Pocket Gamer's recommendation-a-day advent calendar: Card Crawl

Every day, as we count down to the Christmas, we'll be sharing a brilliant and essential game from 2015 that didn't quite make our game of the year list. We'll share the very best iOS and Android games of the last 12 months on Christmas Day

December 1st - Card Crawl
iOS (£2.39 / $2.99) - Android (Free)

Card Crawl is a deceptive title. Yes, it has cards, but there certainly isn't any crawling.

This is a series of snappy, violent decisions played out with a deck of cards and a flick of the wrist (and maybe a swig of goblin beer).

For the uninitiated, each time you encounter a 10-damage dealing Souleater will feel like being bludgeoned. Your confidence perished by the luck of the draw.

But, as with most card games, you gradually learn to anticipate the deck; hoarding potion cards, keeping a shield handy, and discovering the nuanced skill of mastering ability cards.

It's a game that manages to concoct lightweight, quickfire play with a slow-cooked bed of decision-based tactics. You battle against the punishing blows of randomised card dealing with the knowledge you've built up after countless failures.

Helping you stick with it is the tactility of each sword blow and shield bash; sounds and animation evoke flesh being sliced, steel and wood clattering and splintering.

Each round only lasts a couple of minutes but that's all Card Crawl needs to achieve a harrowing fight to the brink of death (if you're lucky).