It's a special episode of the Pocket Gamer Podcast this week as Cristina joins Will and Iwan on another deep dive into what's hot, what's not, and what's sort-of-sizzling-but-not-quite-yet in the wonderful world of mobile gaming.

This time around, with the short and sweet 30-minute format, Iwan kicks things off with Squad Busters' major overhaul. Aptly called the Hero update, this revamp now lets you rely more on your heroes rather than just your squaddies, making full use of their abilities to win. Will this fresh coat of paint work well with players? Cristina is a tad apprehensive, but I suppose we'll all just have to give it a go and see for ourselves.

Meanwhile, Will is pretty pumped about Chronomon's launch, especially since anything with a -mon attached is always appealing. It's supposedly Stardew Valley mixed in with Pokemon, as what seems to be the trend nowadays. 

It's always monster-taming combined with something else, but if it has plenty of cosy vibes, we're all for it - just like Dorfromantik, a new tile-matching puzzler that Cristina is a fan of. It's all very wholesome and is similar to Armello with a touch of Kingdomino - and we all need something to help us relax at the end of a busy day, don't we?

And speaking of busy bees, Iwan reports that Krafton's been busy rebranding Dark and Darker Mobile, now titled Abyss of Dungeons. What exactly brought about the name change? Tune in for all the tea - especially since Will caps off the episode with the interestingly titled In Their Shoes (coming in 2026 with slice-of-life feels). If you've always been curious about what mumblecore actually is, this might just be the day you finally find out.

Finally, there's the so-called relaunch of Dragonheir: Silent Gods - does this mean people will be more interested, or will there be a "medieval-style siege", as Iwan puts it?