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Apple recommends mobile games for players stuck at home

Lara Croft Go
Lara Croft Go
Image Credit: Square Enix
@deantak

As many people are sheltering in place, Apple has made some of its popular mobile games available at no cost. These titles are normally paid in some form, on Apple Arcade in the form of subscriptions or on the AppStore as paid titles.

The idea is to make life indoors a little more comfortable. We’ve listed the games that are available for free this week below, and below that is another list of games recommended by Apple’s editors.

Free games for now

Above: Monument Valley 2

Image Credit: Ustwo Games
  • Monument Valley 2 from Ustwo Games — Guide a mother and her child as they embark on a journey through magical architecture, discovering illusory pathways and delightful puzzles as players learn the secrets of the Sacred Geometry.
  • Lara Croft Go from Square Enix — Explore the ruins of an ancient civilization, discover well-kept secrets and face deadly challenges to uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom in this turn-based puzzle-adventure.
  • Cat Quest from The Gentlebros — Leap into a grand adventure of dragons, magic, and cats in purr-suit of the evil Drakoth.
  • Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space? from Daylight Studios – A wacky space exploration game where players manage their very own spaceship, craft hundreds of weapons, and explore the vastness of a veggie-filled universe.
  • Takoway from Daylight Studios — Follow Tako the hexapus in this perspective-based puzzler as she goes on a six-legged journey to escape captivity and find her place in the world. 
  • Earth Atlantis from Pixel Perfex — Earth Atlantis is a side-scrolling shooter with an original “Monster-Hunting” gameplay. Search and hunt down dreadful sea monsters and explore the post-apocalyptic underwater world. 
  • Kings League: Odyssey from Kurechii — Based on the Flash strategy hit game, recruit and manage an army of over 40 unique classes including Lancers, Berserkers, and Dragoons to compete against other teams. 
  • Tiny Guardians from Kurechii — Summon unique guardians to defend Lunalie against various enemies as she journeys through Prism in search of her missing aunt, the Sorceress. 
  • She and the Light Bearer from Toge Interactive — Follow the Journey of the Little Firefly to seek The Mother deep inside the heart of the unknown forest. Player must solve riddles, challenges, and puzzles.
  • Dip Deep! from Noodlecake — Join the Intergalactic Mining Guild and prepare for an adventure full of alien creatures, deathly traps and gold. 
  • Rolando: Royale Edition from HandCircus — The Kingdom has been invaded and the Rolandos are on a daring quest to save the sages from the clutches of the Shadow Creatures. Guide an intrepid gang of Rolandos as they negotiate the toys, traps, puzzles and curious characters that fill this tactile world.

And here are 20 other games that Apple’s AppStore editors recommended for those stuck at home.

Matching and puzzle games for little ones

Above: Toddler Zoo

Image Credit: Apple
  • Toddler Zoo — A funny and educational puzzle experience for children to learn about animals in a playful way.
  • Thinkrolls Space — This child-friendly puzzle game is out of this world with 200 mazes set across seven unique planets.
  • Pango One Road — A smart labyrinth for children that teaches the logic and anticipation of the player’s actions.
  • Puzzle Shapes — Featuring building blocks and puzzles designed for children between 2 and 5 years of age, young players can solve over 200 tasks and games.

Word games for friends

Math games for pre-teens

  • MathTango — Make learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division fun for kids with unique math puzzles and classic world-building activities found in games.
  • DragonBox Algebra 12+ — An algebra tutor that fits in a pocket, this educational game helps kids gain confidence in algebra and mathematics.
  • Fiete Math Learning for kids — A math game to help make counting easy for kids to understand, based on the educational approach of Montessori.
  • Brilliant — The game creates inspiring, interactive learning experiences featuring entertaining and educational courses.

Party games for family fun

  • Family Style — A local-multiplayer party game that transforms the players’ living room into a virtual kitchen, where they must race against time to complete recipes.
  • UNO! — Based on the popular card game, UNO! has all-new rules, tournaments, adventures and more.
  • Heads Up! — A fun and hilarious game from Ellen DeGeneres, players have to guess the word on the card that’s on their head from their friends’ clues before the timer runs out.

Strategic coding games

  • While True: learn — A puzzle/simulation game about machine learning, neural networks, big data, AI…and understanding your cat.
  • Human Resource Machine — Program little office workers to solve puzzles to get promoted to the next level.
  • Hopster Coding Safari for Kids — An animal-themed pre-coding logic game to help kids learn the fundamentals of coding.
  • 7 Billion Humans — Players automate swarms of office workers to solve over 60-plus programming puzzles.
  • CodeSpark Academy: Kids Coding — Using a no-word interface, the game teaches the basics of computer programming through a variety of interactive learning activities including puzzles, games, step-by-step projects, and game design.