Apple Watch Games Provide Gameplay Bursts With Incentive to Revisit Often

Although the main purpose of the Apple Watch is the wearable's at-a-glance look at bite-sized content on the wrist, many game developers showed up out of the launch gate with new game experiences for the device. Some games appear to still be stuck in the mind-set of play sessions that are slightly too lengthy for a wrist-worn gadget, but a few clever dev teams have built fun, short-burst apps that are perfect for killing time in long lines, before a movie, or even at home.

Many of the games are free extensions of iOS games, but a few range in price from $1.99 to $3.99 on the App Store. Our sister site, TouchArcade, gave its initial thoughts on most of the games listed below in a roundup of Apple Watch games and companion apps.

Starting off with the free games, Nimblebit's word game Letterpad tasks players with deciphering the spelling of a word using only a short hint and the number of letters within the hidden word. Solving the word progresses players to the next puzzle, the game slowly amping up difficulty along the way. The game uses Force Touch to let users spend hints, shuffle letters and clear spelling attempts. Letterpad is free on the App Store.

Watch Quest! Heroes of Time is designed specifically for Apple Watch and lets players view and interact with a hero on an epic quest. The catch is that the hero is on auto-pilot, fighting enemies and delving into dungeons on their own, but requires help from the player to ensure success.

So, for example, if a user fails to check in after a specific notification (open a treasure chest, battle a particularly tough foe), the in-game hero will fail to succeed at the mission. Watch Quest! Heroes of Time is free on the App Store, with the added caveat that it's essentially a tutorial mission and the full game can be unlocked at $0.99.

Another interesting RPG-like game is Runeblade, which tasks players with dispatching a rotary of enemies every time they re-visit the app. Upon victory, players win gold that can be used to upgrade damage and attack speed, and then points them onto a new quest and enemies to defeat all leading to bigger boss battles.

Players can look forward to unlockable spells, harder enemies, and "a wealth of items to unlock" as they progress, according to TouchArcade. Runeblade is free on the App Store.

One of the more notable paid apps is called Spy_Watch, which provides a bit of a meta game in letting its players role-play as the offspring of the former head of a famous Spy Organization. While playing, they are faced with the immense task of rebuilding the shuttered group from the ground up while simultaneously digging through clues regarding the player's mysteriously killed father.

What all this essentially boils down to is the player's input on the main menu in deciding on which missions to take to advance the story, earn more cash, or training to advance the player's skill set. After initiating a mission, a timer counts down in real-time, eventually alerting players to return to the game to continue their mission of espionage and discovery on the game's world map. Bossa Studios' Spy_Watch is $1.99 on the App Store.

As TouchArcade points out, many of the first wave launch games on the Apple Watch appear to be designed for quick bursts of gameplay with some form of motivation to keep checking back into the experience. While some games still fall flat on either (or both) of those fronts, and are subsequently not worth much of a mention, we will keep updating this roundup of new and notable games for the Apple Watch as they become available.

More notable games for Apple Watch:

- Rules! ($2.99, currently available as a free download within Apple Store app)
- Trivia Crack ($2.99, ad free)
- Letter Zap (Free)
- BoxPop (Free)
- Lifeline... ($2.99)