Apple’s Arcade service launches on September 19, granting subscribers access to more than 100 games for $4.99 a month. The lineup of new and exclusive games coming to the service includes new Rayman, Pac-Man, Shantae, Steven Universe, and ChuChu Rocket games, as well as a new Square Enix RPG from the creators of Bravely Default.
A curated collection of quality games, free of obnoxious microtransactions and playable without an internet collection across Apple’s family of devices could generate a whole lot of goodwill towards mobile gaming. The service also launches for Apple TV on September 30 and MacOS Catalina in October, giving those platforms a lot more to play with as well.
Apple’s official press release for the service outlines a line-up of games rolling out to the service in the coming weeks that make the $5 monthly fee mighty attractive. Games like ChuChu Rocket Universe from Sega, Pac-Man Party Royale from Bandai Namco, and Ubisoft’s Rayman Mini offer new spins on classic properties. Overland from Finji and Blowfish’s Projection: First Light lend indie cred. And it’s hard to not be a little excited by Various Daylife, Square Enix’s new role-playing game, even if it does feature first-person turn-based combat.
Check out the list below from shots for some of the upcoming games. Would you pay $5 a month to play these?
- Ballistic Baseball — Gameloft’s baseball game features online battles between pitchers and batters. We need more baseball games.
- ChuChu Rocket! Universe — Sega’s classic puzzle game returns with more than 100 levels.My fingers itch just looking at it.
- Exit the Gungeon — From Devolver comes what I am guessing is the opposite of Enter the Gungeon.
- Overland — From Finji, Overland is a post-apocalyptic road trip game. That’s all the description I need.
- Pac-Man Party Royale — In the U.S. this game is known as Pac-Man Party Quarter Pounder with cheese.
- Projection: First Light — Blowfish’s new game stars Greta, a girl living in a “mythological shadow puppet world.”That’s almost as good as “post-apocalyptic road trip.”
- Rayman Mini — It’s Rayman running some more, as Rayman does, only this time he is small.
- Shantae and the Seven Sirens — From Wayforward comes the latest game in the Shantae saga, my favorite series of action platformers. I might like this one a lot.
- Sneaky Sasquatch — RAC7's adventure game about a sasquatch sneaking about, trying to remain mythological while having a good time.
- Steven Universe: Unleash the Light — The third game in Cartoon Network’s turn-based role-playing game series. Generally good stuff.
- Super Impossible Road — You thought the previous Impossible Road was impossible? Well, fuck you.
- The Bradwell Conspiracy — It’s a humourous conspiracy adventure from Bossa. Not a post-apocalyptic road trip.
- Various Daylife — From the makers of Bravely Default (yay!) and Octopath Traveler (boo!) comes this thing. Players explore a new continent, now and then becoming portraits on the lower left of the screen and issuing battle commands.