This official spin-off from World of Warcraft started on desktop and crossed to iPad, where it appears to have found its perfect medium. It's a card-battling game where you build a deck of characters and spells, then lay waste (in theory) to other players around the world. It's accessible, but a very deep rabbit-hole to go down once you get into its intricacies. Spellbinding.
The word “beautiful” is hugely overused in connection with apps: usually it means “has nice menus”. Monument Valley really is beautiful though, almost as much an artwork as it is a game. Inspired by the art of M.C. Escher, it’s a collection of impossible-architecture puzzles, which you twist to explore.
Supernauts was the first game from hotly-tipped Finnish publisher Grand Cru. It's a little bit Minecraft, in the way you craft buildings from raw materials, with elements of city-building and resource management games added on as you build a space-base, complete Earthling-rescuing missions and play and chat with friends online.
Boom Beach is the third game from Supercell, the developer that has enjoyed huge success with its Clash of Clans and Hay Day games. Like those, this is a freemium game: you have to build an island base and invade those of other players, with a military theme and plenty of potential for strategic planning
Thomas Was Alone is one of the most buzzed-about indie games this year – and before that, in its browser, PC and PS3 / PS Vita incarnations. You bounce your way through a platform game as a rectangle named Thomas, but with a proper story behind the action. It's excellent.
