This is the type of game that I could get lost in for hours. Guildlings is an Apple Arcade game that takes JRPG inspirations and turns it into a truly mobile experience. And I don’t mean just touch controls.

The language, design, and just about everything in Guildlings is built around smartphones, smartly. This is a prime example of a game on a smartphone that is done right. Never once did I feel that the game should have been on another platform.

Its charming graphics, cleaver writing, wholesome characters, and the brilliant story kept me playing. I was ready to bunker in for an epic journey. The adventure was culminating to its first crescendo. The gang’s all here. We got new powers and we understand how to use them now. All systems are go!

But that is when the game ended. I thought it was just an end cap to the chapter, and I was ready to go on to the next. It was the end of a chapter but was also the end of the game. It’s incomplete. A screen pops up claiming that more is coming soon.

This is a bad habit of some of the games on Apple Arcade, and videogames in general nowadays: releasing incomplete games. I’m guessing some do this in hopes to gather hype while accumulating money, and having a convenient excuse for any bugs or underdeveloped content.

I’m not saying that is what the folks who are developing Guildlings are doing, however, it did spoil the experience for me. When I play a game I want a complete experience. Maybe that’s why I have such a difficult time accepting most games on mobile.