It’s been another great week for new releases, and not just because two of the games on this list are set in space.
We have Magic: The Gathering Arena, the highly anticipated mobile port of the PC game, which itself is a port of one of the best physical card shufflers ever.
We don’t give out a game of the week award, but if we did, this week’s award would go to Bart Bonte’s Pink, another masterful and stylish puzzle from the color series that also includes blue, the green, red and yellow.
Go download it now, then come back and read the rest of this article.
New games
Available in Early Access rather than properly released, Magic: The Gathering Arena has nonetheless gained a lot of attention since launching this week. This is the closest thing to the sublime card battle in Wizard of the Coast’s masterpiece. Reviews on this site suggest there are some startup issues, but it’s worth a look.
Micetopia is already available on other platforms, where it is doing moderately well in critical terms. This metroidvania musine is unmistakably adorable, with her little pixel-art mouse hero scurrying around, killing other little animals with her sword. But it is short and quite in numbers. Even so, we think it’s worth playing if you’re the market for a quick, shallow metroidvania affair.
Youzu’s Latest is a cartoonish strategy MMO in which you play as a lord defending his kingdom against evil gnomes. Is it original? Not really. But it’s a solid strategy game with decent production values and a neat graphic style. If you’re looking for a new free-to-play MMO, this is a good place to start.
Galaxt Genome is an ambitious SKVGames space trader. It runs deep in the interstellar void, as humanity faces an existential threat from an unknown source. You are a brave pilot, delivering contraband, avoiding the law, and generally trying to build a life – holy or sinful – in the depths of space. It has over 2 billion star systems, apparently, and early user reviews are excellent.
After a successful run in Japan, Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Tact has made the jump everywhere. The game allows you to befriend, train and fight with a team of monsters from the Dragon’s Quest franchise. Early reviews are poor, but there’s no denying that Dragon Quest Tact is a gorgeous and vibrant mobile game.
The launch of a new puzzle based on Bart Bonte color is always cause for celebration. This time, the developer opted for the color pink. Each of the 50 levels in pink has its own logic and rules, which are never explained, which requires you to experiment and tinker with. User reviews are, as always, out of this world. An essential game.
You wait all day for a space game, then two arrive at a time. Joining Galaxy Genome in the space sci-fi genre this week is Stellar Hunter, an RPG with roguelike elements. You play as the sole survivor of a space crash, and each game sees you visiting strange planets, recruiting a crew, and making choices. It’s a bit like FTL, in other words.