5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly (31) - Android

The 289th Android Apps Weekly is live! This week we talk about Minecraft Earth, some Stadia news, and more apps news!

Welcome to the 289th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the big headlines from the last week:

• Google Stadia opened its first gaming studio this last week. The studio is in Montreal and it’ll develop games specifically for the Stadia platform. We don’t know much more than that. However, it does mean that Google has long term plans for the platform because games take a long time to make. Additionally, Stadia won’t work on mobile data at launch.
• Disney Plus has a unique workaround for content that leaves its services. A company rep says downloaded content remains available as long as it’s downloaded to the device and the person remains subscribed to Disney Plus. That’s an interesting workaround that doesn’t really work anywhere else. You can hit the link to learn more.
• Google launched six new Android apps this week. They all work around Digital Wellbeing. One of the options include Unlock Clock, a live wallpaper that displays how often you unlock your device. Another is We Flip, a game where you and friends get together and silence all of your phones. The first person to check their phone loses the game. You get the idea. Hit the link to check out all six.
• Minecraft Earth is launching its early access beta in select countries soon. Those select countries are basically just Iceland and New Zealand. The company plans to gather data to fix bugs and other issues before a larger rollout. You can learn more at the link!
• Fleksy got into some hot water with Google Play. It includes some potentially offensive emotes such as the middle finger. Thus, Google changed its rating to a PEGI 12, notating that it may be bad for younger audiences. However, Gboard includes literally all of the same emoji and maintains a much more family-friendly rating of PEGI 3. This has caused a minor controversy over Google’s abuse of power in the Play Store.

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The Swords of Ditto

Price: $5.99

The Swords of Ditto is a cutesy little action RPG title with some dungeon crawler elements. Players dive into a world filled with dungeons and evil. Of course, you combat that evil. The story isn’t winning any awards for originality but it is satisfying enough. You get a bunch of the action RPG staples like tons of loot, various skills to learn, and places to explore. Most of the complaints we found were for the controls and a crashing issue. Otherwise the game is quite good and we hope the developer fixes those other things eventually.

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GCA Launcher

Price: Free / Up to $4.99

GCA Launcher is a new launcher with some decent features. The app uses a somewhat stock Android look and feel and also includes icon pack support, adaptive icons, theming, gesture support, and some predictive features. It runs well on lower end devices and seems to work well overall. However, there are some bugs and some questionable design choices that some people may not like. We do expect improvements over time, though.

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Storyscape

Price: Free to play

Storyscape is a visual novel style puzzle adventure game. Players engage in a story line with many branching choices. Your choices impact the final outcome of the story. The game also boasts adult humor and situations so its for a more mature audience. The game also includes multiple stories, a decent art style, and some other fun ideas. The free to play elements keep it from being an instant classic in the genre, but most of it is for cosmetic stuff and it’s only slightly annoying.

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IRL Social Calendar

Price: Free

IRL Social Calendar is a neat mix of a calendar and a social media site. You and a bunch of friends link up in the app. You all then start planning stuff. People who want to show up can RVSP and those who don’t can skip the event. It’s kind of like Facebook Events minus the horrible Facebook part. You do, of course, need to get your friends in on it to be useful, though. There is also a student-only mode for those with school email addresses.

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American Dad! Apocalypse

Price: Free to play

American Dad! Apocalypse is the latest free to play mobile game with a popular TV theme. This one plays a lot like Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter but with an American Dad theme. Players build Stan’s underground base and go from there. There are a bunch of side quests and missions to play through, each with a smattering of goofy hijinks that made the show popular to begin with. It’ll definitely play well with fans of the series and of the genre. However, at its core, it’s a fairly run of the mill bunker builder game.

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