This October, the first truly new version of Minecraft since the game became one of the most popular titles in app markets is being released. Minecraft: Story Mode will be an episodic gaming series based on the pixellated, world-building foundation of Minecraft, and it's almost certain to become one of the year's biggest apps. 

Before all of that, I want to highlight what I believe has been the most impressive app game of 2015 up to this point. Designed by Relentless Software, The Trace ($3.99 for iOS) has taken a relatively tired genre—that of the point-and-click expository detective game—and given it a more authentic and more deeply engaging flavour than anything we've seen before in the app market. 

On iTunes, the description of the game likens it to the Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple experiences many have long awaited in arcade gaming. It's fascinating that they start here given that these characters are shockingly underrepresented in entertainment. 

That's not to say there aren't some existing examples from popular detective characters. There are actually a couple of Sherlock Holmes gaming apps, each with strong points but also noteworthy flaws. Sherlock Holmes & The Hound Of The Baskervilles employs one of the most well-known Holmes legends, but it does so with somewhat-cheesy graphics and a gameplay style more fitting in the puzzle genre than as a mystery. SHERLOCK: Interactive Adventure is a little more authentic in its look, but the game is too artificial. It feels like it's played out for you, and you just have to click around. 

Holmes also pops up among a variety of arcade games devoted to pop culture at Betfair's casino platform. Cartoonish graphics depict an almost comic book-like, but nevertheless accurate, version of Holmes's costuming and environment, and that in itself is more than most video games to employ the character can say. Beyond that, the use of the character is largely symbolic, made to show off a traditional slot machine in a new light while appealing to fans of the series. 

The Trace has nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes beyond the fact that it's related to solving mysteries (with some level of deductive reasoning, a trademark of the Holmes character). However, it's safe to say it exhibits the best traits that people have always hoped for in a Holmes-style game. The settings and animations are simply overflowing with authentic criminal intrigue, the process of collecting and analysing clues goes deeper than simply following a pre-determined narrative track, and all kinds of classic images (cloaked bodies, hidden fingerprints, and the like) are at play. 

Beyond employing the basic elements that make a detective game satisfying, The Trace excels largely by giving purpose to the same point-and-click discovery method that so many other games have used carelessly. A review in Touch Arcade pointed out that the transition from finding clues to solving crimes is one of the most satisfying aspects of the game. Indeed, this isn't just another mystery experience in which you scan the environment around you and pull levers, open drawers, and click buttons until something finally happens. Rather, you do all these things in search of clues that, when you find them, make sense in the context of the case you're trying to solve. You can then analyse these clues (for example, you might scan a fingerprint and send the scan back to the office to get an I.D.) and use them to answer various questions that all add up to define the case. 

Ultimately, the mystery-solving process is just a lot more complete and satisfying than what you find in most similar games. The game further separates itself by way of incredibly sharp graphics and a crisp, fitting soundtrack. These days it's always a good sign when a game as labeled as "best played with headphones" (as this one is), because it indicates the developers put some effort into the look and feel of the game, rather than just its functionality. It's interesting that one of the easiest comparisons to The Trace is Fireproof Games' The Room (and The Room Two), which are frequently recognised as some of the most beautiful app games. But while their atmospheric achievements and gameplay styles may be in line with one another, The Trance tops The Room with the actual mysteries at hand. 

The Trace is not just in the running for the best iOS game of 2015, it's one of the best mystery arcade experiences on any platform.