Mobile Games News Review | Week of 11-17 April 2022

Check out the weekly recap of mobile gaming news on Android and iOS for the week of April 11 to 17, 2022! We'll let you read it all below. ⬇️

On the agenda this week: Kingdom Hearts on mobile, a new augmented reality game by Niantic, an overdose of blockchain, the TFT 12.7 patch, news of Cookie Run games and much more to discover in this recap.

1️⃣ It's Kingdom Hearts that opens the ball for this recap. In addition to celebrating the 20th anniversary of the license in Tokyo, Square Enix revealed the trailer of a new mobile game from this universe: Kingdom Hearts Missing Link. Little is known about this new title. The main character is an unknown individual whose adventure will take place in Scala ad Caelum and this mobile episode should fill in the narrative gaps of the previous installments. In addition, Brain from KH Union Cross and the Master of Masters, who can see the future, appear at the end of the trailer.

Blockchain on mobile, the beginning of a wave

2️⃣ Horror and despair... blockchain is taking over new mobile publications. Available for almost a year in Japan, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds will be released worldwide this summer. And this worldwide release will be the occasion for Netmarble's title to integrate blockchain-related features. You will be able to earn BMX tokens during your games, which will serve as currency for the MARBLEX wallet. Similar features will soon be offered in several Netmarble games adapted from popular licenses such as The Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Knights or Game of Thrones.

Also in blockchain news, Summoners War Lost Centuria presents its play to earn gameplay on the occasion of its first anniversary. Com2uS holdings sends Lost Centuria to join the C2X blockchain gaming ecosystem, allowing players to sync C2X Station with their account to accumulate tokens.

This first anniversary introduces a new monster progression system using Ancient Runes and LCTs, the game's unique digital currency. At the same time, its big brother Summoners War: Sky Arena has reached the 8 year mark since its release and offers a gift code event between friends. How to take advantage of this is in our detailed article.

New mobile games and pre-registrations of the week

3️⃣ Unveiled in a peaceful trailer as we know Niantic loves them, Peridot is a new augmented reality game a la Pokémon GO. Peridot is a tamagotchi where your little creatures already have NFT faces before they grow up. Some will find them cute, others simply hallucinogenic, with their strange shapes and colours; but one thing is sure, there will soon be a whole catalogue of them. Personally, I'm rather disappointed with the current technical level of augmented reality in mobile games, and I'm waiting for Peridot to convince me that I'm wrong.

However, if you enjoyed games like Nintendogs or Pou, you've found your pet of the future: a green and pink flying unicorn dog to watch grow up on your mobile. You'll have to feed him, take him for walks, introduce him to new environments, feed him and even play with him to make him feel good. With all this, your Peridot will certainly be happy enough to want to start a family and develop new mutant species in your smartphone. You can already pre-register for Peridot on Android and iOS from the official website, although there's no word yet on when the title will be released.

4️⃣ Among this week's real releases is Gunfire Reborn. The mobile port of this PC title merges RPG, Roguelite and supercharged first-person shooter to explore randomly generated levels in single or multi-player, up to 4 player play. Vary your skills, weapons and items with each death for an ever-changing experience, available on the Playstore for £5.99 and Appstore for £6.99.

After a pre-registration phase, The Ancestral Legacy! has just been released on mobile. The game is described as a mysterious visual novel with some horror visuals and a thriller atmosphere. If you liked 7Days, BuffStudio has created a new interactive narrative game with a heavy and strange universe.

5️⃣ This week also saw the release of Hot Lap League: Racing Mania! by Ultimate studio, a partner of Supercell which is now offering its title on Android and iOS. For its first published game, the company opts for a premium business model, offering the game for $5. Mixing PvP racing with drifting, extreme speeds, customisable cars and magnetic asphalt tracks that defy the laws of gravity, Hot League was obviously inspired by the success of Hot Wheels and Trackmania. The title has been available since the beginning of the week on Playstore, Appstore and TapTap.

6️⃣ On April 28, 2022, you'll have the opportunity to access a new game from Netmarble: the 3v3 shooter Golden Bros. Even if we know you're only waiting for Star Wars Hunters, Netmarble intends to impose its style with an early access on PC, Android and iOS for its play to earn title. Using NFTs, the blockchain and therefore its own currency, the $GBC, Golden Bros intends to ride the NFT wave, which is still in its infancy in mobile games. However, beware of unpleasant surprises, such as the hack of the Axies Infinity community system a fortnight ago, which allowed anonymous people to walk away with $625 million belonging to users.

7️⃣ On the pre-registration side, we discover the mobile port of Abandon Ship, a PC title released in 2019. Embark on an oil painting inspired piracy adventure and split the oceans to explore the world with your crew, not forgetting to cross swords with the ships and sea monsters that will cross your path. Android and iOS pre-registration is now open, shipmates.

8️⃣ This week also marks the opening of pre-registration for Araka, an Unreal Engine RPG by Appguru, with 4 defined classes, cross-server battles and a massive world on land and in the air. In addition to large boss battles, the title boasts PvE and PvE aerial battles in addition to the classic ground-based RPG system. You can pre-register for Araka on the official game website.

Mobile game updates

9️⃣ Update obliges, at least one big crossover was needed in this week's news. This time, PUBG New State, which continues to string together partnerships, is teaming up with Among Us. Players of the popular competitive mobile FPS will be able to play as imposters on the starting island before a match or simply look for Among Us easter eggs in the environments and dress up.

🔟 Teamfight Tactics Worlds is fast approaching and the Riot Games title is already sharpening its system in preparation for the tournament. With this week's update, TFT patch 12.7 nerfs Corki again and boosts Tryndamere and Draven in addition to applying changes to augments. Check out our article for more info on the changes, or on April 29th to see Karmine, Solary and Aegis prove themselves in the League of Legends auto-chess.

1️⃣1️⃣ Say hello to Easter updates for this somewhat special weekend: Call of Antia, State of Survival, King of Avalon, and all Zynga games like Farmville and Merge Dragons are getting coloured in pink, blue, green and red.

Major titles around the world are getting into the egg hunt theme, with easter eggs, enough eggs in battle passes to open an omelette stand, perched bunnies, liver attack chocolate and even some bells for decoration. Whether you're into Easter traditions or not, this is your chance to pick up exclusiverewardsseasonal events and enjoy a game you know, in a different colour.

1️⃣2️⃣ Pokémon Unite has surpassed 70 million downloads on Switch and mobile since last July, with 20 million downloads in the last four months. The performance of TiMi Studios' title is better than that of Pokémon Arceus, which had announced 6 million downloads since its release. We take advantage of this impressive figure to review the latest leaks about the Nintendo MOBA.

According to a reputable dataminer, Pokémon Delphox , Espeon, Glaceon and Buzzwole could join the ranks of Pokémon fighters, now numbering 34 with the arrival ofAzumarill in game last week. The mystery remains on the implementation of the different evolutions ofEevee on the gameplay side, but we can't wait to test them.

News from around the world

1️⃣3️⃣ In Korea, we find out about all the new Cookie Run games announced during the DevSisters studio stream on Thursday. We already knew since January that three more games from the license were in the works, but let's take this opportunity to give an update. Cookie Run: Oven Smash will see cookies with an ulti and a normal skill compete in various game modes: battle royale, treasure hunt or even 5v5. The first screenshots of the game have been released.

The title places its balls in PvP and multiplayer action. Then, we discover a trailer for Cookie Run: Witch's Castle with some gameplay. As expected, this game described as a casual puzzle game is indeed a tap-3 with a decoration system to spend your hard earned reward points. The story will reveal the origin of the baking of the cookies and their personal adventures in the witch's castle.

Cookie Run: Project B is acasual multiplayer action game with boss battles and colourful, cute multiplayer. We will have to wait until 2023 to get our hands on Project B.

Finally, the Devsisters studio has also announced Brixity, a new licence. In Brixity, you build your own buildings and construct a colourful city in your own image. This quiet, blocky, low-poly city simulation title is due for release at the end of the year.

1️⃣4️⃣ After Korea, let's continue on to China. As Age of Empires mobile establishes its dominance in the market, the government is reviving the validation of video games in its territory, again with a detailed review.

It's worth noting that the publication of games had been suspended for nine months, pushing nearly 14,000 companies and studios out of business and killing the expansion plans of major titles hoping to conquer Chinese players. Good news for surviving studios and too late for others, the official announcement reveals that 45 new titles have already received a stamp of approval on Monday.

1️⃣5️⃣ In Paris, the city is committed to developingesport along three main lines: attracting and hosting major esports events, developing the sector's attractiveness and innovation, and finally helping to structure and perpetuate the amateuresport to consolidate the existing competitive scene. As a bonus, we offer you this study carried out by the France Esports association, which gives a barometer of the most played games by category. The statistics are divided into three categories, the general public who do not play ranked games or competitions, the esport leisure group which includes ranked players but who keep their distance from tournaments and finally theesport amateur whose members take part in both aspects.

Thus, where arcade racing, Battle Royale and shooting games dominate for the general public, MOBAs and other brawlers are taking over with better constructed and dynamic scenes for the amateuresport . In any case, shooting games seem to be the common gathering point for all players, from Sunday headshooters to professional hitmen. It would be interesting to be able to compare its statistics to those of the mobile only, but one suspects that FPS would also have a place of choice, alongside BR.

And that's it for this week's mobile games news. Thanks for reading all the way through, and see you next week.