Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. Lots of big games saw updates this week, but so did some interesting little ones. I’ve once again searched high and low to try and find things that are interesting, relevant, or both. Did I succeed? Maybe, friends. Maybe. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper or by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s dig in!
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, $9.99 Okay, this is a small update, but I will take literally any opportunity I can muster to plug this amazing game. So here we go with this little, but good, update. Stalling? No, I’m not stalling. You’re stalling. Anyway, on to what is new. Clans won’t try to end feuds right after they started, which makes a lot of sense. An achievement that wasn’t popping right should work now, and there is a bit more advice about completing the clan hall. A few optimizations, some improvements to the visual descriptions in VoiceOver, and some bug fixes round this one out.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Free In addition to the frequent events of late, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp also received a decent-sized update to some of its core mechanics. Specifically, the inventory sizes for clothing and furniture have been increased, allowing you to collect more junk without worrying about needing to part with it. Helpfully, you’ll now be able to see a list of people who helped you get into the Shovelstrike Quarry, so you can return the favor to just the people who helped you if that’s your jam. There are a couple of other little fixes, but those are the main bits.
Dissembler, $2.99 Sure, you say Dissembler‘s a good game, but eventually the puzzles end and what are you to do then? Daily puzzles? Well, that’s… that’s a good answer! But maybe you want more of the usual puzzles, and if so, this is just the update for you. There are now 48 new puzzles to try out, and while I doubt anyone complain if they just re-used the old mechanics, there are two new tile types to mess about with here. Now that’s what I call an expansion! And it’s free, too! This looks like a worthy winner for the coveted UMMSotW award for this week.
Minecraft, $6.99 Sometimes it feels like writing these paragraphs involves pulling something from next to nothing, and gosh-howdy is that the case here. Let’s face it: Minecraft‘s mobile version has made all of the major gains it needed to make, and now that it’s more or less on par with most of the other versions, new updates are going to be more of a trickle than anything. So yes, bug fixes, and also phantoms, and phantom membranes. That may not sound like much, but I’m sure for those still playing this game after this many years, a little bit goes a very long way indeed.
Marvel Contest of Champions, Free The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a profound effect on how certain characters are viewed, and a shining example of that is good ol’ Korg. Before Thor: Ragnarok, if you knew Korg at all, it was probably as a stoic, tough stone-guy who stood by Hulk’s side through thick and thin. Probably you imagined him having a deep, gravelly voice. After Thor: Ragnarok? A somewhat-goofy, affable fellow with a gentle voice and a love for pamphlets. Also, people actually know who he is now. And he has been added as a playable character to Marvel Contest of Champions, with his good buddy Miek in tow. How about that?
Rules of Survival, Free Rules of Survival is still pretty darned popular, and has maintained its near-weekly update schedule quite nicely. This update includes a lot of odds and ends, such as improved weapon balancing, a new ordering system for your friend list, some new quick-use commands in Death Race mode, and some slight adjustments to cool-downs and the item list in the aforementioned mode to try to make things work a little more smoothly. Otherwise, this is a list of optimizations and bug fixes, which are about as exciting as the bran flakes in Raisin Bran. But also as essential?
Critical Ops: Online PvP FPS, Free Critical Ops does not care what you think of its version numbers. In the latest version, 0.9.11.f139, there is a new weapon, the TRG 22 Sniper Rifle. It is for hitting things from a long distance, and maybe also for finding out if love can bloom on the battlefield. To go with it, there are new missions and milestones that will test your skills with the new gun. There are also 17 new weapon skins, three of which are for that dandy new sniper rifle. The developers have added a reporting system so you can at least feel like you did something about any terrible people you run into in the game. And bug fixes!
ARK: Survival Evolved, Free Well, I haven’t played this game. Sorry, everyone. I can’t play everything. So I’m not sure how big or small this update is, but it seems to have some new things in it. Some added resources and features for the God Console, though I’m not sure what a SEGA Saturn is doing in this game, and a save back-up and cloud storage system has been put in. Baryonyx has been added to the game, and that’s a word that probably means something to someone. Creature collars are in, allowing you to get some buffs for your beasts. There are some new pursuits, and a bunch of other little changes that I can’t begin to fake my way through. Check it out if it’s your thing, though.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Free The new baby taking mommy and daddy’s attention away from Avengers Academy seems to still be holding on to quite a bit of its popularity in spite of it rubbing some people the wrong way. Its latest update adds new looks for your pets, so you can take your rat in for a sweet makeover to show him or her how much you care. Apparently, the fourth year at Hogwarts is over, and the fifth year is on deck next. This seems to be moving much faster than the books or movies. Please come back to Avengers, Allen. We miss you.
Star Warsâ„¢: Galaxy of Heroes, Free Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars, if they should bar wars, please let these stay. So the big news in Galaxy of Heroes is that the Mods 2.0 update is here. You can now move mods easily between characters, get a better overview of your mods thanks to some new filters, view recommendations for each character, auto-assign said recommendations, upgrade existing mods to rarity level 6, reach a new stage of mod battles, and earn mods using mod energy, leaving cantina energy for cantina battles. So much mod.
That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!
