There are so many new games coming out for iOS every single day, and we spend our lives trying to point you in the direction of all the ones that are worth your time. But games don’t just appear out of thin air, and it’s worth keeping tabs on some of the more interesting upcoming titles so that when they do come out they don’t get lost in the shuffle.
The best way to do this is by using the TouchArcade app (Free), where you can add any not-yet-released games we post about here on our front page to a watch list and get alerts when we post additional news about them or when they finally get released.
Going even deeper than that, our Upcoming iPhone and iPod touch Games forum as well as our Upcoming iPad Games forum are the best place to discover the hot new stuff before anybody else. Our vast forum community has their eyeballs all over the internet 24 hours a day, and the second some news drops on a cool new game you can be sure they’ll be posting about it here first.
With that, here’s a quick selection of some upcoming games that have recently caught our eye.
Forma.8 – [Forum Thread] -Developer Mixed Bag announced their new adventure game Forma.8 at this past E3, and we even got some brief hands-on time with the title and liked what we saw. As a commenter in our forums so eloquently put it, it looks like a cross between Another World ($3.99) and Perfect Cell ($1.99), a comparison I totally agree with. In fact the developers have stated that Another World was their main inspiration for the look of Forma.8. The game is at the point now where they’ve released a proper gameplay trailer which you can see above, and launch is planned for sometime in spring 2013.
Time Surfer – [Forum Thread] – From the maker of Bean’s Quest ($2.99), a favorite around here at TouchArcade, developer Kumobius’s next title is heavily inspired by the hill sliding in Tiny Wings ($1.99) but comes with an interesting twist: you can reverse time to back up and grab something you missed, or to retry a part where you screwed up. Think Tiny Wings meets Braid, if you will. It sounds very cool and I absolutely love the pixel art style of Kumobius and the seemingly huge number of cusotomization options and items that will be in Time Surfer based on the above trailer. It’ll be here soon too, scheduled for release on January 10th.
Block Fortress – [Forum Thread] – Jeez, the guys at Foursaken Media must never sleep. They just released N.Y.Zombies 2 ($0.99) this past October, announced Heroes & Castles the following month for release in early January, and now have announced yet another new game called Block Fortress. It sounds incredibly cool too, taking the 3D block building of Minecraft and mixing it together with tower defense elements. Basically you’ll build up your fortress and defenses as you see fit and then test them out against waves of enemies. It should be pretty awesome and we hope to get some video of it in action in the not too distant future.
Chaos Domain – [Forum Thread] – There have been plenty of attempts at making Contra-like run ‘n gun shooters for the iOS platform, with varying levels of success. Some are well-designed games that crumble under their button-mashing demands with poor virtual controls, and some have utilized some smart design choices like an auto-aiming feature to make them more playable on a touchscreen. I think it’s one of those things that you won’t really know how well it works until you actually get your hands on a particular game, but based on looks alone the upcoming Chaos Domain appears to be doing everything right. It’s planned as an iPad-only release, meaning there should be plenty of screen real estate for the controls. It’s also built in the Unreal Engine, so it’s definitely got some graphical chops. We’ll have to wait and see how it turns out when Chaos Domain launches sometime in Q1 of 2013.
Growtopia – [Forum Thread] – 2D Minecraft-like games seem to be finding their way to iOS in greater numbers, with the already excellent Junk Jack ($0.99), the recently released Deepworld (Free), and the upcoming The Blockheads. Growtopia seems a bit different, though. It’s got a heavy emphasis on classic platforming like the Mario games we all know and love, and you’ll actually grow every type of block in the game on trees using various types of seeds. There will also be a focus on multiplayer, and as you can see in the trailer above there are also some cooperative elements, as one player makes a bridge for another player so they can reach a previously unreachable platform. Sounds really cool, and being from the developer of Robot Wants Kitty (Free) gives me confidence this will be a winner. If all goes according to plan we’ll be playing Growtopia on or around January 11th.
We’re always on the lookout for cool upcoming games, so whenever we get a decent list of titles put together we’ll bring you a feature like this one to make it easy to add these games to your TouchArcade app Watch List. If you missed it previously, check out our Upcoming Game Watch from late November, featuring some titles which have already been released.
What kind of lame banter is that on the video? Seriously? Talk about the game, not your sweaty gym shirts and microphone stands. That's what we are all here for.
aww cmon man, you shoulda listened some more. They talk about the game. A lot actually.
I actually enjoy the banter and discussion though. I think you guys
have good chemistry. I just want to hear a little about the game while you guys are talking. This is meant as constructive feedback.
During this 9 1/2 minute video I wish they would've spent 30 seconds actually explaining the control system in detail. I heard "swipe controls" but what does that mean? How do you hold a wheelie? How do you duck and jump? How do you do the tricks? I'm assuming swipe up to jump, down to duck, swipe a direction while in the air to trick? It's very ambiguous in your explanation.
Also, it's NOTHING like Bike Baron. Bike Baron is like Trials HD. Do a TINY amount of research about a game.
Fair enough. These are completely off the cuff so we don't exactly plan what to talk about. But the controls are really what sets this apart from other games so they are worth explaining.
You hold down on the screen to duck and that also preps you for a jump, so when you release Joe will bunny hop. Think doing ollies in Tony Hawk Pro Skater, it's exactly like that. Then you can tap the screen again in the air to do a double jump.
Wheelies and endos are performed by swiping either left or right while just riding . Once in a wheelie or endo you'll stay in it automatically until swiping in the opposite direction to go back on two wheels, or if you jump or hit a bump.
While you're in the air you swipe left or right to front/back flip, up or down to spin 360. When just riding or in a wheelie, swipe any direction to do one of several different showoff moves like standing on the seat or a superman. There might be more tricks/nuance to the whole system I have yet to discover too, but that's the gist of it.
As for the Bike Baron comparison I just mean in terms of its style. They don't play alike at all.
Wow!! Now that's what I was hoping for! Great stuff! =)
As I said, I really enjoy your banter and think you guys do a great job. I appreciate you taking my comments constructively and really appreciate the reply!
Oh man this game looks great and I am a fan of the 3 runners you guys mentioned it's like!
Looks pretty good! Just waiting to be released.
I played this at PAX East back in April, and it was a ton of fun. Was surprising how smoothly it ran back then.
Stoked!
Oh much will cost?
If you have to ask, you can't afford it.
I'd imagine this will be $0.99 given all the IAP and then it'll drop to free after about a month or two.
Looks really good and I enjoyed the banter, the off topic talk is entertaining as well and makes it feel "friendlier". Can't wait to try the game, I loved Joe Danger on PSN.
By the way, I can't use the Touch Arcade app to post comments here, I get an error, although works fine in the forums.
Is it just me or is 90% of this game spent messing around in menus?
The game itself looks "polished" with charm by the bucketful, but I can't help thinking the foreground items are going to be too distracting during actual gameplay. I really don't like that perspective at all either with all you have to do with lane changing and stuff later on. It would be nice if this were more behind the back like Subway Surfer. It's probably prettier from this perspective, I just can't see it being very fun to play.
Can't wait til it releases