Barbearian, $8.99 – [Review] – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – I’m just the type of person that could love Barbearian all because of its punny title. I mean, you’re a barbarian dressed in a bear suit, and the game is called Barbearian. That’s gold. However, thankfully the game comes through with more than enough substance and frantic hack ‘n slash action that seems to never quit. Its focus on having huge hordes of enemies all onscreen at once gives an epic feel to the battles, and your Barbearian’s arsenal of awesome attacks makes splatting each and every last one of them an absolute joy. – JN

Battleheart 2, $3.99 – [Review] – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – The original Battleheart became a defining mobile game following its release in 2011 with its groundbreaking line-drawing combat. Its spinoff Battleheart Legacy took that concept into 3D and added systems on top of systems to create an endlessly replayable RPG machine. This year the long-awaited proper sequel Battleheart 2 blended the two games into one giant ultimate Battleheart experience, with a more guided and structured campaign than the original but still enough RPG systems for you to experiment and play around with practically any character build you could ever dream up. – JN

Fortnite, Free – [First Impressions] – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – Fortnite did a lot of things in 2018 and it will likely continue to do a ton more in 2019 but the arrival of the iOS version was a huge deal. It is the biggest game in the world and Epic Games brought the Battle royale to iOS earlier in the year that basically had people begging for invites to try it out. Since then, Epic has improved the iOS version a ton and even added 60fps support. It is crazy how they manage to rollout major updates almost each week across all platforms including mobile with cross platform play and progression. 2018 was definitely the year everyone jumped off the Battle Bus on iOS. -MM

Grimvalor, $5.99 – [Review] – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – Touch Foo’s Swordigo is one of the most beloved Metroidvania-style action platformers on mobile, so when the folks that created it beefed up their team and opened a new studio to create a spiritual successor with improved graphics and inspiration from the Dark Souls series, well, only good things could come from that. But Grimvalor is more than good, it’s absolutely spectacular. With its ingenious combat system and controls that work flawlessly on the touchscreen, I could hack and slash my way through the hordes of evil Grimvalor enemies until the end of time. And that’s just what I’m going to do. – JN

Never Stop Sneakin', $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Never Stop Sneakin’ is in terms of story and presentation a parody of Metal Gear Solid, but it’s best to set that game aside if you really want to enjoy what this game has to offer. This isn’t a hardcore stealth game with a huge inventory of items and carefully-laid traps. No, this is a compelling arcade action game with light stealth elements. The sneakier you are, the better your score will be, but you also need to be fast. In other words? Never, ever stop sneaking. -SM

Paladins Strike, Free – [Soft Launch] – [Forum Thread] – The unbelievable success of Honor of Kings in Asian territories has all sorts of different developers chasing after the king of mobile MOBAS. Paladins Strike is another really fun take on a similar formula, and plays double duty of providing loads of fan service to folks who like the PC/console game Paladins as all the characters are the same. It’s also neat playing a MOBA with a bit more modern/sci-fi theme to it, as the genre is typically overrun by fantasy characters and settings. -EH

PUBG MOBILE, Free – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – While Fortnite was the first to properly legitmise the Battle Royale phenomenon on iOS, PUBG Mobile from Tencent has actually been slowly inching above Fortnite in a lot of ways. PUBG as a brand was very strong on PC and then Xbox. It is now also on PS4 but the mobile version is still the most polished of the lot. Tencent created a new version for iOS and Android from the ground up and it shows with how well optimised it is across even lower end devices. Fortnite might be the more popular game overall but on iOS, PUBG Mobile is better to play. -MM

Sneak Ops, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We’re huge fans of games with daily modes, and Sneak Ops takes that whole “new level every day gimmick but applies it to a stealth-based sneaking game. Imagine something like Metal Gear distilled to its essence, that you can play with one finger, with a new level to try to beat every single day. It’s got ad-based checkpoint unlocks, so you really never need to pay anything while playing (or view too many ads, for that matter). -EH

Tesla vs Lovecraft, $8.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The reputation developer 10tons has built in the world of mobile is something else. They’ve released a ton of great games over the years but have come to be known for their excellent top-down shooters. And for my money their most recent one, Tesla vs. Lovecraft, is the best of the bunch. You play as Nikola Tesla who is inexplicably involved in a feud with H.P. Lovecraft. Mr. Lovecraft unleashes his hordes of ugly monsters against you, and you use your engineering genius to build an arsenal of crazy weapons to fight them off with. Yes the premise is absolutely silly, but that’s what I love about it. Reason and logic are secondary when it means you can blast a ton of cool-looking monsters with some over-the-top weaponry. – JN

Thunderdogs, Free – [Announcement] – [Forum Thread] – A lot like Axe.io, Thunderdogs is another take on a .io style throw everyone into a huge multiplayer battle and hope for the best style of game with more depth than your typical .io game. This time around you’re a dog flying a plane with a whole heap of different weapons and powerups you can get to survive as long as possible. -EH

Wonder Blade, Free – [First Impressions] – [Game of the Week] – [Forum Thread] – Traditional action games often have issues when it comes to controls on the touchscreen. When you’re in the heat of battle it can be tricky to hit the proper buttons you need to when you can’t actually FEEL those buttons. I don’t know what special sauce Wonder Blade is using, but it has absolutely no problems in this department. You can pull off some of the most elaborate and satisfying combos ever using just some simple virtual button presses, and Wonder Blade does a phenomenal job of making you feel like the bad ass you know you can be. Coupled with art and animation that feels like you’re playing an actual cartoon as well as an attention to detail that’s rarely seen in mobile releases, and Wonder Blade is easily among the very best mobile games of 2018. – JN

World of Warships Blitz 3D War, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Wargaming has taken over the world with its tank games, with World of Tanks Blitz being wildly popular on mobile. World of Warships Blitz plays fairly similar, but you’re piloting giant battleships instead of tanks. If you’re really big into World of Tanks Blitz you probably are already fully aware of this, but if not, you’re going to love these massive ship battles just as much. -EH