The Best iPad Games for 2023

Despite first launching in 2018, Among Us truly took over the world in 2020 as the perfect, paranoid, quarantine pastime. You and your friends control cartoony astronauts working together to fix your spaceship, while secret saboteurs work to quietly kill you all. Use some good old-fashioned social manipulation to flush out the truth or continue the ruse.

With their shiny cars and blistering sense of speed, nothing shows off new graphics tech like a racing game. Asphalt 9: Legends is no different. This gorgeous free game will make you appreciate every penny you spent on your new tablet.

Blek is a simple game with intricate puzzles centered around touch-screen gestures and minimalistic art. Create patterns of movement to complete each level. It may not sound like much, but the game proved to be an excellent addition to the iPad’s stable of games.

Carcassonne may be one of the more expensive iPad games, but this digital version of the German-style board game is worth it. In this social game, you lay tiles and game pieces on a virtual board to build up a medieval landscape. The goal is to own completed developments, like cities, farms, and roads. But unlike that other property-ownership game Monopoly, Carcassonne is thought-provoking, and not too heavily reliant on luck. It ranks among the best board game apps available.

This Castlevania spin-off originally launched on iOS a few years ago, and it came loaded with annoying microtransactions. Fortunately, this new Apple Arcade release strips the money grabs, leaving you with all the action-packed, side-scrolling, gothic adventuring you’d expect from the seasoned vampire killers. 

Settlers of Catan sparked a revolution in board games, as the first so-called Euro-game to blaze the trail for worldwide popularity. Catan HD is quite a bargain, considering the boxed set costs nearly $50, and it’s suitable for kids and adults.

The popular turn-based 4x strategy series released a new iteration in 2016, and this time a mobile version came along with it. Control a nation of people, gather resources, fight your enemies, and build a new empire in Civilization VI. The best part is that you can play this for free.

Try to survive in the world of Crashlands as you crash land on a planet filled with wild animals and raw material. Fight, craft, and strategize as you attempt to survive long enough for help to arrive.

Darkest Dungeon starts out as a typical dungeon crawler, but this RPG quickly devolves into a truly nightmarish survival game. You manage a group of characters as you explore dungeons in a combination of real-time and turned-based combat. Keep an eye on each hero’s stress level, or bad things will happen.

Device 6 explores the concept of narrative and choice by using text to take you on a surreal journey. Though Device 6 is mainly a text-based title, the game is not really a “text adventure.” Device 6 is more akin to an enhanced digital novel with puzzles. The game isn’t for everyone, but gamers who dig experimental gameplay should give it a go.

Survival games are pretty popular these days, especially ones with random environments, permanent death, and other roguelike elements. Don’t Starve stands above the rest with its deep hunting and crafting systems as well as its sad but lovely gothic hand-drawn visuals. Think of this game as something of a Tim Burton-meets-Minecraft adventure.

Donut County, you control a hole in the ground to eat up structures around you. The more you suck up, the bigger the hole gets, allowing you to eat bigger and bigger objects. Use the hole to solve puzzles and navigate the game’s story.

Euclidean Lands was an Editors’ Choice darling that asked you to solve architectural turn-based puzzles in order to defeat enemies in a beautiful medieval world. With Euclidean Skies, you to do it again with more levels, enhanced graphics, and an augmented reality mode that lets the game interact with your surroundings.

Fantasian is a new, throwback Final Fantasy game in everything but name. It’s the latest title by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of the franchise. You may not see Cloud or Sephiroth, but you’ll feel their presence as you and your party travel through future-fantasy landscapes brimming with crystals. Those crystals dazzle even brighter on an iPad screen that truly shows off the game’s gorgeous visuals.

Animatronic animals are horrifying. Five Nights at Freddy’s has finally turned that terrifying truth into a video game. As you play the role of a lone security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, you’ll soon learn that the only thing worse than being stuck in a Podunk Chuck E. Cheese knock-off is being stuck there in the middle of the night as the furry robots try to kill you. There’s an entire cottage industry of teenagers screaming at this game on YouTube, but that can’t compare with checking out the nightmare for yourself.

The indie platformer Forgotten Anne made it to iOS in 2019, giving a larger audience a chance to play this hand-drawn anime style adventure. The game takes place in the Forgotten Lands, a magical world where lost things come to life. Your job is to stop a rebellion from ruining everyone’s chances of being remembered and returned to the real world.

If you like puzzles and narrative better than you like high-intensity gameplay, Framed is for you. You control the events of the story by rearranging panels of a comic book in order to ensure that your character gets away from those pursuing them.

FTL: Faster Than Light simulates the tension, excitement, and sheer chaos of guiding your own spacecraft. The randomly generated planetary systems always have new challenges to offer.

Gorogoa is a hand-drawn puzzle game with no text in the entire game. While that means you get to look at the pretty pictures unimpeded, it also means you have to figure everything out yourself. Good luck!

GTA: Chinatown Wars combines the modern Grand Theft Auto games’ urban warfare with the top-down mayhem of the franchise’s earlier games. This overlooked gangster gem is secretly the best of both worlds. Don’t miss out.

In most detective games, there’s an answer for every question. The solution may be confusing, obtuse, or unsatisfying, but ultimately every mystery can be solved. The game can be finished. But life isn’t like that. Life is ambiguous and often contains riddles that can never be completely understood. What makes Her Story such a captivating crime game is that, like life, it has no real end. As you watch its hundreds of video interviews with a murder suspect, the game only stops the moment you decide to walk away.

Hidden Folks is a fun little game that borrows from Where’s Waldo to provide intricate hand-drawn scenes filled with hidden objects. Since this is an iPad game, each scene contains many interactive objects. All music and sounds in the game were produced with noises from the developers’ own mouths.

Translating existing game franchises to iOS has always been tricky. Not all games can make the leap from a console with controllers and buttons to nothing but a single touch screen. However, Hitman Go skillfully captures the essence of everyone’s favorite bald assassin, Agent 47, in a more mobile-friendly form. You’ll be shocked how satisfying this slick series of strategy board games feels as figures move across flat surfaces to take out their targets.

Paying tribute to 16-bit adventure games of the past, Hyper Light Drifter has you take control of a wanderer as you use advanced technology to defeat enemies and advance through the world. The game has no dialogue, requiring the game’s music and visuals to tell the bulk of its story.

Immortality was one of 2022’s finest gaming experiences. This interactive film challenges you to solve its seductive, decades-spanning mysteries by creating connections between seemingly unrelated clips from lost movies. Shot in live-action, these “fake” movies are more compelling than what Hollywood puts out these days, and are even more engrossing on a tablet screen. Note that you’ll need a Netflix subscription to access this game on mobile.

If you like the Lara Croft franchise, you’ll love what they did with this mobile game. Taking cues from Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go went a step further and added elevations to the game board. It feels just like a true Lara Croft game, with her having to climb up mountain cliffs and maneuver around chasms.

League of Legends has dominated the MOBA genre on PC for over a decade, and now Wild Rift brings the phenomenon to mobile devices. All your classic MOBA strategies apply as you and your team of heroes charge down lanes, using your powers to tear through the enemy team’s defenses. However, a new snappier pace and intuitive touch controls makes it much easier to play round after round on your iPad.

Lego Builder’s Journey (an Apple Arcade exclusive) taps into the unspoken sentimentality that makes these bricks such a beloved toy. Instead of adapting a movie license, this game conveys the pure nostalgic joy of Lego itself as you play through its coming-of-age narrative.

The perilous platforming challenges of Leo’s Fortune are so great they rival console classics like Rayman and Donkey Kong. Instead of running and jumping, players take on the role of a sentient pile of fuzz named Leo with the power to inflate and deflate himself on command. Looping levels force Leo to carefully control his momentum and size to solve puzzles and escape danger. If that’s not enough, Leo’s constant grandfatherly narration and the game’s overall old-world atmosphere never cease to delight.

Love You to Bits puts you in control of Kosmo, a space explorer, who must explore alien worlds in order to collect the broken pieces of his robot girlfriend. Point-and-click to solve puzzles and collect items as you learn more about this relationship you are trying to put back together.

Fans of Minecraft will have no problem shelling out the money for this iPad app. Gameplay blends creativity with strategy. It’s a 3D sandbox-building game in which you place blocks made of different kinds of materials to build anything you want.

In the survival and hardcore modes, the object is to survive when monsters land on the scene. Meanwhile, creative mode gives the player complete freedom of invention.

Minecraft mega fans might also enjoy Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality app where you build and explore in the real world.

The minimalist puzzle strategy game asks you to construct a rail transit network for a series of rapidly growing cities. Players must make the trains run efficiently by adding tracks, tunnels, and train cars in order to pick up riders in the station. Mini Metro maps are based on major real-world cities and includes multiple game modes for a variety of gaming experiences.

Monster Hunter’s infamously demanding controls should simply fall apart on touch-only mobile devices. However, Monster Hunter Stories fits iOS perfectly. It presents Monster Hunter’s world as an accessible, turn-based RPG where you befriend monsters instead of hunting them. Before you play the sequel, check out the original journey.

Monument Valley is a puzzle game that’s as beautiful as it is infuriating. Players guide the tiny princess Ida as she attempts to ascend various abstract structures. The focus on optical illusions and M.C. Escher-inspired architecture means you’ll be staring at these puzzles (and the dreamy landscapes) for a while before cracking them. When you do, move on to Monument Valley 2.

NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition takes the premier console basketball game and successfully shrinks it down for iOS. That said, once you see these visuals, you won’t think anything has been shrunken down. Even with “Arcade” in the name, you still need to pay attention to technical aspects like proper defense and shot timing. The MyCareer mode even lets you customize your player.

Oddmar just wants to find his way to Valhalla, but does he really want to get there by burning down the forest? This platformer takes you on a story you can truly become invested in, and the adventure will look absolutely stunning along the way.

As the title promises, you take an old man through a journey, but there is so much more here. Old Man’s Journey tackles heartbreak and regret as you navigate the choices we all make in life to give the old man one last chance to set things right.

Out There is something of a choose-your-own-adventure resource management game. Stranded out in the middle of an unknown part of space, you must manage your spaceship and gather resources in order to survive. Only by interacting with alien species can you set your character on a specific path that ultimately determines the game’s ending.

Overland (an Apple Arcade exclusive) turns survival into a thought exercise as you play through its randomized missions. Tiny tactical skirmishes require you to not only kill and avoid monsters, but also escape with enough supplies to make it through the next encounter. Just make sure the dog lives.

Guide a group of teenagers through a supernatural adventure on a mysterious island. Use a radio to talk to ghosts, unlock secret areas, and discover the truth. An interesting game mechanic in Oxenfree is that there are no cutscenes; all dialogue takes place during gameplay, so you can continue adventuring at all times.

Based on the real card game released in 2007, Race for the Galaxy on iOS asks you to build galactic civilizations against two to four players or on your own. Game cards represent technological or social developments, and each playthrough has different game phases based on exploration, development, settlement, consumption, and production.

Rocket League Sideswipe turns the immaculate, arcade-style, car-soccer game into an even faster and more accessible experience on iOS. Using touch controls, you boost and flip across the arena to pass the ball to teammates and score goals. The exciting neon visuals pop on a vibrant iPad screen. You can even sync with your existing Rocket League account to earn rewards and progression.

The Room series puts you in a locked door mystery—literally. Each game confines you to a single room and you must uncover clues and complete puzzles in order to get yourself out. There are four games in all: The Room, The Room Two, The Room Three, and The Room: Old Sins.

In 2017, acclaimed cult hit cartoon Samurai Jack finally received the conclusion it always deserved on Adult Swim. If you want to see Jack face off against Aku one last time, check out the action game epilogue Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, only on Apple Arcade.

Not enough games take advantage of the ocean’s isolation and frights. Shinsekai: Into the Depths (only on Apple Arcade) is a moody Metroidvania where you’ll battle undersea creatures, find secrets with sonar, and keep your oxygen from running out beneath the waves.

In Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, you guide an exiled clan through danger in this fantasy role-playing simulation game. Six Ages asks you to manage people, magic, and livestock through various situations, and though gameplay can be punishingly difficult at times, helping your clan survive over multiple generations can be very rewarding.

As a first-person, action-adventure video game with touch controls, Severed offers a unique level of interactive gameplay. You control a woman as she attempts to save her family from the horrible monsters she encounters. Navigate through dungeons, solve puzzles, and defeat monsters, all with the the touch-screen controls that allow you to attack and use magic. Praise for this game centered on the stunning art direction and fantastic soundtrack. It won Apple’s 2016 iPad Game of the Year and has since been ported to several video game consoles.

You’d think that cryptids would be easier to find now, since everyone carries cameras all the time. In Sneaky Sasquatch (only on Apple Arcade), you put yourself in Bigfoot’s big shoes as you wear disguises, steal yummy picnic food, and just chill in the woods.

Too often, using a smartphone is an isolated experience. What makes Spaceteam so wonderful is how it turns your phone into a gateway for incredible, in-person socializing, as you and your friends connect over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to become crew members on a spaceship.

As the voyage continues, ship parts start to break down and only certain people can fix them. So to keep the space team together, everyone must shout wacky instructions to each other while listening for their own commands. Any game that gets grown folks to scream “Set Stunhoist to three!” is a game worth checking out.

If you’re an old-school Nintendo fan, you might remember a farming simulator game called Harvest Moon. The makers of Stardew Valley were inspired to recreate the look and feel of that original game. Create your own character, build the farm of your dreams, become a master rancher, socialize with other characters, and explore the world around you.

From indie developers Capybara Games (which also made Might & Magic), Sword & Sworcery is an exploratory action-adventure game, made more interesting by an original audiovisual style. It’s downright dreamy. With your sword in hand, you battle enemies and call upon your sworcery skills to solve mysteries. But the real appeal is how well the three different aesthetics—music, visuals, and game design—blend.

Tetris is already a perfect video game, so how can it get any better? Add some hot tunes! Tetris Beat takes the seminal puzzle game and marries it to music game mechanics. Tetris Effect players already know how satisfying it is to drop blocks on rhythm, and now iOS owners can become one with the sound. 

Thimbleweed Park takes its cue from point-and-click adventure games from the ’80s and ’90s, and features simplistic graphics and gameplay that were common at the time. You control five different characters as they explore the town, pick up items, and investigate the secrets around a dead body. Fans of The X-Files and Twin Peaks will have fun with this one.

If the books, console games, and Netflix show aren’t enough Witcher for you, check out Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. This side story uses the card game Gwent as the gameplay glue for a rich, role-playing experience full of the same great writing you expect from this mythology.

Ticket to Earth is a unique combination of tactical RPG and tile-matching puzzler. You must control your character through turn-based tactical battles while also matching colors to receive important power-ups. It’s a game featuring two very different gameplay mechanics, but they work so well together.

TouchTone is a game about a government agent hacking phones to spy on those they deem suspicious. Given our current security climate, it’s less of a game and more like an interactive documentary. TouchTone’s devious data puzzles eventually become so difficult you’ll feel like an actual black hat after solving them. The thick conspiracy atmosphere and intriguing emergent narrative add to the game’s contemporary relevance.

Transistor was one of the finest console games of 2014. While the game doesn’t control quite as well on the iPad’s touch screen, it’s still a gorgeous, intelligent, and mechanically sophisticated sci-fi action-RPG.

This board game-turned-video game allows you to take control of either the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Using cards and dice, players navigate historical events, and in the process may end up changing the course of history. The goal of Twilight Struggle is to gain influence over various country and fight for control, while also avoiding all-out nuclear war.

This puzzle adventure game is set during World War I. You control four different characters through various sections of the game, each possessing unique abilities to navigate their levels. Valiant Hearts was recognized for its narrative storytelling and won several awards in 2014.

Vampire Survivors almost seems like a game that could play itself. In it, you simply move around the screen and automatically attack monsters. However, there’s a deceptive amount of arcade strategy as you maneuver across the map and acquire more weapons until you fill your iPad screen with whips, knives, and spells to decimate unholy hordes. Not bad for a free game. 

This Editors’ Choice title allows you to take control of an army and use turn-based strategy to defeat the opponent. Influenced by the classic Advance Wars tactics games, each unit in Warbits has its own strength and weaknesses, as well as unique power ups. The game includes a campaign, challenge mode, and online play, all wrapped within cute graphics and quirky dialogue.

Where Cards Fall (only on Apple Arcade) shows that a house of cards can be a sturdy foundation. This melancholic puzzle adventure tasks you with rearranging cards into useful structures for traveling around a world of dreams and memories. The concept holds up; it doesn’t collapse. 

Use light and shadow to navigate your way through this puzzler. You’ll be impressed by the game’s deep story, unique gameplay mechanics, and wonderfully colored world. What’s even better is that there are no ads or add-ons in Where Shadows Slumber; pay $2.99 and play uninterrupted.

The Witness follows in the footsteps of the Myst series by placing you in a mysterious location and expecting you to figure out how to escape. You’ll be looking for clues and completing puzzles, but make sure you take in the scenery when you can.

World’s End Club (only on Apple Arcade) comes from the creators of niche, Japanese adventure games. Kotaro Uchikoshi created Zero Escape, while Kazutaka Kodaka wrote Danganronpa. If any of that means anything to you, check out this new game about anime kids and the weird shenanigans they get into.