The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.

These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.

Without further ado…

Snakebird Primer

Noumenon Games launched their brilliant puzzler Snakebird on desktop back in 2015, and then about a year later they brought it to iOS where it felt even more at home on the touchscreen. While Snakebird has a devout set of fans, and has won many accolades over the years, it also has gained a reputation for being incredibly difficult. A reputation that was in fact well deserved. Some people love that kind of difficulty, but it can also limit the appeal to a broader audience. In an effort to make a puzzler that’s more accessible to more people, Noumenon Games released Snakebird Primer ($7.99) and have struck a much better balance of difficulty.

This is by no means just an “easy Snakebird" however. There are more than 70 brand new levels to play through and a non-linear progression so even if you do end up stuck on a particular puzzle there will be others you can jump over to for a break. There’s also a new yellow snakebird to join the red, blue, and green snakebirds we know and love. It’s basically a sequel. I always felt like the original Snakebird was a criminally overlooked puzzler by too many people, and with Snakebird Primer and its much more manageable difficulty curve now a whole new audience of all ages and gaming proficiencies can experience what a wonderful treat this is, and that seems very Game of the Week-worthy to me.