Servant of the Lake mixes Vanderboom chores with alchemy
Rusty Lake's prequel to Roots casts you as the Vanderbooms' servant for one weekend, and in my book it leads the series as a newcomer's first stop.
Games
Reviews and picks for iPhone, iPad, and Mac games across the App Store and Apple Arcade.
TOEM on iPhone turns the phone into its camera
Pocket Gamer says TOEM's gyroscope camera feels like shooting with the actual phone, though App Store reviews keep calling the hand-drawn trip short.
Duck Survival buries a sharp zombie siege under menus
Even with App Store reviews flagging red-dot shop prompts, Duck Survival's build-by-day, defend-by-night zombie loop holds up for short sessions.
Rush Rally Origins drifts back to top-down rally
Rush Rally Origins nails the slide through a dirty hairpin, a 36-stage overhead rally throwback that plays best with a controller.
Level Devil hides a fresh trap behind every door
Level Devil's traps are gleeful the first time through, but its App Store reviews report an ad after nearly every one of its bite-size levels.
El Paso, Elsewhere brings slow-mo gunfights to iPhone
Even with the cramped touch controls reviewers flag on iPhone, El Paso, Elsewhere keeps its slow-motion neo-noir shootouts mostly intact.
Pocket Tanks keeps two players dueling on one screen
Pocket Tanks still nails the two-player couch artillery duel, up to 400 weapons deep, and its App Store reviews single out the absence of ads.