Mobile Games News Review | Week of 28 February - 6 March 2022

Check out the weekly recap of mobile gaming news on Android and iOS for the week of February 28 to March 6, 2022! We'll let you read it all below. ⬇️

Genshin news of the week

1️⃣ Never a week goes by without news from Genshin or miHoYo, now Hoyoverse. But I think the news this week might surprise you. In addition to our news about the release of the Chasm Genshin Impact at the end of the month with update 2.6, and the dungeon creation quest between friends Divine Ingenuity in Update 2.5, we're going to talk about innovation and community creation. You may be familiar with miHoYo's slogan "tech otakus save the world", which has seemed a bit comical or ironic until now. Well... it seems that the studio has decided to take the phrase literally as we discover this week a significant investment by the studio in a Chinese research start-up, Energy Singularity, which aims to explore and commercialise nuclear fusion technologies for the global energy interest. In parallel to the metaverse, the Chinese firm has decided to advance in various areas of progress rather than simply in Genshin. Perhaps tech otakus really will help change the world?

2️⃣ On the other hand, the game's fan community continues to grow and become ever more creative. Among the most recent works of Genshin fans are skins of the game's characters in Animal Crossing fully customized.

But the most impressive for me is this sand sculpture of the adorable Paimon made by a player in Brazil.

New mobile games from NCsoft Corporation

3️⃣ We're a little late on this one, because we didn't get a chance to put it in the previous recaps, but we're bringing you the trailer for the upcoming NCSoft games today. As a reminder, NCsoft owns big licenses like Lineage and Blade & Soul. In this trailer entitled "Work in Progress: Play the Possibilities", we discover images of :

• Project E, a medieval Asian MMORPG based on an atmosphere close to feudal Korea, probably from the same universe as Thrones and Liberty.
• Project R, a title advertised as a Battle Royale but which, from above, looks more like arena play a la Brawl Stars or Catalyst Black. Maybe Project R will be a mix of both like Battlerite tried?
• Project M, a Korean interactive adventure drama with motion capture cinematics and realistic graphics.
• And Blade & Soul S, a "Collectible RPG", gacha to its friends, based on the famous NCsoft Corporation license. However, the game is currently listed as a primarily single-player game, so we'll have to wait and see how these hero and character collection mechanics affect the gameplay, balancing and economics of the title.

If we are not sure that all of them will arrive on mobile, some like Project R or Blade & Soul S are obviously already designed for this format. Besides, we know NC's propensity to turn to smartphones to develop its licenses, so these titles will surely be no exception to the rule. In any case, we should learn more during the current month of March, so don't miss the recaps 😉

This week's mobile game releases

4️⃣ Haven't found your fill of challenge, rhythm and neon since the days of Geometry Dash? Well, you'll be pleased to hear about The Impossible Game 2 from FlukeGames. This title will test your reflexes and your ability to adapt from one challenge and environment to the next, to the accompaniment of a frenzied musical soundtrack, and is available now on the Playstore andAppstore. Amongst the handheld games, Castle War: Idle Island, which hits the stores this week, may well reconcile you with the idle genre. If not, maybe TCG Card Tycoon Simulator, which allows you to run your own trading card shop, will cheer you up despite its slightly dated graphics (look at the difference in quality between the characters and the BOOSTERS!)

5️⃣ Much darker, the release ofHitman Sniper: The Shadows will appeal more to sniper apprentices on Android and iOS smartphones. Agent 47 has disappeared and it's time for your elite team to take over to take out targets all over the world. Remember, stealth is everything, so make the most of the scenery and interaction with the environment around your targets for a clean, suspicion-free kill....

6️⃣ On the side of known game ports, Rogue Company mobile will soon offer a new test technical phase on iOS. Here's the link to pre-register for the portable version of Hi-Rez's game. Some players of the competitive PvP title are complaining that the developers would do better to fix the bugs in the PC and console game before releasing this mobile standalone. But, for our part, we're just waiting to see how the Rogue Company 4v4 or 2v2 third-person format will fare in the mobile multiplayer market against Battlefield mobile, T3-Arena, HyperFront, Catalyst Black or even a potential Valorant mobile.

New generation Pokémon and update Pikmin Bloom, the Niantic recap and Pokémon

7️⃣ Over at Niantic, we're introducing a big update for Pikmin Bloom which now allows you to invite friends with a code to boost your rewards (including seedling slots and nectar. A daily photo is also provided as soon as you reach 10,000 steps in a day. For those who have never played it, I would describe Pikmin Bloom more as a walking companion than a real game.

However, if you like walking and Pikmin Bloom is a bit light for you in terms of gameplay, I advise you to combine it with The Beautiful Walk, a narrative experience written by FibreTigre with adventures around the world depending on the distance you walk. It will make you discover new countries and cultures but with choices and karma to spice up the story, so you'll never be bored again during your walking trips.

8️⃣ On the side of Pokémon, we discover the ninth generation starters Scarlet and Purple: plant-type Poussacha, fire-type Chochodile and water-type Coiffeton. The games of this generation will land on Switch in late 2022. This news may affect mobile games with the arrival of Pokémon from this new region in Pokémon Unite, who knows? In the meantime, it's up to Duraludon to make its appearance in the Unite arena!

Upgrades and events of large licences (IPs)

9️⃣ Garena Free Fire is catching fire this week with two great collaborations. Firstly, K-POP band BTS takes the mic and officially becomes an ambassador for Free Fire. An event related to this integration of BTS into the game universe will follow this month. Then it's Assassins Creed x Garena Free Fire 's turn to join the game. This collaboration will allow players to discover a new music called "The Creed of Fire" (available here on Spotify), a building called the Crypt on the Bermuda map that can be opened with a key and from which one can perform a leap of faith and an assassin outfit to top it all off.

Garena Free Fire's competitor, PUBG mobile, continues to work with Arcane and develop content, while Arena of Valor joins forces with Bleach for a new AoV x Bleach collaboration.

🔟 Let's stay in the competitive game realm but in a slightly more cartoony universe... March 2022's Brawl Talk Brawl Stars brings the new Eve brawler, Season 11 "Biodome", the Starr Park environment where experiments have gone wrong, numerous skins; balance changes and two season game modes. The Payload Brawl Stars mode makes its appearance, pitting two teams of three players against each other, who must move a payload while staying in close proximity and compete for control of it to be the first team to bring it to its intended destination. The wipeout mode, which the developers wanted to be rather casual, is based on the principles of Bounty mode. You must eliminate the opposing brawlers, each kill earns 1 point and the first team to reach 8 or with the highest score at the end of the game time will be victorious. Find all the changes for Brawl Stars Season 11 "Biodome" in the official patch notes.

1️⃣1️⃣ If you're the kind of person who never knows which day is a birthday or another, a roundup of which mobile games are celebrating this week should jog your memory. Dragon Raja is already celebrating its second birthday with a free character, a slew of memorabilia and plenty of rewards. Far ahead of the pack, Clash Royale is already on its sixth birthday and has announced multiple gifts for players, starting with a small thank you emote.

Russia and Ukraine: a mix of cancellations, delays and financial support

1️⃣2️⃣ Championship Brawl Stars 2022: EECA is put on pause while the situation in Eastern Europe calms down while Supercell raises funds to support humanitarian organisations in Ukraine. Many studios have also decided to provide financial support to Ukrainian NGOs, such as Ubisoft, Rovio Entertainment or Gameloft.

1️⃣3️⃣ Incidentally, Apex mobile ' soft launch and test phases of Battlefield mobile have been delayed due to the current state of affairs in Ukraine and Russia, but Respawn assures that it will be able to release Apex mobile on March 7 with a week's delay from the original date.

To end this recap on a positive note, there were some great releases last month and there are still plenty of nuggets to come for 2022, which is just beginning. And if life seems too tense at the moment, why not play a little game of Mario Kart Tour which will allow you to play directly with your precious Nintendo Miis among friends from 9 March? Otherwise, all you have to do is build a fantastic Asian city in The Imortal Mayor on TapTap, which lets you play as... God. You can build a prosperous world and guide your people to peace 😉