at least provide a comfortable life raft to help ride it out.
Enough with the mixed metaphors. Let's run through 25 of the best iOS and Android games of 2019, according to PG.
And do be sure to join us again in 2020, when we'll start this whole critical appraisal game again.
1
Raiders of the North Sea
Digital boardgames fans were well served in 2019, with Raiders of the North Sea standing as one of the best examples we've seen. It's an impeccable port of a stunning physical worker placement game, with lovely visuals and fluid gameplay.
2
Bad North
Bad North might have been a port, but we'd argue that it found a natural home on mobile (well, tablet). Set up your island defences and fend off waves of Viking attackers in this pin-sharp RTS/tower defence/roguelike hybrid.
3
Sky: Children of the Light
We might have made more of a fuss of 2019's mobile Journey port if it weren't for this spiritual successor, which was designed specifically for mobile. Float around a wondrous dream world, wordlessly interacting with your fellow players.
4
Dead Cells
One of the finest Switch games of 2018 effortlessly became one of the finest mobile games of 2019 - helped immeasurably by the added ease of pairing up a decent controller. This is roguelike action-platforming at its absolute finest.
5
BackFire
Backfire turns the traditional arena shoot-'em-up on its head, asking you to fight a constant rearguard action as the enemy waves close in. For hardened arcade nuts, it's like learning a new dialect that's at once familiar and alien.
6
Golf Blitz
Golf Blitz takes the 2D crazy golf action of the Stickman Golf series and turns it into a real time online multiplayer dash to the flag. The result is one of the best mobile multiplayer games ever made.
7
Immortal Rogue
A super slick roguelike hack and slasher that's been so finely tuned, you can play it one-handed. Despite this intuitiveness, Immortal Rogue demands a tactical approach thanks to a varied cast of enemies.
8
Football Manager 2020
Football Manager returned in 2019 with a nip and a tuck. It's slicker, more intuitive, and downright better to play on a tablet than it's ever been, retaining its title as the best sports simulation around.
9
Grindstone
Apple Arcade yielded many gems, but few tackled an established genre with as much gusto as Grindstone. Its pimped-up take on Puzzle Quest's match-3 battling boasts sky-high production values and a welcome dose of physicality.
10
Tangle Tower
A more than worthy follow-up to Detective Grimoire, Tangle Tower marries point and click adventuring with sky high production values and Professor Layton-esque sleuthing.
11
The Stillness of the Wind
Not many games are brave enough to cast you as an old woman tending to her farm. The Stillness of the Wind does, and manages to wring every last emotive drop out of its melancholic premise.
12
Painty Mob
Pelt cartoon crowds with paint bombs in this overlooked Apple Arcade delight. Painty Mob might look like a joyful, frivolous trinket, but it's compellingly playable and deceptively tactical.
13
Sayonara Wild Hearts
This bold, psychedelic pop video of a game sees you embarking on a breathless beat-driven chase through neon-soaked city streets. The most achingly cool game of the year, and arguably Apple Arcade's signature effort.
14
Card of Darkness
Made by a veritable indie supergroup of talent, Card of Darkness provides a brutal yet bouncy take on Solitaire-based dungeon crawling. Its hard edge wasn't to everyone's taste, but it helped give Apple Arcade some serious credibility right out of the gate.
15
What the Golf?
The title perfectly encapsulates this wonderful game's sense of freewheeling mayhem, and its tangential relationship to the source sport. What the Golf? is the funniest and most imaginative arcade golf game you'll ever play. No question.
16
Mini Motorways
Planning out a city's road system might sound like the digital equivalent of watching paint dry. But Mini Motorways does it with such abstract style and zen-like panache, it turns into a super-chilled puzzler of the year contender.
17
Photographs
Photographs intersperses its hidden object and block-sliding puzzles with the kind of heartbreaking narrative gear shifts that will leave you floored. It's one of the most beautiful and bizarre games of the year.
18
Telling Lies
Telling Lies is Sam Barlow's eagerly anticipate follow up to Her Story - and it doesn't disappoint. It's another narrative-based sleuthing game that has you sifting through impeccably acted testimonies, but this time the density and complexity has been ramped right up.
19
Blue
The latest of Bart Bonte's creative colour-themed games, Blue is another cleverly wrought slice of puzzler minimalism. It's achingly stylish stuff.
20
Void Tyrant
At a time when card battlers and roguelikes are ten a penny, Void Tyrant feels fresh. By adding some Blackjack stardust into proceedings, it adds a welcome snappiness and unpredictability to its random battles.
21
Starbeard
Grindstone wasn't the only polished take on match-3 battling released in 2019. Starbeard might not be as flashy, but it's arguably the more thoughtful and considered puzzler of the two.
22
Assemble With Care
This gentle gem typified the Apple Arcade ethos, providing an impossibly polished and inviting take on familiar puzzle mechanics. Fixing random gadgets has never been so cool or interesting.
23
Mario Kart Tour
Yes, it's a dumbed down take on Mario Kart with a maddening free to play structure. But what the cynics often miss in all this is the way it still feels like Mario Kart, aka the best casual racing series ever made. And it's right here on your mobile.
24
Pokémon Masters
Pokémon Masters reviewed respectably yet hardly glowingly on these pages, yet it made its way onto two of our personal end of year lists. Why? Because despite its Gacha devilry, Pokémon Masters has that catch-'em-all magic in spades.