40 Best iOS Games Of All Time

25. Sorcery! 2

Release date: November 7, 2013

Developer: inkle

Publisher: inkle

I loved Steve Jackson Games when I was a kid. Car Wars, Ogre, Illuminati, you name it. The thing is, it was a different Steve Jackson who developed the Sorcery! gamebooks, a Brit instead of an American.

No matter, because both Jacksons came up with some awesome ideas, and the Sorcery! series of mobile games was one of them. Like many of the other titles on this list, they started life in another form — in this case as real, actual books, made out of pulped tree and everything — but really seemed to come into their own once they hit mobile devices.

If you enjoy the idea of playing tabletop fantasy RPGs but have no one to join you, Sorcery! 2 is for you. It’s a triumph of style, sure, but there’s an impressive amount of substance to it as well. I’m thinking here mostly of the story it tells, which would be gripping enough even if it was just a work of prose instead of interactive fiction.

Why Sorcery! 2 over the original? That’s a question for critics and gamers to answer, but it’s likely because it was more challenging and slightly longer (or so it seemed). You really can’t go wrong with any of these games, and you’ll likely want to start at the beginning, but it’s the follow-up that has received the most thumbs up to date.

Next: Reckless Racing 2