Google Trips, Vulture Island and other awesome apps of the week

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'Appy weekend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re looking to unwind this fine Sunday by sampling the latest App Store delectables for your iOS device, have no fear: Cult of Mac is here to help!

Whether you’re on the hunt for a great new story-driven Batman game or a new travel-planning app, we think you’ll approve of our picks.

Check them out below. You won’t be disappointed.

Batman: The Telltale Series

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To a Bat-fan like myself, any new Batman game is exciting, but Batman: The Telltale Series was particularly tantalizing.

The first episode in a new series from the makers of great iOS titles like Tales from the Borderlands and The Walking Dead, this is a story-driven, branching narrative game that eschews the usual comic video game focus on mindless action in favor of a more nuanced detective-oriented take on the Dark Knight and, in particular, the “fractured psyche” of Bruce Wayne.

The fact that it’s gorgeously animated doesn’t hurt either! Definitely worth checking out.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $4.99
Get it from: App Store

Google Allo

The first of two new Google apps this week, Allo is a messaging platform for both iOS and Android. It’s essentially another WhatsApp rival, boasting the same stickers, giant emojis and more that you’d expect from any messaging app worth its salt these days.

Where Allo is a bit different is in its use of Google’s machine learning tools to recognize your responses over time and suggest new text, emojis and photos in what Google thinks is your style. There are a few other nifty features, too, such as the fact that Google Assistant is baked in — meaning that you can easily look up information and drop it into conversations with your friends.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

Google Trips

A new vacation planning app from Google, Google Trips is designed to be a mobile travel guide: letting you plan out each day of your vacation with the best local gems from wherever it is that you’re visiting.

The app also keeps track of all your reservations and flights, which certainly saves time otherwise spent scouring your emails for the correct confirmation message when you reach your destination.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

Vulture Island

A gorgeous 8 bit-looking game from Donut Games, Vulture Island is an old-school platformer with RPG elements, based around a crash landing on a strange island. You get to explore, beat enemies, solve puzzles and interact with a variety of folks — all in a style that doesn’t appear to have aged a day since 1987.

If you’re looking for a new game to dive into on iOS, and particularly one that will last you a while, you can’t go wrong with Vulture Island.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: $2.99
Get it from: App Store

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