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Marvel Snap officially launches in its first region, bringing a new season to the collectible card game
If you were in the closed beta, your progress will carry over
Marvel Snap was revealed in May, a collectible card game from Hearthstone's former director Ben Brode. The game entered into closed beta testing at the time of its announcement across a handful of regions, and it would appear that the Philippines is the first region to see an official launch, rolling out today to everyone in the country on both Android and iOS (the game is even coming to PC, but at a later date). Today's launch also ushers in a new season, Atlantis Beach Club, offering an appropriate summer theme where you'll explore Atlantis with heroes like Wave, Cosmo, and of course, Sub-Mariner. There's even a new video to accompany the launch and new season, which you can watch below.
It took its time, but Albion Online is finally available on the Google Play Store
This popular sandbox MMO no longer has to be sideloaded
Albion Online comes from many of the people that worked on EVE Online, and so it too is a sandbox MMO, and as you can see in the picture above, it offers a fantasy theme. Back when the game was crowdfunded through founders packs, it was promised that an Android and iOS version would be made. An Android APK has been available since 2017, but the iOS version is still missing. Well, as of today, Sandbox Interactive has announced that the MMO will be officially released on Android and iOS this summer, with cross-play in tow for all platforms.
Slay the Spire brings its deck-building roguelike action to Android
Humble Games delivers again — this studio is on a roll
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It's official. Humble Games will be bringing Slay the Spire to Android on February 3rd, which is only a few days away. The game was initially released in early access back in 2017 for PC, and then was officially launched on PC and consoles in 2019, and last year the game made its way to iOS, and now it's clear Android users will soon be able to get in on the fun. If you're unfamiliar with the title, it's a roguelike deck builder where you'll use your cards to battle enemies as you make your way up the spire in an effort to reach the top.
Pac-Man Geo brings the classic arcade game to your city streets, but it's in rough shape
It simply isn't ready for prime time
Many developers have been trying to copy the success of Niantic's Pokémon GO with clones that offer similar gameplay, and so it's easy to jump to conclusions when new map-based mobile titles are revealed. Surprisingly Bandai Namco has actually come up with a unique way to utilize the map, and so Pac-Man Geo is a game where players will create new mazes out of the streets in their cities. While there's still a collection aspect in the title, seeing that high-scores will unlock collectible landmarks, at least the core Pac-Man gameplay has been retained. Pac-Man Geo is a brand-new listing on the Play Store, and it's already available for pre-registration.
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is the latest cash-grab from Zynga, now available on the Play Store
Just what everyone wanted, yet another money-grubbing match-3 game
Zynga has officially announced that it's working on a Harry Potter match-3 game for mobile. This game is called Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, and of course, Zynga has yet to share a single screenshot or video of the title. Paradoxically Zynga has noted that the game is already available as a soft-launch release in the Philippines, which means the studio is already publicly testing the title, which begs the question as to why there are zero screenshots or videos shared with today's announcement. Could it be that Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is such a shallow cash grab that it's in the developer's best interest to hide what the game looks like before an official worldwide release?
SINoALICE is the latest RPG from Yoko Taro, and it's available today for the first time in the West
Coming from the head video game director behind Nier: Automata
Yoko Taro's mobile RPG SINoALICE will finally see a worldwide release after an indefinite delay last year. The game was initially published in Japan back in 2017 by Nexon, and yet it would appear that the publisher wants nothing to do with the title anymore, and so Nexon is transferring the license to the original developer Pokelabo. Interestingly Pokelabo has just announced that it's cooperating with Square Enix to bring the game to the West on July 1st, though I have to wonder if this announcement is simply a last-ditch effort to make money with an aging mobile game that even Nexon couldn't bring to fruition as a global release.
Riot Games (the creators of League of Legends) recently announced three new games for mobile and consoles. I've already covered the announcement for the MOBA League of Legends: Wild Rift, and in this article I'll be talking about Teamfight Tactics: League of Legends Strategy Game, a PvP auto-battler where you'll you’ll draft, deploy, and upgrade from a revolving roster of League of Legends champions. Essentially, it's an auto-chess game. This standalone mobile title should mirror the auto-battle mode found in the PC version of LoL, and cross-platform play is expected between PC and mobile.
In September, we learned that SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions (the twelfth entry in the SaGa series) would arrive on Android on December 3rd. Lo and behold, the game is now officially available on the Play Store for $23.99, a lofty price that almost matches last month's launch of Romancing SaGa 3. As expected, this is a premium release, so there are no in-app purchases or advertisements to worry about. What you see is what you get, and what you get is an enhanced Square Enix JRPG suitable for play on mobile devices.
ZeptoLab is a famous mobile game development studio thanks to its casual arcade series Cut the Rope and its many spinoffs. The last monumental release from the company was CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars, though it would appear that the developer is going back to its roots with a new testing release titled Om Nom: Merge, though we're not too sure exactly where it's being tested other than in Brazil. This means the majority of Android users will not be able to play just yet. The game appears to offer a twist on the classic 2048 formula, where you'll combine Om Noms to create new characters for the purpose of eating fruit so that you can earn in-game currency. After testing the title personally, I can confirm it's an extremely casual game most likely designed for younger audiences.
Last month we learned that the next Five Nights at Freddy's release would enter into early access in November, and thanks to a recent press announcement, it has been revealed that the official launch of Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery will take place today. It would seem early access was opened worldwide this past Friday, and today marks the official release. Much like the previous titles in the series, you'll have to confront malfunctioning animatronics in an attempt to survive their horrors, but this time around, you'll do so in a game made exclusively for mobile devices that uses augmented reality to bring its jump scares to the real world.
Raw Fury has just revealed that Plausible Concept's indie RTS roguelike Bad North is coming to Android on October 15th, and as of this morning, the title is already available on the Play Store for pre-registration. This announcement comes hot off the heels of the Nintendo Switch release in August, and we can expect to receive the complete Jotunn Edition that brings with it new items, commander traits, and enemies. It will be your job to defend an island kingdom against a horde of Viking invaders by taking command of the island's inhabitants in order to control the broad strokes of each procedurally generated battle, and so far PC and console reviews have remained positive since the initial release.
Monolisk recently arrived on the Play Store as a pre-registration release, and I couldn't help but notice how good it looks, which is why I'm writing this very article. The game is described as a fantasy mobile ARPG, CCG, and dungeon builder, all wrapped up in a single package, which sounds interesting enough, but clearly, the art design takes center stage here.
Back in March Activision and Tencent officially announced Call of Duty: Mobile at the 2019 Game Developers Conference, and in the middle of last month we learned that the mobile shooter would be officially released on the Google Play Store on October 1st, which means the game is now available on Android. As expected, this is a free-to-play release. In-app purchases, loot boxes, and a premium pass are included, not to mention a plethora of cosmetic items and an expensive in-game currency. Still, the amount of nostalgia offered in the title is hard to ignore, and the gameplay luckily holds up, which is why the game is definitely worth a look.
League of Wonderland is a strategy game themed around fairy tales, historical figures, and popular myths to create an ensemble cast where players use hero cards to defeat their opponent's tower within a 2-minute timespan, much like Clash Royale. It will be up to you to lead your characters to victory to become the best player in the League of Wonderland.
[Update: Forced log-in no longer required] Bethesda just released DOOM and DOOM II on the Play Store
In celebration of DOOM's 25th anniversary, Bethesda has released official ports for DOOM and DOOM II on the Google Play Store. Each title is available for $4.99, and since they are both premium releases, you won't have to worry about any advertisements or in-app purchases.
At the beginning of the year, we learned that the idle RPG Nonstop Knight 2 would be coming to Android sometime in 2019, and in May the title finally went up on the Play Store as a pre-registration listing. As of this morning, Nonstop Knight 2 has been officially released. It's a free-to-play title, just like the original, though there is a lot of new content that allows for expanded gameplay.
Drool's action rhythm game Thumper was initially released on PC and consoles back in 2016. At the start of 2018, a mobile port was released on iOS under the new moniker Thumper: Pocket Edition. Well, it would appear that this mobile iOS port has finally made its way to Android with today's official release of Thumper: Pocket Edition on the Google Play Store.
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Some of you may remember a quirky little auto-runner from 2013 called Badland. It's been downloaded over 50 million times across the world, which is probably why a sequel was released in 2015. Apparently, the developer Frogmind has pushed aside the auto-running genre since that followup and has moved on to bigger and better things. The result is the upcoming release of Badland Brawl, a physics-based multiplayer brawler that's available for pre-registration as of today, and it looks nothing like the original games in the series, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Sure, there may have been a five-month gap in between the iOS and Android release, but Alto's Odyssey is finally here, and it was well worth the wait. Much like the original Alto's Adventure, this sequel is also a relaxing endless runner that contains a beautiful aesthetic and plenty of unique goals to complete.
It may have been a long time coming, but Nexon's MapleStory M is finally here. For those that don't know, this is a mobile interpretation of the mainline PC MMORPG. In the past, we had received a few different mobile versions of MapleStory on Android, but they never quite stacked up to the original PC release and were subsequently shut down. MapleStory M is supposed to wipe the mobile slate clean by offering something a little more familiar to longtime fans.