Apple has created the mobile arcade to triumph over all mobile arcades, and we are excited! In less than a week, Apple will release Apple Arcade to the general public and showcase over 100 new and exclusive games. It is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. So if you are an Apple user on any device, you will be able to take advantage of this gaming subscription starting on September 19th!
Note: Apple Arcade is currently available to beta testers on iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. These are the games you can play in the beta right now.
Apple occasionally offers updates to iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS as closed developer previews or public betas for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac (sadly, no public beta for the Apple Watch). While the betas contain new features, they also contain pre-release bugs that can prevent the normal use of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Mac, and are not intended for everyday use on a primary device. That’s why we strongly recommend staying away from developer previews unless you need them for software development, and using the public betas with caution. If you depend on your devices, wait for the final release.
Currently available in Apple Arcade
Staff Pick
This game is determined to be your favorite game since it probably was from your childhood too. Play alone or join your friends on an epic adventure of jumping from couch to ceiling to avoid the lava.
Race to escape the hell dungeon while dodging and going through treacherous obstacles and opponents.
You play as Shantae, who is a half-genie hero who visits what seems to be a tropical paradise. Trouble arises, and you will have to explore new towns, escape labyrinths and defeat bosses. You will also be able to adjust Shantae’s powers to suit your gaming style.
Lego is multiplayer in this building and rebuilding adventure game. Build your own heroes and work together to go through the levels. You can even turn your Apple TV into the scoreboard.
The main game mechanic is to build buildings and pathways of cards, but it is a lot more than just that. You will also complete puzzles and use the spaces you create. This game is immersive. Explore physics and this card world as you can create based on your imagination.
An extreme post-apocalyptic survival game where you search for supplies, rescue strangers, and battle creatures to make it through alive.
As the size of an ant, Rayman tries to make it through the world as fast as possible to achieve the best score.
Play as an adorable sasquatch as you sneak around in disguises, steal lunches, and play golf… You know, normal sasquatch stuff.
Jump through obstacles ranging from blocks to babies while you rescue frogs and collect jellybeans. This colorful game is high energy and a blast to work your way through.
Discover and explore a new continent while living your character’s best life in this Imperial Era RPG.
Breathtaking. The visuals on this game are amazing. This game is a prequel of the first Oceanhorn game and set 1000 years earlier. You will be able to explore dungeons and collect treasures all while discovering the gorgeous landscapes.
This multi-touch game will make you feel like you are really skating through the streets as if it were your own personal playground, which is great because some of us never learned how to skateboard.
On a journey to piece the world back together, you will explore meadows, dive deep into caves, and go through deserts to solve the puzzles.
This game takes place in an underwater world where the water is frozen over. You must battle creatures of the depths and collect items along the way to survive and explore the new world.
Cool Indie Game
Players will venture out as a young warrior named Estra in search of answers for her father’s death. Gameplay will include complex puzzles and rhythm game battle sequences in the 2D world.
This is a pop soundtrack game where you play the role of a masked biker called The Fool. The Fool is trying to find harmony in the universe while trying to gain back the pieces of your heart.
From the developers of the beloved Monument Valley series, comes a puzzle game that tasks you to fix old trinkets and gadgets one screw at a time!
Battle your way through 150 levels of Grindstone mountain defeating creeps along the way. You’ll need a sharp wit to solve the puzzle and a sharp sword to cut up the critters!
The golf game for people who hate golf, get ready to fling yourself, birds, cars, and everything else but a golf play in this wacky physics-based golf game.
Cast spells, slay monsters, and save the world in this beautifully animated adventure game with card play mechanics.
Use the clues to help solve each jigsaw puzzle — each of which starts out as a simple sketch. With any luck, by the end of each level, you’ll have a beautiful full-screen piece of art.
This one-vs-one strategy game will have you fighting over control for planets. You have seven minutes to beat your opponent or the entire plant will explode!
Classic tactical grid-style turn-based combat with a sci-fi twist, Spaceland gives you access to multiple units, weapons, and more!
You’re part of a high-speed chase and it’s going to take all the skill you have and stunts you can pull off in order to catch the bad guys!
This 2D sci-fi fighting game has all the charm of classic arcade fighters — with special moves, interesting characters, and a ton of finger tapping action!
Help the spy call headquarters with vital info be stealthily making your way to the telephone. Watch out for guards, cameras, lasers, and other obstacles in your way.
Build up your base and defend it from other players, with over 20 different types of units in this real-time strategy game.
A successor to the wonderful Mini Metro, Mini Motorways tasks you with fixing traffic jams and helping everyone get to work on time.
Bugs are attacking your base on the planet Mars and they need to be squashed. Manage your resources and defend your base with a little bit of first-person shooter action and special skills.
Train and manage your troops as you try to climb the King’s League. Lead your team into tactical combat and win the battles and the glory.
A chaotic shoot ’em up style game where the evil cats of KLAW have all but enslaved kitten-kind. Blast them out of the sky and take back the land of Catmandu.
A cool hybrid of tactical RPG combat and deck-building mechanics, Spelldrifter will make you think hard to defeat your enemies.
The narrative puzzle game will have your sneaking out of the house at in the middle of the night searching for your missing dog. Nothign is quite as it seems and you may just find yourself in the middle of a mystery!
Fill with unique line art, wonderful soundscapes, and vibrant colors, Spek. will ensure you never look at a square the same way again.
A wonderfully wacky 3D platformer, Way of the Turtle will have you jumping, collecting coins, and navigating across a dangerous island.
One of the last human cab drivers left, you’ll need to pick up fares, navigate the futuristic city, and maintaining a good rating to stay on the road.
It’s 1939 in Switzerland and you’re on the run. You’ll need to make hard choices that affect the outcome of the game as you make your way across Europe.
Ties the words together with shoelaces to solve the puzzles, in this simple and fun word puzzle game.
Classic books become puzzles as Dear Reader mixes up prose and tasks you for putting it back together properly!
A fun and a fast-paced game where you’ll need to tap, swipe and press the screen all sorts of different ways to compete for the best time in several sporting events.
This tactical turn-based RPG has rogue-like elements as you face the supernatural forces trying to skip your ship!
In Bleak Sword you’ll struggle across compact battlefields by striking down a bunch of different monsters, in this dark fantasy game.
You play has hector and employee of Ghoul-B-Gone who is an expert at Ghoul busting. The vibrant cartoon-style art makes this game look as charming as it is nostalgic.
A sequel to the wonderful adventure RPG, Cat Quest, you’ll be sharping your claws and making more cat-related puns than you can handle!
Throw balls, swing bats, and hope you don’t end up in pieces. Go through the ages — both past and future — in this silly physics-based game about one of the world’s most popular sports.
Coming soon to Apple Arcade
Editor’s Pick
Cartoon Network developed this game based on the animated series. You will play as Steven and learn how to use your powers to help protect the universe.
This arcade game features the head to head battle between pitcher and batter. This game also has the ability for a live mode to play multiplayer matches.
A 3D adventure where the future holds an AI-controlled utopia. You will play as a character that is vowed to rescue a child who has been kidnapped and brought to Union City.
A single-player card game that allows you to change the rules and the cards as you play to save your school and the world.
With randomly generated levels, you will never feel stagnant in this side-scrolling runner. All of the beautifully pictured levels are hand-painted too.
A mysterious plot with backgrounds created by hand. The developers then added 3D characters to the photographs of the real-life sets.
In this eerie game, you will play a hitchhiker and get rides from strangers in each section of the game. You will be faced with decisions to steer the conversations and change the gameplay.
Play as the character Jenny, who has to defend her mother from being charged for murder. She explores, finds clues, and has to grow up a lot in this mystery adventure game.
Like most developers, Frosty Pop is holding their cards close to their chest before the big release day. They have tweeted their excitement and release a couple of images on Twitter.
This is a celebration of play itself and speaks to how people don’t grow up; they stop playing. Arthouse targets a more mature audience and is meant to inspire creativity to the masses.
A cryptic game of coded telegrams based in Russia. Described by the game programmers as a “pocket-epic in glorious technicolor.”
A single-player game that messes with 2D and 3D constructs through obstacles. Collect things along the way and avoid enemies.
The game developers, SMG, posted this teaser image with nothing else and they are not giving anything else away. So we can safely assume there are multiple species on this colorful adventurous game.
A spin on the treasured classic game. Play in four-player Battle Mode and be the last PAC-MAN standing to win.
This recognizable character has a lot of people talking. Will this be a Team Sonic Racing game or just a twist on a classic character. Less than one week away until you can start your Sonic Racing campaigns.
This action-packed game doesn’t have a ton of information out. However, what we do know is it is created by the same developers that created Shantae, but this one will be exclusively on Apple Arcade.
We can only assume that this game has to do with a spy device in the disguise of a spider. Either way, the few teaser images, and GIFs have us excited about the gameplay.
Cartoon Network developed this game based on the animated series. You will play as Steven and learn how to use your powers to help protect the universe.
Set on galactic backdrops, this racing game will be incredibly challenging as you will have to master high speed turns and race your way to victory.
While on a quest for self-discovery, you will explore a colorful world as a musician named Francis Vendetti and let the music take you away.
The story is set in 2026. You survive an explosion at a corporate event and discover another survivor. Go through the game and ask questions to uncover a deep-seated conspiracy in the mega-company, Bradwell Electronics.
Explore a forested island to dispel a curse. A blend of action and story will take you to a mythical dream-like world as you delve deeper into this game.
Just like UFOs, this game is a mystery for now. We do know that it is a beautifully pictured game of UFOs and adventure.
Create worlds and make friends. This dreamy-like puzzle adventure is all about exploration, friendship, and acceptance.
A role-playing action game where your decisions will change your progression. This folktale will change every time you play it so even if you think you are done… there are so many infinite possibilities.
An intense 2D single-person hand-drawn action-adventure game. We know very little about how to play, but the trailer for it is absolutely gorgeous.
Other Titles Confirmed for Apple Arcade
- Box Project (Developers: Mediocre Mel)
- Doomsday Vault (Developers: Flightless)
- Down in Bermuda (Developers: Yak & Co)
- Enter the Construct (Developers: Directive Games)
- Possessions (Developers: Noodlecake and Lucid Labs)
- Repair (Developers: UsTwo Games)
Players, are you ready?
Apple has really set the stage with this amazing line up of developers and games. With no ads, one low price, and endless gaming possibilities, it is going to be very interesting to see how this changes mobile gaming. In this huge mix of games, there is something for everyone, even the most serious gamers. It is almost unbelievable that these developers and Apple were able to create something so rich in content for a small hand-held device.
While we have tried to put all of the games that have been released on this list, we know there is way more than this that hasn’t been revealed, so we will update this list as we discover new games. Since Apple has opened the door to developers for the Apple Arcade, you can only expect more as time goes on.
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