DREDGE, Art of Fauna and more; The Games I've Been Playing - February 2025

Each month, I want to share some less formal thoughts about the games I've been playing and my impressions of them. These might be game's that got reviewed for the site or not. As an individual person covering a storefront that is shoveling titles onto its store each day, I have time to dip my toes into a lot of it, but I can't always spend the time needed for a review. With recaps like this, I can give some games their due, even if I can't get a full review of them. I can also add additional thoughts to things I did decide to write about or even honor older games I just decided to back to for some reason or another. See below for what I played this past February. 

Star Traders: Frontiers ($6.99)

After posting my list of the best mobile RPGs, I fell down a deep Star Traders hole, partially because I've upgraded to a larger phone since the last time I played it and playing it there is now way more convenient. It also just continues to be an awesome open-world sci-fi RPG.   Click here to read our Star Traders: Frontiers review

 

Claws and Chaos (Free)

A review for this will probably be coming soon, but I'm finding myself very sucked into single-player auto-chess games. Claws and Chaos has more than just that to offer, but being able to pop through rounds against designed challenges is the main draw for me, and this is a good (and cute) one of these games.   Click here to read our Claws and Chaos review on Pocket Gamer  

Grand Mountain Adventure 2 (Free)

I have an eerie amount of nostalgia for the first Grand Mountain Adventure, which makes this sequel's commitment to basically sticking to its core formula basically perfect. There's also some pretty dastardly challenges in this new game, and--as a sicko for trials-type games--I've already lost hours on individual challenges and loved every second of it.   Click here to read more about Grand Mountain Adventure 2 on Pocket Gamer  

Art of Fauna: Nature Puzzles (Free)

Whenever I've needed to just relax this month, this is the game I have fired up. This puzzler features beautiful artwork and top-notch attention-to-detail. The audio stingers, haptic feedback, and little info cards that accompany each picture you unscramble just makes me feel all fuzzy inside.   Click here to read our Art of Fauna: Nature Puzzles review on Pocket Gamer  

DREDGE (Free)

I was pretty excited about DREDGE coming to mobile, and it seems like a lot of other people were, too. Not sure how other folks are finding it, but it seems... fine? Maybe I need to sink more time into it but for a game about the unknowns of the ocean and eldritch horrors, it has felt like a very procedural fishing game so far. Technically there's nothing wrong with it, but I wonder if there's more weirdness to discover beneath the surface of its systems.   Click here to read our DREDGE review on Pocket Gamer  

Lara Croft: Guardian of Light ($9.99)

Making a strong return to mobile, this twin-stick shooter starring Lara Croft is another solid Feral Interactive release. Just make sure you have a controller to play it, as that more easily opens up the possibility of completing each levels various achievement-like challenges, which have easily been the most compelling part of the experience so far. There's not a ton of great story or super deep mechanics, but trying to speed run a puzzle or complete a combat challenge without getting hit is just some pure video game goodness.   Click here to read our Lara Croft: Guardian of Light review  

Level Tank (Free)

This is an interesting-ish take on Vampire Survivors that I decided to check out on a whim. It's not super complicated and nowhere near as polished as a lot of the competition, but it does include mini missions and some other interesting wrinkles. Worth checking out considering it's free!   Click here to read more about Level Tank on Pocket Gamer  

Prado Traveler (Free)

Getting into my review territory here. I still have Prado Traveler on my phone, but I haven't fired it up as much as I thought I might since reviewing it. Part of it is still the irksome AI art, but I'm also finding that the further in I get the less consistently procedural it is. I don't want a pedometer-based RPG to suddenly get complicated or confusing, especially if those qualities come from unclear messaging as opposed to deeper systems.   Click here to read our Prado Traveler review  

Laser Panic (Free)

As I mentioned in my review, Laser Panic feels like it's just on the verge of greatness. There's a ton of great ideas that are molded into a tight knot, but the end result still feels like something is missing. That said, it is absolutely worth checking out for the amount of inspiring design present in a free package.   Click here to read our Laser Panic review  

Catagrams (Free)

I like my word games with low stakes and a creative concept, and Catagrams delivers exactly that. My only issue is I also like puzzles that feel crafted and this game definitely is generating them. The good news about that is if you like this game you can basically play it forever, but it just makes each challenge feel a little more rote in my book.   Click here to read our Catagrams review