Best New Android Games and Sales: Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, The First Tree, Thumper, and More

There’s a staggering amount of variety and innovation on display in this week’s line-up of new Android games. Take Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, which combines the addictive engineering-based gameplay of the Bridge Constructor series with the frenetic action of a zombie game.

The First Tree, meanwhile, is an animal-based walking simulator, and Tomb Toad is a dungeon crawler that you control entirely by tilting your phone. In terms of technology and game design, mobile gaming keeps coming up with new ways to amuse us.

New Games

Following the success of visionary mashup Bridge Constructor: Portal, Headup is having another go with an even more surprising mashup partner. Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead sees you constructing bridges and other edifices in order to hold back, kill, and escape from the dreaded walkers.

Star Wars: Starfighter Missions is a space-blasting RPG that features iconic battles from the legendary sci-fi fantasy series. That presumably includes the one where the goodies were rescued at the last minute by a rogue pilot, the one where the death star blew up, and the one where C3PO was alarmed. Sadly it’s only available in SE Asia right now.

King of Worlds is standard strategy fare, with city-building, alliances, and a variety of real-world historical figures. But it has a twist. ” Master the gameplay in 60 seconds; conquer the region in 24 hours; obtain Tier 3 soldiers in 48 hours; and form the strongest Alliance in 72 hours!”

The first tree looks a bit like Shelter at first glance – an action-adventure game in which you play as a wild animal. However, the fox stuff is just a metaphor. While the vixen goes in search of her cubs you’re reconciling with your father, solving simple puzzles in the process.

The Bonfire 2: Uncharted Shores has a remarkably similar setup to Northgard. You’re in command of a group of people who find themselves in unfamiliar territory, trying to make a life for themselves through farming, crafting, fighting, and so on – all while avoiding the monsters who come out at night.

Tomb Toad, from Cresent Moon Games, is a dungeon crawler in which you’re in control of the world instead of the hero. It uses an ingenious tilt-based movement mechanic that sees you moving your device to rotate a series of dungeons. In the process you’ll kill monsters, loot chests, and find exits – all without pressing a button.

Slide Shift is Dream Tech’s follow-up to Odie’s Dimension, the recent puzzler that takes not only a leaf but several chapters, the contents page, and index from ustwo’s Monument Valley. This time around the gameplay is much simpler – you just swipe to move a point left and right, avoiding obstacles for as long as you can.

Sales

Thumper: Pocket Edition is an acclaimed “rhythm horror” game in which you’re barrelling through a hypnotic glowing gameworld in the guise of a shiny sci-fi beetle. It normally costs $4.99, but it’s currently just 99c, in what might well be its lowest price point ever.