I won’t pretend to know what holidays mean for you, but for most, there’s a singularly shared experience: long flights and being far away from your PlayStation or Xbox. If you aren’t already an active mobile gamer, even at this point, you’re missing out on quite a bit of both simple and even deeply involved experiences — and if this holiday, you happened to upgrade your device to the latest and greatest, we’ve got a couple of suggestions. Here are a few of our picks to get through the end of 2016 and beyond.
We’ve rounded up our favorite and most-used apps and utilities for the technology we use every day. Check out our other picks for iPhones, Android phones, PCs, and Macs. We’ve also listed our favorite games for iOS and Android from this year.
Reigns
Reigns
It’s weird (re)writing the phrase “Tinder-like fantasy,” but that’s honestly the best way to describe Reigns. Playing as a king who will all but surely perish within a few rounds, at least at first, each decision is made by swiping left or right, increasing or decreasing the power of each opposing interest (the church, the people, the army, and the bank). Should one interest get too powerful or too weak, the reign of one king ends and the next begins. And though each successive monarchy might seem to following the same cycle, there’s a meta-narrative that spans each lifetime.
Available for iPhone / iPad and Android.
The Battle of Polytopia
The Battle of Polytopia
Born Supertribes before a name change earlier this year, Mijiwan’s The Battle of Polytopia is an impressive Civilization-like strategy game that has evolved throughout 2016 with content-rich updates. Turn by turn, you can expand your empire, upgrade various technologies, and if you’re feeling it, conquer your neighbors. The game is free and feature-rich, with one-time in-app purchases designed to add complexity after you get the hang of it (which won’t take long).