Top 5 mobile games of 2020: Jon M’s picks of the year

Slay the Spire was already being talked about in a reverential tones well before it arrived on iOS. This is a roguelike card battler of uncommon balance and depth, with a bewildering array of tactical possibilities.

The mobile version didn’t arrive in perfect nick, with a UI that didn’t seem as well attuned as it should be. But still, if this isn’t the finest game of its kind on mobile, I don’t know what is.

I’m not sure that it’s actually better than Slay the Spire, but thankfully Image & Form’s card battler is different enough that I don’t have to make that call. The two complement one another wonderfully.

Here the tactical card battling is m arried to a more traditional, fleshed out RPG structure. Oh, and I&F’s wonderful cartoon-steampunk presentation, of course.

Gumslinger was on hand to provide just the tonic I needed. Its rubbery, shiny, tactile showdowns are hilarious to behold and oh-so-moreish to play.

You simply haven’t lived until you’ve poleaxed a jelly-cowboy with a pinpoint bullet, let me tell you.

But here at the end of 2020, Songbringer is giving me those vibes. It actually doesn’t play all the much like Hyper Light Drifter, with weightier, slower-paced combat and a more exploratory edge.

It’s also even weirder, with an off-kilter sense of humour and disorientating procedurally generated levels that spawn from the word you ascribe to it. This one’s deeply trippy, not to mention endlessly replayable.

At first glance it’s a pretty typical platform-adventure set in a compact semi-open environment, and with a somewhat overly familiar retro aesthetic.

But start prodding at the seams and you’ll realise there’s some real ambition here. There are 100 possible endings to this pocket Groundhog Day adventure, demanding an experimental approach to exploration, and resulting in plenty of cheap yucks.