You remember those first few waves of iPhone games, don’t you? Some tried clumsily to mimic other experiences from the PC or consoles. A few tried to make use of the touchscreen or accelerometer in interesting ways but didn’t quite get it. Eliss — a clever but hard little game about moving planets with your fingertips — was one of the first that made you feel like it got that touchscreen gaming could be different and special in its own way. Now that iOS classic is getting a major refresh. This is awesome news.
Eliss Infinity combines the original Eliss game with new visuals and a few tweaks to make that first iteration — which lived on our list of best iPad games for a while — a bit more approachable, along with long-awaited native compatibility for Apple’s tablets. It’s also adding an Infinity mode which developer Steph Thirion describes as a “score-based, endless version of Eliss, with a new chaining mechanic. It’s a short burst, deep focus game, that ends fast and makes you go back for a higher score, until you master it and beyond.”
Though his output is all too infrequent, Thirion’s one of my favourite iOS developers, a guy whose games feel like little, pixel-paintings come to life. It’s really great that he’s revisiting his previous work so that a new crop of players can discover it. Eliss Infinity will be out on the App Store for February 6 for $2.99
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