Mobile Mavens' mobile games of the year 2025: Whiteout Survival, Top Tycoon, Grand Mountain Adventure 2, and more
As the year comes to a close, we've been taking a look back at the top games and trends of the year, reflecting on a year of change in the industry.
As part of our 2025 retrospective, we asked our Mobile Mavens - a collection of games industry experts - a few questions about the year gone by.
Here we ask:
What was your favourite mobile game of the year?
You can view part two of the Mavens' GOTY picks here.
Don't forget you can check out the winners of the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 here, as voted for by members of the industry.
You can also check out the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2025 list, as well as the editorial team's own games of the year.
Kelly Vero
Somewhere between Underwatermelon (if Netflix even counts as mobile), Dredge, and Mo.co: chaotic vibes, eerie vibes, and gremlin vibes.
A perfect emotional trifecta to sum up the development hell that was 2025.
Wenfeng Yang
I’d say my favourite mobile game this year is Top Tycoon. People keep saying that Coin Master–style games are “over” and won’t succeed anymore, but this one feels different. It’s surprisingly unique, very polished, and honestly quite addictive.
Alisa Akifeva
There were plenty of strong releases from large studios this year, but our hearts are still with indie games.
Indie developers are the ones pushing boundaries and taking creative risks, and we saw several mobile titles in 2025 that felt genuinely fresh and memorable, including Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale, Planet of Lana, Chants of Sennaar, and Dredge.
Kian Hozouri
2025 has delivered an amazing lineup of games, but the one that really stood out to me this year was Jigsolitaire from the talented Gamincat team.
Their data-driven approach to continuously iterating on core mechanics like game pacing, user flow, and level design paid off in a big way, propelling the game to the number one spot on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s an incredibly engaging experience that had me playing nonstop.
Diana Korkina
Definitely, it’s Whiteout Survival. This game is a great example of how effective modern user acquisition can be. I was constantly bombarded by their ads across multiple channels, to the point where I eventually gave the game a try, and it worked.
Christian Lövstedt
I am a big fan of Grand Mountain Adventure 2. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit and this sequel is even better.
It’s a truly original skiing game with a unique tone that combines a relaxing open-world skiing experience with several competitive elements. It’s all presented beautifully, making it one of the best-looking games on mobile.
People