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New release roundup: The best new mobile games from 2D monster duels to a sidescrolling pirate penguin

We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business

New release roundup: The best new mobile games from 2D monster duels to a sidescrolling pirate penguin

Produced alongside our friends at PocketGamer.fun - THE place to discover your next favourite mobile games - here's our pick of the best fresh-this-week titles.

While the deals and the stats of the gaming world are important, nothing would happen without the research, funding and, of course, development that goes into making a great game. PocketGamer.fun brings you latest games, lets you see them in action and download right from the page.

So here are the most exciting new mobile games right now, the developers and publishers behind them, and why, exactly, they've made the cut.

Duel Revolution

Anyone longing for the days of burrowing away under their bedcovers and battling it out with monsters in 2D pixel glory is in for a treat with Duel Revolution, the latest Pokémon-like RPG full of creatures to catch, train and duel with. The retro artstyle is a clear harkening back to GBA era with charming character sprites and classic environments like caves and grassy plains.

As an MMO, Duel Revolution needs permanent online access to play with others and is all about battling with a team of Evos - the creatures inhabiting the island of Bitacora. The battles themselves take place against NPCs and other real-time players in-game, and with 50 Evos to uncover so far - each having its own abilities and 12-level skill tree - there is plenty of customisation potential when looking to build the winning team.

Duel Revolution has launched on iOS, Android and Steam with regular content updates planned. It follows developer Game Matter’s casual game House of Drawn Mouse, though Duel Revolution has in fact been in development for 10 whole years.

Shovel Pirate

2D sidescroller Shovel Pirate is, as the name implies, all about a shovelling pirate on a hunt for treasure. That pirate’s also a penguin, and on its hunt for the wackiest treasure around, needs to navigate platforms and puzzles, clear clever traps and get some social interaction with the other in-game characters.

As the latest game from Super Cat Tales: Paws maker Neutronized, the cutesy artstyle is guaranteed to impress as the plump pixelated penguin pirate smacks around jungle animals before they know what’s happening, digging up diamonds on the way to the finish line.

Shovel Pirate’s artstyle is indeed very reminiscent of Super Cat Tales: Paws, Snow Dudes and Picnic Penguin, with the latest title only further proving Neutronized’s proficiency in the look and feel of retro gaming.

BROK the InvestiGator

While a cartoon alligator detective may sound like the ideal protagonist for an afterschool kids’ show, BROK the InvestiGator is actually a video game with some darker themes to explore. Combining adventure and puzzle genres together into a multiplayer RPG, BROK’s also a beat ‘em up set in a "light cyberpunk" future where anthropomorphic animals have taken over, replacing humans in all facets of life right down to social troubles.

Having originally launched on console in 2022, the story is fully voice-acted and branches in different directions depending on each player’s choices, down to whether they lie or tell the truth, talk or fight. It follows the titular alligator Brok on an investigation through a puzzling point-and-click world. Co-op is possible on one device provided players have access to Bluetooth controllers.

BROK the InvestiGator comes from French developer Breton Fabrice and follows in the footsteps of another mysterious mobile title, Demetrios.

iLLANG

Inspired by Werewolf, iLLANG is the latest Among US-like game but this time with chibi anime characters instead of crewmates. As a social deduction game, iLLANG tasks players with working in groups of up to 20 to find the "wolf" of the party, known as the Illang, to put an end to their wicked deeds.

Each round, players assigned the Illang role can sabotage the rest of the villagers’ objectives and eat them one by one, with the end of each phase seeing players communicate to determine who the Illang is. If they guess right that Illang is wiped out of the game. If they guess wrong the game continues and at the end of the third night, the team with the most remaining members wins.

Challengers Games released iLLANG in soft launch in early February and has now opened its global servers, bringing new features like an auto translator so that villagers and Illang can play together from all over the world, overcoming the language barrier.

Atlas Fury

Rounding out a week with plenty of retro-style games, Excerion Sun is aiming for the stars with its first mobile game Atlas Fury. Inspired by Tyrian and Space Invaders, Atlas Fury is a space shooter arcade game with a nostalgic graphical style and a difficult challenge to overcome: facing down hordes of cosmic adversaries.

Gameplay involves dodging and blasting through enemies from all over the galaxy, testing players’ reflexes and reaction times as well as their tactical abilities. There are 19 ships to choose from each with their own effects, and 10 survival levels to clear, plus five endless levels.

Random events can strengthen or weaken the player and their enemies, giving Atlas Fury something of a roguelike element. But Excerion Sun holds firm that this is an arcade title, not a roguelike, nor a roguelite either. Whatever the case, the game marks a big departure from Excersion’s health and fitness app.


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News Editor

Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he's now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was...at putting words in the right order.