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 Halloween updates are starting to gear up, and there are at least a few of them in today’s selection. This week also sees the return of the recently-absent Obligatory Matching Puzzle Game Update. I, uh, guess they were not so obligatory after all. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself 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 go for it!
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free Let’s start off by looking at the latest update for Fire Emblem Heroes. It is perhaps not the most exciting of updates, but few of them are for this game these days. Still, it’s a nice enough warm-up for the article this week. In this version, Binding Worlds mode has been updated. You can now see Heroes in the armies of your fellow summoners, send those summoners Friend Requests, and more. There are also some new stages with even more powerful enemies to tackle. Cool.
Horizon Chase 2, As you might expect from an update coming in fairly soon after launch, this new version of Horizon Chase 2 is more about fixing issues that cropped up in the initial release than adding anything major to the game. The HUD elements have been adjusted for those using touch controls to make things easier to eyeball, and a battery saver option has been added to the settings menu for people who are finding the intense visuals to be a bit of a power-sucker for your device. Other than that, it’s a bunch of bug fixes. But hey, we love bug fixes around these parts.
Cut the Rope Remastered, A little update. Just a small one. But it’s something, and for a game this old, something isn’t nothing. We’re apparently celebrating Om Nom’s birthday, and our means of doing that is by… playing nine new levels? Well, at least the little fellow gets some candy. I can think of worse birthdays. Like that time in high school when I planned a barbecue and invited all my friends, and through an improbable series of entirely unconnected events, no one showed up. Ha ha, buried trauma!
Subway Surfers, Free Time to surf some subways in Mexico! It’s a Halloween event, and an amazing new surfer named Fantasma is joining the squad. Bob the Blob is back in his element, and he’s got a new Slime Outfit to pick up. It goes nicely with the new board, the Smoking Slime Board. Also in this update: a Halloween Calendar full of rewards, a Timed Tag Team Challenge, and a Marathon Challenge set in Vancouver.
Solitaire Stories, Yes, this is another Halloween-themed update. There’s a new scary story to play, plus a handful of spooky events. The story is inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and that’s never a bad road to take. As for the events, one of them is a returning classic while the other is another Dracula-themed affair. All in all, there’s a lot of stuff to do that will put you in that Halloween mood. While playing solitaire. An odd combo, but one that works pretty well.
LEGO® Star Warsâ„¢: Castaways, In recent times the updates for this quirky Apple Arcade game have been centered around one Star Wars movie/TV show or another, and this one is not going to buck that trend. This time around, it’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in the spotlight. Ah, I have some odd nostalgia for this movie. I was looking forward to it so much, and I was so let down by it. Like, immediately. Yet it still evokes a different time in my life, and arguably a simpler and more innocent era. Anyway, you can play this event and unlock minifig parts based on the characters from the movie, and that does include Jar-Jar. He’sa maxi-powerful. You know what? I’ll give this the coveted UMMSotW for this week just for tickling my wistful memories.
Zen Pinball Party, I know what you are thinking: new Zen Pinball Party update means a new table. No! You are incorrect! You have assumed, and made a butt out of you and me! In fact, this update has two new tables, not one. Both are Star Wars-themed, and at least one of them might be familiar to Zen/Pinball FX fans. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Boba Fett join the rather robust line-up of silverball delights in this Apple Arcade collection, and that’s nothing but good news.
Zookeeper World, Zookeeper keeps on keeping on, with this new version of the game adding Zoo Rank 25 to achieve. It also adds twelve new puzzle stages to play, and rather oddly some short Rabbit Rope animated videos you can watch on digital signage in your zoo. A new episode will be added each week so, uh, be sure to tune in for that. I guess this is the game’s breakout character because an awful lot of the content in recent updates surround Rabbit Rope. Whatever works, I suppose.
Gardenscapes, Free And here’s our Obligatory Free-to-Play Matching Puzzle Game Update for this week, and it’s perhaps no surprise that we’re going back to the Austinverse for this one. Gardenscapes never misses Halloween, so here’s its Halloween update for this year. Head out on a potentially ill-advised trip to a vampire’s castle and see what you can turn up. Also in this update: Teddy writes a new fantasy novel, Lisa tries to pass her art school exam, and secrets abound at a mysterious hotel.
World of Tanks Blitz - Mobile, Free This is vaguely a Halloween update, I think? There’s a special event called Secret of the Lost Pyramid where you have to claim treasures while avoiding being destroyed by the Medjay and Pharaoh tanks that guard them. The Garage has been given a spooky makeover, and there’s some business about a Nightmare tank that I’m not really willing to investigate. I don’t want to get cursed. You can get your hands on the enchanted Shadowhunter tank by playing Operation Call of the Folio, which sounds a lot less cursed.
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!
