New release roundup: The best new mobile games from the potently papery to an RPG parody

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

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.

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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.

Paper Trail

Newfangled Games has released multiplatform title Paper Trail, scrawling with papery puzzles to complete while physically folding the world, dragging objects, shining lights, and ultimately finding new paths forward.

Designed to be simple to learn but difficult to master, Paper Trail has already picked up over 40 awards and accolades, only reinforcing Newfangled’s game designing prowess after winning a BAFTA for Hue. The aesthetics of Paper Trail are powerful too, potently papery with printmaking and watercolour styles that add in some all-important variety.

As for the story, players follow the top-down journey of the aptly named Paige and meet plenty of characters with their own backgrounds and tales. On mobile, Paper Trail is exclusively available to Netflix subscribers, joining that ever-growing library of subscription-only games.

Solo Leveling: Arise

Following 12 million pre-registrations, the highly anticipated mobile RPG Solo Leveling: Arise is finally out globally, and quickly shot its way to the top of Google Play’s Free Games chart. This Netmarble title surpassed five million daily active users on its launch day, with so many fans eager to start levelling up.

Solo Leveling: Arise is based on the popular South Korean web novel and webtoon written by Chugong, known as Solo Leveling and Only I Level Up. The series has been expanding in 2024, first with an anime series and now with a mobile game developed by industry veteran Netmarble.

The developer has given the series a new 3D form as an RPG, and tasks players with levelling up Sun Jinwoo, an infamously weak hunter with plenty of room to improve. Of course, as is the nature of a video game setting, just how much Sun Jinwoo improves is entirely up to the player.

Athenian Rhapsody

In a parody of the RPG genre, Athenian Rhapsody fully leans into the retro style complete with a 90s-esque protagonist wearing an all-important backwards cap. That protagonist - the player - can set off on any adventure they want, creating their own story, fighting enemies, powering up, and even befriending creatures to grow a party of combatants.

This retro feel is further enforced by the pixelated artstyle and chiptune beats bursting through the soundtrack, to keep every player hyped and hyperfocused throughout their time with the game. And there’s plenty to fill that time with, including 3x3 slide puzzles, comedic battles, drawing bosses to battle, and everyone’s favourite, fetch quests.

Athenian Rhapsody has been developed by Nico Papalia and published by Top Hat Studios, known for distributing indie titles to all platforms. In Athenian Rhapsody’s case, the game is out now on iOS, Android, Steam, and Nintendo Switch.

Super Dragon Punch Force 3

Getting meta and blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Super Dragon Punch Force 3 is the third instalment in a franchise where its predecessors don’t actually exist. Sort of. The Super Dragon Punch Force series is a 2.5d fighter and fictional IP within the Boy Kills World action film, and now the third game is actually out in real life - not just a texture in a movie.

Not only that, this real game is also a free one, and features plenty of characters to choose from, plus plenty to beat up too. It includes full controller support on mobile and cross-progression with the PC version.

Mobile platform is no obstacle either, with Talent Digital Arts having released the game on iOS and Android. Quite the turnaround after literally no one could play Super Dragon Punch Force 1 or 2. Because they don’t exist. But Super Dragon Punch Force 3 does! Promise…

Japan Postman Moto Simulator

If exploring Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown in Japan sounds like the perfect way to spend your day then look no further than the one-to-one simulation inside Japan Postman Moto Simulator. However, rather than chilling and sight seeing the in-game experience tasks players with delivering packages through an AI-powered traffic system and an array of hazards.

Developer ChiGames has plenty of experience in the simulation genre covering plenty of professions, from Real Truck Driver: Parking to Mafia Noir: Stealth. Realistic graphics are a key selling point of Japan Postman Moto Simulator too, with lifelike renders of Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown and the many characters within it.

Players will learn their way around this real town while dodging dangerous motorists, navigating complicated paths and, of course, fulfilling their job requirements. A postman’s work is never over…but when it is, players can return to their in-game home and chill out with their cat: the greatest reward for a job well done.

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