Sound clever in meetings with this concise snapshot of the new games you need to know about.
Here every Friday you’ll find big games gone global, fresh soft launches, the latest release dates and everything in between.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Kojima Productions/505 Games)
Discounted pre-orders are open now for this iOS port of the cult 2019 delivery game. It launches on January 30, playable only on iPhone 15 Pro and iPads (and Macs) with M-series chips. It’s currently available at $19.99, but it’ll rise up to around $40 sometime after launch.
AFK Journey (Farlight Games)
This follow-up to AFK Arena has just gone into pre-order on iOS and Android. There’s also a public beta, which closes on January 28.
It’s a fantasy RPG-battler that looks as lush as Farlight/Lilith’s other recent games Farlight 84 and Dislyte. Its App Store listing says it’s expected to launch at the end of March, but take that with a pinch of salt.
Candy Crush Blast (King)
As we revealed earlier this week, King has another Candy Crush spin-off in soft launch, Candy Crush Blast. It’s a new contender to Peak’s Toy Blast and Toon Blast games and it is currently only available on Android in the Philippines.
Love and Deepspace (Infold)
This dating game has incredible production values and came out of nowhere to hit the upper ends of the charts in the US, China and several other big markets last week. It is, according to the store blurb, a new title in the Mr. Love series, an otome franchise out of China.
Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live!
This one is notable for the extraordinary way it was both announced and closed down in the same tweet. The now semi-viral X post excitedly announced that the game is launching worldwide, but also closing down on May 31. For the record, it’s a cutesy rhythm-action game.
Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom (Bandai Namco)
This is another take on Animal Crossing that just dropped on Apple Arcade. It joins fellow January releases Blackjack (MobilityWare) and jaunty puzzler Cornsweeper (Robert Morrison) in what must be the most underwhelming month of new games yet for the service.
Order & Chaos: Guardians (NetEase/Gameloft)
This is a new team-based RPG and spin-off of Gameloft’s MMORPG Order & Chaos, which appears to be big in China. An Android only beta has just begin in selected regions, and a global launch on iOS and Android will follow at some point this year.
Dark and Darker Mobile (Krafton)
We got another press release reminding us that Krafton is bringing Dark and Darker to mobile in 2024 this week – the third or fourth announcement we’ve had since this game was announced at the end of last year.
Krafton is clearly pushing it hard, and says it is its headline game for the year ahead. The original game’s mix of extraction-like mechanics with Dark Souls-y dungeon crawling has been something of a cult hit on Steam, so it appears Krafton is confident that can translate to mobile.
