Bonus Level: 46 Mobile Releases of October 2020
Badlanders, Crossfire, Funko Pop Blitz, Dragonscapes, Atlantis Odyssey and others
The monthly issue of Bonus Level newsletter recaps notable mobile games released during the past month. I’ve removed several less prominent titles to keep list shorter and added a couple, which I missed in previous weekly issues. Also there are 16 upcoming titles and 3 canceled games.
Top Releases
Badlanders by NetEase;
Crossfire: Warzone by Joycity (Ndream)/Smilegate (global roll out);
Funko Pop! Blitz by N3twork;
Dragonscapes Adventure by Century Games (FunPlus);
Atlantis Odyssey by Vizor Apps (Playrix).
More details on them below.
Major Games
1.Badlanders by NetEase. Survival looter shooter with weapons customization and items trade between players. The launch is called “open beta-test”. Game is available worldwide except several countries (see on banner above).
2.Crossfire: Warzone by Joycity (Ndream)/Smilegate. 4X war strategy, which was available in North America and Europe, is rolled out globally. Crossfire FPS franchise is poplar in Asia and grossed more than $10B in lifetime.
3.Dragonscapes Adventure by Century Games (FunPlus). Energy-capped exploration game with farming and dragons merging. From Chinese publisher of top-grossing 4X strategies Guns of Glory and King of Avalon. Game logo is infringing on Homescapes (details: BL #07, Oct 26).
4.Wannabe Challenge by Day 7/Com2Us. Narrative dating sim for female audience, where you romance with 4 handsome housemates. From Korean publisher behind Summoners War.
5.Pac-Mac Geo by Bandai Namco. The promise of the game is to play Pac-Man on the streets of real-life maps, like on Google Maps for April Fool’s day in 2017. But released version is very unstable technically and not playable for the most users.
Licensed IPs
6.Funko Pop! Blitz by N3twork. Match-3 with Funko Pop! characters from many franchise like Back to the Future or Jurassic Park.
7.FGTeeV Goozy by Blobby Fish/PHL Collective/BDT Digital. FGTeeV is a gaming YoutTube channel with 17.1M subs run by a family of parents and 4 kids. And now they released an escape-house game with a first-person camera, where you use multitool gun for solving puzzles.
8.Big Brother: The Game by 9th Impact. Reality show simulator with Sims-like gameplay. For free you can be only a spectator, and to enter as contestant you pay $4.99. Contestants can win a real cash prize.
9.Tsubasa+ by Miraire Inc. A real-world game like Pokemon Go, where you gather a team of football players from Captain Tsubasa manga series and engage in matches at stadiums on the map around your location. Game also features licensed players from FIFPro. The title was available in 7 EU countries since the end of September and now rolled out to major international territories.
10.Sumikkogurashi Farm by Imagineer Co. Farm simulation game with cute characters, who love to be in the corner, created by Japanese producer of stationery items San-X.
Medium & New Publishers
11.Atlantis Odyssey by Vizor Apps (Playrix). Energy-capped exploration with a narrative story and farming elements. Action takes place on a tropical island with traces of Atlantis civilization. Developed by Belarussian studio founded 13 years ago, which also received investment from Playrix in September 2019.
12.Masketeers: Idle Has Fallen by Appxplore (iCandy). Idle RPG with masked characters and original art style.
13.Ancient Battle by Mandrill VR/Lion Studios (AppLovin). Hybridcasual game, where simple .io like combat combines with extensive meta of troop upgrades. But like in any hypercasual game multiplayer is fake and interstitial ads are plentiful.
14.Idle Death Knight by Neowiz. Idle RPG with cartoony art-direction from Korean publisher.
15.Strikers 1945 Collection by Mobirix (Neowiz). Vertical shoot ’em up with extensive meta game from Korean publisher.
16.Carioca Club: A Popular Latin American Card Game by Moonfrog. Multiplayer card game from major Indian studio. Their Ludo Club has more than 50M downloads.
17.Final Order by 37Games. 4X strategy, where you summon Godzilla-like beasts to assist armies, from Chinese publisher.
18.Goddess Kiss: O.V.E. by Flero Games (Joymax). Hero-collecting RPG with anime styled girl characters from Korean developer.
19.Sword Master Story by Super Planet. Hero collecting RPG with anime art direction from Korean publisher.
20.Chaos Combat Chess by This Game Studio/Rogue Games. Autochess battler in portrait orientation. Released simultaneously on Steam.
21.Knights Fight 2 by Vivid Games. Sword-swinging fighting from Polish studio. For Honor on mobile.
22.House Flipper: Home Renovation by PlayWay. Detailed simulator of house renovations with first-person camera. From Polish publisher specialized on simulators. Released on Steam in May 2018 (Very Positive, 28K reviews).
23.Immortal: Reborn by LTGames/Nemojoy Games. Idle RPG with endless upgrades of weapons.
Meaningful Games
24.Rabbids Coding! by Ubisoft. Educational game for learning basic principles of algorithms and programming. The game is available on PC since October 2019.
25.Island Saver by Stormcloud/NatWest Bank. Save a paradise island from trash with a blaster, and learn how to earn and save coins. Corporate social responsibility project by British bank.
26.[Un]defeated by SneakyBox. Interactive story about coming-of-age relationships presented as comics book. The game aims to rise awareness about tuberculosis and financed by Centre for Communicable Diseases and AIDS of Lithuania.
Top Downloaded Hypercasuals
1st time entries in top 15 of the US App Store
27.Force Master by Orbital Knight/Voodoo. Hypercasual FPS with a “gravity gun” functionality in your hands. Voodoo is leveling up the bar in HC production.
28.Shortcut Runner by Voodoo. Runner capitalizing on idea of Stair Run (BL #03, Sept 28): gather planks on the go and autobuild shortcuts, where road is missing.
29.Draw Duel by Hippotap/Lion Studios (AppLovin). “Draw to control tip of your weapon to take out enemies”.
30.Restaurant Life by Good Job Games. 3D minigames around restaurant activities from Turkish publisher.
31.Chat Master! by Rubessoft/Supersonic (ironSource). Short conversations in mobile chat with 2-options choice and minigames.
32.Drawmaster by Playgendary. “Draw, aim, shoot” - draw a trajectory for an arrow to solve the puzzle. From Belarussian publisher.
33.Let’s Be Cops 3D by Kwalee. Scan cars’ speed and fine offenders.
34.Hero VS Criminal by RadPirates/Juicy Publishing. A runner from a two-people indie studio in Annecy, France: “chase and catch the criminals on the highway”.
35.Mirror Cakes by Akatsuki. Make whimsical toppings for cakes by melting plastics-like substance. The first international release by Japanese company founded 10 years ago.
Premium Games
36.The Jackbox Party Pack 7 by Jackbox Games, $29.99. The next installment in the series of party games started in 2014. Simultaneous release on PC and consoles.
37.Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wantedby Steel Wool Games, $4.99. Next installment in the popular horror game series. The game was first released as VR title in May 2019, but ported to non-VR platforms afterwards. FNAF HW is on the 2nd position among top paid games in US, tailing the mighty Minecraft.
38.HoloVista by Aconite, $4.99 (iOS). Mixed-reality puzzle adventure inside a bizarre mansion. As an architect explore the mansion with your phone and post photos on in-game social media.
39.9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil by Valorware, $9.99. 2D open world RPG in retro-style. Also released simultaneously on PC and consoles.
40.Far: Lone Sails by Okomotive/Mixtvision, $3.99. Drive and manage a bizarre vessel riding over the dried-out seabed in post-apocalyptic world. Developed by Swiss indie team. Released on Steam in May 2018 with Very Positive rating (6.5K reviews).
41.Tales of the Neon Sea by Palm Pioneer/Boke Technology, $3.99. Detective adventure in cyberpunk world with pixel graphics. Available on Steam since April 2019, Very Positive (900 reviews).
Apple Arcade
42.The Survivalists by Team17. Sandbox survival crafting game in the universe of The Escapists. Simultaneous release on PC and major consoles (all 3 of them).
43.The Collage Atlas by John Evelyn /Robot House Games. Adventure/walking simulator with hand-drawn illustrations turned in 3D environment.
44.South of the Circle by State of Play. Narrative adventure game set in Antarctica after a plane crash.
Notable Indies
45.Poor Thief by Beep Yeah. Dashing puzzle, where character leaves a tombstone, when dies, and it’s crucial for completing level. TouchArcade and PocketGames.biz named it “Game of the Week”.
46.Let’s Jump by TapMen. Variation on Fall Guys gameplay combined with the gathering of little men crowd. From a Romanian team of twin-brothers, prolific indie developers.
Upcoming Games
Announced
1.New football project by Konami. Football RTS: “Stack your deck with player cards, design your game plan and watch players simulate your strategy with live match play.” Registration for the closed beta.
2.NBA game by Kung Fu Factory/Netmarble. Sport game with “NBA athletes, impressive visuals, and approachable gameplay”.
3.Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins by Kaigan Games. “Lost phone” detective game from Malaysian developers based on TV series by BBC.
4.World Flipper by Cygames/Kaka Games. RPG with pinball-like combat will be releases globally in 2021. Game is available in Japan since November 2019.
Soft-Launched
5.League of Legends: Wild Rift by Riot Games. The most popular MOBA comes to mobile in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. More regions will follow in December and global launch is scheduled for spring 2021.
6.Onmyoji: The Card Game by NetEase. CCG with original art-style and characters from character collecting RPG Onmyoji based on Japanese folklore. Game is available in China and now soft-launched in Australia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
7.Talking Tom: Blast Park by Outfit7. FPS for kids with touch controls and Talking Tom chracters, who fight with The Rakoonz. SL countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine.
8.Project Cars GO by Slightly Mad Studios/Gamevil. Arcade racing with real-world licensed cars. Being tested in Australia, Canada, UK, and US.
Pre-registration started
9.Marvel: Realm of Champions by Kabam. 3v3 MOBA with superheroes and supervillains.
10.Evo Pop by Zeptolab. Physics based strategy game, where you breed a colony of colorful bacteria-like creatures, who eat rival creatures.
11.Astractraft by NetEase. “Real-time sandbox & combat game” - create scifi mechs and aircrafts of any shape from lego-like blocks and mount equipment and guns on them. Test your creations in a battle.
12.Heroes War: Counterattack by Com2Us. Hero collecting RPG set in post-apocalyptic world wiped out by virus. From the leading Korean publisher behind Summoners War.
13.Football Manager 2021 Mobile by Sports Interactive/Sega. Sports management sim.
14.Goddess of Genesis S by ZlongGame. Turn-based RPG where anime-styled girl characters are loosely based on mythical or historical prototypes: Little Red Riding Hood with machine-gun and so on. From Chinese company behind RPG Langrisser & 4X space strategy Second Galaxy.
15.Millionaire Tycoon: World by SavySoda. Monopoly-styled game with real-world map, where you can buy properties around your location and lease them to tenants. Developed by Australian game and software company known for Pixel Starships, “starship management MMO”.
16.Shining Beyond by XII Braves. Hero collecting RPG with anime styled art-direction. From Singaporean studio, which closed their previous mobile title Valiant Force in December 2019 after 3 years of liveops.
Cancelled
1.Plants vs. Zombies 3 by PopCap Games/EA. Tower defense in a famous franchise is retracted from soft launch and will be removed from stores on November 18. Company will continue development of the game.
2.Gears Pop! by Mediatonic/Microsoft. RTS in Clash Royale style with Gears and Funko POP licenses is closing in April 2021. It was lunched in August 2019.
3.Angry Birds Tennis by Rovio. Casual tennis sim is killed during soft launch.
Previous Months
September 2020: 40 releases & 17 upcoming games.
Bonus Level - weekly newsletter by Maxon Pugovsky, producer of mobile games at Gameloft. Please recommend BL to your colleagues, if you find it useful. Got a forward? Subscribe or browse through archive: