We’ve picked the very best iPhone games to keep you entertained on the move.
We’ve rounded up the best iPhone games you can download today, whatever genre you’re interested in. From strategy games to shooters, sports games, racing games and more, you’ll find every key genre covered on a separate page in this guide, so you can jump straight to what you’re interested in. There are loads of top games to choose from in each genre too, with the App Store being one of the most vibrant gaming ecosystems around, and Apple’s powerful phones rivaling the Nintendo Switch as the best portable consoles available. So if you’re a gamer, these are the phones for you, and whether you’ve just got an iPhone for the first time or you’re simply looking to add to your library, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll also highlight one new game every month, so remember to check back regularly to get a taste of the latest game to consume your waking hours. Genshin Impact was Voted Best Mobile Game at the TechRadar Choice Awards 2021 ($4.99/£4.49/AU$7.99) Townscaper lives in the App Store’s games section, but it’s more an open-ended meditative toy. Rather than tapping the screen to play sounds or trigger abstract patterns, you instead build island communities that sit atop an endless sea. The controls are simple: tap to add a component and tap-hold to remove one. Townscaper deals with everything else, dynamically aligning buildings to its irregular grid, and upgrading or demoting building types, depending on how many blocks are added together. This is delightful stuff and properly zone-out fare, from the splashy plop you hear on adding your first house to the way you can experiment with colors to create rainbow-like hamlets. Towns are auto-saved when you create a new one, and tools exist in a sidebar to move the sun, should you want an atmospheric night-time vibe when reworking your towns during the wee small hours. These are our favorite iPhone card games, RTS and turn-based strategy titles, and board games to check out right now. ($6.99/£6.99/AU$10.99) Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale feels like the ultimate evolution of games that combine turn-based strategy, deck building and RPGs, and then squash the resulting playfield into a tiny grid. Your aim is to defeat foes that exist in a three-by-three playfield, by carefully utilizing cards. But rather than cards being dealt into your hand, they are bought or discarded from the grid for money. Every decision you make involves weighing up risk versus reward, whether you’re grabbing a weapon, selling armor, or deciding to take on an enemy. This can be overwhelming at first, and your first few goes will likely result in a swift demise. But stick it out and you’ll find Krumit’s Tale a deeply rewarding strategy title, blessed with fantastic art, a wide range of game modes, and enough depth to keep you refining strategies for months. ($4.99/£4.99/AU$7.99) Kingdom Two Crowns is an iPhone game that kicks things off with a monarch on horseback, using his handful of gold coins to have locals do his bidding. Train archers and they set out to hunt local wildlife for dinner. Elsewhere, fences are erected to turn your ramshackle campfire into a slightly less ramshackle fortress. This is just as well, because when the sun sets, the Greed arrive. These ghoulish beasts exist to steal things. If they nab your workers’ tools, you’ll have to spend to upgrade them again. If they get your crown, your reign is over, and it’ll be down to your heir to figure out how to defeat the Greed once and for all. With its lush pixel art, large side-scrolling landscapes, and smart mix of real-time strategy and action, Kingdom Two Crowns is a mobile masterpiece. (Free + $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.99) Peak’s Edge joins an increasingly impressive sub-genre of sorts on iPhone: turn-based strategy games in a shoebox. Here, your little pyramid trundles around single-screen levels, aiming to smack enemies into oblivion and reach a goal. Much of the strategy lies in the various power-ups that are dotted about. Roll on to one and it’s applied to that face of your pyramid. Defeating foes subsequently relies on correctly orienting yourself before attack. Quickly, it becomes apparent that Peak’s Edge is easy to get into, but tough to master – and with procedurally generated levels,25 skills, and 30 armor types, there’s loads to dig into. Note that although you can play for free, we’re treating this as a premium game, because IAP rids the title of intrusive ads, and unlocks the unlimited undos you’ll need to have the best experience. ($1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99) Maze Machina finds you as a mouse in a maze.
