Fiddling with these colorful apps has been a true joy. The sheer level of positivity they can inject into a gloomy, rainy day (especially here in Wales) is quite a surprise. Since each app came with a rather unique story, we decided to use this as a determining bit of criteria. How engaging it is? What is the level of longevity?

Of course, we couldn't ignore the basic controls and how easy they are to master. After all, you wouldn't want to suffer through an hour-long tutorial. Let's leave that to elaborate PC games. On mobile, we like things to go easily. This, however, doesn't mean that we want our games to be too simple. Oh no - we definitely do enjoy a challenge. The more they make us sweat, the better.

Last but not least, we also tend to pay attention to the prices of in-app purchases - and whether they are actually necessary to make progress or can be avoided altogether.

The real world can sometimes be a dreary place. Loads of work, noisy (and nosy) neighbors, and bad weather can all come crashing down on you - leaving you longing for sunnier shores. While the holiday may be far off - especially since the pandemic is not over yet - there is a different route to a tropical island we can offer. We're talking about a magical adventure on which you will discover dragons - and so much more.

In Dragonscapes Adventure, your mission is to help these magical creatures build a home. Don't worry - it's easy - and very enjoyable. There's no need to sign in or do anything of the sort. Your privacy will not be jeopardized at any point and the game will never try to intrude into your Facebook account. Instead, you will be able to start immediately - dive right into the world of magic. We must say we are always pleasantly surprised when we run into such a game.

Your job is to join Mia and her crew on a tropical island, discover its magic, take on quests, and pursue an adventure. You can merge different objects to create dragons - and merge the creatures themselves to make even more elaborate dragons. Some may call this genetic engineering but we would not be so grim. The app is, after all, very cheerful, fun, and borderline magical.

It's not just the exploration and the merging that will constitute the play. Mini-games abound and you will find yourself amused and entertained in many different ways. The isometric perspective on the core map will perhaps strike some users as a bit too retro but beautiful graphics will compensate for this old-fashioned approach. The tried and tested method simply does not fail.

On top of that, the game is perfectly free to play. Only minor ad-ons and bonuses require a bit of an investment but this is something you may as well ignore. There is no need to spend a single penny to enjoy this gaming masterpiece - and you won't see a single ad either way. This level of unobtrusiveness is something that is rarely seen in the mobile gaming world and we cannot help but admit that this was, to a great extent, the deciding factor. Dragonscapes Adventure is our winner - through and through.

Picking flaws in such an immensely fun, gorgeous game seems like an impossible task. If there is one thing we could single out, it would be the fact that you will need to be connected to the internet in order to play the game. Scores, updates, and help from friends will all come through this route, making it borderline impossible to progress without a connection. For many, this will be perfectly acceptable but, for those who love camping and going off the grid, it could pose a challenge.

Beyond that, it's really impossible to find any major flaw. Perhaps we'd wish for more levels, more updates - preferably five times per day - so we can keep playing for hours on end. Such unreasonable demands on our part aside, we really have nothing to complain about.

"Oh, more dragons, is it?", I can almost hear you whisper. Yes, more dragons - not because any of us at AppGrooves have an obsession but because, by some random coincidence, the two best games in the category contain them. We wanted to introduce more diversity, we tried to cover different scenarios but - in the face of Dragonscape Adventure and Merge Dragons! - we failed miserably. So - dragons it is.

Much like all the other games on the list, in this one, your goal is to combine everything you may encounter on the map into better and more powerful items for your journey. Unlike our winner, this one, however, doesn't rely so much on exploration. Instead, in good old Zynga fashion, things are very much centered around the core playing mechanism. The story is there - very engaging, even! - but what will glue you to your screen will be the addictive nature of the gameplay itself.

Merging is predictable enough at first, with matching three objects of the same kind to create something more useful to you. As the game progresses, more and more unusual combos will enter the picture, until some of the ideas start sounding a tad crazy. And we love this! What's better than a bit of weirdness?

From the point of view of genre, Merge Dragons! actually sits somewhere between merge and match 3 games. Your task is to collect the Gaia statues, stuck in each level's cursed land. In the process, you will also collect and create new dragon breeds - and have tons of fun.

This is after all a Zynga game and we have grown accustomed to expect only the best of the best from them. Fortunately, after so many years in the business, they are still able to deliver. From the detailed tutorial to very pretty graphics, this one is definitely a great app.

The only reason the app has not snatched the top spot on our list is the fact that, for some reason, the whole thing somehow seems smaller than Dragonscapes Adventure. Sure, you will still get a good few weeks out of it but - will it last any longer than that? It's just a question of longevity, really - one that is particularly important if you find yourself falling in love with this game. We are definitely smitten and couldn't recommend it more - especially since we didn't notice any ads and the in-app purchases were not required. A 9.9/10, as far as we are concerned.

Famous companies have a lot to live up to. After a couple of hits, we grow to expect a certain level of quality from them. Take Zynga (the creator of our runner-up) as an example. They simply cannot allow themselves to flounder. The same applies to Big Fish Games. With quite a bit of experience under their belt, this is a team behind the classics such as Fairway Solitaire HD and Mystery Case Files. In ideal circumstances, they should be trusted to deliver. And deliver they did!

EverMerge is a truly unique game. Our winner brings in an element of adventure, our runner-up whisks in some match 3, but the third app on the list goes all the way and brings in more than a few elements of world-building simulations. It's definitely an interesting twist - a big risk too! - and one that has definitely paid off. This sort of diversity does, after all, make testing a pure joy.

In EverMerge, your mission is to lift the cursed fog that has spread over the lands. This you can achieve with the help of several fairytale characters such as Sleeping Beauty and the Puss in Boots. Simply merge different objects, explore the map, and, in true sandbox-style, have pretty much endless hours of fun.

Over time, you should be able to go beyond simply creating tools and into building larger structures, and taking your adventure in a whole new direction. This is where the sim element will shine the brightest and your ability to organize and delegate tasks within your little eco-system will make a huge difference.

The element of surprise is always present and you will never know what sort of magical thing will appear on the map next. In addition, you can also enjoy special events which occur every week and are a nice bonus to the overall gameplay. They definitely make the whole thing more diverse and fun.

Purchasing items is possible but not crucial to your progress. We are lucky enough that all of our top 3 can be enjoyed without spending a dime. Perhaps the only flaw of EverMerge we can possibly think of is the excruciatingly long tutorial you will have to deal with at the very beginning of the game. Some users will appreciate it, so this is perhaps only the aversion that yours truly has for this sort of thing. Still, overall, EverMerge is about as fun as it can be. You won't be disappointed.

This wonderful little game gives you an opportunity to merge the widest variety of creatures and objects in order to create even more powerful items for your journey. Overall, the gameplay is exciting enough but there is one technical aspect of it that we are not fully satisfied with. Instead of storing all your progress on your Google Play account, the app hooks onto your Facebook profile. This, in our experience, is a sure way to lose all of your in-game data - if only the slightest thing goes wrong with your phone.

Your main task is to organize and perform a full home makeover. This you can achieve by merging, connecting, and putting zany and quirky objects to good use. The gameplay is comfortable, deliberately low-key - and very slow-paced. Perhaps too slow for our taste, if we are to be perfectly honest. We would definitely wish for a stronger dose of excitement but this app somehow manages to push things so far in the other direction, it almost falls into the "idle" genre.

Merge and match creatures, tools, and objects to bring an ancient garden back to its former glory. This truly is a beautiful game that manages to be the exact opposite of Merge Mansion. A tad too difficult, a bit too stringy with the rewards, it often makes progress next to impossible. We constantly felt nudged in the direction of purchasing bonus points - and everyone who is following us on AppGrooves will know that we are not very keen on that sort of situation. Not at all.

If you have ever wanted to study and understand the evolution from eggs into fantastic fantasy dragons - this will be your game. However, bear in mind that it can sometimes be a bit taxing on the phone memory. With a multitude of special effects, it hogs up your device's RAM like crazy. An average smartphone may begin to sweat and grunt under the pressure. The whole thing probably works a lot better on a device that is not two years old so - either buy a new one - or skip this game altogether.

What we said of Merge Magic! also applies to Merge World Above. The game gets connected to your Facebook account which is a situation that can make things rather tricky. If you just want to have a bit of fun, this will be fine, but if you are very particular about saving your progress, you will want to look for a different app. Other than that, the game is truly divine but this one issue is a deal-breaker for us. In fact, all of the games on this list are pretty great, we just have to be very selective in order to come up with a top 3, instead of a top 13.