News has apparently stopped for the year, so let’s hand out some not-entirely-serious awards, shall we?
Look, the mobile game of the year is obviously Balatro. It’s arguably the game’s perfect final form, barring some slightly-too-small menu buttons in some places. (It’s also essential to go into the settings and max out the game speed once you ‘get it’, which maybe should be a pop-up once you’re a few hours in).
So bravo to Playstack and indie developer LocalThunk, particularly for coining it in through the Apple Arcade edition. Once upon a time, Netflix would have snapped up a breakout indie game making its way to mobile.
And there’s perhaps good reason for it dropping on Apple’s subscription service rather than Netflix. We’re told that while of course Arcade has a few problems, it also boasts very, very generous ongoing payouts for games with incredibly strong engagement. Netflix was, we’re told, more in the business of just making one-off upfront payments for games, though that may be changing.
It is also remarkable, as a $9.99 premium mobile game, to have made over $4m to date in just over two months, according to Appmagic. But, like Fall Guys, Vampire Survivors and indeed Threes before it, one can assume that several mobile game developers are working on a free-to-play version of this game right now. I’m actually surprised there isn’t one out there already.
But Balatro has had plenty of attention already. Instead, let’s talk about Minute Cryptic, a really interesting take on the daily word game category, which continues to rumble on in Wordle’s wake.
Minute Cryptic, like Wordle, started as a daily web game – as the name suggests, it’s one cryptic crossword clue per day, with hints and a ‘par’ system. Pretty standard stuff. And it only just released an accompanying iOS game, with an Android edition still to come.
But for me the most interesting thing about this game is how I – and presumably many others – came across it. Minute Cryptic’s discoverability trick of sorts is its daily explainer videos, starring a chap with sumptuous hair and a gentle, delightful Aussie accent. They were first served up to me on TikTok and are also on YouTube and presumably some other places.
These videos are actually the best part of Minute Cryptic, a quick trip along the winding route you must take to figure out any given solution. Cryptic crosswords are, by their nature, really obtuse and difficult. Or for people who only read game reviews: they are very much the Dark Souls of crosswords.
So having someone explain their workings every day, learning more and more about their arcane rules and quirks along the way, has been a delight. It should perhaps also be noted that I have never actually solved a single one of Minute Cryptic’s crosswords, but that hasn’t stopped me trying.
Monetisation people reading this will want to insert incentivised ads into the game to buy more hints or retries, or perhaps chuck in a monthly subscription that offers players more clues, more content and other bells and whistles.
A monthly subscription is coming, but likely not in a way that would be typical for the mobile games business. As you can probably see from the above video, this is a game and video project driven by one guy who’s just really into cryptic crosswords. It feels a bit like a hobby that’s got out of control and has organically turned into a mobile game business.
This is a good thing. There is still space for small teams with a cool idea to carve out a niche and exist in the cut-throat world of mobile. I wish them well.
For me, Minute Cryptic has suddenly become everything a great mobile game should be: a part of my day I actively look forward to, something with a gentle mental workout and a satisfying resolution – even if I’m never going to actually solve one.
