{"id":91886,"date":"2019-04-12T11:17:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pockettactics.com\/articles\/best-new-ios-android-games-april-12th-219\/"},"modified":"2019-04-12T11:17:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T11:17:02","slug":"the-weekender-simulator-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/04\/12\/the-weekender-simulator-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weekender: Simulator Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a bit of a slower week than I\u2019d initially planned \u2013 I was away on Monday, but I was hoping to post up a review of Egypt: Old Kingdom<\/em> yesterday. It released by accident when we mentioned it in a past Weekender update but we were expecting it to re-surface today \u2013 no joy though. Still as soon as it turns up we\u2019ll have our review ready.<\/p>\n

Hopefully you enjoyed reading out thoughts on Cultist Simulator<\/em><\/a> & NecroDancer: Amplified<\/em><\/a>. We\u2019ve got plenty more reviews coming down the pipe now, and Nick\u2019s even returning after a break for some feature work.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile gaming\u2026<\/p>\n

Out Now<\/h2>\n

Solar Settles (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>) \u2013 Full review coming soon!<\/em><\/h3>\n

From the mind that also brought us Minos Strategos<\/em><\/a> & Militia<\/em><\/a>, Solar Settlers<\/em> is essentially a worker placement game about space exploration and colonisation. It\u2019s inspired by board game design, featuring a central grid and \u2018cards\u2019 that you can use to either gain resources or change a space on the board, provided you meet the placement requirements.<\/p>\n

You only have a limited number of rounds to settle the required number of colonists, but colonists need oxygen to survive, which you have to harvest from nearby planets. You also need fuel hydrogen to move them around, and ores to play cards.<\/p>\n

We actually meant to mention this last week, but it completely slipped my mind. I managed to take it for a quick spin last night, and it\u2019s pretty interesting. A bit low budget, but the careful balancing act of moving your colonists around, getting the resources they need, but also ensuring you settle everyone in time (which you need to draw cards for) is pretty engaging. The game features challenges and a ranking system as well.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pVpMl0EaLvw?controls=0]<\/p>\n

SFD ROGUE TRPG (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>) \u2013 Full Review Coming Soon!<\/em><\/h3>\n

The roguelike train keeps on rocking along, and we have a new one to offer up to the gods of permadeath this week. SFD<\/em> seems to be a tactical RPG first, with roguelike elements, featuring randomly generated dungeons, turn-based combat, over 200 weapons, spells & other items as well as 7 adventures to try out.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a free demo available for anyone who wants to give it a whirl first, which gives you access to a single dungeon floor. SFD<\/em> stands for \u2018Sigma Finite Dungeon<\/em>\u2019, apparently.<\/p>\n

Construction Simulator 3 (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Having spent my career covering PC games more than any other platform, I discovered the world of \u2018Simulator\u2019 games quite early. Like, the OG simulator games \u2013 Railway Simulator<\/em>, Farming Simulator<\/em>\u2026 it tickles me to learn that mobile is not immune to these pervasive, cumbersome games about drilling holes and driving around.<\/p>\n

Construction Simulator 3<\/em> has been out since March, we think, but it recently got given a 1.1 update that brought it up to our radar. It\u2019s mainly about driving around, building and\/or repairing things, and this time it\u2019s set in Europe. I mean, now it\u2019s got the Liebherr LB28! That\u2019s bound to have made someone\u2019s day \u2013 apparently, it\u2019s a drilling rig that lets you set better foundations for bridges. Yes mate. (Small caveat – there do appear to be IAPs for some kind of in-game currency.)<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8kTW5gZvG6g?controls=0]<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also putting a shout-out for Aldarix the Battlemage<\/em><\/a>, which is an android-only game that was described by the developer as \u201cKinda like Hoplie, but with spells\u201d<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t able to give it a whirl in time for today\u2019s tome, but if anyone does end up checking it out, let us know.<\/p>\n

Updates<\/h2>\n

Reigns: Games of Thrones (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>) (Review<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Ahead of the imminent release of Season 8, The Game of Thrones Reigns<\/em> spin-off has been given a free update with over 100 new cards which tie in with the upcoming show. We imagine there may be more than a few spoilers, so beware. There\u2019s also a sale running on Android.<\/p>\n

Marathon Trilogy (iOS Universal<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

We our information to TouchArcade for this one \u2013 you should check out Jared\u2019s write-up for the full story<\/a>, but it seems that after six the free iOS ports of Bungie\u2019s classic Marathon<\/em> games are finally getting updates again. The first milestone dropped at the end of January that brought all three games up to speed and workable with iOS 12, and then different games have been getting additional patches in the months since.<\/p>\n

I never played the Marathon games, but I\u2019m a big fan of Halo<\/em>, so I\u2019m glad to see this part of Bungie\u2019s history is still being cared for on mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Ticket to Earth (iOS<\/a> & Android<\/a>) (Review<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

Investing in Ticket to Earth is continuing to pay off. Episode 3 was finally released in December last year, and this week the game has received a new update that adds in new tutorials, as well as \u2018rookie\u2019 and \u2018veteran\u2019 difficulty modes that focus the player on either the story, or the tactical puzzles respectively. It\u2019s also running a sale on iOS.<\/p>\n

Sales<\/h2>\n

Going to do a quicker round-up than what we usually do this week, as it\u2019s mainly iOS-only sales, sorry Android users!<\/p>\n

Team 17<\/a> are running a sale on most of their iOS catalogue, and Overhaul have made Baldur\u2019s Gate<\/em><\/a> half price. It\u2019s not the cheapest it\u2019s been though, so you can probably afford to wait. Another PT favourite, Space Grunts<\/em><\/a>, is going for a couple of dollars.<\/p>\n

The only sale this week that\u2019s on both iOS & Android is Age of Rivals<\/em><\/a>, which is a great strategy boardgame.<\/p>\n

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a bit of a slower week than I\u2019d initially planned \u2013 I was away on Monday, but I was hoping to post up a review of Egypt: Old Kingdom yesterday. It released by accident when we mentioned it in a past Weekender update but we were expecting it to re-surface today \u2013 no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile-game-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}