April was a maddeningly good game for mobile. How good? Top downloads like Marvel Future Fight, Halo Spartan Strike, and Mortal Kombat X didn’t even make this list.

So which games really blew us out of the water this month? Read on to find out.

Spirit Lords

Don’t think a Diablo-style dungeon crawl can fit in your pocket? Think again. Kabam’s Spirit Lords is a great display of what the genre can do on mobile, and it looks fantastic too. Who knew cartoony visuals were what we really wanted from a hack’n’slash dungeon romp?

• Spirit Lords Review (4 stars)

Tiny Guardians

A little bit tower defense and a little bit RPG, Tiny Guardians plays with the conventions of both genres to come up with something that’s both familiar and new all at once. Don’t let it’s Kingdom Rush-inspired visuals fool you — this is an experience that’s 100% original.

• Tiny Guardians Review (4.5 stars)

DomiNations

If you took Clash of Clans and Civilization and smooshed them together, you’d end up with something that looked a lot like DomiNations. I suppose that makes sense, considering this is the first game from Brian Reynolds’ resurrected Big Huge Games — aka the lead designer on Civilization II.

• DomiNations Review (4.5 stars)

Lifeline…

Narrative adventures are all the rage nowadays, thanks in no small part to Telltale Games. But what if I told you that the writer of one of their best series, The Wolf Among Us, had created a new piece of fiction that could only live on your phone? That’s Lifeline — a story that plays out in real time, often through push notifications.

• Lifeline Review (4.5 stars)

Broken Age: Act 2

It’s been a few years since Tim Schafer broke the internet with the announcement of “Double Fine Adventure,” a Kickstarter project that would bring him back to his adventure-gaming roots. This month that project came to a close with the sublime second half of Broken Age, a tale of two teens in very different worlds.

• Broken Age: Act 2 Review (4.5 stars)

Does Not Commute

A puzzle game about guiding traffic one car at a time — and avoiding the paths of the cars you’ve created — would be great enough on its own. But Does Not Commute ups the ante with quirky little stories for every motorist. It’s like a mellower version of Super Off Road, by way of David Lynch.

• Does Not Commute Review (4.5 stars)

Implosion – Never Lose Hope

Action, thy name is Implosion. Lots of developers try (and sometimes succeed) to prove that console-style gameplay can work on mobile. The release of Implosion is no different. Guide a mech-style samurai-thing across level after level of combat and boss fight, and wear a big dopey smile while you do.

• Implosion – Never Lose Hope Review (4.5 stars)