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: Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Sweden

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, 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: NimbleBit LLC
• Platform: Android/iOS
• Country: Canada, United Kingdom. Previously Brazil

Pixel Rockets: Universe Tycoon, previously known as Pocket Rockets, is a sci-fi exploration game where you manage a fleet of space-faring craft. But this isn’t some Star Wars-esque experience where you spend your time battling with rockets shaped like letters. Instead, think of yourself as an intergalactic postal worker, delivering weird and wonderful things across the cosmos. Of course, your ships are upgradeable, presumably allowing you to travel to far-off galaxies more efficiently.

• 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: Sandsoft Games (iOS), Quicksand Games (Android)
• Platform: iOS/Android
• Country: iOS – Czech Republic, Finland, France, Netherlands, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United States. Android – Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom.

While carrying death around in your back pocket might sound a tad macabre, it’s a much cuter affair in Pocket Necromancer. Predominately sporting a lovely purple and blue aesthetic, it’s an appealing game. But looks aren’t everything, so what’s it all about? Well, it’s an action RPG where you have to destroy the demon hordes that tirelessly threaten your territory. To do so, you can summon various minions to aid you in battle, with your forces ranging from spell-slinging wizards to your classic skeleton knight.

• Publisher: DoubleDown Interactive
• Platform: iOS/Android
• Country: Canada, Denmark, 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 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 make 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-2/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 strike 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!”

It doesn’t take more than a glance at Moonton’s Acecraft to know where the inspiration came from. There’s wearing your influences on your sleeve, and there’s faithfully recreating Cuphead, it seems. The difference is that, as the name implies, Acecraft sees you piloting a plane the entire time rather than also engaging in sidescrolling levels. The aesthetic is lovely, no doubt, but it’s hard to not view it as anything more than a copycat game. Let’s hope the gameplay does enough to set it apart.

A mobile-4X strategy – alliances and all – that takes the popular EVE MMO setting and spins it into strategic battles, base-building and expansive, large-group play. We’re excited to give EVE Galaxy Conquest a go and see how the developers have managed to adapt the feeling of ‘THE’ space MMO into a social, mobile experience.

EVE Galaxy Conquest slipped into soft launch in November of last year, so we’re not too sure how long it’ll be before it goes global – but it’s definitely one to watch.

While it could be argued that Ragnorok 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.

Ragarock 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.

Here’s one that we’ve featured before, that didn’t quite make it, but is back with a vengeance. Plants Vs Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia has now soft-launched in the UK and other select regions. We’ve listed the regions that were in the official press release above, however, it should be added that it was also available in Ireland and Romania last year, and so it may well be available elsewhere.

The big change here, other than a very nice visual overhaul, is that there’s an episodic structure to its narrative, with new characters and lore coming before release. You’ll also be able to customise and build up your own version of Neighborville, but we’re waiting on more details about that.

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.