It has been more than a year since the current-gen Apple TV launched, bringing with it the ability to download and play games on your television—like a tiny, Apple-made game console. With millions of the little boxes in people’s homes now, we’ve seen a steady stream of top games make the leap from iOS and dedicated consoles over to the Apple TV.
Did you just get an Apple TV, or have you just not explored its gaming offerings? We’ll happily point you in the right direction: these are our 15 top favorites available in the App Store right now, and they’re all worth checking out if you want some quick and colorful fun on your TV. And in most cases, if you already have the game on an iOS device, you’ll get it free on Apple TV.
Note: Most of these games are playable with the Siri Remote, while some require or are improved by a dedicated gamepad—and we have recommendations there , too.
Alto’s Adventure ($3) is one of the most beautiful iPhone games we’ve played on our iPhones and iPads, and—no surprise here—it’s also one of the most beautiful games you can play on your Apple TV. Its gorgeous, minimal artwork, which features flat environments, stark colors, and smooth animations, all holds up rather well on a living room flat screen.
Better yet, this tap-centric game is a perfect fit for the Siri Remote. As you zip down the slopes, you need only click to jump and hold the button down to perform backflips, so there’s little complexity to try to sort out. It’s the perfect way to enjoy a bit of winter spirit without having to change out of your jammies or leave the couch.
Chameleon Run ($2) is one awesome—but also very difficult—2D platform game. It’s like a hyper-speed version of Mario, albeit with a twist: to make it to the end of the level, you can only step on platforms that are the same color as your hero (pink or yellow). Land on anything else and your character detonates on the spot.
Luckily, you can swap colors on the fly with the tap of a button, and Chameleon Run keeps its controls simple with one button used to jump and another for changing color. However, the challenges built around those controls are downright devious in spots, as you must rapidly switch colors while navigating up and around moving obstacles. Clearing a tough stage is immensely satisfying, though.
After all the hours we’ve poured into Crossy Road (free) on iPhone—all the hard-fought leaderboard battles and close calls with speeding cars—switching platforms is tricky. It’s such an intimate experience on a touchscreen: You tap and it happens right there. Here, you’re clicking the Apple TV remote and the television is a few feet away. It’s strange. It’s different.
But then we realize: We’re totally overthinking this. Also, it’s free and still super fun, so you should definitely grab Crossy Road on Apple TV, even if you already got your fill on iOS. The big, bright, blocky graphics look nice on your TV, plus there’s a unique perk: A two-player mode, which you can’t find on a touch device.
Framed ($5) is one of the cleverest original games on the App Store, as it builds a puzzle-solving experience around comic book panels that correspond with each other. You must help a shadowy man (and later a woman, too) evade capture by getting to an exit on each screen, and you’ll do so by rearranging the panels to create the correct series of events.
You’ll learn how it all works through trial and error, but then the game throws in curveballs—like panels that can be rotated, or others that the hero can run through multiple times to get to the end. The stylish noir aesthetic is really slick, and the Siri Remote controls are pretty easy to learn, as you’ll simply use the touchpad to drag and drop the comic panels.
The Galaxy on Fire series has kept iOS space shooter fans entertained over the years, but for the Apple TV release, Fishlabs decided to do something different. Well, not that different: It’s still a slick, 3D space shooter in which you’ll zip around and blast enemy ships to bits. But rather than port an existing game, Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising ($6) is an Apple TV exclusive.
