After it launched in 2014, Crossy Road became an instant phenomenon. Millions prodded chickens, pigs, and unicorns across dangerous motorways in pursuit of high scores. Clear goals, simple controls, and quick session length made Crossy Road a perfect fit for mobile—and any kind of player.

Some six years later, fans have been wondering: What’s on the other side?

The answer is Crossy Road Castle. Available to Apple Arcade subscribers, this sequel stars the same cute characters in a different kind of experience.

You start the game at the bottom of a gigantic tower. Floors are packed with traps, platforms, and monsters. Your objective: to make it out in one piece by jumping around obstacles.

Each run yields currency used to unlock more characters (and fancy hats), which you can show off in multiplayer matches.

To get the lowdown on the new game, we caught up with Hipster Whale CEO Clara Reeves and director Andy Sum.

What defines a Crossy game?

Reeves: It’s easy to jump in and have a go, but if you want more, there’s a deep core game under there as well. Crossy doesn’t take itself too seriously. People laughing with each other is something we always aim for.

How does multiplayer change the experience?

Sum: Multiplayer helps a lot with the difficulty. If you’re playing with someone, you only need one person to get to the end. If you’re not very good, you get pulled along by friends.

Reeves: It was something we knew we had to do from the very beginning. We wanted anyone to come along and go, “Yeah, I can jump in.”

How does the game decide which room comes next as you climb towers?

Sum: The rooms are all ranked by difficulty level. At the beginning you’ll get mostly easy levels, maybe a few medium. Farther in are harder levels. We also move some of the elements around within each room—the coins might spawn in different locations, for instance. Same with the enemies. We try to keep it fresh and different each time.

Reeves: Likewise, if you’re not mastering the mechanics, it’ll hold back a bit. If you haven’t been able to get past a certain challenge in the earlier levels, the game’s not going to throw you one of the insane levels.

How do you make each tower feel distinct?

Reeves: Each tower has its own mechanical and thematic differences. Like in Unihorse’s castle, we used rainbow mechanics so you float around.

Why antigravity rainbows?

Reeves: In Crossy classic, as Unihorse runs across, he farts rainbows, so that’s where that came from.

Sum: I probably made that decision late one night. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

How do you create a sense of reward beyond chasing high scores?

Sum: We knew early on we didn’t want to have a hundred Crossy Road characters. We wanted to focus on a few. That’s why we brought in the hats, so players could customize each character. The really exciting unlocks are the characters, and the hats give a bit of progression along the way.

Reeves: Crossy has always had a lot of Easter eggs, secrets, and surprises. There are secret rooms. There’s a secret character in each tower. It’s quite a challenge, but if you play long enough you’re going to find out how to unlock that character.

Looking for more to play? Discover over 200 amazing Apple Arcade games on the Arcade tab of the App Store.

Game availability for the 200+ titles across devices varies based on hardware and software compatibility. Some content may not be available in all areas.