As we head out of summer and towards colder weather with lots of hot chocolate and stew, it feels like our favorite games are getting heartier, too. August gave us two massive RPGs packed with charm, a touching entry in …
As we head out of summer and towards colder weather with lots of hot chocolate and stew, it feels like our favorite games are getting heartier, too. August gave us two massive RPGs packed with charm, a touching entry in a long-running time management series, an entirely free but extremely rewarding racer, and some big name mobile transitions that were pulled off refreshingly well. The amount of fantastic content in these eight picks alone should be enough to keep you busy well into winter.
Egglia: Legend of the Redcap is a lighthearted, lovable RPG and town-building simulation with roots in the colorful, whimsical Mana series. Its large cast of characters to befriend is made of up a variety of races and creatures, each with their own personality and charm. While its dice-rolling, turn-based gameplay is engaging and well suited to mobile, the real star of Egglia is its fantastic writing, which permeates every corner of the gorgeous world that you get to rebuild egg by egg.
DATA WING may look like a straightforward geometric racing game at first glance, but its minimalist graphics belie its depth and level of immersion. There is a fascinating and thoughtful story in DATA WING which takes you through its 40+ levels under the instruction of a sometimes unpredictable AI called Mother. The circuits she sends you through, and their often challenging objectives, tie in to the larger, twisting narrative. The two-touch controls are simple and effective, with an emphasis placed on interesting stages that require managing your drift instead of collecting power-ups. The best part of all is that DATA WING is completely, 100% free, with no ads or in-app purchases: it’s a gift from developer Dan Vogt that should absolutely not be missed.
Cat Quest is an epic action RPG filled with dungeons, dragons, treasure, magic, and cat puns. Its open-world, sidequest-heavy realm brings up memories of Skyrim, but its focus on one quest at a time and level-based difficulty prevents it from becoming overwhelming or aimless. There is plenty of loot to collect, weapons to wield, and enemies to slay, but there are also tons of engaging and hilarious encounters to discover and pursue with the whiskered townskitties of the Felingard kingdom.
Delicious – Emily’s Miracle of Life returns to the fantastic time management gameplay we know and love from previous Emily games and couples it with one of the most heartwarming stories of the series yet. While Emily still spends her days running her shop and maintaining her cooking vlog, she and husband Patrick are simultaneously struggling with their attempt at having a second child. Stages and mini-games run the gamut from designing a nursery to staying in the hospital, with fast-paced time management challenges and plenty of charm along the way.
Beat Fever combines elements of Guitar Hero and Pokémon Go into one superb free-to-play experience. Its rhythm gameplay is frantic and smooth, accompanied by popular pop songs of recent years that should be recognizable to anyone with ears. Instead of locking its musical content behind in-app purchases or unlocks, Beat Fever lets you play its entire catalogue as long as you have the energy to do so. Its collectible Beat Monsters provide interesting score bonuses and an added goal outside of merely high score chasing, while its PvP mode keeps even the most regularly played songs fresh.
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! places you in charge of a blacksmithery manned by anthropomorphic potato people with sales arms in every corner of the galaxy. It’s part time management and part salesman simulation, tasking you with assigning your spuds to smithing jobs that suit their skill set and then sending them out to sell their wares and buy new materials so they can repeat the process all over again. It’s a fantastic loop that’s hard to put down, especially when coupled with the adorable characters and hilarious potato puns that permeate the entire endearing experience.
Titanfall: Assault brings the giant mech-piloting, parkour gunplay of the FPS series to the deck-building MOBA world on mobile. With gameplay reminiscent of Clash Royale, players use their deck of pilots, Titans, and burn cards to call units onto the battlefield. While total victory is achieved by taking down your opponents’ turrets, points are also earned by holding Hardpoints, allowing for multiple strategies toward a win. As in the core series, pilots use vertical movement and speed to get to their destinations quickly while Titans are the heavy-hitters that can be called in later in a match. The production values and unit types are decidedly Titanfall while the gameplay and collectible deck-building are a perfect fit for mobile.
The Walking Dead: March to War sends you to the outskirts of Washington, D.C. after the infectious outbreak from the famous comic and television series has devastated the country. Set at the same time as Rick and company’s stay in Alexandria and struggles against Negan, you’ll be tasked with building up an outpost of survivors that are also dealing with the bat-wielding threat. Like most base-building games in this genre, the primary danger comes from other players invading your settlement, but characters from the comic will join your group as the story progresses and request help along the way, making it feel like you’re playing through the comics while building your own walker-proof outpost.
