Lanternwood Tale

Lanternwood Tale is the opposite of frantic. You wander a hand-drawn village, talk to its residents, and solve soft little puzzles that are more about observation than logic gymnastics. There's no fail state, no timer, just the pleasure of poking at a world that reacts to you.

It's built for touch from the ground up. Everything you can interact with gets a subtle glow if you tap and hold, which saves the pixel-hunting frustration older adventure games were famous for. It plays beautifully one-handed.

Battery life is excellent because the game is calm and mostly static. We ended up playing it before sleep, with the brightness and sound turned down, and it never once felt like a chore.

What we liked

• Relaxing, no-fail exploration
• Smart hint system for interactive objects
• Perfect one-handed, low-battery play