X live The best soft launch mobile games for iPhone, iPad or Android

• Publisher: Brainium Studios LLC
• Platform: iOS
• Country: Australia, Canada and USA

Starship Survivor is the next title from Branium, developers of several AppStore twists on classics (like Solitaire, Sudoku), and marks their first time straying beyond casual, word or card gameplay.

It’s a familiar, twin-stick style space shooter where you have to fight against masses of enemies and the bosses that follow them. Last year they implemented mote bundles which are microtransactions to help you push further into the game via upgrades – that said, the developers have gone on record priding themselves as having it as a completely free to play game that is free of both paywalls and gates.

• Publisher: Sega
• Platform: Android/iOS
• Country: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey.

Sonic Rumble sees the blue blur returning to mobile, this time as a battle royale of sorts. In the mould of games like Stumble Guys and Fall Guys, it appears we can expect to dash around obstacle-filled courses, dodging the numerous hazards that threaten to eliminate us at every turn. It’s definitely a set-up that suits Sonic and co, but is it entering a market that’s already been conquered by Scopely? Only time will tell.

• Publisher: Miniclip.com
• Platform: iOS/Android
• Country: Android – Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Portugal. iOS – Australia, Canda, Indonesia, Philippines.

As is often the case on mobile, Ultimate Hunting: Hunter Game is very much what it says on the tin. One of a few of Miniclip’s efforts that are currently treading water in soft launch, it sees you competing in 1v1 matchups, pitting your shooting skills against other players as you try to climb the leaderboards. Along the way, you can upgrade your gear to make sniping zebras, deer, lions and other beautiful creatures I would never actually shoot an easier task.

• Publisher: Miniclip.com
• Platform: iOS/Android
• Country: Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Philippines

If you’re a fan of the paranormal and idle RPGs, Miniclip’s Ghost Invasion: Idle Hunter might be up your dark and spooky alley. As the name perfectly describes, spirits are roaming the streets that shouldn’t be, and it’s your job to catch them. Ghostbusters style. Following the usual genre tropes, you can upgrade all your gear so that your character can more efficiently clear the streets of banshees or what-have-yous in your absence. Despite all the horror, the art style is actually quite colourful and cutesy, so don’t expect any jump scares here.

• Publisher: Habby
• Platform: iOS
• Country: Canada

Fans of Archero can rejoice as a sequel to the popular roguelike is on the way. Developer Habby is currently taking a straightforward approach to marketing, describing the game as better than the original in every conceivable way. That means we can expect better dungeon designs, improved roguelike mechanics, better combat and a revamped PvP system.

Of course, whether or not they’ve achieved that remains to be seen, but it’s a tantalising prospect, particularly given how fun the original is. At the moment, there are 50 chapters to battle through and three different modes – Defense, Room, and Survival. So, more than enough content to get stuck into for those lucky enough to be in the soft launch region.

• Publisher: Huuuge Games
• Platform: Android
• Country: Finland, Netherlands, Poland, United States

Seemingly taking a few cues from Minesweeper, Light Up City is a minimalist puzzler where the aim is – yep, you’ve guessed it – to illuminate the whole city. Each level presents you with an overhead view of the grid. You then have to strategically place lights on it using the clues provided by the numbers found by buildings. You can only make two mistakes per level, though, so you need to think carefully before each move.

• Publisher: DoubleDown Interactive
• Platform: iOS/Android
• Country: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom

As far as match-3 puzzlers go, Divine Match does pretty much everything you’d expect. There are the usual levels where you match colours together to see everything explode in that oddly satisfying way, and then, beyond that, you’ll find the building elements that have crept into the genre in recent years. This time around, the goal is to construct cities and landscapes fit for gods to live in. No pressure, then.

• Publisher: Nordeus Belgrade (Android), Nordeus (iOS)
• Platform: Android/iOS
• Country: Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Malaysia

If you’re a football fan, you’re probably already aware of Nordeus as the folks behind the popular management sim Top Eleven. With their latest effort, Top Goal, they are swapping the touchline for the pitch as you take direct control over your squad, having a more active role in the outcome of a match. Still, it seems some of the strategic side remains as you build your squad and choose your formation before taking on other players in PvP.

• Publisher: ZeptoLab
• Platform: Android
• Country: United States

Everybody’s favourite candy-loving dinosaur has returned in Om Nom Tycoon, which somewhat bizarrely sees our hero trading pointing to his mouth and demanding sweet treats for the world of business. Yeah, it’s a strange career change. Either way, you must look to create efficient production lines to make in-demand goods to sell so that your empire can expand further and further.

• Publisher: Animoca Brands
• Platform: Android
• Country: Czech Republic, Philippines

ONE Fight Arena: MMA Tactics bills itself as part puzzler, part strategic combat, which certainly sounds like an intriguing mix, especially since some high-level fighters describe MMA as highly tactical. This particular PvP offering is officially licensed by ONE Championship, one of the top MMA organisations, so you can expect to find real-life fighters such as Demetrious Johnson.

Oh My Anne is a match-3 game based on the popular novel series Anne of Green Gables. Players proceed through the story by completing levels and associated challenges.

It’s certainly interesting to see Neowiz deciding to take established, historical (1908~) novels and their IP and spin them off into games. There’s a question to be asked about brand recognition and ‘crossover IP’ when those IPs are not ones from the current vogue. We regularly see Warhammer and Marvel crossover games, but those things are currently ‘in’, Anne of Green Gables — and Oh My Anne — targets a different audience and plays on different rules of advertising.

Could there be a Dracula, Canterbury Tales or Beowolf games on the horizon if this takes off?

Arguably one of the world’s most famous mobile games, Candy Crush Saga going 3D as Candy Crush 3D could be seen as an evolutionary milestone for the gaming industry when it comes around to a full, global launch. Sure, most of us reading this might not think of Angry Birds, Candy Crush or Wordscapes when we think of gaming on mobile, but games like this have created a strong backbone that helps mobile stand much taller than the other gaming sectors when it comes to power and reach.

Shaking loose of the grid-based play that made the original a massive success, it’s going to be interesting to see how Candy Crush 3D does – it’s a hotly contested genre, and visibly resembles the Match-3/find-pairs gameplay that we’re seeing plenty of games already doing well.

King Robert’s out and King Richard is in. Dream Games are trying to have lightning strikes twice with Royal Kingdom, their follow-up (well, we imagine they’ll try and run both simultaneously) to Royal Match.

Everything is very familiar here, of course, however, we’ve seen screenshots of an interesting player-vs-player matching as well as a slightly more fun-looking metagame. As to how this pans out in the long run, we’ll have to wait and see.

DeNA have taken a stab at the popular HunterxHunter IP with their 3D RPG Hunter’s Journey. Much like a lot of anime fighters, it looks amazing, with 3rd person fighting interspaced with generous cutscenes and narrative. We’ve seen a fair bit of it in action now, and while we’re not too familiar with the anime that it is adapted from, everything has looked phenomenal.

Here’s the App Store Description (Translated):

“Hunter’s Journey” is a genuine mobile game authorized and adapted from the famous Japanese IP “HUNTER x HUNTER”, dedicated to creating an immersive 3D role-playing adventure experience. Through the combination of classic scenes, plots and delicate animation storyboards, the hunter’s world view is truly restored. During the exploration of the main storyline and dungeons, all Hunter candidates can transform into original characters and visit Whale Island, Dore Port, Lost Melo Wetland, Sky Arena, Youkesin City… Enjoy exploring the Hunter world, and interact with Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio adventure and grow together!”

In time-honoured gaming tradition, there’s been another zombie apocalypse in Last Stronghold: Idle Survival. Usually, there are two routes this can go – endlessly gunning down waves in a frantic fashion or gathering resources to survive in a surprisingly relaxed manner, given the world has ended. The title gives away which of those SayGames’ latest brings to mobile, although it has elements of the first option.

You can expect your time to be split between keeping the zombies at bay, working on building your base and gathering supplies. Of course, it’s important to survive all of those activities. So you can mark that down as an ongoing quest. Despite the sombre setting, Last Stronghold has a pleasant look, with only slightly muted colours and green blood that doesn’t seem so gory.

While it could be argued that Ragnarok Begins is almost global – being that it has been released in most major markets now – there are some notable absences in its regions of release (France, The Southern Hemisphere anybody?). It originally slipped into Soft Launch back in October 2022, and has been getting regular updates (including in-game events) every other week since then.

Ragnarok has changed a lot over the years, and Ragnarok Begins’ features list is incredibly different than the Ragnarok Online of old. There’s a card system for upgrading weapons, armour and accessories – which are customizable, there seem to be more players on screen than I’ve ever seen in the series, and Midgard is larger than ever.

While it might seem as though the era of endless runners has passed on mobile, several still do very well, particularly if they have brand power behind them. Zapak hopes that Ben 10 Alien Run can join that list, putting a lot of stock in the popular children’s cartoon pulling in the younger generation.

In it, you will dash around while transforming into one of nine different aliens, each bringing special abilities to the table. That might be creating a shield to block an enemy attack in one instance while another can clear the path ahead with laser beams. On top of that, there are the usual daily challenges and missions you’d expect from the genre.

Dig into the list of games below and find out what you could be playing later this year, or right now if you’ve got the right account in the right region.

Midgard Heroes: Ragnarok Idle is the latest spin-off to the popular MMORPG Ragnarok Online, which, in turn, is inspired by Norse mythology. In it, you will face off against 50 of the game’s bosses, all of whom have been revamped slightly to fit the idle RPG format.

Pretty much from that description, you likely already know what to expect. Your character will battle on in your absence, meaning that all you have to do is swing by now and then to upgrade their skills and equipment to make them more proficient in battering more foes.

NetEase’s Stumble Guys killer, Eggy Party, is rapidly moving toward its global release with seven new regions granted access to it in January of 2024, before that it was simply in the SEA region.

What’s the big appeal? Well, if you’re not sold in by the constant party, cheerful colours and multiplayer mania of Eggy Party, then maybe the map creation will be the thing to grab your attention. A bumbling race to the finish might be fun, but doing it on a map that you – or one of your friends – created is vastly more fun.

Moonton are a well-known mobile publisher, particularly for the ever-popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and the more recently released Watcher of Realms. Their latest effort is Silver and Blood, which is currently listed on Google Play as being developed by Vizta Games.

Though we have little go on apart from the storepage screenshots, it appears to be a strategic RPG. As for the setting, it takes place in 1353 at a time when an unpleasant-sounding illness called the Black Blood Disease has spread across the continent. A young lad named Noah contracts it but is saved by a girl who wants her kind to return to the moon. Yeah, it sounds like it certainly goes places.

With March of Nations, developer Starfox Game promises a military strategy sim that combines tactics with more casual elements. There are four countries to choose from – the USSR, Germany, the USA and Japan, with each offering different troops to recruit. They range from regular infantry to tanks. Of course, a mixture of each variant will prove crucial in winning your battles. There are also commanders available who can turn the tide of battle with their special abilities.

Outside of the battles, your time is spent creating and developing your base of operations, something that’s increasingly common in mobile games across multiple genres. As for game modes, March of Nations boasts several PvP options, including Arena and Legion Battles.

• Developer: Fried Chicken Labs
• Platforms: App Store/Google Play
• Country: iOS – Australia, Brazil, France, Mexico, Vietnam. Android – Fairly global

While the battle royale craze shows no signs of slowing down, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for new games to carve out a niche within the genre. That hasn’t deterred developers from trying, though, and Fried Chicken Labs hopes that Takedown Legends has enough about it to grab the people’s attention.

Playing out from an all-but top-down perspective, Takedown Legends takes the bright and colourful approach to battle royale, somewhat reminiscent of Butter Royale or even Brawl Stars’ aesthetic. Each match sees thirty players enter, with only the most skilful individual or team emerging victorious.

• Developer: Zynga
• Platforms: App Store/Google Play
• Country: Turkey, United Kingdon, United States

Zynga, who you likely know for, well, many things, are working on a new addition to their growing merge catalogue. FruitFall – don’t forget the double capital Fs – tasks you with merging fruits to beat each level. Simple, right? Judging by the store description, expect this to become more difficult as you progress.

At first, it’ll likely be a case of simply merging fruit, while the latter stages will introduce troublesome crates and frozen fruit that need thawing out before becoming useful. Zynga claims each level brings something different, keeping the challenge fresh and fun. Time will tell if that’s the case

• Developer: SayGames
• Platforms: App Store
• Country: Belarus, Brazil, Israel, Poland, Russia, United States

No matter how long I continue working in mobile games media, I shall never stop being amused by developers who opt for names that act as perfect descriptions. It’s efficiency at its finest, if a little uninspired. SayGames’ Pop Balls: Blast and Puzzle is a puzzler – but you knew that, right? – where you’re tasked with popping all the balloons on each level. Again, no surprises there.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. As you progress, the levels will get trickier, with new obstacles making your popping mission harder. And there are around 300 of them, so it should keep you occupied for a good while unless you’re a colour-matching savant.

• Developer: Nexon
• Platforms: PC
• Country: North and South America

The latest entry in Nexon’s series gives you the opportunity to create your own world. In theory, that allows for endless possibilities and, if everything goes to plan, allows the game to be something you can play forever. User-generated content isn’t always the best, though. So, its success lies in how well these tools work and the creativity of the players. For now, it’s only available on PC, but it will arrive on iOS and Android in the future.

• Developer: Homa/Naga Studio
• Platforms: iOS/Android
• Country: iOS – United States. Android – France and the United States

Now, this one immediately sparks a feeling of Deja Vu. Ah, yes. Gumslinger from Itatake, right? No, apparently not. The less-creatively-named Jelly Gunfight: Showdown is – apparently – another game entirely, coming from French developer Homa. As with Itatake’s game, Jelly Gunfight sees you battling in duels against wobbly characters. You’ll take turns firing shots at your opponent, using the various weapons and abilities at your disposal.