Help a tree grow and reach the light. Prune is a beautifully pure game; equal parts an interactive Japanese art installation and a puzzle game, it has claimed a ton of awards since it arrived in 2015.
It couldn't be more intuitive to play either. Just drop a seed in the earth and your tree will grow, reaching toward the light. With a swipe of your finger, you trim the extraneous branches so that your creation doesn’t stray into a wall, or worse, dissolve into the hazardous red suns that add peril to this otherwise serene game.
Winding around obstacles and through openings in the landscape, the trees you grow blossom when they reach sunshine, marking the end of the stage but also – almost as importantly – offering you the chance to take a photo of the thing you've created. Your reward for playing this game is not just mere progression; it’s stopping for a moment to appreciate the beauty of the jet-black sapling you just helped shape. Just tap the camera icon at the top of the screen to share it or to save it to your photo reel.
Prune is far more satisfying and certainly less prickly than actual pruning, and it’s too cold out there for all that anyway. Best stay in, curl up on the sofa and play our former Game of the Year instead.