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. The holidays are upon us, and that means lots of holiday updates. Also, that yearly freeze is coming, which translates to a lot of developers pushing out updates they’ve had cooking for a while. It’s all good news for us here, and I’ve picked out some interesting examples for you to check out. 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!
Dan The Man Platformer, Free Well, I guess Christmas is coming relatively soon. I hope you all have at least started buying presents, because in a few weeks we’ll be seeing off 2018 with all the respect it deserves. Dan The Man is doing what he can by featuring a holiday-themed update, albeit one with a few familiar rings to it. The Survival Mode has been updated with a new area called Snowy Countryside, where you’ll run into some nasty Snow Soldiers. Also, the Frosty Plains area and the Holiday Costume Pack from previous years are on sale for a limited time if you want to fill out your collection.
Super Cat Tales 2, Free No, but seriously, I hope you’re in the mood for Christmas updates. This is pretty much how it’s going to be for the next couple of weeks. Super Cat Tales 2 is just as fun as the first, and this new update only piles on the joy. In the Winter Xmas event you can check out some new levels and play some mini-games that are both winter and cat themed. Which may seem like an odd combination, as usually crossing kitties with holiday cheer only results in broken tree ornaments, but here? It works. This update also includes improved support for some newly-released hardware.
MARVEL Avengers Academy, Free The latest scuttlebutt has it that Avengers Academy may be reaching the end of its active update life sometime in the moderately near future. If that turns out to be true, there probably aren’t too many more characters to be added to the game, so I’m glad that the developers got around to filling out some of the Runaways before then. The latest event adds Molly Hayes, Karolina Dean, and Old Lace to the game, and as usual for recent events in this game, you probably won’t getting a sniff of any of them unless you’re very lucky or spend a lot of money. But hey, you might be able to get them later, right? Anyway, do missions to get energy to do battles to get another kind of energy to do battles that get you a third kind of energy to do battles. Very simple, yes? Yes.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Free Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been sort of quietly plugging along, achieving a kind of stability after a somewhat disappointing start. The latest update adds some smart expansions along with a few things that really ought to have been in there from the get-go. Like hey, now you have a cabin you can decorate and invite animal friends to visit. Sure, you always had your camper and campsite, but I feel like the former felt weird to decorate like a home and the latter was an outdoor area that wasn’t well-suited to things like sofas. You can also skip some cut-scenes now, which is a blessing. The inventory size for clothing, furniture, and items is larger now and you can expand them further than you could before. Aside from that, there are some UI adjustments and some new photo options. I’m going to give this the coveted UMMSotW award, even though I don’t think it means a thing to Nintendo.
Pokémon GO, Free The temporary fad that just doesn’t end, Pokemon GO is riding an extra boost of popularity thanks to the release of its console cousin. There are apparently some big things coming to the game soon, but this update adds a couple of smaller things that may nevertheless be of interest. You can now, if this is a thing you actually want to do, connect the game to Facebook to add your Facebook friends to your in-game friends list. There are some new sorting options for said friends list, and those options are also available for your Pokemon Storage. There’s also a new indicator for Pokemon you caught before the current calendar year, which is… I’m not sure why? But there it is. Finally, bug fixes and performance updates, because those are vital.
Homescapes, Free Oh my, I hope you didn’t think we were done with holiday updates. Or cat updates. Because somehow, we’ve got both here in the new version of Homescapes, the totally-different-from-Gardenscapes game that shows us a more domestic side of Austin. Dubbed the Ho-Ho-Homescapes update, this adds the new holiday season event where you can win limited-time holiday decorations. Cat Treats, meanwhile, are the new element in events, and the main storyline has been expanded as well. Open up the Relaxation Room and play host to Shanti, a special manual therapist who will help you chill out. Also, a woodworking festival? Austin, you are such a renaissance man. Seriously.
Hearthstone, Free I’m sure there will be a story dedicated to this one, but hey, I have to eat too. Rastakhan’s Rumble is coming very, very soon, and this update prepares all the last little things to get the game ready for its December 4th debut. 135 new cards! Legendary Champions and Loa minions for all nine classes! New Rare Spirit minions! OVERKILL! Plus the Rumble Run, which is all-new single-player content that will kick off on December 13th. Log in and get a bunch of free card packs from this new expansion, along with some other goodies. Oh, and if you can make it to Rank 15 or higher, you’ll never be able to fall below Rank 20 ever again. Yep. And yes, there is a holiday thing happening, but that will start a bit later in the month, so hold tight.
Rules of Survival, Free The RC Cola of mobile battle royale games is continuing its anniversary celebrations with another update. Actually, to be totally correct, there were two updates, and it wasn’t one of those cases where one was to fix bugs that came with the first, either. Both are quite substantial and I really can’t even begin to list everything here. From customizable crosshair colors to new weapons to an improved backpack interface, there is a lot to check out here. If you want the full skinny, check the update notes or jump into the game itself. Rules of Survival may not have the name recognition that some other games do, but you certainly can’t fault the effort from the developers to keep the game fresh.
Candy Crush Jelly Saga, Free Speaking of RC Cola, here’s the least-popular Candy Crush game with its newest update. Granted, being the least-popular Candy Crush game still means the publisher is making stacks of cash off of it, so whatever. As usual for a King update, you’ve got 20 new levels here, which apparently brings the total for this game quite near to 2000 levels. Yikes! I bet there are people who are fully up-to-date on every Candy Crush game and anxiously await each week’s new pack of levels. I’d like to meet someone like that someday, because I can’t imagine how much patience that would take.
SimCity BuildIt, Free Ho ho ho, we’re going to finish with yet another holiday update. This one is for SimCity BuildIt, the free-to-play take on the classic city builder. This game’s popularity has taken in a dive in the last year or so, probably due to there being more economical and satisfying options out there these days. But there are still lots of folks playing this one, and for them, it is holiday event time. Get special holiday buildings and decorations, compete in a new Contest of Mayors, and view and visit other players’ Region maps to spread the holiday cheer.
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!
