If you’ve been reading TouchArcade with any sort of regularity over the years, then you obviously know what massive Rocketcat Games fanatics we are. And so it made it all the more exciting when GameClub popped up earlier this year and began doing their thing that it seemed Rocketcat was totally onboard with the whole idea. Which was great because many of Rocketcat’s classic titles had been neglected over the years, as the studio is just too small and too busy with current projects to go back and diddle around with stuff from a decade ago. In fact, GameClub’s first announced title was Rocketcat’s Hook Champ, and since that time we’ve gotten its two follow-ups as well: Super QuickHook and Hook Worlds. But there’s been one big Rocketcat title that I’ve had my fingers crossed would be getting the GameClub treatment, i.e. updated for modern iOS hardware and software, and that title is Mage Gauntlet.
Dialing the clocks way back, Rocketcat originally announced Mage Gauntlet in July of 2011, with the game launching later that fall. It was the first non-hook-swinging game from them, and more or less was a modern take on a classic 16-bit era action RPG. The kind of game that would have blown minds on the Game Boy Advance a decade prior, or blown minds on the SNES two decades prior. It also introduced some of the best touchscreen controls ever seen in an action game by that point, and Mage Gauntlet more or less laid the groundwork for Rocketcat’s eventual Wayward Souls, which is just flat out one of the best games in the world. So yeah, not having Mage Gauntlet up and running properly on today’s devices was a huge loss, but that is where GameClub has stepped in to save the day. To get the full rundown on what makes Mage Gauntlet so great, give our original review a read as well as Shaun’s super in-depth RPG Reload article from a few years back.
As you may be aware by now, you can simply sign up on the GameClub beta page and you’ll instantly get access to Mage Gauntlet as well more than two dozen other lost mobile classics that are part of their Early Access program. GameClub will officially launch later this year as a paid subscription service, but right now you can gain access to these games that are in Early Access completely for free, without any ads or in-app purchases. It’s really ridiculous how many legendary titles are a part of GameClub so far, and they’re not even close to being finished yet. In addition to this week’s Mage Gauntlet, Friday’s bonus release was the excellent slot-machine-based RPG King Cashing 2 and the week before that was the massive fan-favorite Forget Me Not. And prior to that was Super Crate Box, which joins the likes of the Space Miner games, Incoboto, Legendary Wars, the previously mentioned Rocketcat games, and tons more.
So as I keep saying, there’s no reason at all not to sign up for the GameClub beta program and be playing these games completely for free while they’re in Early Access. Whether you intend to sign up for a GameClub subscription when it launches or not, these are fully free, fully playable games you can enjoy right this instant with no strings attached whatsoever. Get on it!
