10 Mobile Games to Start 2016 Right

With a brand new year comes New Year’s Resolutions (or a total lack thereof), and now that it’s the middle of January, it might be time to ask yourselves if you’re going to keep at it as a potential exercise in disappointment, or if you’ll give up and join the rest of us on the Dark Side.

For those of you who think that the Dark Side sure sounds appealing, these 10 app games might just be the time wasters for you. They’ve been organized according to their potential ability to destroy your life. All of the listed games are cross-platform, so whether you’re running an Android or iOS device, you definitely aren’t insulated from addiction.

10. LAYTON BROTHERS

TYPE: Mystery Solving Game

TIME WASTING POTENTIAL: Low

Developed by the same company that brought us the Professor Layton games on the Nintendo DS, Level 5’s “Layton Brothers” is less a spiritual successor of Professor Layton and more an extension of the universe whose puzzles specifically around solving murders. That should not, of course, stop anyone from trying the game out: the first two cases of the game are up for free, and quite frankly, the remainder of the cases aren’t expensive to purchase at all. If for anything else, download the game to check out its graphics and music: it’s totally worth it.

09. MONUMENT VALLEY

TYPE: Puzzle Game

TIME WASTING POTENTIAL: Low

This game is worth every cent that you’ll have to spend in order to purchase it. Recipient of several design awards, Monument Valley was originally an iOS-exclusive release that has now been ported to Android smartphones for the specific purpose of swallowing you whole. It’s a beautiful game through and through with music that draws you in, a simple story that can resonate with gamers of all ages, and puzzles that may be reminiscent of old brain teasers from roleplaying game dungeons and the like.

08. MOUSE HUNT

TYPE: Collection Game

TIME WASTING POTENTIAL: Low

An old Facebook classic from 2008, Mouse Hunt lures in the casual gamer with cute illustrations, easy controls and a simple interface while courting hardcore games with its potential to get pretty tricked out pretty fucking fast. It’s also one of the few games in existence that may actually make you WANT to pay for the extras that it offers, even if they’re entirely unnecessary for a good experience. Lucky for us(?), this game has a pretty strict fifteen-minute cooldown time, AND it applies results to your trapping retroactively – meaning that you can actually go for days without checking your app and still get rewards in-game.

07. WORD BRAIN

TYPE: Puzzle Game

TIME WASTING POTENTIAL: Medium

Like Scrabble on steroids with a special dash of The Developers of This Game Are Sadistic Bastards, WordBrain represents a near perfect blend of gratification/reward and frustration that could do Pavlov proud with the way it’ll keep you playing. Right about the only thing that’ll stop you from playing this all day is that you’re likely going to have to take a break eventually because your head will hurt from twisting itself around too much.

06. EVERY TOWN

TYPE: Farm/Townbuilding Game

TIME WASTING POTENTIAL: Medium

It’s incredibly difficult to find a farm simulator with cute graphics, a lack of obnoxious ads, and a system that pretty much holds you hostage if you don’t pay for every little thing. Every Town is an incredibly recent addition to the many apps within its genres that adheres to tried and tested features that have made the best farm games last through the years. Anyone who gets hooked to this thing may find themselves spending hours of their days trying to spruce their town up while achieving the balance that the game needs between money-generating facilities, decorations and crops in order for your farm to flourish.