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The 50 Best iOS Games Of 2017

The 50 Best iOS Games Of 2017

2017 was a great year for App Store games, and now it's time to take a look back at the true stand outs throughout the year. There were so many games to enjoy, and yet we have to cut them down to just the top 50, and then rank them all. We will present the 50 best games of 2017 in sections of ten in a reverse countdown until we reach the game of the year for 2017. Each game on this list deserves its own recognition, and the rankings are based on select criteria including made for iOS, originality, how well it defines its genre, graphics, sound, interface, replay factor, and more. Now, we present the 50 best games of 2017, according to AppAdvice.

Game Of The Year

Through all of the release of 2017, Oxenfree stood above the rest to capture the crown of 2017 iOS Game Of The Year.

Use your radio
OXENFREE

OXENFREE

Night School Studio

Get ready for tons of choices and intrigue in this deluxe paranormal narrative.

Get ready to experience a story driven adventure unlike any other on iOS. The story can rival a TV show as you transition from teenage angst to paranormal activity with a continuous emphasis on character development. Choose the dialogue, decide which friends to save, and try to figure out the mystery at hand.

Runners-Up

These two outstanding games just missed out on the title of 2017 Game of The Year.

Unfolding Panels
Gorogoa

Gorogoa

Annapurna Interactive

Inception level puzzling

Rearrange the panels to create a continuing storyline among beautiful artwork. Each shifting panel reveals new intricacies and mysteries in an ornately detailed puzzle game.

Unique hidden object game
Hidden Folks

Hidden Folks

Adriaan de Jongh

A beautifully hand drawn hidden object game with expansive images that come to life.

Imagine Whereโ€™s Waldo in a living and breathing world. Hidden Folks takes the classic hidden object style, and builds upon it with huge maps to explore complete with moving characters and environments. The game includes a ton of charm to the art style and the clues with each object that you need to find accompanied by a little story blurb.

#4-10

The top 10 games of 2017 are simply amazing. You can't go wrong with any one from here on up.

Mushroom 11

Mushroom 11

Untame

Push a green blog through strange lands in this all new type of adventure game.

An all new type of adventure game that revolves around touch. You drag your finger to delete the back of the Mushroom 11 organism, and then it grows on the front. Itโ€™s a surprisingly smooth mechanic that lends itself to all new platformer style challenges to move through the world, and deal with various forms of obstacles including boss battles.

Control the totems
Kalimbaโ„ข

Kalimbaโ„ข

Flashbulb ApS

A totem teamwork challenge

Kalimba has players controlling two characters at the same time to help restore light to the island. Are you up to the task in this beautiful puzzle platformer?

Get the aliens home
Splitter Critters

Splitter Critters

RAC7 Games

Slice the screen and readjust the pieces to create the path forward.

A new type of puzzle game in which you slice the backdrop to create a new path forward for the main characters. You simply decide where to cut the backdrop, and then drag to realign to two new portions you have slice apart. The goal is form a new path over lava, past enemies, and on to the exit point.

Safe Cracker
Playdead's INSIDE

Playdead's INSIDE

Playdead

The best part is that after a few sudden changes, you come to expect them, which builds up suspense as you move through the world.

Inside continues the 2D puzzle platformer formula of Limbo, and enhances it in nearly every way. Prepare for a suspenseful storyline filled with eerie moments.

Manipulate time
Causality

Causality

Loju LTD

Manipulate time to figure out the path from A to B in this all new type of puzzle.

A puzzle game that lets you control time to solve the puzzle. You not only need to direct the astronaut to the end point, but you need to do so at the right time to get past obstacles, use teleports, and flip switches in the right sequence. The astronaut can travel through time to flip a switch at one period of time to clear the path later in time. Itโ€™s a a complex idea that is implement very well for compelling puzzles.

Upgrade your magic
Cat Quest

Cat Quest

The Gentlebros.

A cat themed action RPG with real time combat on a tapestry infused map.

Cat Quest is a fantastic open world RPG dungeon crawler that's filled with dragons, cats, and epic loot.

Reckless Getaway 2

Reckless Getaway 2

Pixelbite

Evade the cops and wreck havoc anew!

Reckless Getaway returns in an all new form. The sequel continues the theme of avoiding the cops, but now in an open world format. Your goal is to last as long as you can in free roaming levels with tons of cops, and the ability to truly be reckless with havoc causing driving skills. There are also numerous unlockable cars that bring their own side missions to the different maps.

#11-20

We're almost to the top 10, and these games just missed the cut.

Solve new puzzles
Monument Valley 2

Monument Valley 2 is a stunning and worthy sequel to the original that everyone should have.

Monument Valley 2

Monument Valley 2

ustwo games

Prepare to rotate the world to create a path forward for a mother and her child. The sequel delivers an all new stand alone storyline built upon the same ideas of the original. The MC Escher inspired 3D perspective shift filled with optical illusions remains intact to an even more...

Strategic puzzle solving
Euclidean Lands

Spin a Rubik's cube style level to position your character to take out enemies.

Euclidean Lands

Euclidean Lands

kunabi brother GmbH

Think of Monument Valley on a Rubikโ€™s Cube with Hitman Go style combat. If you can think of that, you have the basis for Euclidean Lands, which delivers a beautiful 3D challenge. You need to rotate the world, and move your character into position to dispatch of enemies, and reach...

A variety of characters
Thimbleweed Park

Thimbleweed Park is a point-and-click adventure game that's dark, mysterious, and packed full of humor.

Thimbleweed Park

Thimbleweed Park

Terrible Toybox, Inc.

The classic style of point and click adventure games of the past like Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and others are on full display in Thimbleweed Park. You get to play as two FBI Agents who are faced with a small town murder to solve. There are numerous quirky...

Rearrange panels
FRAMED 2

Puzzle over panels anew

FRAMED 2

FRAMED 2

Loveshack

The sequel continues the style of rearranging panels to create the path forward. There's an all new storyline with more complex sequences to solve.

Manipulate the land
Old Man's Journey

Embark on an emotional puzzle adventure down the old man's memory lane.

Old Man's Journey

Old Man's Journey

Broken Rules

A story driven puzzle adventure that emphasizes narrative without relying on any text or voice acting. It still creates an emotional journey for the player as they guide the old man across the landscape. The puzzle aspect comes into play as you shift the ground to create continuous landings for...

Gather supplies
Death Road to Canada

Survive the zombie apocalypse with a band of crazy people, and even crazier circumstances.

Death Road to Canada

Death Road to Canada

Rocketcat LLC

Your goal is to get on the death road, and survive as long as you can. The game presents other people to interact with, destinations to scavenge in, and plenty of humor mixed in during the zombie apocalypse.

Subsurface Circular
Subsurface Circular

Solve the case of disappearing robots in this intriguing text based adventure.

Subsurface Circular

Subsurface Circular

Bithell Games

A text based adventure game set in the future in which you play as a detective trying to figure out the mystery of disappearing robots. The game aspect tests your ability to collect words and phrases to use in dialogue puzzles to solve the case, and mystery of the futuristic...

#21-30

Now, we're getting to the point of some true stand outs. It's like splitting hairs to rank all of these amazing games from 2017.

GRIDโ„ข Autosport

A console inspired racing simulation game with a deluxe 3D graphics engine.

GRIDโ„ข Autosport

GRIDโ„ข Autosport

Feral Interactive Ltd

Grid merges realistic simulation and arcade racing to offer an eclectic mix of intense racing action. The game looks gorgeous, and you unlock the full game with one purchase price.

Be sneaky
Card Thief

Guide your thief through the dungeon as stealthy as possible with specific cards.

Card Thief

Card Thief

Arnold Rauers

The board game is composed of three rows and three columns of cards. You try to move your thief past guards, through traps, and to collect gold. The game gives you limited stealth, and every move costs stealth points, so you need to be careful with every card you move...

Turn-based battles
Ticket to Earth

Do battle by making match based paths to your enemies in this genre mash-up.

Ticket to Earth

Ticket to Earth

Robot Circus Pty Ltd

A genre mash-up that offers the familiar match three mechanic as the movement system for a turn based strategy challenge. You need to string together your movement across specific tiles to charge the move that corresponds to the different colors. Thereโ€™s an overarching futuristic Sci-Fi storyline to add extra incentive...

Solve puzzles
forma.8 GO

With not many Metroidvania style games on the App Store, forma.8 GO stands out as a must-have on the App Store if youโ€™re a fan of the genre.

forma.8 GO

forma.8 GO

Mixedbag Srl

If you're craving a Metroidvania type game on your iOS device, then forma.8 GO is a must.

Unique challenge
Slayaway Camp

Slide the murdered to take out camp kids in this slasher inspired puzzler.

Slayaway Camp

Slayaway Camp

Blue Wizard Digital LP

The 80s slasher flicks of Halloween, Friday the 13th, and others are a great juxtaposition for a block sliding puzzle game. This game genre is usually filled with overly cute characters, but the campy horror flicks are a great theme too. Swipe to slide the Jason inspired character into the...

Darkest Dungeon:Tablet Edition
Darkest Dungeon:Tablet Edition

A beautifully rendered turn based RPG that challenges you with enemies as well as fractured psyche.

Darkest Dungeon:Tablet Edition

Darkest Dungeon:Tablet Edition

Red Hook Studios Inc.

A different type of turn based RPG that requires you to lead a team of flawed heroes. There are the usual outlandish enemies, but Darkest Dungeon incorporates survival tactics so that you deal with stress, famine, disease, and more. Paranoia, masochism, fear, irrationality, and other mindsets will add quirks to...

A beautiful world
Pavilion: Touch Edition

Move blocks and other environmental items to create the path forward for the main character.

Pavilion: Touch Edition

Pavilion: Touch Edition

Visiontrick Media AB

A 4th person puzzle adventure is definitely a change of pace. Pavilion doesnโ€™t let you directly control the main character, and instead you manipulate the world around him to create the path forward. Thereโ€™s a beautiful 3D designed world that gives you a great overview perspective to give you the...

Game Dev Tycoon

Start your own game dev company, and try to design games that become popular and profitable.

Game Dev Tycoon

Game Dev Tycoon

Greenheart Games Pty. Ltd.

At first glance, this game is a lot like Game Dev Story. Your goal is to start your own company, design your own games and make your way to the top. Game Dev Tycoon takes great inspiration, and builds upon it with so many factors to experiment with in designing...

SPACEPLAN

Uncover a mysterious adventure storyline with clicking and timely upgrades.

SPACEPLAN

SPACEPLAN

Devolver

An intriguing Sci-Fi narrative enclosed within a clicker game. Tap the screen to build up the ability to launch potato probes to explore mysterious planets. The storyline will keep you clicking, which is a definite rarity for the genre.

#31-40

Moving on up. The games keep getting better as we reveal the next ten in our reverse countdown to game of the year.

Turn-based strategy combat
Fire Emblem Heroes

Nintendo has brought another of their big name franchises to iOS.

Fire Emblem Heroes

Fire Emblem Heroes

Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Nintendoโ€™s turn based RPG series Fire Emblem has come to iOS, and the version is truly made for touch. Itโ€™s effortless to command your team of heroes to get into position for the best strategic approach to take out your enemies in a lengthy adventure.

Interact with your subjects
Reigns: Her Majesty

Reigns returns in an all new time period with all new swipe based choices.

Reigns: Her Majesty

Reigns: Her Majesty

Devolver

The follow up to Reigns introduces a queen as the protagonist in the era of Enlightenment. Swipe left and right to handle the various attacks at your throne.

Spell the words
Typeshift

Rearrange columned letters to discover words to crossword style clues.

Typeshift

Typeshift

Zach Gage

A brand new word game style from the maker of SpellTower. You need to shift columns into place to try to form words from the grid of letters. There are two ways to play with a word finder as well as a crossword puzzle style solver.

Space travel
Morphite

Crescent Moon first showed this game to us at GDC in March, and now it's available for everyone.

Morphite

Morphite

Crescent Moon Games

Explore space and shoot your way through a captivating and immersive story in Morphite.

The House of Da Vinci

A game inspired by The Room that delivers an all new storyline.

The House of Da Vinci

The House of Da Vinci

Blue Brain Games

Play as Leonardo Da Vinci's apprentice, and try to solve the intricate puzzles he has left behind. The game is heavily inspired by The Room to give you tactile 3D puzzles to solve with detailed and interconnected mechanics in play.

Returner 77

A 3D puzzle adventure with deluxe Sci-Fi storyline and mechanical puzzles.

Returner 77

Returner 77

Fantastic, yes

You are the last survivor of Earth, and you need to figure out alien technology in an attempt to get back home. There's a cinematic style Sci-Fi storyline to play through by solving mechanical puzzles aboard the alien ship.

Iron Marines: RTS offline game

The makers of the Kingdom Rush trilogy have a brand new strategy game for you.

Iron Marines: RTS offline game

Iron Marines: RTS offline game

Ironhide S.A.

The Kingdom Rush series delivers what is quite possibly the best tower defense games. The developers have moved on to their next idea with Iron Marines, which is an all new real time strategy game. The goal is to guide your troops on strange planets through various missions with each...

Kingdom: New Lands

Expand your kingdom bit by bit while on horseback.

Kingdom: New Lands

Kingdom: New Lands

Raw Fury

Ride along the lands to bring people into your kingdom, gather resources to build up your kingdom, and survive for as long as you can. Different obstacles appear, and there are overarching mysteries too.

Roll your way through the kingdom
Red's Kingdom

A block sliding puzzle game transformed into an adventure.

Red's Kingdom

Red's Kingdom

Cobra Mobile Limited

Swipe the screen to slide Red across the castle grounds, through dungeons, and more in this new adventure game. It's an interesting genre mash-up that offers a simple mechanic to let you focus on the neat world to interact with.

#41-50

The top 50 begins with the unveiling of numbers 41 to 50 on the list. When you see some great games this far down the list, you can't help but be excited for what's to come.

Dive and jump
Dragon Hills 2

Ride a dragon to cause as much destruction as possible.

Dragon Hills 2

Dragon Hills 2

Cezary Rajkowski

Jump into a mechanical dragon and get ready to dive into zombie-infested worlds and take them out in this challenging auto-runner arcade game.

Use key cards
Onirim - Solitaire Card Game

Play cards at the right time to open doors and avoid nightmares.

Onirim - Solitaire Card Game

Onirim - Solitaire Card Game

inPatience

Onirim challenges your ability to strategize the usage of different colored and symboled cards. Your goal is open the colored doors either with using rare keys, or playing three of the same colored cards in a row with alternating symbols. It takes patience to balance when to use your hand...

Challenging gameplay
Evergrow

Blocks fly in from all around, and you need to place them on the character at the center of the screen,

Evergrow

Evergrow

Imagility

A game truly made for touch as you need to drag together incoming blocks to continue to grow the main character. You can grab multiple blocks at once, and deal with a constant supply of good and bad blocks floating around. There are also special tiles to help you continue...

The Guides Axiom

The Guides launched back in 2015, and now there's a sequel for more intriguing puzzles.

The Guides Axiom

The Guides Axiom

RosiMosi LLC

The sequel to The Guides maintains the peculiar puzzle is with a series of challenging and varied puzzles. The game uses all kinds of different mechanics to test your wit. There's also subtle overarching intrigue to wrap around this enigma.

Solve puzzles
After the End Forsaken Destiny

A 3D puzzle adventure with two timelines for the same scene.

After the End Forsaken Destiny

After the End Forsaken Destiny

NEXON M Inc.

Embark on a 3D puzzle adventure game that spans two generations. Play as the father trying to figure out the path forward through desert landscapes. Then, flip time to play as the sun to move through sequences changed by the passage of time. Each chapter introduces a new puzzle mechanic...

Chroma Squad
Chroma Squad

Go Go turn based combat adventure.

Chroma Squad

Chroma Squad

Behold Studios Jogos Eletronicos LTDA ME

A game inspired by the Power Rangers that gives you both control of a TV show as well as turn based tactical strategy combat. You can cast actors, upgrade your studio, and improve sets. Then, it's time for action with turn based combat with your five power ranger inspired characters.