Recap #176: What's new this week in mobile gaming?

In this week's recap #176, we take a look at the week's must-have mobile games releases, mobile news and pre-registrations/test phases not to be missed.

Sit back and relax as we round up all the week's mobile games news! On the agenda: leaks of the new Sims mobile game, new releases from the Crunchyroll Game Vault and the arrival of Honor of Kings World.

Mobile games releases of the week

This week has been rich in release announcements, with many games now available on stores:

• Darkwing Storm War, a real-time strategy game from Level Infinite, is now in early access on Play Store in the Philippines. The game features battles with dragons and wizards in a variety of environments.
• Crunchyroll is expanding its Game Vault with two new games: Blossom Tales II on Play Store and App Store, a pixel-art adventure game, and Yohane the Parhelion, a roguelite deckbuilder, also available on Play Store and App Store.
• Touchgrind X, Illusion Lab's new extreme sports game, is now available on Play Store and App Store. This mountain biking game offers single and multiplayer modes, including a 12-player Battle Royale.
• Apple Arcade welcomes four new titles for October: Smash Hit+, a dynamic puzzle game, NBA 2K25 Arcade Edition, Furistas Cat Cafe+ and Food Truck Pup+.

Finally, Legend of Kingdoms, an idle gacha RPG inspired by the era of the Three Kingdoms, is now available in early access on Play Store. Assemble a team of heroes and dominate epic battles in a world of war and conquest.

Pre-registration, announcements, updates and testing phases

In addition to the recent releases, we have more test announcements and pre-registrations in stock this week:

• Pre-registrations for Haze Reverb are open on Play Store and App Store, a post-apocalyptic tactical RPG game where giant waifus fight aliens. The game, developed by GennMugame, features 9v9 turn-based combat.
• Crashlands 2, the sequel to the first opus, is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2025 via the Netflix Games subscription service. Players will be reunited with Flux Dabes and his alien universe. In fact, Crashlands was ranked as the top 1 co-op game!
• Other games joining the Crunchyroll Game Vault include Eternights, an apocalyptic date simulator, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, a metroidvania platformer, and Victory Heat Rally, a 2.5D racing game. No release date has yet been announced, but these games promise to appeal to a wide audience.
• Etheria: Restart was presented by XD Games at the Tokyo Game Show. This game focuses on invocations and offers a virtual universe where you play as a Hyperlinker tasked with saving what's left of humanity. The release date is still unknown.

We continue with the announcement of Krafton's port of the life sim Dinkum. Explore the Australian outback, breed wombats and survive dangers such as crocodiles, while developing your farm. Snapbreak has announced Project Terrarium, a puzzle game scheduled for release in 2027.

Wizardry Variants Daphne, a retro-style first-person gacha RPG, will be released on Play Store and App Store on 15 October. Plunge into the dark atmosphere of a dungeon where you'll have to battle monsters and a demonic sorcerer.

We continue with the open-world Honor of Kings World, which will be launched in 2025, with a live test scheduled for the end of October. And finally, Football Manager 2025 will be released on 26 November with improved graphics and new career options.

Other news and events from the mobile games industry

There's more from the mobile JV industry this week:

• Epic Games continues to expand its empire in the mobile gaming world by offering free games on Android and iOS, as it already does on PC. By 2024, around fifty third-party titles are expected to join their catalogue, with releases planned from the festive season onwards.
• Fans of The Sims are disappointed by the leak of the new mobile Sims, called The Sims Labs: Town Stories, which can already be seen on the Play Store. This city-builder, which recycles assets from previous Sims mobile games, seems to be falling short of expectations, with dated graphics and uninvolving narrative quests.
• Infinity Nikki has exceeded 20 million pre-registrations. This walking simulator invites players to explore enchanting landscapes while solving light puzzles and changing outfits to progress.
• The studio behind Outlast, Red Barrels, has been the victim of a massive cyber attack that resulted in the theft of 1.8 terabytes of data, including source code and financial information. The impact on the development of future games could be substantial.

See you next week for a round-up of mobile games news!