1. Stack (free)
There are a lot of stacking games out there, but none are as stylishly put together as Stack. The aim is simple – arrange blocks on top of each other until you’ve built a mini-skyscraper. Every time you fail to perfectly match the previous block, part of your piece will be chipped off, until you’re left with slithers to line up.
What keeps Stack addictive is the promise of different block types, each unlocked after 200 points – just enough of a mountain to climb during your commute. Throw in a cleanly minimalist art style and satisfying sound design and you’ve got a great little game to stave off boredom.
2. Neko Atsume (free)
If you’ve ever harboured a secret desire to collect more than 40 cats – some of them wearing tiny uniforms – then you’re 100% the target audience for Neko Atsume, a game that involves charming cartoon felines with toys and treats. You’ll need special items to convince the rarer cats to romp around your garden, but if you put in the effort you’ll be rewarded with “mementos” including the cast-off skin from a molting cicada. Where the cats get these from, I don’t know.
The game is essentially about knowing how to please cats. And looking at cats. And cats with names like Conductors Whiskers and Lady Meow-Meow.
3. Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition (£3.99)
Sometimes you just want an excuse to play as a humorously coiffured survivalist trapped in a mysterious wilderness. This is that excuse. The pocket version of Klei Entertainment comes with the same German Expressionist/Tim Burton aesthetic as the hit PC version, offering a gorgeous, often uncompromising, world to explore.
If you like Minecraft but want something more challenging, Don’t Starve is an excellent crafting survival game for the iPhone or iPad.
4. Desert Golfing (£1.49)
An endless desert, punctuated by sporadic holes, makes up the landscape of Desert Golfing. The aim is simple – hit a white golf ball across the desert towards a numbered flag. The result is a minimalist masterpiece, where the absurdity of playing golf in the desert is undercut by the sheer addictiveness of it all. Think Angry Birds, as made by Albert Camus.
5. Alphabear (free)
Spell words to make bears fatter. That, in a nutshell, is Alphabear. Choose letters much like you would do in Scrabble. If you use letters next to each other, a bear will appear. Those bears get fatter every time you make a word, and fat bears mean more points.
Making words from letters before they turn into rocks is extremely addictive, and there are plenty of challenges to keep things interesting. We also like the game because it’s basically our name with “bear” on the end.
6. Monument Valley (£2.99)
If you haven’t already played Ustwo’s gorgeous Escher-inspired puzzle game, correct that now. The game consists of a series of mind-bending isometric constructions, and every stage is a memorable delight to play through. There’s an expansion, Forgotten Shores, which costs £1.49 – and at a fraction of the cost of a pint, it’s absolutely worth having in your collection.
7. This War of Mine (£4.99)
Gaming, especially mobile gaming, tends to be a rather casual, light-hearted affair. A new batch of releases are going against this, showing that the medium has a great deal of potential when it comes to emotionally challenging play. Like Papers, Please – also on this list –This War of Mine combines gripping gameplay with the wrestling of difficult, political ideas.
Played on iPad, the game comes across as a particularly harrowing crossover between The Sims and Minecraft. The player is responsible for the mental wellbeing of a band of survivors during a city-wide siege. Venture out into other buildings to collect supplies, then return to fortify your base and protect against raiding parties. Facing war from a civilian’s perspective might sound daunting, but the game is well worth spending time on.
8. Lara Croft GO (£3.99)
Like its excellent predecessor, Hitman GO, this game takes a popular adventure and whittles it down to a minimalist, turn-based series of puzzles. Worth the price alone for the beautifully stylised, cell-shaded design, the game’s five chapters are taxing enough to prove a challenge, but won’t leave you completely stumped on your morning commute.
9. 80 Days (£3.99)
This pocket odyssey takes Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days and brilliantly reimagines it as a choose-your-own adventure. You're cast as Jean Passepartout, Phileas Fogg's loyal valet, tasked with charting a path from country to country in an effort to circumnavigate the globe.
Helped by stylish illustrations, the text in 80 Days is some of the best writing to feature in any game. Choosing between different actions in text might not sound like the most exciting way to explore the world, but here developers Inklewriter Studios pull off a gripping story that reacts in a compelling way to the choices you make. As you travel the world, you’ll come across semi-randomised encounters that hugely shape the story, from contracting cholera to being attacked by pirates. You’ll also have to manage resources and keep an eye on Fogg’s health. All of this leads to a game that’s perfectly suited to being played on an iPhone, where you can easily dip into the action each day and push your journey a little closer to success.
10. Lifeline... (£2.29)
A branching text-based story that you can play on your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, Lifeline is a memorable experience. The game sees you communicating with Taylor, the only surviving member of a spaceship that has crash-landed on an alien moon. Cleverly, the game plays out in real-time – meaning you'll get messages from Taylor throughout the day. Far from being an annoying intrusion, this slow-burn gameplay keeps you immersed in the narrative.
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