Apple Arcade’s October update is mostly familiar games in cleaner versions, plus a couple of new arrivals. Five titles joined the subscription service today, as Apple announced last month. The biggest name is Terraria+, and the line-up shows how heavily Arcade now relies on proven mobile hits.
Three of the five are existing App Store games released in Arcade’s “+” format. That means no ads and no in-app purchases. Terraria+ is the most significant. The sandbox game has been around since 2011, and this version includes the 1.4.5 Bigger & Boulder update with its Dead Cells crossover and Pals borrowed from Palworld. Up to eight players can explore together through Game Center or local Wi-Fi, across more than 20 biomes. For anyone who has resisted mobile Terraria’s interface, the content is identical. What’s different is having it as part of a subscription, where you don’t have to decide whether it’s worth a separate purchase.
Touchgrind BMX 2+ brings back a physics-based stunt game known for its two-finger control scheme. That system mimics handling a bike with your fingertips rather than pressing on-screen buttons. 4 Pics 1 Word+ is the Arcade version of a puzzle game that Apple says has reached more than 400 million players. It’s an easy, low-effort addition, and it’s the kind of game that benefits most from removing ads. Free puzzle games usually rely on them heavily.
The two new titles cover very different audiences. Pusheen’s Place is an Arcade exclusive built around the internet’s famously round cartoon cat. Players collect more than 100 kitties, craft and decorate rooms for characters like Pusheenicorn, and play short mini-games between tasks. It’s clearly aimed at younger and casual players, a group Arcade has always served well.
River City Survivors applies the survivors-like formula popularized by Vampire Survivors to the long-running Kunio-kun brawler series, best known in the West through River City Ransom. Players fight off waves of zombies, collect randomized upgrades and choose from more than 20 characters, including Kunio and Riki. Up to two companions can join each run. The survivors genre suits touchscreens, so this could be the sleeper pick of the month.
Apple Arcade’s library now passes 200 games. The steady stream of “+” ports keeps the catalogue full, but it also raises a fair question. Arcade launched in 2019 with original, often experimental exclusives. It increasingly feels like a well-curated collection of games subscribers could already find elsewhere, just without the monetization.
