Best New Android Games and Sales: Children of Light, Snake Core, Goat Simulator, and More

Another week, another litany of terrifying headlines concerning the end of the world. At least this week we can mask the horror with sweet, sweet chocolate, because it’s Easter.

You know what else we can mask the horror with? Mobile games. This week sees a handful of ace new titles hitting the Google Play Store, while a handful of equally great – perhaps even greater – games are going cheap.

New Games

Disorder, from highly proficient Chinese developer NetEase, is a team-based multiplayer shooter in the vein of many, many others. It looks great, though, and NetEase has clearly put a lot of time and creative energy into its narrative and characters.

Some games have titles that aren’t very Google-friendly. htoL#NiQ’s title isn’t even brain-friendly. That’s okay, though, because it’s a gorgeous, acclaimed title from Japanese studio NIS, who brought us the Disgaea games.

Yes, we announced this one last week, but technically it was only available on iOS, with a Google Play counterpart presumably imminent. Our presumption was correct – you can now play this action-oriented sequel to the popular tactical shooter on Android as well as iOS.

Beat Hazard 2 isn’t new to the world, but it’s new to mobile. The game’s unique selling point is that it takes your own personal music, or an internet radio station, and uses the smooth sounds to create levels.

thatgamecompany has a reputation for making gorgeous, original, emotionally involving games, and Sky: Children of the Light is consistent with those values. It’s a co-op puzzler with plenty of open world exploration and eye-melting beauty.

Snake Core is a loosely inspired by Snake, which used to be pretty much the only mobile game in the world. We’ve come a long way, and OrangePixel’s take involves upgradeable soldiers belonging to numerous classes, alien serpents, and thrilling action.

Scientests agree that there’s only one way to make a dinosaur more badass: cover it with guns. That’s exactly what you get with Dino Squad: heavily armed mesozoic monsters duking it out in PvP matches.

Sales

That’s Goat Simulator Payday, Goat Simulator GoatZ, Goat Simulator Waste of Space, Goat Simulator MMO Simulator, and the original Goat Simulator available for 99c each instead of the usual $4.99.

Samarost 3 may well be the finest of Amanita Design’s distinction, surreal point-and-click puzzle adventure games. It sees you playing as a gnome and doing bizarre, otherworldly things with the objects and animals you encounter. It’s currently $1.99.

True Skate is a physics-based skating sim that innovatively lets you use two fingers to represent the two feet you’d be using to propel and steer your skateboard in real life. There are still IAPs, but the main download is free.

Google is doing its bit to ease lockdown woes by giving away two months of Stadia Pro for free. Existing pro users won’t be billed for two months. Plus, the basic version of Stadia is now free to everyone with a gmail address.

Wormster Dash is not your usual auto-runner. Boasting hand-drawn art and a slightly creepy monochrome aesthetic, the game sees you running away from a big, sandworm like monster through an intricately rendered world.