The Weekender: Spooky Sales Edition

I’m not really a huge fan of Halloween, mainly because in the evenings I don’t like to be bothered. After a long day my priorities are to eat dinner and relax on the couch, and not be answering the door every few minutes to give out sweets. We put out some anyway just in case anyone did come knocking, but it was a quiet year on our street so most of the box is still there.

In terms of the site this week we finally caught up on a review I’ve been meaning to have done (Xenowerk) and had what will probably be the penultimate look at games are still due out this year. We also reviewed Bad North, which is excellent, if only really suitable for short bursts.

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile gaming…

New Mobile Games

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game (iOS)

There was a lot of buzz around GWENT when it first turned up. A hit mini-game within the very popular RPG The Witcher 3, it had all the hallmarks of an excellent stand-alone experience and, lo and behold, it appeared on PC and consoles in 2018. Not much has really been heard about it since then – it’s still going, and people still seem to enjoy it, and we’ve known a mobile version was on the horizon at some point.

After a recent beta period, that ‘some point’ is finally here, although only on iOS. GWENT is a very different game from the likes of Hearthstone and other challengers, although it’s still at its core a vaguely CCG looking card game. Michael is hard at work playing through the game for us now, and we’ll bring you our thoughts on it over the coming weeks. No word on an Android version yet I’m afraid, but we’ll keep you posted.

The Quest – Basilisk’s Eye (iOS & Android)

The Quest is a bit of a PT staple so it’s good to see it’s still going. This is a new stand-alone expansion to the beautifully hand-drawn Adventure/RPG with new areas, new quests and new challenges. As with past expansions, you can purchase this as a stand-alone experience if you don’t own the base game, or enable the new content within your existing save.

If you’re doing it within the base game, go to Mithria harbor and talk to captain Hanty, then select “Basilisk’s Eye” as your travel destination. The devs recommend you be at least level 75 before taking on the new content.

Last but not least, A Case of Distrust caught our eye as something that might be worth looking at. It’s a narrative-based murder mystery experience, so not our usual fare, but it won a bunch of indie awards in 2017 and has developed a good reputation on PC and other platforms. It’s now finally on iOS.

App Updates, News & Pre-Orders

Tropico

Feral Interactive released a free update for their mobile adaptation of banana republic simulator Tropico this week. The ‘Absolute Power’ expansion has been made available at no extra cost, which consists of 10 new missions, each taking place on its own island. Don’t forget to check out our review.

Runescape Mobile

While ‘Oldschool Runescape’ is already available on mobile, that’s the old 2007 version of the game. If you wanted to play the currently running modern version. You’d have to play on a PC… until today! An Early Access build has released on Android, although despite being free-to-download, you can’t actually play it unless you’re a subscriber of the game on PC.

No word on an iOS version yet, or if the Early Access will open up to anyone else. I’ve dabbled in Runescape myself on PC, but because I’m a free-to-play user I’m not able to access the Android build.

Mario Kart Tour Multiplayer

Mario Kart Tour has been out nearly a couple of months now, long enough to get a good measure of it. It’s a pretty good way of idling away some time if you’ve got nothing better to do, and the Mario Kart aesthetics make for some good nostalgia, but a true Mario Kart game it is not. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of true multiplayer.

We just heard today that a beta trial of a multiplayer mode will be rolling out in December. Unfortunately, it’s only going to roll out for the Gold Pass subscribers first. The Gold Pass costs $4.99 and unlocks the game’s 200cc mode and then various cosmetic goodies. That’s the same price as Apple Arcade, just so you know.

Minecraft

The iOS and Android versions of Minecraft were updated to Version 1.13 earlier this week, the first major patch since July. It’s another technical focuses one looking at fixing bugs and the like, but it also adds Foxes as a new animal, and the Character Creator, which allows you to further customise your avatar in lots of different ways (with even more ways available to purchase). There are few other little content drops as well.

Halloween App Sales

Fuuu- there are a lot of sales to process this week, so you may have to settle for a more general bulletin rather than our usual more specific alerts:

• Necrodancer: AMPLIFIED is down to $2.99 (not cheapest price), and the original game is also discounted.
• XCOM: Enemy Within is down it its cheapest price of $1.99 again on iOS and Android, as are a couple of other 2K games.
• King of Dragon Pass is half price, making it its cheapest price in recent memory. Six Ages is still full price.
• Handelabra’s One Deck Dungeon is down to $4.99 on iOS and Android. It was slightly cheaper in June.
• All of Acram Digital’s games are discounted on iOS and Android.
• Stardew Valley is down to $4.99. It was $3.99 in Dec ‘18 so it might go that cheap again this year, but it’s still a decent price.
• A lot of Ironhide’s (Kingdom Rush, Iron Marines) games are going cheap this week on iOS and Android.
• Asmodee Digital’s Mysterium, Potion Explosion and Zombicide: Tactics and Shotguns have all been discounted to a couple of dollars.
• All of the Holy Potatoes! Games are discounted on iOS.
• All of Clarus Victoria’s games (Egypt: Old Kingdom) are discounted on iOS and Android.
• And quite a few more! Including Balur’s Gate II and the like.

If this is what it’s like for Halloween, the Black Friday and Christmas sales are going to be off-the-chain.

Seen anything else you like? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!