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.
Monster Hunter Now (Niantic/Capcom)
There will be high hopes for this one at Niantic. After trying to make the Pokémon Go formula work with other brands that just didn’t quite fit, Monster Hunter feels about right. It’s out now worldwide on iOS and Android, and after months of pre-orders it is top of the charts in the US, Japan, UK and across Europe.
Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro games
Apple pushed its games offering a little harder than usual in its September keynote, using some triple-A console games to demo the power of the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Hit play on the above video to skip straight to the brief but notable games section.
The tech giant announced that Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Death Stranding are coming to iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max “later this year”, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming to the same top-end phones “in the first half of 2024”.
Apple has long used games to showcase hardware performance in its keynotes and this felt like a step up, though these games have no chance of troubling the top grossing charts.
Elsewhere in the showcase, there were also cameos from Ubisoft’s The Division Resurgence – “launching in early 2024” – and Hoyoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact.
Match Factory (Peak/Zynga)
The Toon Blast and Toy Blast maker put its new matching game out into soft launch last week. Peak’s new puzzler has handsome 3D matching on a jumbled-up game board and is out now in the UK and Turkey only.
Little Nightmares (Playdigious)
Playdigious continues to port over interesting indie-flavoured games to mobile. Following on from the likes of Dead Cells and Streets of Rage 4, this horror game from Tarsier Studios will be coming to iOS and Android on December 12, and is available to pre-order now.
Motorsport Manager 4
This is a premium racing management sim that clocks in at $6.99/£6.99, and occupies a very similar ‘dad game’ space to Football Manager. It’s out now worldwide on iOS and Android.
AFK Football (Wildlife)
Wildlife’s new game is out on iOS and Android globally now, and mixes team-building and upgrading with idle-style football matches.
SaGa Emerald Beyond (Square)
Revealed in this week’s Nintendo Direct, this is a Square JRPG that’s also coming to iOS and Android in 2024.
Warbits+ (Risky Labs)
Touch Arcade reports that this mobile reimagining of cult Nintendo series Advance Wars is getting a beefed up remake. It’s coming first to Steam then later to mobile at some point.
Sky Islands (Gionathan Pesaresi)
Prolific solo indie developer Gionathan Pesaresi (AKA Neutronized) has had some success with the Super Cat Tales games, and has been making great 2D platformers at an impressive rate for years. This latest one is a Fez-inspired puzzle-platformer that has some fun switching between 2D and 3D.
Football Manager Mobile 2024 (Sports Interactive)
As we reported earlier this week, Netflix has exclusively signed the next edition of Football Manager Mobile, starting with the 2024 iteration coming on November 6.
