Performance fleece: Hoplite update adds leaderboards and more

Everybody loves fleece.

Doug Crowley got in touch late last week to tell us that he’s released a big new update for Hoplite, the scrappy little tactical puzzler that was one of our games of the month back in January.

That there’s a new update out isn’t news in itself — Crowley is constantly tinkering with Hoplite’s balance and he’s got a dedicated player base that gives him feedback that he implements regularly. But this update is more than a balance tweak. Crowley has added Game Center leaderboards on the iOS edition of the game and the Android version has leaderboards courtesy of Google Play Games, so you can see which of your friends has recovered the Golden Fleece most ably. There’s also new animations that show you when ranged enemies are ready to attack and other improvements that make the game’s rules a little easier to pick up on for new players.

Crowley did the 7-Day Roguelike game jam back in March and made a party-based RPG called Ragtag that you can play for free online. Maybe that’s going to be his next mobile release. We’ll keep an eye on him. Watch the Hoplite trailer below and read Clancy’s review from earlier this year if you haven’t already gotten into this gem.