Battleheart

Battleheart from the two-person studio Mika Mobile was released in 2011 and is among the games that showed how elegantly an action RPG with several characters at once could be controlled on a touchscreen. The player assembles a party of four heroes from different classes – warrior, mage, healer, or archer – and by dragging a finger sends them into battle against waves of enemies in neatly designed small arenas full of traps and positional advantages.

The combat system is built on simple gestures: dragging a finger sets the target of an attack or the direction of a character's movement, while tapping an icon activates that class's special ability. Beneath the friendly, cartoonish look with bold colors hides surprising tactical depth – correct unit placement and class combinations decide success just as much as the player's quick reflexes. As they gain experience, characters gradually improve, unlock new abilities, and change the appearance of their gear, keeping the game interesting even after many hours of repeated play.

Battleheart became one of the reference titles of the early App Store era, still cited today as an example of how to bring the complexity of a traditional RPG to a small screen without unnecessarily simplifying its mechanics. The studio followed up its success with the more expansive sequel Battleheart Legacy, but it's the first game that remains prized for its compactness, purity of idea, and straightforward, honest controls.

Why play it: recommended for players who want a tactical RPG playable in short sessions and who appreciate controls designed specifically for a touchscreen rather than carried over from consoles.