[Update] Firaxis's free-to-play strategy game Haunted Hollow goes global

Updated on April 23rd at 22:20: Whoops - the game was made available worldwide prematurely "as a result of a testing error", and has now been pulled from the App Store.

A 2K spokesperson told Pocket Gamer that "Haunted Hollow, will be available for free to download from the App Store next Thursday, May 2, 2013"

"We have removed this build to add a few final updates, so the game can be as polished as possible when it launches globally. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused, but please stay tuned for more information."

Original story follows…

---

After a relatively short soft launch period in Canada, Firaxis's free-to-play iOS game Haunted Hollow is now available in App Stores around the world.

The game is a turn-based tug of war between a pair of haunted mansions. Both houses want to enlist an army of Halloween ghouls and then scare every house in a tiny hamlet.

There are monsters for scaring houses (like ghosts), monsters for fighting other creatures (like werewolves), and special monsters with unique abilities.

You can read more about the game in our extensive Haunted Hollow preview, where we said that it "might look a little shallow or lightweight from the outset. But once you start to see all the different strategies and play styles emerge, it becomes clear that this is very much a Firaxis game."

The game has a single-player mode, a Pass 'n' Play option, and asynchonrous online play over Game Center.

Haunted Hollow is free, though - like in Hero Academy or Outwitters - you can buy access to new units.

Monsters - like goblins, bogeymen, mummies, and witches - are priced at either 69p / 99c or £1.49 / $1.99 each. There are also items (which are not consumable) available at 69p / 99c a pop.

In our recent interview with two of Haunted Hollow's creators, one of them, David McDonough, said buying units doesn't give you an advantage, but it does enable you to "diversify your play style". He compared it to buying booster packs for card battler Magic: The Gathering.