Mage Gauntlet

Mage Gauntlet is a wonderful, original action RPG designed for iOS, that is inspiredby 90s action RPGs such as Legend of Zelda. It deliberately has no fetch quests so players can just focus on the story. The storyline is original and amusing, and the game has 84 levels in total, if you include the Master Mode that unlocks once you beat the game for the first time. There are 110 hats to collect, and 19 pets that affect your attributes in various ways.

The way it works is you find spell urns that let you store up to four spells at a time. Boss monsters continually spit out extra spells for you to collect. But the spells are random, and some are more useful than others. If you die, you can restart the level, or use a life and keep going from where you are. You can restart as many time as you like, and you get special awards for winning a level and not using any lives.

The one caution is that it does need decent reflexes, so older/slower players may struggle. The way the levels work withl lives gives it a kind of arcade feel. There is also in app purchasing, but it’s really more of a fan/loyalty thing for the developers, as the items are useful but not critical in winning the game. The developers have been very responsive in forums to suggestions and improvements. And apparently a “really obscure surprise” has been added…