Champions of Avan

Mobile games tend to generate a lot of dislike, and of those Idle games seem to be the most universally despised by those who consider themselves hardcore gamers. But they have their place. We all love to dive into a deep and rich narrative and engage with every system a game has to offer, but we also have to work, and sometimes having a game run beside us while we do so is just what we need to break the monotony. Champions of Avan has taken some slack for not being the same kind of RPG as the last title produced by Early Morning Studio, but it produces a very cathartic experience dripping with a sense of character.

Shadow Quest

Another game that came and went from the mobile scene without drawing too much attention, Shadow Quest has been de-listed from both the Play and Apple stores and even appears to have had its official website removed some time ago. The game had a shaky start that saw the initial release plagued with login errors that prevented players from progressing properly, and saw a re-release in multiple countries with Magicindie Softworks getting support from Nova Games.

Sdorica: Sunset

An enjoyable shift in Social RPGs in recent months has been a growing trend in putting the focus on storytelling. Earlier this year we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of inter-character sequences in Dissidia’s mobile outing from Square Enix, Nintendo has managed to finally give ‘Fire Emblem: Heroes’ a compelling arc with its second chapter, and now we have Sdorica Sunset to add to the list of genuinely interesting narratives.

Galaxy of Pen and Paper

Galaxy of Pen and Paper sees a return to the series by its original development team, Paradox North after briefly handing over the reins of the franchise to Paradox Interactive (who recently made the original free to play) while they made their Power Rangers tribute Tactical RPG ‘Chroma Squad’. You’ll learn that the developers liked Chroma Squad quite a lot throughout Galaxy of Pen and Paper, largely because the characters in the game keep talking about it.

Legend of the Skyfish

For many the most fun to be had in any ‘Legend of Zelda’ game is when the hook shot item comes into play. Legend of the Skyfish takes this idea and runs with it, and its developer, Mgaia makes the most of the concept.

Lowlander II: Lowerlander

In no uncertain terms, the original Lowlander was a massive success in providing a specific kind of tribute to the CRPGs of old it set out to emulate whilst simultaneously refining their control for a new age. Now, Flat Black Films brings us a sequel in Lowlander II: Lowerlander.

Lowlander

Lowlander is the first game to come out of Flat Black Games, a promising one-man indie developer with a love for old-school CRPGs. What do we mean by old-school? Well whereas most developers tend to use Ultima IV as a yard-stick for the start of their roleplaying experiences, Lowlander pays tribute to the significantly earlier Ultima II, the central part of the original Ultima Trilogy.

Erin: The last Aos Si

Erin is a game very much from the mind of one man, Daniel Franka (who kindly provides a video on the making of the title) who has guided much of the game’s content and it’s a master-class in RPG simplicity and old-school computer game beauty.

Dungeon Rushers

Released by Goblinz Studios, Dungeon Rushers represents a board-game style approach to roleplaying that fuses the turn based combat of ‘Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey’ with the trappings of ‘Hero Quest’ to produce a not-quite unique, but very enjoyable hybrid title.

Almost a Hero

Clickers as RPGs are slowly becoming a thing. The grind of your average JRPG can be easily boiled down to a single repetitive action where power-leveling is concerned and it’s this ‘see the numbers go up’ approach that leaves a sense of satisfaction when playing your average title in this relatively new genre.