To say that the earlier years of iPhone gaming were a completely different time would be an understatement. There was just a type of excitement over new releases back then that I don’t often feel anymore with how homogenized the mobile gaming scene has become. Sometimes that excitement was due to a surprise release that dropped out of nowhere, but other times it was an excitement that was built up by months or even years of anticipation for something that seemed just too cool to be true. It’s that latter type of excitement that comes to mind when I think about Sword & Sworcery.
Officially titled Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, but often referred to as simply Sworcery, there was a pretty long lead-up to the game first being shown and it finally releasing on the iPad back in March of 2011. I recall my own excitement seeing the game at various conferences or even reading our own preview just prior to its release. There was some mega buzz for Sworcery, and the excitement was palpable. Ah yes, those were the days. Anyway, Sword & Sworcery went on to win all manner of awards and recognition, including our own Game of the Year award for 2011. Even more than a decade later and I can’t really find anything quite like it.
Unfortunately the game hasn’t been maintained as well as I’d have hoped, and in fact its last update came all the way back in 2016. That was even before the first fullscreen iPhone X, not to mention all the different sizes and resolutions that have come to iOS devices since. It was LONG overdue, but today a new update dropped for Sword & Sworcery that simply adds support for all the latest iOS hardware and software. Nothing Earth-shattering, but boy will it be nice to finally have proper full screen support. I haven’t played through Sworcery in several years, so this is a good a reason as any for a replay.
If this is one you somehow haven’t played one way or another over the past decade, then let this be your reason for finally recitfying that. And while practically every game tells you that it’s best experienced with headphones, this is absolutely true here, so be sure to set the mood properly so you can be fully absorbed into this truly wild experience. If you need more convincing first, check out our Choose-Your-Level-Of-Spoiler original review or Shaun’s excellent Classic Reload on the game.
