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[More_Badass]

Each month, the iOS GAF community hosts a thread for new game releases, rumors and discussion that define the fast-moving world of iOS gaming.

The OP will contain recommended games that released during the previous month. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the GAF community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.

If you're a developer who wishes to have your game featured, please talk about your game in the thread and if the GAF community at large likes the game then your wish just might be granted. Please note that there's a difference between posting about a game you made and just advertising your game with no further interaction with the community, this thread is not for the latter and such advertising behavior is frowned upon.

Directory
1) Introduction & Recommended Games
2) Recommended Games continued
3) Upcoming Releases, Past Threads & Other Links

Site | App Store
A New Kind of Mario game you can play with one hand.
Mario constantly runs forward, while you time your taps to pull off stylish jumps and moves to gather coins and reach the goal!

Okay, got to say, my initial concerns were mistaken. I'm really liking this so far. It doesn't have the speed and bigger movesets of Rayman or Lost Socks, but it counters that with a wide array of special tiles, lengthy multi-route levels, controls and movement that just feels right, and a heavy emphasis on precise timing

Actually, and surprisingly, I'm liking Super Mario Run much more than I thought.
It's like a cuter and slower version of Lost Socks (which is high in my GOTY list), but there are many tricks to be discovered and certainly it's not less difficult if you want to grab the colored coins. .

Super Mario Run is insanely good.

I got all pink coins on stage 1 and is 2nd on my friend ranking list, and it makes me really wanna go for the top place. And now there's purple coins to collect, and after that black coins. And they are placed differently. It's nice you can go multiple routes, but you can also choose to go route one, and then jump back and take route 2. And timing is everything in this game. It's not just jumping over goons automatically, it's also about doing tricks to earn toads etc.

Very impressive.

Wow, I'm really enjoying Super Mario Run!

Totally has that Nintendo polish.

Super Mario Run is pretty great. The Nintendo polish and presentation along with game modes like Toad Rally and the black coins makes it worth the money for me.

I'm a bit torn on Super Mario Run. The first three levels are fun enough, I've got all the black coins on the first two and am working on the middle tier of coins for the third one, but maybe it's just auto-runners that I'm not into. Not quite grabbing me so far and I'm still mulling the $10 purchase

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Site | App Store
When family is all you have left...how far will you go to protect it?
After society was ripped apart by undead hands, pockets of civilization emerge from the chaos. But at what cost? Can the living be trusted on this new frontier?
As Javier, a young man determined to find the family taken from him, you meet a young girl who has experienced her own unimaginable loss. Her name is Clementine, and your fates are bound together in a story where every choice you make could be your last.

Over the course about three hours and two chapters of the two-part Ties That Bind, I went from being disappointed in its story, not quite invested in its characters, to being excited to see where the narrative goes next.
New and familiar protagonists, new groups, and survival against threats alive and dead: A New Frontier is both the Walking Dead you expect and the one with the most interesting shift in the series yet. With Ties That Bind, this season is off to a promising start.

Finally played and finish both episodes tonight and all I have to say is.

TELLTALE YOU NEED TO STOP! Being so goddamn good lol

I fucking loved it

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Site | App Store
The Rockstar Games tradition of groundbreaking, original gameplay and humorous tongue-in-cheek storytelling invades the schoolyard in Bully: Anniversary Edition. As mischievous 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins you'll navigate the social hierarchy of the corrupt and crumbling prep school, Bullworth Academy. Stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, beat the jocks at dodge ball, play pranks, win or lose the girl and survive a year in the worst school around.

Okay, I really like Bully. The touch controls are fine, the visuals look good and it's just so good to be back in Bullworth school. I had it for PS2 back in the day and have had it on PC forever but I've never completed it. Maybe I'll do so on my iPad Pro 9.7. Although the game does have a few framerate drops here and there.

Bully might have the best touch controls in a Rockstar game yet
=
...it's my favorite Rockstar game from the PS2 era. Even better than San Andreas (and that was my first GTA game and left quite an impression).

The smaller scale of the world gives it a charming intimacy and liveliness that you can't get from the sprawling cityscapes. The days progress, the seasons change. The missions are surprisingly inventive and characters well-written. It just might be the most unique game Rockstar has made in the last decade, given its setting, characters, and overall tone.

First time playing Bully, and it was terrific!

Played in bed for an hour last night and got sucked right in. This is perfect for iOS and hope to eventually see games like LA Noire make it to phones when the tech gets there.

Same here, never played Bully before but I'm loving it. The mini games for classes lends themselves perfect for mobile and the smaller scale of the game makes it great for playing in bursts. The controls are also top notch for a 3D game with an open world.

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Site | App Store
RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic is a new RCT experience, combining the best features from two of the most successful and beloved RCT games in the series' history – RollerCoaster Tycoon® and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 2.
Create and run amazing parks complete with the most outrageous rides imaginable. RCT Classic includes a mixture of authentic playability, depth of gameplay and unique graphical style of Chris Sawyer's original best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon® PC Games, now enhanced for handheld devices.
Packed with content, players can enjoy designing and building roller coasters and rides, landscaping parks and managing the staff and finances to keep their guests happy and the money flowing in.

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic seems pretty good so far. I don't think there's any free-roam mode where you can just build and run a park, but there are scenarios where you have a few goals to reach. Maybe you can just keep on playing on your own pace in here. I don't know which elements from RCT2 are in there as well, as I only ever played the original on PC.

Controls seems alright. You can zoom in and out by pinching, but it isn't a continuous fluid zoom, rather it zooms on different levels. When you need to rotate the camera you have to press the arrows at the top right corner, where I think I would have preferred to rotate with two fingers. It also seems like you have to press the build button for each square block on the ground every time you want to build a path or queue, instead of letting you choose your path by just drawing it with your finger.

Besides that, it have the classic atmosphere, feeling and music as well, so this might end up as my GOTY, if the controls doesn't turn out to be too cumbersome. I'm pretty positive on this one so far.

Cannot believe I'm playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 on my iPhone. This. Is. Awesome.

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Site | App Store
Le Parker: Sous Chef Extraordinaire is a tough-as-nails platformer with tight touch controls crafted in the spirit of the classics we loved as kids. You play as Le Parker [Sous Chef Extraordinaire] who makes a meringue so perfect, so impossibly light, it literally floats. The lightest dessert, however, is the heaviest burden. Only Parker's true love has the secret recipe — the Princess! But the King has his men raid her chambers! They steal Parker's secret, harness the meringue's immense power for evil and banish Parker from the Kingdom! Guide our hero on an epic culinary quest to rescue the princess, assemble a kitchen of secret utensils, and give the King his just desserts. Bon Voyage, Parker!

Le Parker is really good -- reminds me a bit of Super Phantom Cat but slicker. Only slightly annoying thing is that it sounds like he's barking like a dog every time he jumps. Like the music though so don't want to turn the sound off.

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Site | App Store
You found a phone belonging to a missing person. What would you do?
Sara has disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and your only lead is her mobile phone.
Search for clues by investigating Sara's personal messages, notes, emails, pictures and videos while trying to piece together her final days. Unlock password protected files, uncover hidden messages and decrypt lost data and figure out where she went, what she did, and how someone can disappear without a trace so suddenly.

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Site | App Store
Island Delta is an exciting action filled adventure game where you wield a powerful anti-gravity weapon to defeat dangerous enemies, solve puzzles and overcome hazardous traps. Explore this retro-futuristic world with heroes, Zoe and Baxter, as you set out on a daring rescue mission and face the evil Doctor Gunderson and his mechanical minions.

___________________________________________________________________________

Site | App Store
In Don't Starve: Shipwrecked, Wilson finds himself stranded in a tropical archipelago. He must learn to survive all over again in this new environment filled with new biomes, seasons, and creatures.
Don't let the tropical breeze lull you into a false sense of security - the world might be different, but it is still equal parts unforgiving and uncompromising. You will quickly find these islands are full to the brim with things that want to kill you.

 

[More_Badass]

Site | App Store
LVL is the new minimalistic puzzle that blends 3D into 2D with a twist!
LVL forces players to think in 3D while solving puzzles in 2D. Most of the puzzles of LVL can not be solved by interacting pieces on a single face. Players have to think possible solutions that involves replacing pieces on current face and opposite face of it

Picked it up last night, it's pretty great! Nice and relaxing.

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Site | App Store
Hovercrash is a fast, minimal arcade racer with thrills, tunnels and turbo boosts!
Choose your high-speed anti-gravity ship and hit (or actually hover) the road! Dodge weird and dangerous obstacles as you try to survive for as long as possible. And when you learn the basics, lift your finger off the screen and increase your score multiplier even faster!
Stunning graphics, energetic EDM soundtrack and simple one finger controls make Hovercrash one unique high-score chasing experience.

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Site | App Store
Star Tactics is a simple but challenging hardcore turn-based tactics game about space fleets battles.

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Site | App Store
Welcome to Silent Depth, the first real 3d submarine simulation for mobile devices. Being a member of the Silent Service of the US Navy you take command of a Gato/Balao class submarine and go on extended patrols in the dangerous waters of the Pacific in world war II. Your task is to attack Japanese merchant ships without being caught by destroyer escorts either using your torpedo weapons or your deck gun in a realistic environment. Control your submarine, use your strengths and find the weak spots of your enemy. Only that way you have a chance to survive this thrilling 3d simulation. Run silent, run deep!

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Site | App Store
Immerse your eyes, ears and mind in minimize, a beautiful game of simplification and foresight. Simply swipe to change gravity and minimize each puzzle to where no blocks remain.

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Site | App Store
Taylor's journey continues! Deep in the isolated vacuum of space, trapped in orbit around a strange black hole, our intrepid astronaut must once again reach out for a lifeline - YOU! Inside the spaceship Veridian, Taylor thought it was time for some hard-earned quiet solitude and a little R&R, but a very unexpected guest has other plans...

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Site | App Store
Conduct THIS! Is an addictive game of explosive railway action that will challenge your inner conductor.
Set in a stunning world, with incredibly simple controls you race against time to bring passengers safely to their destination by commanding trains, switching tracks and avoiding collisions in increasingly challenging action-puzzles.
As you progress you unlock new trains, gain access to new beautiful and mysterious regions and earn awards.

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Site | App Store
Accept a contract, pick a ship and dash into space. Show your piloting skills in a broad variety of contract, freelance or boss missions. Fight unrelenting enemies in breath-taking outer space environments. Dodge in-coming missiles with perfectly timed barrel rolls and dash through the ramifications of giant space stations. And once your shields are up again, strike back and give ‘em hell!

 

[More_Badass]

Milkmaid of the Milky Way - January 5th

Mega Man 1-6 - January 5th

Super Hyper Ball 2 - January 12th

ChocoRun 2 - January 16th

A Normal Lost Phone - January 27th

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Dead Air: Devil's Triangle

Mysterium

More releases to be added soon
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iOS Gaming December 2016 | It's app-me, Mario
iOS Gaming November 2016 | Apple unbinds Isaac
iOS Gaming October 2016 | When Ember leaves start to fall
iOS Gaming September 2016 | I don't have unlimited money
iOS Gaming August 2016 | A sever-ly hot summer
iOS Gaming July 2016 | Freedom to necrodance the night away
iOS Gaming June 2016 | Be still my growing backlog, summer is here
iOS Gaming May 2016 | April jests bring Titan Quests
iOS Gaming April 2016 | Fool's Gold
iOS Gaming March 2016 | Your backlog grows in tiny bits
iOS Gaming February 2016 | Crashlands Bandicoot
iOS Gaming January 2016 | Should old applications be forgot?

Visit the January 2017 thread for links to all 2016 iOS Gaming threads
Visit the January 2016 thread for links to all 2015 iOS Gaming threads
Visit the January 2014 thread for links to December 2013 through November 2012 threads!

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This website keeps track of all the controller enabled games. It gets updated regularly.

___________________________________________________________________________

Genuine thanks to our iOS Gaming community for keeping these monthly threads alive!
Special thanks to Saucycarpdog for the thread title this month and to Tunesmith for his fantastic thread format and month after month of hard work in maintaining these threads

 

[Saucycarpdog]

I want to take a moment to sincerely thank you MB for the taking time to make and maintain these glorious threads. Here's to a great year of mobile ahead of us!

 

[More_Badass]

There we go, all impressions in

 

[Omega Kirby]

More_Badass is there any other Gamebooks worth looking into? Sorcery has got me into the genre

 

[More_Badass]

More_Badass is there any other Gamebooks worth looking into? Sorcery has got me into the genre

- 80 Days
- Zombie Exodus and its massive sequel Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven
- Ryan North's To Be Or Not To Be
- Out There Chronicles
- Heavy Metal Thunder and Sol Invictus
- Lone Wolf is cool, but the combat interrupts the gamebook too much IMO

- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is releasing later this year. It's probably the biggest evolution in the digital gamebook since Sorcery 1

 

[orthodoxy1095]

There are lots of great gamebookish style games. Ryan North's To Be Or Not to Be, Joe Dever's Lone Wolf, 80 Days, Heavy Metal Thunder. Device 6 or Blackbar if you consider more widely "reading" based games.

Even the Heroes Rise Trilogy is mildly interesting.

 

[Pachimari]

I see we are going strong here!

 

[Mighty]

Hey all, Happy New Year! Big thanks to More_Badass for putting these amazing threads together.

If I may, I would like to share an independent game I created back in 2013, but just recently updated in November 2016. Right now it's 100% free (no ads or IAPs) for a limited time new year sale, but usually it costs $2.99.

It's a relatively simple dexterity game, but the difficulty ramps up quickly. I like to describe it as "Super Mario World meets Fruit Ninja."

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions and listen to feedback -- I'm always striving to improve. =)

App Store Link
Press Kit Link

Thanks!

 

[awp69]

Thanks for the hard work MB!

 

[Omega Kirby]

- 80 Days
- Zombie Exodus and its massive sequel Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven
- Ryan North's To Be Or Not To Be
- Out There Chronicles
- Heavy Metal Thunder and Sol Invictus
- Lone Wolf is cool, but the combat interrupts the gamebook too much IMO

- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is releasing later this year. It's probably the biggest evolution in the digital gamebook since Sorcery 1

It's not a port of that DS version right?

Anyways thanks a bunch man, just finished sorcery 4 a few minutes a go, the series has shot into my top favourites, loved the whole journey every second. Gonna make a LTTP thread soon.

 

[More_Badass]

It's not a port of that DS version right?

Anyways thanks a bunch man, just finished sorcery 4 a few minutes a go, the series has shot into my top favourites, loved the whole journey every second. Gonna make a LTTP thread soon.

Nope. PC port

 

[colinp]

Happy New Year everyone!

Keep up the great work, MB.

Looking forward to iOS gaming in 2017!

 

[UFO]

Subbed.

 

[Jarsonot]

Subbed, love these threads. OPs are fantastic, great job.

 

[More_Badass]

Anyone try Sunpolis? Gorgeous and gameplay looks different. Think I'm going to check it out for $1.99.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oVBuAB_ZQwE

Got this yesterday. It's pretty cool so far. Relaxing gameplay and atmosphere, while having enough challenge to be satisfying. Endless but also has handcrafted levels throughout, and gradually introduces new mechanics

 

[Boney]

Heavy Metal Thunder has some bizarre adolescent and mysoginistic dialogue bits whenever it involves women.

I remember taking screenshots in disbelief, but I still enjoyed it as a classic gamebook.

 

[One Foul Note]

Is Mega Man 1-6 going to be one app that contains all the games or six separate apps for each one?

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Is Mega Man 1-6 going to be one app that contains all the games or six separate apps for each one?

Six separate apps.

 

[One Foul Note]

Six separate apps.

Ahh, that's cool. These days I'm only really interested in 2 and 6 so being able to cherry pick my favourites is nice.

 

[awp69]

Got this yesterday. It's pretty cool so far. Relaxing gameplay and atmosphere, while having enough challenge to be satisfying. Endless but also has handcrafted levels throughout, and gradually introduces new mechanics

Yeah, been meaning to post that I did end up getting this. Really like it for pretty much the same reasons you mention. Beautiful atmosphere and relaxing but still fairly challenging. The levels are inventive and require some thinking like a puzzle game to get through.

 

[Pachimari]

Which are the best Megaman games of those six anyway? I remember I had a few for Dreamcast and loving the Mega-Man X game.

 

[nicoga3000]

I decided to try Goat Simulator again becuase I was bored. I think it clicked. The base game is just dumb fun. Are any of the expansions with their price tag?

 

[Boney]

Which are the best Megaman games of those six anyway? I remember I had a few for Dreamcast and loving the Mega-Man X game.

2-3 are the widely agreed consensus of being the best.
The worst would be 1-5 probably.

But unless they have a really smart auto fire, they'll be hell to play.

How was the X port? A disaster I imagine. The original game I just hope is a step up from Xover.

 

[Oynox]

- Ryan North's To Be Or Not To Be

This is one of my all time favorites, just for the laughs

 

[PittaGAF]

Just completed Banner Saga 2 and it was frigging epic.
I was in stupor half of the game, great game both story wise, gameplay wise and technically wise.
Musics by Wintory are among the best I ever heard in a videogame, so athmoshperic and so many!!!

Maybe, just maybe, they packed a bit too much story in the game...was like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones combined.

This clears my backlog too.
Invisible Inc. is next in my to buy list but I'll wait a bit being another turn based game, but I'm still undecided.

 

[infiniteloop]

Yassss.
Thanks for the great op as always.

 

[bjork]

I hadn't seen Sara is Missing before, but that looks really interesting. Gonna give it a go in a minute here.

[edit - I played what appears to be the entire thing, takes ~45-60 minutes. I don't know if there are other games like this one, but it's neat. The store description is about as much detail as you can give without spoiling it, and I'm not sure but

Spoiler

I think there's more to it than what's here. There's a video clip with a bit taken from marblehornets and probably other similar things I'm not familiar with

and it ends with

Spoiler

a longitude/latitude point that is somewhere in Malaysia

so I'm not really sure what I think. But I like how it was laid out, I even tried to back out with my actual phone button and not the in-game stuff, heh.

 

[DagsJT]

Careful not to read any reviews of Sara Is Missing on the App Store. The first one I read was a pretty big spoiler and really annoying.

 

[8sanders]

This clears my backlog too.......

My backlog is literally hundreds of games. I have issues.......

 

[More_Badass]

Just completed Banner Saga 2 and it was frigging epic.
I was in stupor half of the game, great game both story wise, gameplay wise and technically wise.
Musics by Wintory are among the best I ever heard in a videogame, so athmoshperic and so many!!!

Maybe, just maybe, they packed a bit too much story in the game...was like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones combined.

This clears my backlog too.
Invisible Inc. is next in my to buy list but I'll wait a bit being another turn based game, but I'm still undecided.

The two are so different and play so differently that I don't think you'll need to work about burnout

 

[Oynox]

Soooo. Just discovered cross-plattform gaming with my girlfriend with Ticket to Ride. Are there any other iOS and Android compatible board games which work great between both platforms?!

 

[Gamecocks625]

I continue to be impressed with Super Mario Run. Been playing it with my daughter and collecting toads in Toad Rally, collecting all the different colored coins, populating the kingdom with collectibles, etc has been great fun. Well worth the money. (We've been playing at home on iPad, so the online connection stuff hasn't been an issue).

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Super Hyper Ball is out the 12th:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=3958075&postcount=49

 

[Dash Kappei]

Still mainly playing Clash Royale but at least I managed to snuck a bit of MarioRun and some bed-time Sorcery! into my daily routine

 

[Megasoum]

Started KOTOR.

Those controls sure are better than a floating virtual joystick (looking at you FFVI...ugh) but still... I really need to get used to them.

I'm generally holding the ipad in landscape mode with one hand on each side which makes it...ok... to move. I increased the sensitivy which improved it a bit.

I still wish there was a way to quickly turn around. Having to swipe multiple times left or right to do a 180 sucks.

Also, I wish there was a way to interact with the objects in the world (footlockers, chests, lootable bodies, etc) without having to tap on them in the middle of the screen (basically having to let go of one of the side grips to tap on them).

Same thing with combat with the action bars floating over the enemy heads.

Anyway, small details. I imagine I'll get used to it after a bit.

Another example is that if you look at review videos on Youtube the conversation system used to use numbered buttons on the top right of the screen instead of tapping directly on the dialog options. I imagine they changed that in a patch at some point? I feel like the former option would make it easier to just hit it with your right thumb.

 

[More_Badass]

Started KOTOR

Honestly I felt KOTOR controlled kind of clunkily on touch. Devs have gotten much better at implementing touch controls in more recent ports like Transistor and Dont Starve

 

[Pachimari]

Jade Empire also got better touch controls, so it seems like the developer got better at implementing that.

 

[Megasoum]

Honestly I felt KOTOR controlled kind of clunkily on touch. Devs have gotten much better at implementing touch controls in more recent ports like Transistor and Dont Starve

I always prefered the original Xbox version's controls for that game. Even on PC I always had a tough time with that UI.


Really sucks that there's no way to play those OG Xbox games other than on that console itself.

Jade Empire also got better touch controls, so it seems like the developer got better at implementing that.

That's another game I'll have to play at some point... I tried it both on Xbox and on PC and I could never get into it. Really got hooked.

 

[DagsJT]

Soooo. Just discovered cross-plattform gaming with my girlfriend with Ticket to Ride. Are there any other iOS and Android compatible board games which work great between both platforms?!

Patchwork.

 

[More_Badass]

A recent update by my most anticipated mobile game of all

It's just emerged from a mirror in a deserted lighthouse, in case you were wondering what's going on.
There's a ritual involved in getting them to show up... If you don't know their true name when they do, you're toast.
It's actually a song. You sing their names to... um... rip out their hearts.

 

[killercow]

I always prefered the original Xbox version's controls for that game. Even on PC I always had a tough time with that UI.


Really sucks that there's no way to play those OG Xbox games other than on that console itself.

You can also play KOTOR with a controller on iOS and the UI adapts to it.

A recent update by my most anticipated mobile game of all

Absolutely adored Incoboto, can't wait for this. (Oh and great thread as akways! That list about upcoming mobile games is also quite handy)

 

[PittaGAF]

Soooo. Just discovered cross-plattform gaming with my girlfriend with Ticket to Ride. Are there any other iOS and Android compatible board games which work great between both platforms?!

All Playdek games, Star Realms, Talisman (unfortunately real time, not async).

 

[iggynore]

Amazing list. Competition is getting so tough for devs! I'll try pretty much what's on the list, got my eyes deep on Card Thief, Duelyst, Impossible Bottles.

Has anyone already tried the Megaman X port? Is it worth it?

 

[PittaGAF]

The two are so different and play so differently that I don't think you'll need to work about burnout

Thanks.

Spoiler

Downloading

 

[jon bones]

Really hoping Duelyst comes to phones as well as tablets - could become really big.

 

[killercow]

Really hoping Duelyst comes to phones as well as tablets - could become really big.

Scheduled for Q1 this year:
https://twitter.com/PlayDuelyst/status/815705105341304833

Heck yeah:
Reigns is getting a free expansion (more cards) in January (More likely February) plus a sequel where you play a Queen in a more modern era, scheduled for release in Q1/Q2 2017:
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/590070/reigns-2-annonce.htm

 

[PittaGAF]

Invisible Inc. is actually pretty cool and damn tense.

It should be called 'Where the fuck is the exit' tough.

 

[Pachimari]

I bought Rule With an Iron Fish while I was half-asleep last night I see hmm. I hope this one's a good one.