Welcome to this week's edition of News by Numbers, where we highlight some of the can't-miss mobile gaming news each and every week.
Carcassonne: $.99
Tile-placing tabletop favourite Carcassonne is on sale at a rock-bottom price of $1 on the Google Play store. I really like the digital implementation on iOS, but can't speak to it on Android (different developer, oddly enough). Regardless, it is likely worth a dollar. If you enjoy the __game but have not yet grabbed it for your Android device now is most-definitely the time!
Frost Update: version 1.31
Frost is an excellent and atmospheric card __game about surviving the elements, and each other, in a harsh and unforgiving world. A new version was just released and brings some interesting additions to the game. There are now custom games, where you can set your own difficulty. Pets make an appearance as valuable resource cards. "The Guidance" a new scenario, focuses on gathering pets and leading them to the safety of the Refuge. There are also new survivor portraits and some graphic and UI changes. I gave Frost four stars in my review last year and still highly recommend it to anybody interested in a great card game.
LVL: $2
LVL is a fun puzzle game, one of my favorite of 2016, and plays a lot like a virtual Rubik’s Cube. The game is played on a six-sided cube on which various shapes of three different colors are placed. Each face of the cube shares a color with its opposite side. Your goal is to fill an entire side in two dimensions with the same color, and no overlap, based on the pieces on both of the opposite sides. A video is worth a bunch more words so check this out to get a good idea of how the game works.
LVL includes fifty hand-crafted levels and 150 puzzles in total, but recently added an Endless game mode, which means unlimited, procedurally generated levels to play. This is an great addition to a great puzzle game and makes LVL and even bigger candidate for your attention than before. Check it out on iOS or Android.
The Escapists 2: 4 players
The Escapists is a sandbox game all about escaping the joint. It recently launched on mobile platforms (I gave it 4 stars) and now there's news of a sequel. The Escapists 2: Rattlesnake Springs puts a wild west spin on the franchise. The big change, however, is less the setting than the introduction of multiplayer. The game will feature "drop-in/drop-out" play for up to four players in both co-operative and versus modes. The Escapists 2 is coming to Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2017. Hopefully like the original, we'll see a mobile release sometime thereafter.
Through the Ages: 8.8 rating on BoardGameGeek
The digital transformation of Vlad Chvátil's Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization has been under way for some time and, at long last, we've got some good news. The Czech Games Edition game has moved into beta territory with a focus on nailing down the multiplayer experience. There's no news on a launch date, but it sure seems like you'll be able to build your tribe into a global superpower sometime this year, at least. It is shaping up to be the year of the digital boardgame.
Last Regiment: 9 squirrels
Boomzap, makers of last year's excellent strategy title Legends of Callasia, announced a new game under development.
“We are happy to announce the title and reveal the logo of our newest project: Last Regiment! Last Regiment is a fantasy-themed strategy game which takes the best parts of Legends of Callasia and makes a bunch of neat changes for a faster, deeper, and more strategic game. We are opening its development progress and livestreaming it on Twitch! The weekly dev stream by our Creative Director Chris Natsuume starts on April 19 10PM EST at twitch.tv/ninesquirrels.”
Last Regiment will feature both a single-player campaign and turn-based multiplayer action. Players will also be able to design and share their own maps. The game is in alpha but we should get a good idea of progress from the weekly development streams. Might be worth attending just to ask about the nine squirrels twitch.tv handle.
Samsung: 26.1% mobile-phone market share
Samsung had a rough 2016 after its Galaxy Note 7 blew up…you know, literally and not in the good figurative way. It looks like Samsung is back on top, however, with a 26.1% global mobile-phone market share throughout the first quarter of 2017. Apple was second with a 16.9% share.
Warbits: 30 new missions
Warbits version 1.2 is live and brings thirty more free missions to the game across three modes of play: 10 Skirmish missions, 10 Puzzle missions, and 10 Veteran missions that unlock when you've shown the corresponding Skirmish mission what for. To celebrate this huge update—as well as the game's one-year anniversary—Warbits is on sale for $1, 75% off. That's a ridiculously good price for one of the best tactical-combat games out there and the runner-up for this site's 2016 tactics game-of-the-year award. Once the sale is over the normal price will go up to $5 to account for the big increase in content.
Faeria: 1000 gold
The iPad launch of Faeria has been a little…let's say rough. A bunch of issues plagued the game and after multiple updates Abrakam, the makers of the game, feel they have things sorted out. They sent an email to iPad players to say as much:
"Dear Faeria player,
As you may have experienced, Faeria wasn't up to par with the standards we set ourselves in terms of quality and gaming experience. As a result of shipping a lot of new features close to the official launch, we met a lot of challenges to ensure these features were both running smoothly and efficiently on all iPad devices. Challenges which we didn't manage to overcome in time.
We would like to inform you that we have been hard at work to ensure that you now can play on a more stable version of Faeria.
As a token of our gratitude for the reports we have received and the feedback that was provided, we have sent 1000 Gold directly to your account in order for you to start your Faeria experience from scratch with a little help from the Faeria team.
The new version definitely deserves more than the App Store rating it currently has.
Kind regards,The Faeria Team."
It's an uphill battle to take on Hearthstone regardless, and Faeria's iPad launch clearly hasn't helped its case. Dishing out free stuff to lure players back in is a good call, though 1000 gold amounts to a single booster chest. I'm not sure that'll have the effect they are looking for. The game is fun, however, and the Living Board offers a much different CCG experience. If the technical issues chased you away it might be worth another look.
Prison Architect: 2,000,000 players
Prison Architect, a simulation game where you build and manage your own maximum-security prison—every child's dream, really—is on its way to mobile. The game has over two-million players across PC and console platforms and will be available on both iOS and Android later this year courtesy of Paradox Interactive.
That's it for this week's update. Got anything to share? Want to see your news featured next week? Tweet us @pockettactics or @mrvigabool!
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