Hello everyone, and welcome to the first full week of the year! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. I skipped last week because there just wasn’t enough to talk about, and I’m afraid to say that this week didn’t turn out a whole lot busier. I’ve found an assortment for you to look over, but it took a lot more sifting than it usually does. 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!

MARVEL SNAP, Free Sure, I already went over this in its own story, but times being what they are we take what we can. The Planet Hulk season has kicked off in Marvel Snap, offering up new characters like Skaar, Caiela, Hercules, and more to the mix. There are also some new card variants and locations to enjoy. It’s already looking like a season that will cause some real changes in how people build their decks, and I suppose that’s what it’s all about, right? Right.

Solitaire Stories, The ever-reliable Solitaire Stories got a pretty quick update for the new year, which is the kind of hustle we like to see around here. You get a new story called Grown Ups, plus a handful of new events that cover a variety of topics. There’s also a new feature in the form of Vault Events, which have nothing to do with jumping over some wooden boxes. Instead, it’s a place where previously-run events can make a comeback. It’s starting off by bringing back the popular Cabin in the Woods event, allowing players to enjoy it all over again. Sure, it’s a way to get more mileage out of already-created content, but I feel like it’s a win-win situation overall.

Honkai: Star Rail, Free I’m trying to stick to things from the last week, but this was one of the major post-Christmas week updates I gave up on when I couldn’t make a list last week. Version 1.6 arrived, adding a handful of new characters, some returning characters from limited events, some new and returning Light Cones, a new map in the form of the Herta Space Station: Seclusion Zone, some new story content, a few new events, and a partridge in a pear tree. Just kidding on that last one, but there is some kind of new gameplay feature in there as well. I don’t play this game so I won’t go too far into detail. If you do, you know what to do.

Subway Surfers, Free The Subway Surfers kids are also getting out there bright and early in 2024, heading to Shenzhen for some manner of showdown. We’re in the future now, so the kids have hoverboards. Well, if you unlock them anyway. New characters Skye and Thunder are here to demonstrate how it’s done, and J Balvin is making a comeback for good measure. There are definitely worse ways to get your year going than by picking up hoverboards, I’ll say.

Toon Blast, Free I have to do a few games that would probably fall under the umbrella of obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle update, and here’s the first of the bunch. Yes, it’s our old pal Toon Blast, here with fifty levels more to play. This time the theme has something to do with chess? Cartoon characters playing chess. Sounds… sounds riveting. Well, it’s not like it matters anyway. Just match the pieces and wait for your microwave pizza to finish cooking.

Royal Match, Free Now, maybe you have something a little bigger cooking. You need more than fifty levels of matching pieces. King Robert has you covered, friend. There are one hundred levels in this game’s latest update, and you get to explore a whole new area in the form of the… launch site? Oh no. No, no, no. Get King Robert away from there. This is a guy who could somehow skewer himself in a pillow store. A launch site is genuinely dangerous and no place for an accident-prone buffoon to be. Worrisome.

AFK Arena, Free Normally AFK Arena update notes are so full of details that I struggle to include everything in one paragraph. Not today! Today we have just three quick bullet points, which means I have to somehow stretch things out, perhaps with some excessive exposition about the situation. At any rate, there’s a new beast named Pandy Dumpty, a new legendary epic adventure in Voyage of Wonders, and an explore buff in the Ghoulish Gallery. Somehow, it always works out.

Dungeon Hunter 6, Free Oh no, this is even thinner. And I’ve already wasted the exposition card. Okay, let’s just push through it. There are five new things in this update. Not four. Not six. Five. I will now list them. A new Guild League, a new Cards feature, a new Dark Desert, a new Dimensional Demon Hunt, and new Lieutenant Boon Trees. I cannot offer any further explanation on any of these things, because I fear it would take me a great deal of playtime to get far enough to sort out any of it. So I will simply leave you with those five things and get on with my day. Deep apologies.

Temple Run 2, Free Okay, so apparently Sigur grabbed some sort of cursed item. A more cursed item than the one that usually sets the Demon Monkeys off. It’s made things all weird, and that means for this month you’ll be running backwards in Frozen Shadows as Guy Dangerous. Cap is back with a new Ice Cap outfit, and there are some new global challenges to play. Also, if you’ve ever felt like buying a lot of digital hats, your moment is now. The 100 Hats Bundle is available for what the game assures me is a most reasonable price.

Star Traders: Frontiers, $6.99 Ah, good old Star Traders Frontiers. It never lets me down when I need an update to write about. And it had two in the last week, more or less. Some new torpedoes, some balance adjustments to various aspects of the game, some bug fixes, some new ship components, and so on. Lots of fun little things to make the game play more smoothly, as the Trese Brothers continue their lifelong quest to make the most polished game ever made. Sure, I’ll give it the coveted UMMSotW award for this week. It’s been a while since I gave this game one.

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!