Best iPhone Game Updates: ‘Octopath Traveler’, ‘Dan the Man’, ‘Warped Kart Racers’, and More

Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. Ah, we once again find ourselves between holidays. It’s always interesting to see what kinds of updates spring up during these moments during the year, and I think today’s bunch demonstrates that nicely. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s go for it!

HOOK 2, $1.99 Sure, let’s start off with a nice little paid puzzle game. HOOK 2. It’s a game that I like. Maybe you will like it too. It’s only a couple of dollars, which is a very reasonable price. And its latest free update adds six new levels to play, making that price even more reasonable. There are also some bug fixes, which gets us off on the right foot with this article. Let us now move on.

Dan The Man, Free Some games are heading right towards the next big holiday, and I can’t say I blame them. We’re only a couple of weeks away from Valentine’s Day, after all. Why shouldn’t Dan? Why shouldn’t Dan go for it? So yes, a new Valentine’s Day multiplayer event, a new Princess and the Frog fighter, some new battle arena layouts, and of course some new Valentine’s icons and emotes for good measure. Getting a jump on the rest of the pack. Not a bad plan.

Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, Free It’s time for another new update for Disney Heroes, and that usually means a new playable character has joined the roster. This one won’t be breaking that trend, with one new character to add to your team. You can tell we’re well through the first-stringers, though. Your new character is none other than Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. If you don’t remember him, he’s the good-looking guy who is there so Esmerelda has someone besides Quasimodo to pair up with at the end. He has facial hair, and I remember his facial hair was partly blamed for the movie’s commercial failure. The world is weird sometimes.

Skate City, The latest version of the Apple Arcade skateboarding game Skate City brings the action to my neighborhood by adding Tokyo to the Pro Skate mode. Skate the streets of the massive metropolis and try to check off sixty new objectives. Grab them all and see if you can climb up the ranks of the leaderboards. And stay off my lawn. Especially you, Sebby. You know who you are. Off the lawn. Now.

Warped Kart Racers, Is it major update time for Warped Kart Racers again? It seems so! That usually means a new episode where you can get a new track and character. The track this time is titled Speedway Nights, and that sounds perfectly fancy. The new character is none other than good ol’ Boomhauer. I tell ya what that dang ol’ Boomhauer he’s racing and dang ol’ driftin’ around them corners and throwin’ them dang ol’ items and he’s dig-dag-dang-ol’ real good.

stitch., This update has a lot of what you might expect from a new version of this game, but it also has one unusual element. First, the expected. A new category called Best Friends that offers up eight new hoops to play. Seems to have an animal theme. There are also three more patterns the notes describe as ‘amusing’. Not my word, don’t come after me if they fail to produce a guffaw. Anyway, that interesting point. The Flawless Stitching bonus has been removed because it was basically unreasonable to achieve on larger hoops. Perfection is no longer demanded.

Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure, Don’t worry, this one isn’t our obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for today. That’s the next one. This is just a little cherry on top of the proverbial sundae, so to speak. You get a new Mirror Story which apparently brings back an old friend for a little reunion. There are also sixty new puzzles to play, plus some new tournaments to try your hand at. Quite a fair bit for one update, really. Also a new Valentine’s Day icon, so that’s nice.

Homescapes, Free Now this is what I call a free-to-play matching puzzle game update of the week. Let’s see what Austin and his pals are up to this time. Lots of stuff as usual, it seems. This episode involves, but is not limited to: a floral makeover for Katherine, an Atlantis adventure for Austin and Lao, a bit of the ol’ isekai action for Katherine (she’s busy this time), and the last chapter in the Wedding Hall story. The new match-3 element is Stained Glass, which you can collect by making matches. That seems very adequate, yes.

ANOTHER EDEN, Free This update is another one tying in with the fourth anniversary of the game, but it has a bit more to it than just that. There’s a new ally named Iphi available, with a proper Ally Encounter to go with them. You also get a Fourth Anniversary Fateful Encounter and a Re-encounter with Eva. Finally, there’s a paid Encounter with Melissa to round things out. That’s a whole lot of Encounter action, but I wonder how much of it the average player will be able to enjoy?

OCTOPATH TRAVELER: CotC, Free Let’s finish things up with a look at the latest update to Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. There’s a lot here, really. The new Tower of Trials to tackle, a new Ultimate Techniques gameplay element, some new Main Story content and Side Stories, new Travelers, some new Guiding Lights, and some new Traveler Stories, among other things. I suppose I can see clear to giving this hefty update a coveted UMMSotW award, being the kind soul that I am.

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!