nuts-apple-arcade
Apple Arcade has two new games planned for January.
Apple

We’re just a few days into 2021, but Apple Arcade is already teasing some new games. Since its launch in 2019, Apple’s subscription mobile gaming service has released over 140 games to play across the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. One of the most anticipated games of 2020 — The Pathless from Annapurna Interactive and Giant Squid — joined the $5-a-month service in November.

Apple Arcade has steadily released new games every week or so, as well as updating others. Even though the gaming service has amassed an impressive catalog of games, we’re still waiting on some of the biggest titles promised at launch.

Here are the latest titles announced by Apple Arcade.

Populus Run

Developer: Fiftytwo

populus-run
Apple

Control a crowd of people in this quirky new running game. Battle bosses and dodge giant food obstacles on the track.

Nuts

Developer: Noodlecake Studios

nuts
Apple

The squirrel population in Melmoth Forest is acting suspiciously and it’s up to you, as a field researcher, to get to the bottom of it. Pack up your map, cameras, motion sensors, thermal imaging tech and GPS for the weirdest surveillance mission ever. Along the way, you’ll be tasked with missions: placing cameras, observing footage, tracking the squirrels’ movements and more. With all that gear, plus your logic and wit, will you be able to uncover a bigger conspiracy?

Spire Blast

Developer: Orbital Knight

spire-blast-apple-arcade
Apple

Spire Blast is a Candy Crush-style puzzle game in which players must match colored bricks to blast and knock down towers. Your hungry dragon companions can help, but you have to take care good care of them. The game is physics-based, so be mindful of how you match and shoot the bricks, it will all influence how the tower topples.

Read more: Apple Arcade offers 3-month free trial with new Apple device purchase

Here are the other games we’re hoping to see in 2021.

The Artful Escape

Developer: Annapurna Interactive

artful-escape-2.png
Annapurna Interactive/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

The Artful Escape tells the story of teenage guitar prodigy Francis Vendetti. On the night of his first performance, Francis finds himself on a psychedelic quest of self discovery. Along the way, he battles dead folk legends and, at times, his own imagination.

The Artful Escape was first announced at E3 2017 and was listed in the Apple Arcade lineup last year. The X019 trailer promises a colorful, neon, musical side-scroller.

Enter the Construct

Developer: Directive Games

apple-introduces-apple-arcade-enter-the-construct-03252019
Apple

Not many details were available about Enter the Construct last year, except that it was expected to be available at Apple Arcade’s launch. At that time, the images and videos showed the game as a first-person sci-fi shooter. Since then, there has been little to no information about Enter the Construct, so it’s possible it’s taken on a new name or has been canceled. Directive Games didn’t respond to a request for comment, but we’ll update if we hear anything.

Fantasian

Developer: Mistwalker

d2orunpucait0-u
Mistwalker

Fantasian’s creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, a mastermind behind multiple RPGs including Final Fantasy, posts updates about the upcoming JRPG game fairly regularly on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you’re excited about Fantasian, you can scroll through Sakaguchi’s social media and get a look at the game’s concept art and its handcrafted dioramas as they’re being built. Mistwalker has posted designs of New Town En, Magitech Factory in Machine City, Secret Base and the Water City of Vence from the game.

HitchHiker

Developers: Mad About Pandas

hitchhiker
HitchHiker/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

HitchHiker is a mystery puzzle game where you play as the hitchhiker who doesn’t remember anything about their identity, their past or their destination. You’ll travel with five different drivers and make choices in the conversations that can help you remember your dark secrets. Solve environmental puzzles, keep an eye out for clues everywhere and make alliances — but remember that nothing is what it seems.

Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon

Developer: Cornfox & Bros.

chronos-dungeon
Cornfox & Bros./Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon, launching soon on Apple Arcade as part of the first chapter in the Oceanhorn Expanded Universe. The new game will play as a 16-bit style dungeon-crawler and include a local co-op mode for up to four players. Chronos Dungeon takes place 200 years after the events of Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm.

Proxi

Developers: Will Wright and Gallium Artists

proxi
Team Proxi/Twitter

Proxi is an AI simulation game from The Sims creator Will Wright. The game is built out of the player’s memories, using them as building blocks in the 3D world. Instead of creating a city or a house, as the player would do in The Sims, Proxi models the brain. You can store memories and millions of interconnected concepts, according to the website.

Ultimate Rivals: The Court

Developer: Bit Fry

ultimate-rivals-the-court
Bit Fry/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

This is a basketball-based follow-up to last year’s Ultimate Rivals: The Rink, which was a hyped-up three-on-three ice hockey game where you played as real stars from all kinds of sports — with added superpowers. Future iterations of the game could bring football, baseball or soccer to Apple Arcade.

Wonderbox

Developer: Aquiris

wonderbox
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET

When Wonderbox, formerly Box Project, was announced for Apple Arcade, there weren’t many details available aside from a photo of a cardboard box. Now, the action-adventure game is due out soon, has an official name, and looks like fun for the whole family.