Apple Arcade | A new games subscription service

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade launches on 19 September and is a subscription service costing £4.99 per month. The service offers downloadable games to play on Apple products, free from adverts and with no additional purchases.

Apple wrote:> One subscription. All you can play.
> No ads. No additional purchases.
> Download to play online or off.
> Jump from iPhone to iPad, Mac and Apple TV.
> Share with up to five family members.

Mac Rumurs wrote:Apple Arcade will feature a little over 50 titles when it goes live to all on Thursday. New games will be added on a weekly basis, with Apple promising that over 100 new titles will be available "this autumn".

Things get off to a strong start this week, though, thanks to a number of highly anticipated indie games. There's Finji's Overland, for instance, plus the likes of Simogo's Sayonara Wild Hearts, The Gentlebros' Cat Quest 2, WayForward's Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Klei's Hot Lava, Dodge Roll's Exit the Gungeon, and Cornfox & Bros' Oceanhorn 2.

Launch catalogue

Agent Intercept (PikPok)
Assemble With Care (usTwo)
ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree (Wildboy Studios)
Big Time Sports (Frosty Pop)
Bleak Sword (Devolver Digital)
Card of Darkness (Zach Gage)
Cat Quest II (The Gentlebros)
Cricket Through the Ages (Devolver Digital)
Dead End Job (Headup)
Dear Reader (Local No. 12)
Dodo Peak (Moving Pieces)
Don't Bug Me! (Frosty Pop)
Dread Nautical (Zen Studios)
Exit the Gungeon (Devolver Digital)
Explottens (Werplay Priv.)
Frogger in Toy Town (Konami)
Grindstone (Capybara Games)
Hot Lava (Klei Entertainment)
King's League II (Kurechii)
LEGO Brawls (LEGO)
Lifeslide (Block Zero Games)
Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club)
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Neo Cab (Surprise Attack Games)
Oceanhorn 2 (Cornfox & Bros)
Operator 41 (Shifty Eye Games)
Over the Alps (Stave Studios)
Overland (Finji)
Patterned (Borderleap)
Projection: First Light (Blowfish Studios)
Punch Planet (Block Zero Games)
Rayman Mini (Ubisoft)
Red Reign (Ninja Kiwi)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Annapurna)
Shantae and the Seven Sirens (WayForward Technologies)
Shinsekai Into the Depths (Capcom)
Skate City (Snowman)
Sneaky Sasquatch (Rac7 Games)
Spaceland (Tortuga Team)
Speed Demons (Radiangames)
Spek. (Rac7 Games)
Spelldrifter (Free Range Games)
Stellar Commanders (Blindflug Studios)
Tangle Tower (SFB Games)
The Enchanted World (Noodlecake Studios)
The Get Out Kids (Frosty Pop)
The Pinball Wizard (Frosty Pop)
Tint. (Lykke Studios)
Various Daylife (Square Enix)
Way of the Turtle (Illusion Labs)
WHAT THE GOLF? (The Label)
Where Cards Fall (Snowman)
Word Laces (Minimega)

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I have barely ever played games on my Mac and I've been turned off from mobile gaming due to the "pay continuously" approach, but this service seems pretty decent. A large range of games with some attractive new titles... with no adverts or micro transactions.

Its an interesting proposition for sure.

I don't have an iPhone, but i do have an iPad. The thing is, if i'm going to pull out the iPad to play a game, i might as well pick up the Switch.
It does have me considering getting an iPhone though, as my Pixel 2 contract is up for renewal. That being said i have had excellent service out of my current phone, so i was fully intending on simply going on to a 12 month sim only contract. With this is mind it means i would basically paying about £35 a month for the Apple Arcade service :lol:

Maybe there are enough new features on the latest greatest iPhone to justify the outlay to me, but i have my doubts. If i already had an iPhone i would be absolutely investing in the Arcade set up though. The option to dip in to so many games casually on a lunch break or when waiting around for something without the stigma of pulling out a full blown hand held would be massive to me.

The games i have seen previewed look good, and the ps4 and xbox one pad integration is good for the more intensive games.

It’s a decent offering, but I feel a bit overloaded with games already. I certainly don’t need another subscription service. You can only get away with so many toilet breaks at work.

I'm not paying a fiver a month to play mildly diverting touchscreen games.

Oceanhorn 2 is a launch exclusive for this from what I can tell? That's reason enough to make people look at this! As is Exit the Gungeon.

Sayonara Wild Hearts and Overland both launch on the 19th, so getting them for £5 is a great deal compared to the £30+ combined cost for those two games on the eshop.

Poser wrote:I'm not paying a fiver a month to play mildly diverting touchscreen games.

Unfortunately for me I don't have an apple device so this is out of the question

Is "Jump from iPhone to iPad, Mac and Apple TV" a mandatory requirement? Always having to cater for touchscreen enabled gameplay is going to limit what type of game you're going to get on the service.

It's a good price, but it's not that much cheaper than Xbox Game Pass.

OrangeRKN wrote:
Poser wrote:I'm not paying a fiver a month to play mildly diverting touchscreen games.

Unfortunately for me I don't have an apple device so this is out of the question

Yeah, that does look nice enough. My head is still going 'controls controls controls'. I've simply never enjoyed any touchscreen game that involved moving a character or steering.

I might try and get the iPad OS beta on my iPad pro tonight and try the month trial.
Annoyingly its one of those trials you cant cancel straight away (as it will end your trial). I'm surprised Amazon has not started doing this yet. If i can get the beta to work then it might be come just at the right time as i have a couple of flights in the near future, and i probably would not be arsed to take a Switch, but an iPad would be useful for Netflix etc.

Poser wrote:My head is still going 'controls controls controls'. I've simply never enjoyed any touchscreen game that involved moving a character or steering.

Agreed, although I'm pretty sure you can connect an actual controller (or use keyboard/mouse if on an imac)

OrangeRKN wrote:
Poser wrote:My head is still going 'controls controls controls'. I've simply never enjoyed any touchscreen game that involved moving a character or steering.

Agreed, although I'm pretty sure you can connect an actual controller (or use keyboard/mouse if on an imac)

I believe they're looking to add native bluetooth PS4/Xbone pad support.

Chocolate-Milk wrote:I believe they're looking to add native bluetooth PS4/Xbone pad support.

Ah okay, I misread then and thought they already had it!

I think its in iOS13 (including the beta).

Website

jawafour wrote:I have barely ever played games on my Mac and I've been turned off from mobile gaming due to the "pay continuously" approach, but this service seems pretty decent. A large range of games with some attractive new titles... with no adverts or micro transactions.

That's the same reasons I almost never play games on my iPhone. The unresponsive touch controls, but more because of the horrific business model that means most games require you to watch adverts and pay for crystals etc. What's good about Apple Arcade is that the included titles in Apple Arcade are designed as full games and there should be some decent and unique titles and playable on the comfort of my Mac mini. I will do the trial but not sure if I will subscribe.

KK wrote:Is "Jump from iPhone to iPad, Mac and Apple TV" a mandatory requirement? Always having to cater for touchscreen enabled gameplay is going to limit what type of game you're going to get on the service.

My video on how to use the PS4 and Xbox One controllers with your iOS device.

I've had this available for the last few days but I'm not arsed. Only game I play on my phone is Pokemon Go.

I'm really enjoying this service. There are some great indie games on it. What the Golf is fantastic. Running the beta on my iPad.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:I'm really enjoying this service...

Eurogamer has been posting articles throughout the week about some of the great games available. For a fiver a month, it sounds like a terrific deal.

...and here are links and sound bites for the games they've highlighted so far:

Speed Demons

Speed Demons looks like Spy Hunter and plays like Burnout, and it's by App Store royalty. Is it good? Reader, it is wonderful.

Where Cards Fall

It is astonishing to me that Apple Arcade has launched with stuff this good, and it's just lurking in there waiting to be discovered.

Agent Intercept

Agent Intercept isn't as polished and pure as Speed Demons, perhaps, but it's still a lovely knockabout chase-'em-up game

Painty Mob

Last night I almost leapt out of bed and ran into the street wearing just my pyjamas, grabbing anyone I could find and loudly yelling, "Apple Arcade! It's this new thing on iOS! First month's free! The only game you need is Painty Mob!" I had been playing Painty Mob for about five minutes by that point. Now I'm several hours deep. The only difference is this: now I would yell even louder.

Skate City

Best of all, though, is the sheer mood of the thing. Los Angeles, Oslo and Barcelona are all gloriously strange places to skate through, bloomy, misty, given to sudden downpours. There is a real sense of melancholy to Skate City that fits beautifully with the business of subverting urban spaces for the hell of it

The Pinball Wizard

When you fall through the well, as I often do, you don't just lose a bit of health, you also have to witness the indignity of your hero climbing back upstairs again. The Pinball Wizard is full of stuff like this: it has been conjured with wit and charm.

What the Golf

What the Golf has got the lot, and it knows it just needs to keep it simple and pure: the game is catapulting things at other things whilst being constantly foiled, at every stage along the way, by the game itself. There's no point explaining it any more than that.

- - - - - - - - - -

I'm hugely tempted to investigate further. It seems that Apple is really serious about the service.

jawafour wrote:...and here are links and sound bites for the games they've highlighted so far:

Speed Demons
Speed Demons looks like Spy Hunter and plays like Burnout, and it's by App Store royalty. Is it good? Reader, it is wonderful.

Where Cards Fall
It is astonishing to me that Apple Arcade has launched with stuff this good, and it's just lurking in there waiting to be discovered.

Agent Intercept
Agent Intercept isn't as polished and pure as Speed Demons, perhaps, but it's still a lovely knockabout chase-'em-up game

Painty Mob
Last night I almost leapt out of bed and ran into the street wearing just my pyjamas, grabbing anyone I could find and loudly yelling, "Apple Arcade! It's this new thing on iOS! First month's free! The only game you need is Painty Mob!" I had been playing Painty Mob for about five minutes by that point. Now I'm several hours deep. The only difference is this: now I would yell even louder.

Skate City
Best of all, though, is the sheer mood of the thing. Los Angeles, Oslo and Barcelona are all gloriously strange places to skate through, bloomy, misty, given to sudden downpours. There is a real sense of melancholy to Skate City that fits beautifully with the business of subverting urban spaces for the hell of it

The Pinball Wizard
When you fall through the well, as I often do, you don't just lose a bit of health, you also have to witness the indignity of your hero climbing back upstairs again. The Pinball Wizard is full of stuff like this: it has been conjured with wit and charm.

What the Golf
What the Golf has got the lot, and it knows it just needs to keep it simple and pure: the game is catapulting things at other things whilst being constantly foiled, at every stage along the way, by the game itself. There's no point explaining it any more than that.

- - - - - - - - - -

I'm hugely tempted to investigate further. It seems that Apple is really serious about the service.

Thanks, I have seen a couple of these already, but I need to revisit and read them properly.
It's a brilliant service, took my iPad on holiday with me the last few days as my sole gaming device (for flights, early evening whilst getting read to go back out etc) and it was perfect.
Really good selection of games there.

Eurogamer are raining down compliments about Apple Arcade again; this time for Bleak Sword.

Bleak Sword is being widely cited as the game that redeems touchscreen sword-fighting. Honestly? It is brilliant: simple and thrilling and kinetic. What a game this is.

So close to signing up for this. A fiver a month for this many decent games? Crikey.

jawafour wrote:
kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:I'm really enjoying this service...

Eurogamer has been posting articles throughout the week about some of the great games available. For a fiver a month, it sounds like a terrific deal.

They've posted so many that it actually feels a bit suss to my naturally cynical brain. They're not reviews, but seem to be overwhelmingly positive.

Apple Arcade | A new games subscription service

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