LATEST APPSGONEFREE Follow us on twitter
GearAdvice AppAdvice/TV NowGaming WatchAware

ICYMI: AppAdvice’s Best Paid iPhone Apps of 2016 Include Email and Games

The top premium apps and games of the year
App-dicted
December 31, 2016

It’s been a rough year in general, but thankfully some good has come out of 2016 in the form of iPhone apps. Our Top 10 Best Paid iPhone Apps of 2016 list covers the best apps for the iPhone that give you the most bang for your buck. Let’s find out what were the best premium apps and games you could get on your iPhone this year.

The Best of the Best

The Best of the Best

While there were plenty of fantastic premium game releases on iOS this year, one of the most unique ones to stand out among the crowd was Severed from Drinkbox Studios, and with good reason. Think of it as a mashup of Infinity Blade, The Legend of Zelda, and Etrian Odyssey.

Severed features a beautiful art style that is bright and vibrant, despite the uniquely dark and gloomy nature of the game. The first person perspective in this grisly dungeon-crawling RPG adventure makes it easy to navigate through the labyrinths with just taps and swipes, and the combat system is truly engaging.

While it may look like just another clone of Infinity Blade’s mechanics, Severed has some intricate complexities in the battle system that make it much more strategic. Swipe on your opponents to dish out damage (longer swipes hurt more), swipe against the foe’s attack to parry and counter, and once the gauge is full, you can activate Severed Mode, where you can cut off opponent’s limbs to use as upgrades for your character. Each foe behaves differently as well, so you have to learn their attack patterns in order to succeed. The game’s combat system can range from single opponents to multiple ones, which require fast reflexes and strategy.

As you help the protagonist, Sasha, through complex maze-like dungeons in order to find her family after getting her arm cut off, you’ll be able to upgrade her attributes using the limbs of fallen enemies, making her stronger over time.

Severed is a fantastic mix of puzzle, adventure, dungeon crawling, and action. The combat system is the icing on the cake, and it’s the perfect title to have on touch screen devices, so don’t miss out on this gem.

Severed
DRINKBOX STUDIOS INC.

Don't Lose an Arm and a Leg Over This Fantastic Action RPG

Dungeon crawling

Explore the nightmarish world of Severed by navigating from room to room and solving puzzles along the way. But watch out for those flames, because you're not alone in there...

Powerful upgrades

As you defeat your foes, make sure to max out that Focus gauge so you can activate Severed Mode. This means that after an enemy is defeated, you can take a few seconds to cut off it's limbs and use them for upgrading Sasha. This is important, since you need to become stronger on your quest to overcome the darkness and find your family.

Complex slash-based combat

As you encounter the flames, you'll start enemy battles. Things get complicated as you face off against multiple foes at once. Use strategy to scope out the bigger threats and eliminate them first. Swipe to attack and parry, and fill up that Focus gauge for the opportunity to get Severed mode for those valuable monster limbs for upgrades.

Get
Severed

The Runner-Up

The Runner-Up

Whether we like it or not, email has become a daily part of our lives and we need a great app to help us manage those overflowing inboxes on-the-fly. Fortunately, this is where Airmail comes in, a powerful email client that made the jump from macOS to iOS this year.

Airmail features a nice and clean interface that is fairly easy to use, especially if you’re familiar with the macOS version. With Airmail, there is support for multiple email accounts, so you can keep all of your inboxes in one place thanks to the unified inbox, or view everything individually. For those who like to use folders and labels, Airmail also keeps all of this intact so you never have to change your email workflow.

Another great thing about Airmail is the fact that the app is tailored for power users in every way. The app can integrate with other services so that users can take action with their emails. A small sample of actions you can do in Airmail include apps like Dropbox, OmniFocus, Fantastical, Deliveries, and more. The app also has support for full HTML signatures, aliases, rich formatting for messages, Smart Notifications, thread views, message snoozing, and more.

If you are still looking for a better way to manage your email on-the-go and want a powerful and flexible app that can do pretty much anything you’d need with email, then Airmail should be your go-to.

Airmail - Your Mail With You
Bloop S.R.L

Powerful Email Management

Check your inbox and to-do at a glance

Aside from rich notifications, Airmail has a couple of Today widgets. One offers a quick glance and access to your inbox, with a row of your most recent contacts’ avatars. The other provides a list of your to-dos. Just tap any item on either widget to be taken to the corresponding email within Airmail.

Share attachments via iMessage

Airmail has an iMessage extension that offers access to your email attachments. With it you can share any of the attachments in your inbox with your family, friends, and coworkers with just a few taps — all without leaving the Messages app.

Get
Airmail - Your Mail With You

Finalists

Did your favorites make the list?
Finalists

Build Your Dream Metro System

$4.99
Mini Metro
Dinosaur Polo Club Limited

Create Your Own Travel Guide

$0.99
Modern Atlas Travel Guides & City Maps — nearby places in Wikipedia & Wikivoyage
Eric Wolfe

Hack Your Way Through Puzzles

$1.99
Deus Ex GO - Puzzle Challenge
SQUARE ENIX Ltd

Craft With Sass

$4.99
Crashlands
Butterscotch Shenanigans, LLC

Blast Your Way Through a Dystopia

$9.99
Neon Chrome
10tons Ltd.

Battle Through Solitaire

$3.99
Solitairica
Righteous Hammer Games Inc.

A Beautiful Wikipedia Reader

$3.99
V for Wikipedia
Raureif GmbH

The Sweetest Platformer Ever

$2.99
Le Parker: Sous Chef Extraordinaire
Play Pretend LLC

What were your favorite paid iPhone apps from the year? Let us know in the comments below.