The best soft launch games on mobile: TMNT: Mutant Madness

All the upcoming mobile games you can get your hands on early

Crash Bandicoot celebrating

What are the best soft launch games on mobile? Playing games on your phone gives you access to oodles of iOS and Android games that developers are working on. Supercell is currently trying its hand at the match three puzzler genre with Hay Day Pop, and King is bringing Crash Bandicoot to the platform with an endless runner title. More on those in a bit.

Getting access to these titles can be tricky, though. While most mobile games will eventually be available globally on iOS and Android – assuming all goes well in testing – they don’t start that way. Typically, a developer releases its game in one country on either iOS or Android and then collects feedback. Should things be in working order, the game then launches in more countries.

We’ve scoured the mobile games storefronts and picked out a few upcoming mobile games that we reckon you’ll find interesting and enjoyable. We’ll also keep this list topped up with new games and updates to existing entries. Now that’s out of the way, here are the best soft launch games on mobile that you can look forward to trying out.

The best soft launch and upcoming games on mobile are:

Some gameplay from Crash Bandicoot Mobile

Crash Bandicoot Mobile

Anyone who remembers Crash Bandicoot’s Boulder Dash level knows that the titular marsupial is well suited to the endless runner genre. That’s what you’ll be doing here as Crash Bandicoot Mobile has you darting through Wumpa Island as you attempt to foil Dr Neo Cortex’s latest scheme.

Controls are simple and involve swiping your screen to move, jump, and slide. Tap the screen and you’ll perform Crash’s spin attack. It all comes together for an enjoyable blast of nostalgia with chunky bass lines you never knew you needed in your life.

Unfortunately you may have to wait a bit for this one, as it’s currently only available in Malaysia for Android users. Like most mobile games, though, it will be free when it launches. You can find it on the Google Play store here.

Lego Star Wars Battles

Playdemic’s real-time multiplayer battler features all the goofy humour the Lego Star Wars series is known for meshed with tower-based strategy gameplay. If you’ve ever wanted to see how a flock of porgs would do against a stormtrooper now’s your chance.

Lego Star Wars Battles pits you against other players in a bid to take control of the battlefield. You can strategically place towers to attack, defend, and capture territory at your foe’s expense. You can also collect and upgrade over 40 units to customise your team. That involves vehicles like AT-ATs and Y-wings and characters such as Boba Fett and Chewbacca.

If you’re keen to try it out, Lego Star Wars Battles is available in Sweden, Netherlands, Mexico, Spain, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Denmark on Android and iOS for free.

It has gotten a few updates since soft-launching late last year. The latest update came May 5 and added Captain Phasma and Princess Leia alongside the planet Kamino.

An island in Spyjinx

Spyjinx

How do you follow up on the success of Fortnite on mobile? By bringing in Star Wars director J.J Abrams, apparently. Epic Games and Bad Robot Games are working on Spyjinx, a strategy game that wants to blend RPG character development with head-to-head multiplayer.

Spyjinx revolves around building a base and leaving it in good enough shape to survive an invasion from other players. You don’t just have to fill your base with deadly traps, though. You can also decorate it with the treasures you’ve swindled to taunt invaders.

One of Spyjinx’s more interesting quirks is the RPG-inspired progression system that goes into building your squad. From brawlers to hackers, you can train an array of talented criminals.

The game is free and is currently available on iOS if you live in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, or Vietnam.

It’s received a few updates since going live in April, including a new Battle Pass with additional agents and emotes on June 5 – as is the Fortnite way. An additional update on June 15 added a ten level challenge to further test players.

A squad of agents in Tom Clancy's Elite Agents

Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad

Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad is more of a celebration of what came before it than a new entry into the Tom Clancy series. The 5v5 Action RPG game features a range of agents from Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, The Division, and Splinter Cell to name a few. So you can mix and match your favourite Tom Clancy agents as you please – yes, Sam Fisher is included. You’ll also be duking it out against enemy squads on familiar maps like The Division 1’s Brooklyn Bridge and Rainbow Six Siege’s Presidential Plane.

What looks particularly interesting, though, is the depth of each character. You can train, equip, and upgrade your military team with a variety of weapons to improve their performance on the battlefield. They also come with a star rating that reflects their base stats and abilities. Once you’ve assembled a team you’re pleased with, you can take on other players’ squads in the PvP arena. You can also group up with your friends to take part in Guild Wars.

A new update on June 26 added Rainbow 6’s Ash alongside a new Legendary event to mark the new season. If you’d like to give this one a go, you’ll need to access Android in the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, or the Philippines.

Hay Day Pop gameplay

Hay Day Pop

Supercell and match three puzzlers are familiar sights in mobile gaming, but rarely are they seen together. While that genre of games is usually Candy Crush dev King’s scene, Supercell is taking a stab at it and combining it with their Hay Day IP.

Hay Day Pop features a range of match three puzzles with certain twists and objectives. One puzzle tasks you with breaking blocks that represent honey before it takes over the map. Cutting a few blocks gives you access to a rocket that makes blasting it easy to deal with, thankfully.

While Supercell’s new game features puzzles, there are elements of Hay Day in there, too. Completing challenges gives you the means to decorate and build up your farm, adding a fun spin on the genre.

There is plenty of new content, too. An update on June 8 added five new farm levels to unlock with new characters to bump into and fresh decorations to get your hands on.

Hay Day Pop is already available on iOS and Android, but only in select countries – those being the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Some Fallout Shelter Online gameplay

Fallout Shelter Online

A new Fallout Shelter game has launched in a few eastern countries. It’s called Fallout Shelter Online and features plenty of gameplay you’ll recognise from the previous game alongside new gacha elements.

The free-to-play game still puts you in charge of a settlement and tasks you with the day-to-day duty of running it. Those jobs can be anything from constructing and upgrading rooms to weighing the benefits of sending your dwellers out for better weapons and armour against their wellbeing.

There are plenty of new features, too, though. A new adventure mode takes you away from your vault, and you can put together a team of familiar heroes, such as Nick Valentine from Fallout 4. Getting that team will require some pack luck, though.

Fallout Shelter Online is currently available on iOS and Android in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. If you’d like to know more, check out our Fallout Shelter Online guide.

TMNT's base building

TMNT: Mutant Madness

A classic mobile RPG, TMNT: Mutant Madness consists of collecting and training allies to form your perfect team to battle baddies. There are lots of foes, too, with Shredder, Kang, and others making an appearance.

When you’re not fighting, you can also build up the Turtle Lair to help you train your team. As this is a Kongregate game, there’s also some idle management. Having a good base allows you to farm resources while you’re offline.

This one is quite limited in availability right now, as it’s only available to you if you have an Android and are in the Philippines.

Some gameplay from V4

V4

Want another grand scale MMORPG mobile game in your life? Then maybe V4 should be on your radar.

V4 offers six classes to choose from and an open-world for you to explore with them. You can either tackle the game’s story or go head-to-head with your friends in PVP. There are over 50 customisation options available, and they include weapons and armour. If you’re market savvy, you can take to the trading post to sell items and earn in-game currency. This one is also launching on PC with cross-platform play being an option, so you can play with your friends regardless of your device.

V4 is available on iOS and Android in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea. That said, Nexon has opened pre-registration, so hopefully, it’ll be available elsewhere soon.

the Best upcoming games on mobile

Outside of soft launch games on mobile, we also know of a host of games that will be coming to iOS and Android eventually. Some of these haven’t been confirmed for soft launch entirely, but they’re worth nothing as some of them are.

LoL: Wild Rift's Jax in an angler outfit

League of Legends: Wild Rift

The pitch for this one is quite simple: it’s League of Legends brought straight to your phone. It feels fitting to have League of Legends: Wild Rift on our phones, as the game has had an influence on oodles of mobile games, especially Valour of Kings – to name one.

This one isn’t in soft launch, but it is set to launch on mobile phones in the future. If you want to study up and get ready, we have a League of Legends: Wild Rift guide to get you up to speed. If you want something more in-depth, we have a League of Legends: Wild Rift Champions break down, too.

Eve Echoes

This sci-fi space strategy game is another one that’ll eat up all your time. When you’re not managing space ports and hauling cargo In Eve Echoes, you can go and nab someone else’s bounty, or if you’re feeling mean, you can just bring ’em down for the fun of it.

We reckon, though, that time-consuming games like this belong in your pocket. Got a few minutes to spare? Why not check in and do some quick chores.

This one isn’t in soft launch, either, but there is an Eve Echo beta you can get involved with. Don’t just jump in, though, read our Eve Echoes guide first so you’ll know what to do. All this should tide you over to the Eve Echoes release date, we reckon.

Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower

This Warhammer-themed strategy game uses the Mortal Realms of Age of Sigmar’s setting. Much like Vermintide and Chaosbane, Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower centres on a band of merry heroes from different races battling their way through hordes of Chaos-flavoured baddies.

If this has your interest piqued, check out our Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower guide for an in-depth breakdown. No word on a Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower release date just yet, so there’s plenty of time to study up.

Bangalore from Apex Legends

Apex Legends

Shortly after Apex Legends’ surprise arrival on PC and consoles last year, EA revealed its plans to bring the battle royale to mobile. While Fortnite and PUBG Mobile typically rule the roost, we’d love to see Apex enter the fray.

What makes Apex Legends different is its focus on characters. Each Legend comes with their own set of abilities and bright personalities. As such, your ability to use your unique skills is just as important as your weapon proficiency. As this is a Respawn game, the movement is also wonderfully swift and rapid.

The charming characters and high-tempo would make Apex Legends a worthy adversary to Fortnite and PUBG’s dominance in the mobile space.

There’s a while to wait for the Apex Legends Mobile release date, but EA has confirmed that the battle royale game will enter soft launch later this year – so that’s something at least.

Diablo Immortal's Necromancer class

Diablo Immortal

Few games have a more significant influence over their genre as Diablo does with ARPGs. As such, it’s exciting to see a Diablo Immortal developed solely with mobile in mind.

The story places the game in between Diablo 2 and 3, with the Archangel Tyrael defeated, and the Worldstone shattered into pieces. The problem is, however, that ancient creatures are now seeking those Worldstone fragments to further their ambitions to take over the world.

When loading in, you’ll be able to pick one of the Barbarian, Monk, Wizard, Crusader, Demon Hunter, or Necromancer classes. Each has a set of 12 skills to master, and you can hone them while plundering dungeons for loot.

If you’re struggling to wait, why not check out our mobile games like Diablo list? It’s well worth it, we promise.

Why wait: the best mobile MMORPGs you can play now

And there you have it, the best soft launch games on mobile. We’ll be sure to keep this list updated with new upcoming games on iOS and Android alongside updates to the titles that are already on the list – so do check back again.