This week saw a new challenger to Genshin Impact’s crown arrive in mobile games, witnessed the side of iPhone game controllers with Xbox and PlayStation, and learned about a bacon-based TikTok sensation.
Oh, and of course there are new games to play, including a handsome card game, a cute farming sim, and a bit of precision platforming.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Tower of Fantasy towers above the charts
There’s a very new open world adventure game to check out that looks like it’s itching a Genshin Impact-shaped gacha RPG, if you have one.
Called Tower of Fantasy, it’s a massive online adventure set on the devastated futuristic planet of Aida, where warring factions battle to harness the power of the energy source Omnium.
All of that, of course, is a good excuse for an open-ended adventure where you fight monsters, befriend fellow travelers and hunt for ancient treasures.
Will it turn out to be as big as Genshin Impact? It’s just as impressive to watch, that’s for sure, and it also has more nuanced combat and a cooler sci-fi edge. And it’s the number one game on the App Store in the US and UK at the time of writing, so it’s definitely a good start.
iPhone Game Controllers: Fight!
It’s now Gamevice vs Backbone in the battle for the iPhone game controllers, with each aligned behind a rival console maker to spice things up.
First, Backbone signed up for the PlayStation camp with its beautiful officially licensed Backbone One – PlayStation Edition. It’s marketed as the best way to use Sony’s Remote Play services, but it’s also fully compatible with any App Store game that supports Bluetooth controllers.
Then, earlier this week, game vice announced that the new Flex model is an official Designed for Xbox controller. It is also sold as the controller to use if you don’t want to remove your iPhone case every time you play.
The cool thing is that it doesn’t matter if you’re tuned into Xbox or PlayStation if you’re only going to play App Store or Apple Arcade games with these controllers. But if we had to choose, that slick white PS5-esque Backbone would be the one for us. Sorry Xbox.
TikTok brings home the Bacon
Indie developer Philipp Stollenmayer (aka Kamibox) makes everything: brilliant word games like Supertype and Sticky Terms, inventive puzzle games like the Apple Design Award-winning Song of Bloom, and crazy stuff like Bacon: the game.
And the latter has gone wild thanks to TikTok creators posting videos about its weird slapstick bacon flipping action.
It shot to number one on the US App Store charts in April because of those videos, which gave creator Stollenmayer a bit of a problem. Before the game went viral, he promised that he would send anyone who makes it to the end of the game a real prize.
At the time, only 30 people had completed the game; by this week, Stollenmayer had sent more than 500 prizes, turning his workspace into a makeshift post office to handle the orders. oops.
What else to play this week
Map Crawl Adventure (opens in new tab) is a beautiful solitaire-style game where you fight monsters by drawing a line across the cards in the deck to combine them. It’s hard to explain in a few sentences, but it comes from indie game creator Arnold Rauers, so it’s an instant download for us.
HyperBeard, a game developer that continues to release fun kawaii-themed games (like Adorable Home, Cat Spa, and Pocket Love), just released a new one called My Dear Farm (opens in new tab). It’s a cute farming game, and in keeping with all of HyperBeard’s other games, it’s all about self-expression in your avatar, decor, and even your furry companion. awww.
If you like precision platforming, try Tightrope Theater (opens in new tab) from indie game hero Jussi Simpanen. Reach the goal in each dense single-screen stage by staying calm and controlling the unicycle Chester the Clown amid walls of spikes and other hazards. yay.
And finally, fresh on Apple Arcade today is My Talking Tom (opens in new tab)a virtual pet sim that has been vastly improved with no ads or IAPs, so it’s a good choice if you want to keep a little one quiet for a while.
Until next week!
-Neil Long
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