Punch Quest

Punch Quest is an automatic brawler where the character runs through caves on its own and the player just taps and swipes across the screen to chain combinations of punches, kicks, and special abilities. The more smoothly the player alternates gestures, the longer a combo they manage to keep going, and it's precisely this rhythm of hits that turns an otherwise simple control scheme into a surprisingly deep skill that can be improved endlessly, without the game ever requiring more than a tap and a swipe.

The game was made by studio Rocketcat Games, known for its emphasis on fast-paced action and dark humor, which shows in Punch Quest both in its absurd enemies and bosses and in the self-deprecating text between runs. The game was among the first wave of titles that managed to translate the feel of old-school beat 'em ups into a format for a few minutes a day, without sacrificing control depth for the sake of simplifying things for a touchscreen, and it became a frequently cited example among independent mobile games of its time.

It's a free-to-play title with in-game currency, unlockable abilities, and purchases that speed up progress, and like a number of older mobile games from the early 2010s, it's hard to find in current stores today – titles without long-term support have gradually disappeared from the App Store and Google Play over the years, unable to keep pace with new system versions. Anyone who already has the game installed on an older device can still play it, but a fresh install may be a problem.

Why play: Appreciated by players who like fast combo systems with simple controls, and who accept that this is more of an archival piece than an easily available new release.