The Best iPad Games for 2024

Despite first launching in 2018, Among Us truly took over the world in 2020 as the perfect, paranoid, quarantine pastime. You and your friends control cartoony astronauts working together to fix your spaceship, while secret saboteurs work to quietly kill you all. Use some good old-fashioned social manipulation to flush out the truth or continue the ruse.

With their shiny cars and blistering sense of speed, nothing shows off new graphics tech like a racing game. Asphalt 9: Legends is no different. This gorgeous free game will make you appreciate every penny you spent on your new tablet.

Carcassonne may be one of the more expensive iPad games, but this digital version of the German-style board game is worth it. In this social game, you lay tiles and game pieces on a virtual board to build up a medieval landscape. The goal is to own completed developments, like cities, farms, and roads. But unlike that other property-ownership game Monopoly, Carcassonne is thought-provoking, and not too heavily reliant on luck. It ranks among the best board game apps available.

This Castlevania spin-off originally launched on iOS a few years ago, and it came loaded with annoying microtransactions. Fortunately, this new Apple Arcade release strips the money grabs, leaving you with all the action-packed, side-scrolling, gothic adventuring you’d expect from the seasoned vampire killers. 

Tower defense game Clash Royale is so popular that it's become its own esport. It combines elements from several different genres to make a fun multiplayer game on the go.

Device 6 explores the concept of narrative and choice by using text to take you on a surreal journey. Though Device 6 is mainly a text-based title, the game is not really a "text adventure." Device 6 is more akin to an enhanced digital novel with puzzles. The game isn't for everyone, but gamers who dig experimental gameplay should give it a go.

Fantasian is a new, throwback Final Fantasy game in everything but name. It’s the latest title by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of the franchise. You may not see Cloud or Sephiroth, but you’ll feel their presence as you and your party travel through future-fantasy landscapes brimming with crystals. Those crystals dazzle even brighter on an iPad screen that truly shows off the game’s gorgeous visuals.

GTA: Chinatown Wars combines the modern Grand Theft Auto games' urban warfare with the top-down mayhem of the franchise's earlier games. This overlooked gangster gem is secretly the best of both worlds. Don’t miss out.

In most detective games, there's an answer for every question. The solution may be confusing, obtuse, or unsatisfying, but ultimately every mystery can be solved. The game can be finished. But life isn't like that. Life is ambiguous and often contains riddles that can never be completely understood. What makes Her Story such a captivating crime game is that, like life, it has no real end. As you watch its hundreds of video interviews with a murder suspect, the game only stops the moment you decide to walk away.

Immortality was one of 2022’s finest gaming experiences. This interactive film challenges you to solve its seductive, decades-spanning mysteries by creating connections between seemingly unrelated clips from lost movies. Shot in live-action, these “fake” movies are more compelling than what Hollywood puts out these days, and are even more engrossing on a tablet screen. Note that you'll need a Netflix subscription to access this game on mobile.

If you like the Lara Croft franchise, you'll love what they did with this mobile game. Taking cues from Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go went a step further and added elevations to the game board. It feels just like a true Lara Croft game, with her having to climb up mountain cliffs and maneuver around chasms.

League of Legends has dominated the MOBA genre on PC for over a decade, and now Wild Rift brings the phenomenon to mobile devices. All your classic MOBA strategies apply as you and your team of heroes charge down lanes, using your powers to tear through the enemy team’s defenses. However, a new snappier pace and intuitive touch controls makes it much easier to play round after round on your iPad.

Lego Builder’s Journey (an Apple Arcade exclusive) taps into the unspoken sentimentality that makes these bricks such a beloved toy. Instead of adapting a movie license, this game conveys the pure nostalgic joy of Lego itself as you play through its coming-of-age narrative.

The perilous platforming challenges of Leo's Fortune are so great they rival console classics like Rayman and Donkey Kong. Instead of running and jumping, players take on the role of a sentient pile of fuzz named Leo with the power to inflate and deflate himself on command. Looping levels force Leo to carefully control his momentum and size to solve puzzles and escape danger. If that's not enough, Leo's constant grandfatherly narration and the game's overall old-world atmosphere never cease to delight.

Fans of Minecraft will have no problem shelling out the money for this iPad app. Gameplay blends creativity with strategy. It's a 3D sandbox-building game in which you place blocks made of different kinds of materials to build anything you want.

In the survival and hard-core modes, the object is to survive when monsters land on the scene. Meanwhile, creative mode gives the player complete freedom of invention.

Minecraft mega fans might also enjoy Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality app where you build and explore in the real world.

Monster Hunter’s infamously demanding controls should simply fall apart on touch-only mobile devices. However, Monster Hunter Stories fits iOS perfectly. It presents Monster Hunter's world as an accessible, turn-based RPG where you befriend monsters instead of hunting them. Before you play the sequel, check out the original journey.

Monument Valley is a puzzle game that's as beautiful as it is infuriating. Players guide the tiny princess Ida as she attempts to ascend various abstract structures. The focus on optical illusions and M.C. Escher-inspired architecture means you'll be staring at these puzzles (and the dreamy landscapes) for a while before cracking them. When you do, move on to Monument Valley 2.

NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition takes the premier console basketball game and successfully shrinks it down for iOS. That said, once you see these visuals, you won’t think anything has been shrunken down. Even with “Arcade” in the name, you still need to pay attention to technical aspects like proper defense and shot timing. The MyCareer mode even lets you customize your player.

Overland (an Apple Arcade exclusive) turns survival into a thought exercise as you play through its randomized missions. Tiny tactical skirmishes require you to not only kill and avoid monsters, but also escape with enough supplies to make it through the next encounter. Just make sure the dog lives.

Based on the real card game released in 2007, Race for the Galaxy on iOS asks you to build galactic civilizations against two to four players or on your own. Game cards represent technological or social developments, and each playthrough has different game phases based on exploration, development, settlement, consumption, and production.

The Resident Evil 4 Remake brilliantly reimagines an all-time great shooter, and now Capcom brings its zombie-blasting fun to mobile devices. It's not quite the same experience as what you'll play on a console or PC, but it comes shockingly close. To play, your mobile device needs at least an M1 chip to render this horrifying series entry in all its gory glory.

Rocket League Sideswipe turns the immaculate, arcade-style, car-soccer game into an even faster and more accessible experience on iOS. Using touch controls, you boost and flip across the arena to pass the ball to teammates and score goals. The exciting neon visuals pop on a vibrant iPad screen. You can even sync with your existing Rocket League account to earn rewards and progression.

The Room series puts you in a locked door mystery—literally. Each game confines you to a single room and you must uncover clues and complete puzzles in order to get yourself out. There are four games in all: The Room, The Room Two, The Room Three, and The Room: Old Sins.

In 2017, acclaimed cult hit cartoon Samurai Jack finally received the conclusion it always deserved on Adult Swim. If you want to see Jack face off against Aku one last time, check out the action game epilogue Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, only on Apple Arcade.

Not enough games take advantage of the ocean's isolation and frights. Shinsekai: Into the Depths (only on Apple Arcade) is a moody Metroidvania where you’ll battle undersea creatures, find secrets with sonar, and keep your oxygen from running out beneath the waves.

In Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, you guide an exiled clan through danger in this fantasy role-playing simulation game. Six Ages asks you to manage people, magic, and livestock through various situations, and though gameplay can be punishingly difficult at times, helping your clan survive over multiple generations can be very rewarding.

You’d think that cryptids would be easier to find now, since everyone carries cameras all the time. In Sneaky Sasquatch (only on Apple Arcade), you put yourself in Bigfoot’s big shoes as you wear disguises, steal yummy picnic food, and just chill in the woods.

Too often, using a smartphone is an isolated experience. What makes Spaceteam so wonderful is how it turns your phone into a gateway for incredible, in-person socializing, as you and your friends connect over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to become crew members on a spaceship.

As the voyage continues, ship parts start to break down and only certain people can fix them. So to keep the space team together, everyone must shout wacky instructions to each other while listening for their own commands. Any game that gets grown folks to scream "Set Stunhoist to three!" is a game worth checking out.

Tetris is already a perfect video game, so how can it get any better? Add some hot tunes! Tetris Beat takes the seminal puzzle game and marries it to music game mechanics. Tetris Effect players already know how satisfying it is to drop blocks on rhythm, and now iOS owners can become one with the sound. 

If the books, console games, and Netflix show aren’t enough Witcher for you, check out Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. This side story uses the card game Gwent as the gameplay glue for a rich, role-playing experience full of the same great writing you expect from this mythology.

Transistor was one of the finest console games of 2014. While the game doesn't control quite as well on the iPad's touch screen, it's still a gorgeous, intelligent, and mechanically sophisticated sci-fi action-RPG.

The best simulation games find that divine sweet spot where a tedious real-world task becomes something sublime. Packing and unpacking may be some of the most stressful aspects of moving, but Unpacking turns that act of transition into a meditative experience, a journey through memories as told through items and environments. The iPad’s big screen ensures you catch every precious detail. 

Note: Unpacking is published by Humble Bundle, which is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis.

Vampire Survivors almost seems like a game that could play itself. In it, you simply move around the screen and automatically attack monsters. However, there’s a deceptive amount of arcade strategy as you maneuver across the map and acquire more weapons until you fill your iPad screen with whips, knives, and spells to decimate unholy hordes. Not bad for a free game. 

Where Cards Fall (only on Apple Arcade) shows that a house of cards can be a sturdy foundation. This melancholic puzzle adventure tasks you with rearranging cards into useful structures for traveling around a world of dreams and memories. The concept holds up; it doesn’t collapse. 

World’s End Club (only on Apple Arcade) comes from the creators of niche, Japanese adventure games. Kotaro Uchikoshi created Zero Escape, while Kazutaka Kodaka wrote Danganronpa. If any of that means anything to you, check out this new game about anime kids and the weird shenanigans they get into.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown rebooted the classic strategy game franchise and wound up being one of 2013's finest games. Since methodically paced tactical games are a perfect fit on iOS, the iPad version of Enemy Unknown was fantastic as well. XCOM: Enemy Within takes all that was great in Enemy Unknown and enriches it with new features like extra side missions and enemy types. It's the best version of an already phenomenal game and definitely worth picking up if you're a hard-core iPad gamer.