Apple Arcade is great because developers have steadily made iOS an amazing platform

Apple Arcade, which launched this Thursday, seems absolutely wonderful so far. We're going to be digging into the games next week, but so far Grindstone by Capy seems like a puzzler for the ages, a gory spin on Twofold Inc that gives me the distinct sense that someone, somewhere, is getting bloody revenge on the development of Below. Equally, Mini Motorways is taking my Mini Metro brain and turning it inside out: everything's so similar, but so completely different. It's glorious.

Every few minutes I fire up a new game and am delighted by something quirky and clever. It's been enough to make me say things like, oh man, iOS is so good again! And then I stop and listen to what I've just said and realise what an idiot I am.

I've been playing iOS games from the very start, and even now I probably play on my phone as much as I play on the PC or various consoles. A lot of this time is spent returning to classics, certainly. I still have Drop7 going, even if I have to delete it every now and then for productivity reasons, and Clash Royale is probably the first service game where I've ever reached the actual endgame content. It's a beauty: generous and smart and thrilling.

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