Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary: Silhouetted bats, orange-filtered augs, and lots of candy

Hello, fellow mobile game historians. As part of our Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary celebrations, we're taking a look at 2013 today. It was an interesting year for the platform, seeing 2012's Candy Crush and Clash of Clans truly taking off, soon cementing themselves as household names. Other great stuff came out, too, though, which we will get to after we mentally transport ourselves to 2013.

It doesn't stick out in my head as a particularly distinct year. I was in my third year of university and going through the student version of the motions, which is to say, spending my student loan on games and gigs. What should I have been doing? Working on my dissertation, of course. I honestly couldn't tell you much about that year without heading to our old friend Google.

So, that's exactly what I've done to check in on popular culture. And it turns out, it was the year everybody decided it was high time that snowmen were constructed, with Disney's Frozen becoming the highest-grossing film. I've not even seen it, and I'm fairly confident I know most of the songs. That's how widespread Elsa, Anna, Olaf and... the other lot became. It was a great year for kids' movies, it seems, with Despicable Me 2 (eurgh) and Monsters University (yay) also performing well.

In music, the truly dreadful Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke was getting an unjustified amount of play everywhere you dared to tread. Although if you stuck around long enough, you'd also hear Imagine Dragons' Radioactive, a much better song. Amidst all that, I was listening to Coheed and Cambria's The Afterman: Descension, arguably their best album, and The Joy Formidable's Wolf's Law. Not their best, yet still excellent. 

As for PC and consoles, the absolute juggernaut that is Grand Theft Auto V came out, becoming such a mainstay that I assumed it had been released more recently. I liked it well enough, but I was more intrigued to learn why Booker DeWitt didn't row in BioShock Infinite, the final instalment in an excellent trilogy, even if the first is miles clear of its predecessors.

And what of mobile? Well, as I said at the top, King and Supercell were starting to dominate the... Just say it, Stephen. Okay, fine. The freemium world. However, it hadn't taken over completely yet, with several excellent premium games launching across iOS and Android. So, let's see what we were playing on our phones in 2013.

Badland

Badland - it’s incredibly difficult not to automatically add an 's' at the end there - is noteworthy for its appearance if nothing else. For me, it feels like developer Frogmind saw Rayman Origins and thought, “What if we do that but darker?” And the result is a beautiful aesthetic that has stood the test of time. Mechanically, meanwhile, it's serviceable, an endless runner meets physics puzzler where you guide a silhouetted bat-like creature through tricky terrain. It's the art style that truly shines, though. 

Cut the Rope 2

The numbered sequel to Cut the Rope flipped the script on the original. Rather than guiding candy into our favourite green monster's waiting mouth, you had to get Om Nom over to his tasty treats. This simple change allowed it to build on the first, providing something familiar yet fresh simultaneously. It didn't strike a chord with everyone, but we enjoyed it here at PG. 

Deus Ex: The Fall

While I often churlishly deride Deus Ex: Human Revolution for being 'too orange', I would never deny that many people loved it. It also came out during a period when developers would often try some sort of mobile release of a well-known IP. In many cases, they fell flat. Deus EX: The Fall, however, provided something interesting, if a little jank in places. Not only did it show that FPS could work on mobile, it was the first successful example that traditional developers and publishers were starting to take mobile more seriously. 

Device 6

Simogo has always been an interesting developer. While many are likely familiar with Sayonara Wild Hearts, for good reason, they've actually got a rich history that's worth delving into if you're unfamiliar. Device 6 is an inventive take on the text adventure that turns the narrative into a map. It's a simple yet brilliant idea, and the story is, thankfully, excellent too. 

Alongside those, there were some great ports. I merely decided to focus more on mobile-first releases here. Still, shout out to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Star Wars: KOTOR, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (RIP).