New release roundup: Borderlands Mobile, Netflix Playground, Sea of Stars, and more

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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.

So here’s a collection of the most exciting new mobile games right now, the developers and publishers behind them, and why, exactly, they’ve made the cut.

Sea of Stars

After winning Best Indie of 2023 at The Game Awards, Sabotage Studio’s pixel RPG Sea of Stars has finally made the voyage to mobile.

In this premium game, brought to iOS and Android by Playdigious, players follow the tale of two Children of the Solstice who must master the arts of the sun and moon to save the world.

Classic RPG themes meet a fresh twist on turn-based combat, as players are kept on their toes after selecting moves with time-based prompts to deal more damage and take less from enemies, too.

Borderlands Mobile

Zynga and NaturalMotion have soft-launched the brand-new Borderlands Mobile, shadow-dropped this week with no prior warning.

Mobile players can now join forces with their fellow Vault Hunters to take aim at insatiable corporations and loot goods. This handheld version has been optimised for mobile and includes Campaign Missions, the Tower of Terror and Circle of Slaughter.

Netflix Playground

Netflix has launched a new app called Netflix Playground, aiming to leverage popular children’s IPs in age-appropriate minigames.

Whether it’s Sesame Street, Peppa Pig or Bad Dinosaurs, children can find their favourites, play music together, race, take on memory games and play a match of basketball.

Annulus

Dark fantasy RPG Annulus combines turn-based battling and positional tactics to turn every combat scenario into a puzzle.

Developer Nirvana tasks players with optimising the space around their characters, whether against regular enemies or gigantic, fantastical bosses. They can also play cross-platform between PC and mobile.

Yahoo Solitaire Roadtrip

The latest entry in a new era of Yahoo Games, Yahoo Solitaire Roadtrip is now available on PC and mobile for all fans of card-based games.

Players are tasked with arranging cards in classic solitaire fashion while earning points, landing level-ups and gradually driving around a map of the United States. It marks the platform’s latest game as Yahoo builds out its portfolio, aiming to become a modern hub for casual games.

Hidden Around the World

Ogre Pixel’s Hidden Around the World sees players travel with photography apprentice Laly and her fairy Coronya to hand-drawn sites in Paris, Tokyo, Venice and beyond.

Available on PC, mobile and Nintendo Switch, players can uncover hidden objects from New York to Egypt, photographing cosy scenes along the way. The more objects and photos players capture, the more items, landmarks and animals they’ll unlock in their own customisable city.

Bounce & Shatter

Physics-based Bounce & Shatter offers brick breaker gameplay on iOS with a range of elemental balls. Whether it’s lightning-powered or a boomerang, players can aim and fire the ball to smash through blocks and chain their manoeuvres into destructive attacks worth plenty of bonus points.

Solo developer Juraj Dollinger-Lenharcik has taken a twist on the genre by including boss battles, too.

Jackbox Party Essentials

Jackbox Games has brought a collection of its popular party titles to Netflix with the new release of Jackbox Party Essentials, available to Netflix subscribers. 

The bundle includes three games from The Jackbox Party Pack series, Fibbage 4, Quiplash 3 and Drawful 2. These combine bluffing trivia, comedy writing and drawing challenges into one bundle.

Players can launch the game on Netflix and use their phones as controllers by scanning a QR code, making for group game nights in the living room.

Animal Busters

Idle RPG Animal Busters has launched with over 60 animals to collect and level up, from dogs to cats to a nine-tailed fox. There’s also gear to farm, crafting, a PvP arena and five dungeons to explore.

Developed by LINE Games’ affiliate Super Awesome, the global launch is currently being celebrated with a range of events and plenty of gacha tickets to begin unlocking animals.

Jetpack Joyride Racing

From Halfbrick Studios, the team has expanded the Jetpack Joyride franchise with Jetpack Joyride Racing. The real-time multiplayer kart racer is now available on iOS and Android.

Jetpack Joyride Racing is designed for quick sessions and each race focuses on accessible multiplayer competition built for mobile.

The game brings familiar characters from Jetpack Joyride into a new genre, marking Halfbrick Studios’ kart-racing debut.