• Paul
• On November 29, 2016

With its iris-scanning technology and the incredibly useful Continuum desktop mode, Microsoft’s Lumia 950 is a great device. Βut it’s probably fair to say that there’s a critical lack of apps and games for the phone on the Windows Store, with Microsoft itself involved in many of the more exclusive titles out there.

Bill Gates’ company has a long history of developing its own games and restricting them to Windows and Xbox platforms. In fact, this is not an unusual trick in the gaming world, with some online casinos, in particular, preferring to build their own apps in-house. British iGaming company mFortune, for instance, has unique mobile slots players can’t find anywhere else, like Hansel & Gretel and Space Katz.

With the above in mind, there’s increasingly no such thing as Windows Phone exclusivity, as many apps based on the operating system are spread across mobile, PC, and Xbox Live. It’s probably much more accurate to talk about titles endemic to Microsoft hardware. So here are three that you can download and play on a Lumia device.

ilomilo ($4.85)

Created by now-defunct studio, Southend Interactive, ilomilo (with a lowercase ‘i’) is a puzzle game that centers on two characters, Ilo and Milo. The objective of the game is simply to bring the two characters together by pulling switches, moving cubes around, and helping one character progress by switching to the other.

The game, which is an old favorite which first appeared on Windows phones back in 2010, has a surreal fairytale ambience with cute characters and a saturated color scheme. A successor, ilomilo plus, added extra features including new levels and objects to interact with. The latter update is currently the only version of the title available in the Microsoft Store.

Mush ($2.85)

Mush is a game about changing the emotions of a furry, bouncing blob. It’s very similar in execution to the PSP title Loco Roco, in that the player needs to move the world around Mush by physically tilting the device. The app also has a unique “emotion” feature, which allows Mush to (e.g.) float with happiness.

The game’s twelve worlds are built around individual emotions and benefit from Mush’s dream-like art style. Mush is a true pick-up-and-play title, with very simple physics-based controls, making it ideal for younger gamers. It’s also a rare Windows Phone exclusive, available on devices running the most recent mobile OS (8, 8.1, 10) only.

Duet Adventure ($ free)

Finally, Duet Adventure is an addictive game in a similar mold to indie darling Super Hexagon. It’s also just as tantrum-inducing as the famously difficult app. Duet Adventure’s gameplay is simple – move two dots around a fixed circle to avoid objects falling from the sky. The difficulty arises because both dots move at the same time, either in a clockwise or an anti-clockwise fashion.

Duet Adventure won’t win any awards for graphics but it overlays the action with the sound of a beating heart that increases in speed according to the number of onscreen objects. It’s a simple way to induce panic in players and force them into a mistake. If you’re still not sold on the idea, the game is also free.

It is nearly Christmas, after all.