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. It’s a real motley crew of games today, friends. I’m not sure if folks are on summer holidays or not, but it seems like updates were slightly sparser than usual. I did my best to find some interesting updates, but fair warning: at least one of them is just new portrait pictures. That’s where we’re at. 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!

Honkai: Star Rail, Free

Here’s a hot update for Honkai Star Rail titled Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue. Sure. Good name. What’s in it? New characters Yunli and Jiaoqiu, returning characters Huohuo and Sparkle, a couple of new Light Cones based around Destruction and Nihility, some new story, a handful of new events, a new game mode, some new maps, new enemies… look, there’s a lot in here. You might want to check it out if you like this game. And if you don’t like this game… well, I’m not sure why you’re reading about updates for it. Thank you?

Spectaculator, $2.99

British readers rejoice! All the hustle and bustle about emulators has left one app somewhat forgotten. An app that hung in there somehow while others could not. Spectaculator, the ZX Spectrum app. A month or two back it got its first update in a long time to bring it up to speed, and its latest update allows you to just go ahead and add your own games. It also now supports physical keyboards for those on iOS 13.4 and up. What I’m saying is: it is the 2020s, and there is time for Jet Set Willy. I’ll give this the coveted UMMSotW award just to show kindness to our mates across the pond.

stitch.,

There are sentences a person expects to type on any given day, and then there are sentences like “check out this Shrek-themed update for stitch on Apple Arcade”. But yeah: check out this Shrek-themed update for stitch on Apple Arcade. Ten Hoops that capture scenes from the movie, plus some other Hoops based on dinosaurs and transportation. All those people who have been holding out on playing this puzzler for their favorite swamp ogre have finally been vindicated.

SimCity BuildIt, Free

SimCity BuildIt has been keeping fairly busy with its monthly updates, and here’s another one. This time the Mayor’s Pass is built around Rio de Janeiro, giving you some cool new buildings and structures that evoke the city. Palacio do Catete, Rio Beaches, and Jardim Botanico, namely. There are also some limited-time buildings to nab, so keep your eyes peeled for those. I can’t wait until SimCity BuildIt lands on Winnipeg! Hey, it has to happen eventually. How many cities can there be on Earth? That many? Oh.

Homescapes, Free

Time for the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for this week, and it’s Homescapes. Austin and Robbie are taking on freaking zombies this time, so let’s hope that goes well for them. Undead Austin might be too powerful for anyone to take down. After that, Austin has a sports competition to attend. Phew! There are a few more story events in this update, and naturally plenty of new decor and things to collect.

Star Warsâ„¢: Galaxy of Heroes, Free

I know since some of you read that opening paragraph, you’ve been wondering which game update was the one where it was just new portraits. Well, saddle up, cowpokes. We’ve arrived. Yes, the game in question is none other than Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Yes, this game. This is the one with the new portraits and nothing else. Are they nice portraits? They are, actually. But it’s hard to dress this up much. New portraits. I don’t know if that’s exciting enough to be included here, but I managed to drag this out enough to make the paragraph the right size, and I’m calling that a win.

Subway Surfers, Free

I don’t think the Olympics are quite finished yet, but the Subway Surfers kids have no time to hang around Paris. They’re on to New Orleans, where new skaters Ozzy and Pins, new outfits for Pink and Morgan, and some cool new boards to collect. Also included are some new challenges, plus plenty of fresh ways to fork out real money in exchange for virtual goods! Wow! It’s wild just how popular this game continues to be after all these years, but good on the developers.

Sonic Dash Endless Runner Game, Free

Speaking of games that just keep on running despite the number of years behind it, here’s the latest update for Sonic Dash. There are three new runners to collect and use, including Idol Shadow, Karate Knuckles, and Extreme Gear Sonic. Sure, they’re all just characters we all know and love with some new accessories stapled to their fuzzy little bodies, but we take what we can get around these parts. And what we got this time was a handful of new characters in a game almost as old as the start of my tenure at TouchArcade.

AFK Arena, Free

AFK Arena apparently is doing some kind of summer-themed event, offering up to two hundred and seventy free draws to help you through the season. There’s also a new Draconis hero named Lan, and a new summertime skin to enjoy. That seems to be it from the update notes, but don’t be too surprised if there’s more in here when you fire the game up. This is one game that generally doesn’t do things halfway when it comes to new stuff. If I’m wrong, then I blame Carter. He’ll never know anyway.

Bloons TD 6, $6.99

We’ll finish things up with a look at the latest version of Bloons TD 6. It brings a new Magic Monkey to the game in the form of the Mermonkey, a powerful amphibious tower with plenty of tricks to it. There’s a new intermediate map, the Luminous Cove, a new Psi Skin, some new Quest, and a whole lot more. Why not give it a look and see what’s what?

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!