The Apple Pencil has revolutionized the way we interact with iPads, offering precision and control that go far beyond simple touchscreen input. While it's widely recognized for its applications in digital art and note-taking, the Apple Pencil also opens up exciting possibilities in the world of gaming. This article explores 20 engaging games that are optimized for use with the Apple Pencil, demonstrating how this versatile tool can enhance your gaming experience on the iPad.
Brain Dots
Brain Dots is a deceptively simple yet addictive puzzle game that challenges players to make two balls collide by drawing lines and shapes. The Apple Pencil's precision allows for much more intricate and controlled drawings compared to using a finger, making it easier to solve complex puzzles as the game progresses.
The game features over 25 different pen types to collect, each with unique properties that affect gameplay. With a community of millions of players worldwide, Brain Dots boasts an impressive library of over 3 million user-created stages, ensuring endless gameplay variety. Available in 15 languages, it's accessible to a global audience and offers the option to record and share gameplay clips, fostering a sense of community among players.
Layton: Curious Village in HD
The beloved Professor Layton series makes its debut on iPad with "Curious Village in HD," a remastered version of the classic Nintendo DS game. This story-driven puzzle adventure follows Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke as they unravel the mystery of St. Mystere. The game features over 100 brain teasers and riddles, many of which benefit greatly from the precision of the Apple Pencil.
The HD upgrade brings the charming art style to life on the iPad's larger screen, while the iconic soundtrack creates an immersive atmosphere. The Apple Pencil's fine tip is particularly useful for the more intricate puzzles involving drawing or manipulating objects, offering a level of control that surpasses both the original DS stylus and finger touch input.
Mini Metro
Mini Metro is a strategy game that challenges players to design efficient subway systems for real-world cities. Using the Apple Pencil, players draw rail lines connecting stations as their metro network grows and evolves. The game's minimalist aesthetic belies its depth, as players must balance the needs of a growing population with limited resources.
With over 20 cities to play in and multiple game modes including daily challenges, Mini Metro offers endless replayability. The game's responsive audio, which reacts to the state of your metro system, creates a uniquely immersive experience. The precision of the Apple Pencil allows for intricate subway layouts, especially crucial as cities become more complex in later stages.
Creative and Artistic Games
Frost
Frost is a unique adventure/puzzle game that leverages the Apple Pencil's capabilities to create a mesmerizing, interactive experience. Players guide mysterious floating creatures to their home planets by drawing paths with the Apple Pencil. The game's ethereal visuals and ambient soundtrack combine to create a meditative gaming experience unlike any other.
The fluid motions possible with the Apple Pencil complement the game's dreamy aesthetic perfectly. As players progress, the challenges become more complex, requiring increasingly intricate path-drawing to navigate obstacles and guide multiple creatures simultaneously. Frost demonstrates how the Apple Pencil can be used to create not just a game, but an artistic, almost therapeutic experience.
If Found…
"If Found…" is an innovative interactive visual novel that uses the Apple Pencil in a unique way. Players explore the story of Kasio by erasing her diary with the Apple Pencil. This act of erasure uncovers memories and advances the plot, creating a deeply immersive and emotionally engaging narrative experience.
The game's hand-drawn art style is beautifully realized, and the natural feel of using the Apple Pencil as an eraser adds to the game's immersive quality. The atmospheric soundtrack further enhances the emotional impact of the story. "If Found…" showcases how the Apple Pencil can be used to create novel storytelling mechanics, blurring the lines between game and interactive art.
Coloring Games: Painting, Glow
This digital coloring book is perfect for younger iPad users or anyone looking for a relaxing, creative outlet. It offers multiple modes including paint-by-numbers and free-form coloring. The Apple Pencil's pressure sensitivity allows for more nuanced coloring compared to finger painting, mimicking the feel of traditional coloring tools.
The game features a kid-friendly interface and multiple coloring tools, including crayons, glitter, and stickers. The neon color options add an extra dimension of creativity. As an ad-free environment, it provides a safe and uninterrupted experience for children. The Apple Pencil's precision is particularly useful for staying within the lines in more detailed designs, helping to develop fine motor skills.
Action and Arcade Games
Magic Touch: Wizard for Hire
This retro-style defense game casts players as a wizard protecting a castle from invading enemies. Using the Apple Pencil, players draw shapes on the enemies' balloons to pop them before they can land. The precise control of the Apple Pencil makes drawing shapes quickly much easier as the game gets more frantic in later levels.
The game features increasingly difficult levels and the ability to unlock new spells and abilities. Its retro graphics style adds charm, while the portrait mode gameplay makes it perfect for on-the-go gaming sessions. The Apple Pencil's responsiveness is crucial for success in later stages, where split-second reactions can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Fruit Ninja
The classic fruit-slicing game gets a new lease on life with Apple Pencil support. Players use the Pencil to slice flying fruit with increased precision while avoiding bombs. The game's satisfying slicing physics are enhanced by the Apple Pencil's pressure sensitivity, allowing for more nuanced cuts.
Fruit Ninja offers multiple game modes, unlockable blades, and power-ups to keep gameplay fresh. The multiplayer options add a competitive element, allowing players to challenge friends to fruit-slicing duels. Using the Apple Pencil feels much closer to wielding an actual blade compared to swiping with your finger, adding to the game's immersion.
PenRun
PenRun is a unique racing/arcade game where players guide their pen through obstacle-filled courses to the finish line. The Apple Pencil's responsiveness is perfect for the quick direction changes required to navigate the challenging tracks.
The game features fast-paced gameplay, unlockable pen characters, and multiplayer races. The level designs become increasingly complex, testing players' reflexes and strategic thinking. Using the Apple Pencil feels natural and intuitive for controlling your racing pen, creating a seamless connection between player and game.
Physics-Based Puzzle Games
Planes Control
In this air traffic control (ATC) game, players use the Apple Pencil to guide planes safely to their runways. Drawing flight paths for multiple aircraft while avoiding collisions, bad weather, and even alien invasions requires both strategy and quick thinking.
The game features over 60 different aircraft types and escalating challenges like storms and enemy fighters. Unlike many similar games, there are no fuel limits on drawn paths, allowing for more creative solutions. The long, smooth lines you can draw with the Apple Pencil are perfect for plotting efficient flight paths, especially in later levels where the airspace becomes increasingly crowded.
Donut County
Donut County is a physics puzzle game with a quirky premise: players control a hole in the ground that grows larger as it swallows objects. The Apple Pencil allows for precise hole movement and object manipulation, crucial for solving the game's physics-based puzzles.
The game features a humorous storyline and charming art style that appeals to players of all ages. As the hole grows larger, the puzzles become more complex, requiring strategic thinking about which objects to swallow and in what order. The Apple Pencil's fine control allows for smoother, more precise hole movement compared to finger input, especially when navigating tight spaces or manipulating small objects.
Brain It On
Brain It On challenges players to solve physics-based puzzles by drawing shapes and objects with the Apple Pencil. The game's open-ended nature allows for multiple solutions to each puzzle, encouraging creativity and experimentation.
With a wide variety of puzzle types and an increasing difficulty curve, Brain It On offers a substantial challenge even for experienced players. The community-created levels add even more content to explore. The Apple Pencil's precision is crucial for creating exact solutions, allowing players to draw complex shapes and structures that would be difficult or impossible with finger input alone.
Word and Number Games
Word Search Colorful
This digital take on the classic word search puzzle uses the Apple Pencil to great effect. Players use the Pencil to highlight hidden words in colorful grids, with multiple difficulty levels catering to all skill levels.
The game offers unlimited puzzles and daily challenges to keep players engaged. The 1v1 multiplayer mode adds a competitive element, allowing players to test their word-finding skills against others. The Apple Pencil allows for quick, accurate word selection, especially on higher difficulties with smaller text, where finger selection might be too imprecise.
Jigsaw Puzzles
For fans of traditional jigsaw puzzles, this app brings the experience to the iPad with over 13,000 HD images to assemble. The Apple Pencil allows for precise piece placement, making it much easier to manipulate small puzzle pieces compared to using a finger.
The game features adjustable difficulty levels, letting players choose the number of pieces for each puzzle. Players can earn coins for completing puzzles, which can be used to unlock exclusive images. The multiplayer options allow for collaborative puzzle-solving, adding a social element to the game.
Pencil Games
This app collects several classic pencil-and-paper games, including crosswords, Sudoku, and tic-tac-toe. The Apple Pencil recreates the feel of playing these games with actual pencil and paper, adding a tactile dimension to the digital experience.
The app features both single and multiplayer options, allowing players to challenge themselves or compete against friends. Progress saving between games means players can switch between different game types without losing their place. The clean, paper-like interface enhances the traditional feel of these classic games.
Innovative Mechanics
Connect Dots: Dots Link Puzzle
In this brain-teasing puzzle game, players use the Apple Pencil to link same-colored dots without crossing lines. The game's simple premise belies its increasing complexity, with thousands of levels that progressively challenge players' spatial reasoning skills.
The game features a hint system for particularly tough puzzles and daily challenges to keep players coming back. The Apple Pencil's fine tip is perfect for navigating through tightly-packed dot grids, allowing for precise line drawing even in the most complex puzzles.
Draw Bridge Stickman Car
This physics puzzle game tasks players with helping a stickman in a car reach the finish line by drawing bridges and ramps. The Apple Pencil's accuracy is crucial for creating sturdy structures that can support the car's weight and momentum.
The game features numerous challenging levels that require creative problem-solving. The physics-based gameplay means that players must consider factors like structural integrity and weight distribution when drawing their bridges. The simple, clean graphics keep the focus on the puzzle-solving aspect of the game.
Doodle Dunk
Doodle Dunk puts a creative spin on basketball, allowing players to score incredible shots by drawing the ball's path with the Apple Pencil. By ignoring real-world physics, the game encourages players to come up with wild, impossible dunks.
The game features attractive 3D graphics and increasingly difficult shots to master. Players can compete against others, adding a competitive element to the creative gameplay. The smooth line drawing of the Apple Pencil helps create complex, multi-part shots that would be difficult to achieve with finger input alone.
Happy Glass
In this charming physics puzzle game, players must make a sad glass happy by filling it with water. Using the Apple Pencil, players draw lines and shapes to guide the water flow into the glass.
The game features a cute, expressive main character and progressively harder challenges. Many levels have multiple possible solutions, encouraging players to think creatively. The Apple Pencil's precision allows for more complex and efficient water-guiding structures, especially useful in later levels where water sources are limited or obstacles are more numerous.
Conclusion: The Apple Pencil as a Game-Changing Gaming Tool
The Apple Pencil has proven to be much more than just a tool for digital artists and note-takers. As demonstrated by these 20 games, it can significantly enhance the gaming experience on iPads, offering a level of precision and control that finger input simply can't match.
From brain-teasing puzzles to creative drawing games, from action-packed arcade experiences to relaxing coloring apps, the Apple Pencil opens up new ways to interact with a wide variety of game genres. Its pressure sensitivity and fine tip allow for nuanced input that can mimic traditional gaming controls or create entirely new gameplay mechanics.
While most of these games can be played without the Apple Pencil, using it often provides a more engaging and enjoyable experience. The tactile feeling of using the Pencil can make games feel more immersive, bridging the gap between digital and physical play in a way that's uniquely satisfying.
As developers continue to explore the possibilities offered by the Apple Pencil, we can expect to see even more innovative games that leverage its capabilities. Whether you're a casual gamer looking for fun ways to pass the time or a more serious player seeking new challenges, the combination of iPad and Apple Pencil offers a gaming experience that's both familiar and fresh.
So, if you own an iPad and Apple Pencil, don't limit yourself to just note-taking and sketching. Dive into these games and discover how this versatile tool can transform your gaming experience. And for those considering an iPad purchase, the expanded gaming possibilities offered by the Apple Pencil might just be the deciding factor. Happy gaming!
