Our 36 most anticipated iOS and Android games for the rest of 2013
Birds! Bastards! Tycoons! Trains! Cats! Giant snakes!
2013 has been a bumper year for mobile gamers.
The App Store has turned five years old, the HTC One was launched, and developers have released incredible new games like Ridiculous Fishing, Joe Danger, and Year Walk.
But we're only (a little more than) halfway through 2013. There are five months remaining in the year, and we reckon there are still hundreds of games scheduled to come out before 2014.
So, we picked out a few games scheduled for release before the end of 2013 for which we simply cannot wait. We've got huge new blockbusters, intriguing indie projects, enormous sequels, and promising follow-ups on our list. All are deserving of your hype and restless anticipation.
Read on, and let us know what tops YOUR mobile gaming wish list for 2013 in the comments section below. Down there. At the bottom. Yeah.
Angry Birds: Star Wars 2
By Rovio - coming to iOS and Android
It was easy to be cynical about unholy brand mash-up Angry Birds: Star Wars, but we ended up calling it "the best 'Birds yet".
Let's hope this sequel - which works with cute real-world toys - is just as good.
Gero Blaster
By Studio Pixel - coming to iPhone
The next game from Cave Story creator Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya is a retro-flavoured run-and-gun about a heavily armed frog named Kaeru and his quest to save his feline girlfriend.
Expect side-scrolling action, multiple weapons, and a little Metroid-style exploration.
Gunner Z
By BitMonster - coming to iOS
Lili was a serene game about exploring a tropical island. BitMonster's new game Gunner Z, however, is a violent, action-heavy turret shooter, set during a zombie apocalypse and shot entirely in night vision.
You gotta give the studio credit for mixing things up, if nothing else.
Wayward Saga
By RocketCat Games - coming to iOS
We were sold on Wayward Saga when Kepa Auwae (of Hook Champ and Punch Quest maker RocketCat Games) told us that "we're going for a Zelda plus Dark Souls vibe".
If the App Store had a pre-ordering facility, we'd have punched in our credit card details right there and then. Wayward Saga will be a randomly generated dungeon-crawler, and will serve as a follow-up to Mage Gauntlet.
Read our Wayward Saga preview.
Stealth Bastard
By Curve Studios - coming to iOS
Unlike most stealth games, Stealth Bastard is not about hiding in the shadows and memorising a guard's patrol path. This is a fast-paced puzzle-platformer, which requires quick wits and agile thumbs to avoid detection.
This iOS port features hundreds of user-made levels from the PC level maker, and its controls are surprisingly good.
Read our review of PS Vita version Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark.
Dead Trigger 2
By Madfinger Games - coming to iOS and Android
Zombie blaster Dead Trigger didn't exactly set our world on fire (I think we said it was "totally braindead and quickly gets boring"), but we're up for this ambitious sequel.
It's got more of everything, a new twist on touchscreen controls, and a persistent online community.
Alphadia Genesis
By Kemco - coming to iOS and Android
Kemco is the most prolific RPG maker around. Three seconds can't go by without this Japanese developer releasing a new retro-style role-player for iOS and Android.
But we're hanging on for Alphadia Genesis, the studio's first 3D adventure on phones and a welcome throwback to the PSone RPGs that once dominated our entire summer.
Terraria
By Re-logic - coming to iOS and Android
It's about time that we got to play side-scrolling Minecraft-alike Terraria on the go.
In this one, you are plopped into a randomly generated world with little more than a pickaxe and a taste for adventure. Soon, mind, you'll have built a house and crafted some weapons, and you'll be off to explore the underworld and fight demons.
Transport Tycoon
By 31X - coming to iOS and Android
Transport Tycoon is the mobile remake of Chris Sawyer's epic transport empire sim. And it could have been a disaster.
We were all nervously anticipating the announcement that it would be some cynical F2P garbage, you see. But we were wrong. It will be a paid game, and will be a lovingly recreated port of the 1994 original.
Third Eye Crime
By Moonshot - coming to iPad
Noir-infused indie game Third Eye Crime isn't just a top-down stealth adventure about making off with precious loot. In this game, misdirection is key.
Hero Rothko can read people's minds and can see where the guards think he's hiding. You'll use this knowledge to trick your pursuers into doing the wrong thing, and then exploit their mistakes.
Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas
By Cornfox & Bros. - coming to iOS
It feels like we've been waiting forever for Oceanhorn, a huge and ambitious adventure game whose creator was clearly influenced by The Legend of Zelda.
We'll keep on waiting, though. We just HAVE to play this game; see those visuals in motion; and hear the new soundtrack from legendary Japanese composers Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito.
Pocket Trains
By NimbleBit - coming to iOS and Android
Airline empire epic Pocket Planes started life as a train game, but NimbleBit said that "having to travel along the rail routes felt really limiting".
Now, the Tiny Tower developer is taking another stab at it, so it looks like another F2P time sink is hurtling down the track.
Tengami
By Nyamyam - coming to iOS
Beautiful iPad point-and-clicker Tengami is a slow and stoic adventure, and is cut from the same cloth as Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. Or cut from the same paper, to be more precise.
This is all about wandering through a Japanese pop-up book and solving the odd puzzle. It's made by a trio of talented people who used to work together at Rare.
Read our Tengami preview.
Chroma Squad
By Behold Studios - coming to iOS and Android
In this new game from Knights of Pen & Paper dev Behold Studios, you play the manager at a TV studio who is in charge of a Power Rangers-style superhero squad programme.
You'll need to film thrilling action scenes, manage your set, and buy the best special effects that your limited budget can stretch to. It's such a mad and brilliant idea that it's no wonder the studio has almost hit its Kickstarter goal for the game.
Combat Monsters
By Rubicon - coming to iOS
The next game from Great Big War Game developer Rubicon will be a multiplayer-focused tactics game. Combat Monsters will play out like a card game but has 3D models and a proper battlefield (like a strategy game).
The best of both worlds, then, from one of the smartest developers on mobile.
Exiles: Far Colony
By Crescent Moon Games - coming to iOS
For its next audaciously ambitious RPG, Ravensword maker Crescent Moon will ditch the goblins and magic spells in favour of aliens and spaceships.
In Exiles: Far Colony, you and your fellow colonists are deposited on some faraway desert planet. It's your job to keep everyone safe from alien monsters and naughty bandits.
Space Age
By Big Bucket Software - coming to iOS
Manic pixel-art avoid-'em-up The Incident has always had a place on my iPhone Home screen. So, I don't even care what Big Bucket Software's new game is. I just want it.
Oh, it's a real-time strategy stealth adventure about colonists on an alien planet? Okay, now I double-want it.
FIFA 14
By EA - coming to iOS and Android
EA is trying something new in FIFA 14. The next instalment in its famed footy series will feature gesture-driven controls, so you can tap on players to select them and swipe your screen to shoot. Don't worry, traditionalists: button-based controls are still available in the options menu.
This forthcoming footy game also boasts loads more teams and players, and a Match Day feature where the line between game and reality is blurred.
Read our FIFA 14 preview.
Framed
By Loveshack Entertainment - coming to iOS
How's this for an intriguing game concept? Each mission in Framed looks like a stylish comic book, spread out over several panels.
On first read-through, it will often end with your hero getting killed. So, you must rearrange the panels in such a way that you come out victorious.
We're really looking forward to seeing if this one lives up to its potential.
Warhammer: Space Hulk
By Full Control - coming to iOS
Everyone and his dog is working on a digital re-imagining of a Games Workshop boardgame, it seems.
Full Control, for its part, is remaking Space Hulk. Which has Space Marine Terminators waltzing about in the isolated corridors of some downed spaceship, shooting Genestealer aliens or something.
I have no idea what that means, but it sounds great.
Gettysburg: The Tide Turns
By Shenandoah Studio - coming to iOS
Battle of the Bulge developer Shenandoah Studio knows a thing or two about realistically recreating a famous battle in an astoundingly good strategy game.
"How about we turn the most important battle of the US Civil War into an iOS game?" Shenandoah asked.
"Yes, please," we replied.
Shenandoah's doing a tabletop version, too.
Godus
By 22Cans - coming to iOS and Android
It's a new god sim from Populous maker Peter Molyneux. That's reason enough to get all excited. But the most intriguing part of this Kickstarter success story is the God in Godus.
The game's divine ruler will be played by Bryan Henderson, the Scottish bloke who cracked the last cube in social experiment Curiosity. Henderson now gets to have a say in Godus's ongoing development (not to mention a cut of the profits).
Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse
By Revolution Software - coming to iOS and Android
Much-loved globe-trotting adventure series Broken Sword was one of the many ancient franchises to get a reboot in 'The Great Kickstarter Gold Rush of 2012'.
In this fifth adventure, Revolution takes the game back to the series's roots, so expect classic point-and-click puzzles, hand-drawn backdrops, and a retro-style interface. We sincerely hope this one drops on iOS and Android before the year is out.
Drifter
By Celsius Game Studios - coming to iOS
Some games have a big world to explore. And some have a procedurally generated galaxy 100,000 light years across and made up of tens of thousands of star systems.
Drifter falls into that latter category.
It's a game about making a living among the stars. Will you trade goods, hunt down pirates, mine asteroids, or become a pirate yourself? It's up to you.
Faraway
By Steph Thirion - coming to iOS
We loved Eliss, Steph Thirion's claustrophobic multi-touch puzzler about herding like-coloured planets. As such, we're all on board for his oft-delayed follow-up Faraway.
You are in charge of a runaway shooting star here, and you'll exert a gravitational tug on your stellar friend to guide him around the cosmos and draw out constellations. Faraway is still in the works. Please hurry up, Steph.
The Witness
By Number None - coming to iPad
While he may be the public face of this intriguing Myst-like puzzle game, Braid builder Jonathan Blow is not the only person working on The Witness.
Blow has assembled a huge Oceans 11-style team of talented industry veterans, you see, who are all working together on a "smart, subtle, discovery-driven" adventure game.
At last count, the game had 590 puzzles. I must solve them all.
Tilt to Live 2: Redonkulous
By One Man Left - coming to iOS
Tilt to Live was great. It was a twin-stick shooter with no sticks and no shooting. Instead, you tilted your iOS device to move and tried to avoid enemies altogether (only getting your own back when you picked up power-ups).
This sequel will contains loads of mad enemies and enormous boss battles. The game's subtitle kinda says it all.
HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft
By Bizzard - coming to iPad
HearthStone is an upcoming digital collectible card game that takes place in the Warcraft universe. That alone is probably enough to make Warcraft super-fans go giddy at the knees.
For everyone else, be aware that it will have completely over-the-top special effects for a card game, it's free, and it's heading to iPad soon.
The Cave
By Double Fine - coming to iOS
Monkey Island maker Ron Gilbert takes seven characters, throws them into a talking cave, and forces them to solve puzzles. Hilarity ensues. Well, that's the plan, at least.
You'll need to play this side-scrolling puzzler a few times over if you want to see everything. That's because you can only solve certain puzzles by picking certain characters.
Republique
By Camouflaj - coming to iOS
It's been more than a year since dystopian action game Republique was successfully funded by the Kickstarter crowd.
On July 1st, Republique developer Camouflaj told its backers that the game was "Feature Complete". So, here's hoping this stealth-survival game is out soon.
Colossatron: Massive World Threat
By Halfbrick - coming to iOS
Jetpack Joyride maker Halfbrick has got another dangerously addictive iOS game in the works. In Colossatron: Massive World Threat, you must aid a rampaging mechanised super-snake by snapping together the pods on its segmented body.
Different colour combinations result in different weapons, which will help our serpent anti-hero fend off waves of soldiers.
Read our Colossatron: Massive World Threat preview.
Mew-Genics
By Team Meat - coming to iOS
Team Meat put the mobile edition of its sinewy platformer Super Meat Boy on hold to work on Mew-Genics. So, it better be damn good.
Seeing as it's a crazy cat lady-'em-up with a backbone of bonkers simulations and billions upon billions of cute cat combinations, though, we're going to say the outlook's positive.
Peggle 2
By PopCap - coming to iOS, probably
Here's what we know about Peggle 2. It's called Peggle 2, and it exists.
Not much to go on, admittedly. But given the sheer addictive nature of Peggle and PopCap's penchant for making essential iOS games, it's still deserving of a spot on our watchlist.
Junk Jack X
By PixBits - coming to iOS
Don't be fooled into thinking that Junk Jack was some hastily made, erm, junk to cash in on Minecraft and Terraria. This little side-scrolling sandbox builder is a great game in its own right, with a huge fanbase and loads of content.
In semi-sequel Junk Jack X, PixBits adds online multiplayer, deep character customisation, and even interplanetary travel. We can't wait.
Heroes of Loot
By OrangePixel - coming to iOS and Android
OrangePixel (of Gunslugs fame) describes Heroes of Loot as "an action-packed roguelike, where we took the stuff we liked from standard dungeon / roguelike games, and we added our own little twist with a faster arcade feel to the gameplay".
Throw in some cute-as-a-button heroes and retro-style art, and you've got one hotly anticipated dungeon-crawler.
The Room 2
By Fireproof - coming to iOS
It might sound like a backhanded compliment, but The Room is the best game about opening a box. No, seriously.
Expertly crafted puzzles, an engaging plot, and a thick pervasive atmosphere are the reasons why.
As such, the sequel - in which Fireproof promises to "take fans of The Room's unique game world into an altogether more spectacular place" - has us all excited about opening boxes again.
