With Apple’s big new iPhone event yesterday, we finally got some answers to our biggest questions surrounding their Apple Arcade premium gaming subscription service. Namely: How much and when? And now we know: Next Thursday, September 19th and $4.99 per month with a one month free trial. Sweet. Along with that crucial info, we also learned of a few more games that will be part of the service. You can find a full list of the games announced so far right here, though it seems new ones are trickling out all the time. With Apple Arcade just about a week away, developers are also getting more freedom to post more stuff about their games, and today we’re highlighting three new trailers for three Apple Arcade games. Two were previously announced, but Towaga: Among Shadows is brand new. Enjoy.
Towaga: Among Shadows
You may remember the original Towaga (Free) from Sunnyside Games which launched way back in January of 2017. It was a fixed-position shooter similar to the classic Ziggurat, but with a striking visual style and silky smooth animations. Sunnyside had a ton of ideas for cool updates to flesh out Towaga, and eventually they just sort of snowballed enough that they took everything they’d been working on and created a brand new sequel instead. It wasn’t until after yesterday’s Apple event that Sunnyside finally announced that the sequel, officially titled Towaga: Among Shadows, would be part of Apple Arcade. And then today we learned that it’s being published by the good folks at Noodlecake, who supplied us with that rad cinematic trailer above.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Hopefully this one needs no introduction, but just in case, Sayonara Wild Hearts is the latest game from the absolute legends at Simogo. After taking a break from mobile development a couple of years ago to focus on console and desktop for their next project, it was during the initial Apple Arcade unveiling back in March that it was revealed Sayonara Wild Hearts would indeed be coming to mobile by way of Apple’s new gaming service. The game itself is described by publisher Annapurna Interactive as “a euphoric music video dream about being awesome, riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords and breaking hearts at 200mph." This translates to a mashup of various gameplay styles set in an audio-visual acid trip, and based on our hands-on time with the game at PAX a couple of weeks ago, this is my most anticipated Apple Arcade game so far.
Exit the Gungeon
One of the neat things about Apple Arcade thus far has been the totally out of left field announcements. At least that’s how it felt when Exit the Gungeon was unveiled during the event yesterday. It’s so hard to genuinely surprise anyone anymore, but this is something I hadn’t even heard a peep about before. It’s a direct sequel to the super popular bullet hell dungeon crawler Enter the Gungeon from developer Dodge Roll and publisher Devolver Digital, which is a cult hit on consoles and PC. After descending into the depths of the titular Gungeon in Enter the Gungeon, now the walls are starting to collapse on your crew, and you’ll need to exit the Gungeon, which is the very on the nose premise of Exit the Gungeon. “Armed with an ever-changing weapon, an insatiable need to loot, and a signature trusty dodge roll, each of our heroes must ascend and escape via their own unique route of increasingly perilous elevators. Battle against the last and most bitter of the Gundead at a frantic pace, slowing down just long enough to chat with some familiar faces… and a few new ones." Awesome.
