Apple Arcade is a video game subscription service by Apple Inc. for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS devices. It was announced in March 2019, and was released on September 19, 2019. It costs $5 US a month, with a one-month free trial. Right NOW It’s Only for the iPhone and iPad.
Here’s a review about the Apple Launcher…
"Because of the way the games are being offered, there’s no need for the developers to include any of the aggravations typical of modern gaming. There are no timers designed to stop you from playing the game you’re enjoying unless you pay extra. There are no ads. There are no energy meters, and no microtransactions… What we have played has generally been impressive. The average quality of game here is high. Many of these games are from top developers, whose lack of recent output is explained by the surprise appearance of their games here. There’s a story-based game about fixing gadgets from the makers of Monument Valley, a game about cars and roads from the brilliant makers of the railway game Mini Metro, and a terrific underwater riff on Metroid from Capcom.
There are fun new word games, exciting sidescrollers, and challenging strategy games. There are original and exclusive games and multi-platform entries like Mutazione, Sayonara Wild Hearts and Overland. There’s a new Frogger, a new Sonic Racing, and a new Chu Chu Rocket. And there’s a game about being a Sasquatch who steals camper’s lunches."
I’m waiting until the new Mac and iPad OS comes out so that I can play it on other devices - that being said, Apple Arcade does have a lot of cool games (e.g. Exit the Gungeon). I’m interested in what other people think about Apple locking games behind a subscription.
(wait I just realized that you can already play it on iPads. oh well, still hyped for iPad OS!)
I’m on the free month right now. I’m really liking it. It’s good games of a lot of variety, and all future DLC’s for the games as well as new games released are included in the subscription. It really seems like the Netflix for mobile games and I’m looking forward to see how it expands. I don’t know if I’ll stay longer than the free month for now, but it appears promising.
The games being locked behind a subscription does not bother me in the slightest. You still have to pay for apps on the App Store, so that’s not an issue IMO. The fact that they are intentionally making it so no games will have addons you have to pay for in the service is a big plus is my mind.
Spent some time using Apple Arcade. Here are my thoughts:
Pretty good! 5 bucks a month (60 dollars a year, price of a new game) is very reasonable, especially for the amount of quality games that you get. So far, I’ve played Exit the Gungeon, Overland, and Oceanhorn 2, all pretty decent games.
Although some games run a bit slowly on my iPhone 6s, I still had plenty of fun during my intense gaming sessions.
WHAT THE GOLF
Goofy fun physics puzzler. Only put ~20min into it, seems to fall more on the jokey side than real engaging gameplay, but they throw new things into the mix to keep it fresh.
Assemble with Care
Narrative heavy, very zen little puzzles involving fixing broken items. Narrative isn’t super interesting to me and puzzles seem overly simplistic, but it’s relaxing and engaging enough.
Skate City
Really didn’t grab me. Seems to follow more of the style of “Skate” than Tony Hawk games, which means more sim than I’d prefer. Got bored pretty quick, but probably didn’t give it a fair shake yet.
ChuChu Rocket Universe
Never played the original ChuChu Rocket games, so don’t know how this compares, but I like it. It’s a very traditional puzzler, doesn’t seem to do anything fancy or new, but the gameplay is enjoyable enough for me.
Grindstone
My all-star game thus far. Put an hour or so into it, fantastic match-3ish puzzler with some unique mechanics and great art/style.
