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

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.

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.

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