The great thing about having a smart TV is that you no longer necessarily need to buy a gaming console to enjoy gaming on your big screen. There are plenty of amazing games – as good as either console or PC games – that you can download from the app store and play directly with your remote, smartphone, or by connecting a gamepad to your TV. To help you, we have put together a list of the 20 best games for Apple TV.
If you have an Apple TV, you will need to find your games in the Apple Store. There are free and premium games, and while some of them you can control with your Siri remote or smartphone, others will work best with a gamepad.
Game Quick Links
Game | Type | Cost |
---|---|---|
Alto’s Adventure | Sports/Surfing | $4.99 |
Apple Arcade | Game Library | $4.99/month |
Asphalt 8: Airborne | Racing | Free |
Battle Supremacy: Evolution | Shooting | $4.99 |
Beat Sports | Active Sports | $9.99 |
Crossy Road | Frogger | Free |
Dandara Trials Of Fear Edition | RPG | $3.99 |
Drawful 2 | Art | $9.99 |
Evoland 2 | Mixed | $4.99 |
Framed 2 | Puzzle | $4.99 |
Galaxy On Fire™ – Manticore Rising | Shooter | $5.99 |
Playdead’s INSIDE | Puzzle | Free |
Just Dance Now | Active Sports | Free |
Machinarium | RPG | $5.99 |
Rayman Adventures | Runner | Free |
Shadowmatic | Puzzle | $3.99 |
Sky Force Reloaded | Shooter | Free |
Sonic The Hedgehog™ Classic | RPG | Free |
Transistor | Shooter | $4.99 |
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap | RPG | $7.99 |
20 Best Games For Apple TV
We’ve based our decisions on how fun and addictive the games are, how the graphics look on the big screen, and how easy they are to use on an Apple TV device.
Alto’s Adventure is one of the most visually stunning games made for Apple devices, which is why you will want to play it on your big screen. You start your adventure in a placid snowy mountain village, from which you are drawn into a physics-based game where you have to navigate terrain, blizzards, and shooting stars.
This is often considered a sports game since you ride on snowboards through the winter, but there is so much more to this beautiful landscape. Control the game on the big screen from your iPhone.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99.
This is ideal for those who love playing fun games and enjoy mixing them up and trying new things. For a fairly modest monthly subscription of $4.99, you get access to more than 200 games. You can get a one-month free trial to check it out before you buy, and once you subscribe you can use it across multiple Apple devices.
You’ll get simple options that you might expect to see on your smartphone, but also some pretty good console games. There are brain teasers, magical quests, sports games, and classics.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99 per month.
If you like a good driving game, this is probably the best one on Apple TV. As an arcade-style game, you’ll be racing to beat time while avoiding obstacles and sometimes smashing into things to cause destruction. There are more than 300 different speed machines to choose from.
The TV graphics aren’t as good as on the mobile version, but it is still lots of fun! Play multiplayer with other family members, or online with other eager players.
Get it free in the Apple Store.
This game sees you flying a variety of transforming vehicles through futuristic cities, wastelands, and jungle scenes. There are more than 100 single-player missions, or you can join a Team Deathmatch or Capture the Base game in multiplayer mode.
This one is designed to work with a touch screen, so control it from your smartphone or hook up a gamepad for a more traditional gaming experience.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99.
This is Apple TV’s answer to Wii Sports, and you can get active dancing and playing volleyball, tennis, and golf. Rather than doing this in a universe that obeys the laws of physics, though, you can do impossible things in this fantastical world.
You can play the game using the Siri remote, just like you would use a Wii remote.
Get it in the Apple Store for $9.99.
This game is pretty basic. You pretty much hop your way across streets while avoiding obstacles, like an updated version of frogger. While it’s simple, it’s addictive, and you might find yourself falling into a Crossy Road hole for a few hours at a time.
You’ll be prompted to collect candy and solve problems on your trek, all controlled by your TV remote or your smartphone.
Get it free in the Apple Store.
This game was Apple TV’s top pick for 2020 and is a fun and engaging game ideal for playing on your big screen. You play the hero, Dandara, who must save the world of Salt from oppression and isolation. As well as providing a great gaming experience with movement and quests, the mystical world is highly developed and beautifully animated.
You can control this game from the touchscreen on either your smartphone or a connected gamepad device of your choice.
Get it in the Apple Store for $3.99.
This is a great game to play as a group, but be aware that you will all need your smartphones in hand to make it work (plus at least a 4th generation Apple TV). It is a variation of Pictionary, and you need to draw the specified things on your touchscreen and have your teammates guess what you are trying to represent.
You can also play this one online with remote players. Young artists will quickly get addicted.
Get it in the Apple Store for $9.99.
Evoland feels like a tribute to all of your favorite classic games, wrapped up in one pretty perfect package. Different levels pay homage to different classic games, so you will find yourself moving between shooters, side scrollers, and 2D RPG levels.
Control the game from your smartphone, or hook up your favorite classic-style gamepad.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99.
This is more of a thinker than an action game; you need to tackle puzzles to solve mysteries. Change the order of comic-style images to change the outcome of events. It’s quite a bit more challenging than competing “puzzle” games on the market.
Control the game with your smartphone, or using the touchpad on your Apple TV Siri controller.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99.
The graphics on this game look like an advanced PC game, so they will occupy your big screen in the best possible way. This is an action-packed space game in which you take on space pirates as a rookie pilot. Build up your squad to dominate the universe.
You can play this one using your apple TV remote, so it is a relaxing way to unwind without any additional equipment.
Get it in the Apple Store for $5.99.
This is a haunting journey inside human consciousness and society where you are pushed to solve puzzles while analyzing metaphors and asking questions that will stick with you long after the TV is off. Play with your remote control.
Made by Playdead, our big complaint with this game is that it isn’t long enough. We want to spend more time in the world.
Get it free in the Apple Store.
If you need an excuse to get moving, or you love practicing new dance moves for your TikTok videos, this active dance game is for you. It’s also free, though there are in-app purchases to unlock additional features. Choose your dance style and one of more than 500 songs and get moving. It also integrates with your Apple HealthKit if you want to track the calories you burn while dancing.
You will need to use your smartphone as well, to record yourself dancing, but you can put the instructional video up on your TV screen and have the music blast from your home entertainment speakers.
Get it free in the Apple Store.
This is another game so beautiful that you should appreciate it on your big screen rather than squint at it on your iPhone. In this Steampunk-style world, you’re on a mission to help Josef the robot save his girlfriend.
The game controls aren’t complex, so you can do it all from your smartphone, but this is the kind of world that you can immerse yourself in again and again.
Get it in the Apple Store for $5.99.
If you like cute and quirky characters, you will love the beings you encounter in this endless runner game. Your mission is to track down the ancient eggs that sustain the sacred tree of life as they have been scattered around the world.
Get the game free in the Apple Store.
This is an addictive puzzle game that sees you adjusting objects under a spotlight to create shadows and solve puzzles. There are 30 levels to get through, each more challenging and engaging than the last.
If you get stuck there are ways to unlock hints, but this does take away from the challenge of the game. Control the game from your smartphone or TV remote.
Get it in the Apple Store for $3.99.
This is an arcade-style shoot-em-up action game where you use increasingly advanced aircraft to shoot your enemies. There are lots of explosions and lasers for incinerating bosses and other aircraft.
In addition to the fun destruction, the galaxies you encounter are worth returning for. No need for a game controller; you can do everything from your smartphone.
Get it free in the Apple Store.
Sonic was one of the first games created to be played on your TV via a game console, so it is only fitting that you should play it on your new Apple TV. Of course, there are updated graphics and new adventures, but the principle of the game remains the same. Run fast and collect stuff without getting trampled.
You can control the character on your screen from your smartphone, or if you are a classic Sega fan, hook up a Sega-style gamepad controller to relive your glory years.
Get it free in the Apple Store, or pay to remove ads.
This atmospheric sci-fi game sees you traveling through futuristic cities to combat enemies with strange new weapons. You are armed with the Transistor. Your mission is to solve a mystery that will help you track down the former owner of the Transistor and learn its secrets.
This was adapted from the PlayStation 4 to work on Apple TV, and you can play it with the TV remote or connect your favorite gamepad.
Get it in the Apple Store for $4.99.
This game won Best Apple TV game in 2019 and is still going strong. You play a half-human, half-lizard, cursed monstrosity on an epic search for a magical Salamander Cross that can remove curses. Unfortunately, as you use your powers to obtain your goal, your curse worsens and you continue to transform into new animal combinations.
The graphics on this game are hand-drawn and there is an epic soundtrack. There are three difficulty levels for novice and expert players and anyone in between.
Get it in the Apple Store for $7.99.
The Verdict
Smart TVs are becoming increasingly powerful and sophisticated, which means that the games you can play directly on your TV without the need for a game emulator are getting better and better.
Try any of the games on our list of the 20 best games for Apple TV to see just what your TV is capable of and how addictive it can be!
Prefer to play with a game controller? Check out our review of the best gamepads for smart TVs.