Man, what a big day it was on Monday for Apple, what with the 2019 Apple Design Awards being handed out and all. Okay, so there was actually some other news to start off WWDC, including PS4 and Xbox One controller support for iOS games and a look at Minecraft Earth that seemed to dominate headlines and social media. That’s somewhat understandable in retrospect.
However, the 2019 Apple Design Awards were indeed given out, honoring a total of nine iOS apps and games that stood out for bringing enough innovation to stand out in an almost literal sea of new apps released over the past year. In addition to a trophy, one can only hope that each winner receives their own custom hype video with voice over by Jony Ive, because that would be the real prize. In any case, since Touch Arcade is about the games, let’s give some props to the five recognized among this year’s winners.
Ordia

A very cool one-finger flinger where you play as “a new life form taking its first leaps into a strange and hazardous world," Ordia ($3.99) only released in May but has already garnered praise with a perfect 100 score on Metacritic. Granted, that’s on the basis of just one review as I type this, but it really does have that combination of simple mechanics and unique vibe that is so rewarding when it comes along.
The Gardens Between

Messing with time as the core of a game can sometimes yield some very nice results, which is the case for The Gardens Be...