
. Mobile games move so fast that if you
spend too much time standing still, or looking back, you're gonna get
left behind.So we're always on the hunt for the next thing. Maybe we'll
find it in our inbox, maybe at one of our Big Indie Pitch events, or
maybe at a booth in the corner of some gaming convention.Of all those
games we've discovered this year, these 50 are the ones you should
watch most closely. Most are due on both iOS and Android, but you might
have to wait a bit for the Google Play port.
This is part one. Come back tomorrow for another 25 games.
Subterfuge
Submarine
combat is a slow, laborious process. And as such, one match of this
strategy game takes an entire week to complete. You'll check in daily to
assess the seas, adjust your strategy, and forge fragile diplomacies
with other captains.
Loot and Legends

Popular browser game
Card Hunter is sadly not coming to mobile. But in its place, we're getting a reworked, tablet-friendly version with a new name:
Loot & Legends. It's still a card-battling RPG mash-up, with a gorgeous papercraft asthetic.
Raging Justice
This
old-school brawler comes from a bunch of developers who used to work at
Rare. But you'll find no shiny collectables or googly eyes here.
Instead, it's a grim and violent game about pounding on punks and
running them over with a lawnmower. What's wrong with punks?!
Drop Wizard
Between
Roar Rampage and
Lost Yeti,
developer Neutronized is building a nice catalogue of super fun games.
Its latest - a single-screen arcade romp about zapping baddies - looks
and sounds like some forgotten SNES classic.
Love You to Bits
You don't need us to tell you that
Love You to Bits is being developed by ex-members of
Tiny Thief
maker 5ants. It looks just like it, with detailed cross-section
buildings and adorable characters. This one's about a tiny explorer,
trying to find the broken parts of his robot girlfriend. Aw.
What on Earth!
At
first glance this might look like your typical dirt-bike game. But the
important bit is that you can make your own levels, and then share them
online for others to play. You'll craft stages out of sand, ice,
electric, mud and other materials.
Need for Speed: No Limits
This is the first
Need for Speed
game made especially for phones. Which we should probably read as it
being free to play, and you'll have to pay for petrol and road tax. Even
so, it should also be a gorgeous game and the sort of gritty street
racer that's missing on mobile.
The Witcher Battle Arena
You know, you've got to give developers points for trying. Because despite the tepid commercial reaction to
Vainglory and
Fates Forever, app makers are still trying to make money with MOBAs on mobile. The latest features characters from the
Witcher series.
Her Majesty's SPIFFING
A
comedy point and click adventure, about astronautical representatives
from around the planet racing to colonise a faraway world. Most of the
jokes come from goofy stereotypes about the different countries. But in
the funny sort of way. Not in the UKIP sort of way.
Curious Expedition
It's been described as
FTL
meets Indiana Jones. So instead of exploring space, you're exploring a
jungle - but you should still expect weighty decisions, emergent
stories, and a swift death. Wonderfully, all the main characters are
real Victorian legends.
Lumino City
Lumino City
is an adventure game set in a papercraft world. But developer State of
Play didn't fake it: it really built a massive ten-foot-tall metropolis
in a warehouse and then photographed every inch of it. The result is
breathtaking.
Calvino Noir

This
is a sneaky stealth game, with a drop-dead gorgeous film noir
aesthetic. In a clever twist you can record your actions, then rewind
time and switch to another character to cooperate with your past self.
Sounds bonkers - and brilliant.
One Finger Death Punch
A
ridiculously fast and frenetic take on Kung fu cinema, with stick men
beating the bejesus out of each other. You might think that performing a
ballet of punches, kicks, stabs, and aerial somersaults would be hard
on mobile, but the game only ever used two buttons on PC. Should be a
doddle.
Death Road to Canada
We
had Rocketcat and Madgarden's procedurally-generated, permadeath,
zombie survival sim on our list of 2014's most anticipated games - but
it seems like we need to wait a little longer still. This ones about
forging diplomacy between your survivors, and also chucking a fridge at
walkers.
Wizards of the Prestige
When
your elevator pitch is as good as "A Kairosoft game about running
Hogwarts", you shouldn't really require a 50 word description. But,
needs must and all that. Not only do you run the school and research
spells, but you'll also battle fantasy beasties in RPG battles.
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon
Tiger Style's
Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor
was one of the first cult classics on iOS. Six years later and we'll
finally get to trap bugs in triangular webs once again - this time as we
scuttle through an estate that once house a secret society.
The Room 3

No puzzle game on iOS can match
The Room,
with its luscious 3D visuals, tactile interface, and foreboding
atmosphere. The much-anticipated part three has some surprise additions
including human characters and a new lens that lets you zoom into tiny
areas.
Super Meat Boy Forever
Team Meat said it couldn't be done.
Super Meat Boy
on mobile? That bonkers, fast-paced, twitchy platformer, to be
controlled by a slab of glass? Poppycock! But now the duo has changed
their mind, and is bringing
Meat to mobile - as an all-new game made for touchscreens.
Toysburg
This
is a game about making toys, by dragging bits and bobs together in your
twisted toyshop. And when you give them to little kids, the children
will transform into their toys. No idea why, but
Muffin Knight developer Angry Mob Games should know.
Jenny LeClue
Choose-your-own
adventure stories normally look like books. With, like, words and
stuff. Ugh. Not this mystery trilogy, which looks absolutely flipping
gorgeous and is filled with charming characters and evocative
environments. We can't wait to explore this world.
The Detail
It's a game that professes to mix up Telltale's
The Walking Dead with HBO's
The Wire,
which sounds like combining cookies with cream to our ears. This gritty
police procedural will force you to weigh in on heavy moral issues,
then branch the storyline into new paths based on your decisions.
A Golden Wake
Wadjet
Eye makes and publishes point and click adventures that look like they
were found in a time capsule marked '1994'. For its latest find, we're
in the roaring 20s, and trying reach the top of the real estate game -
all with the Great Depression looming over the horizon.
The Deer God
This
is a weird game. A side-scrolling, permadeath puzzler with hostile
animals and hidden secrets. This is the sort of game you wander through
in a trippy daze, trying to figure out the cryptic clues so you can work
out what does what. And then you die. And resurrect. As a different
animal. Why?
Ember
Ember is a deep
Diablo-like RPG from
Deus Ex: The Fall
maker N-Fusion. Combat is real-time, but you can pause at any time to
think up your next move. And skills are tied to weapons, not classes, so
switching from warrior to mage is as easy as replacing your sword with a
staff.
Submerged
Epoch
developer Uppercut presents: something totally different. After two
games about robots shooting robots, we get a beautiful, heartfelt story
about a sister saving her brother from a post-apocalyptic world where
sea levels have risen to dangerous levels. Also known as: our future.
(Insert dramatic music).