It's a really great time to be a mobile gamer - with big new titles hitting the App Store or Play Store left, right and center, and we've now learned a critically-acclaimed city-building strategy game is coming to your pocket device.
A mobile port of Frostpunk, first released in 2018, is coming later in the year - this is being developed by NetEase, which is also working on Diablo Immortal. NetEase is doing this on behalf of original publisher 11 bit studios.
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In Frostpunk, you build a city in a frozen post-apocalyptic world, using steam technology to survive and making harsh decisions to keep your city going. The game has won many awards, like 'Best Narrative Game' at the BAFTAs and 'Best Strategy Game' at the Game Awards and Game Critic Awards.
An exact release date hasn't been provided yet, other than the vague 'later this year', but NetEase has confirmed the game is coming to both iOS and Android devices. The wording of a press release about the news didn't clarify whether this was a direct port, or a mobile adaptation, though it sounds like features are coming which weren't in the base game.
Keeping mobile
Mobile phones and tablets are quickly becoming great devices for strategy fans, with the release of a full XCOM 2 port in late 2020 and, earlier in 2021, the unveiling of a mobile versions of Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus and Northgard.
These join some stalwart strategy ports that have been on mobile for longer, like Tropico, Rome: Total War, and Civilization VI, as well as the original XCOM remaster.
But 2021's not done for mobile ports of console games: Apex Legends mobile is already being tested in certain regions, and the next PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds game, called PUBG New State, is actually a mobile exclusive.
So all the time, mobile owners are getting more and more reasons to stick with their smartphones to play games, instead of spending lots of money on an expensive PC or hard-to-buy console.
