Meet Vainglory, the Game Apple Chose to Show Off the iPhone 6

When you aren’t checking email or tapping out texts, there’s a very, very good chance you’re using your iWhatever to play some games. And if you happen to grab one of the new iPhones Apple revealed during its big press event Tuesday, you’ll probably want to check out Vainglory.

Demoed on stage during the event, Vainglory comes from a new developer, the wonderfully named Super Evil Megacorp. It’s a multiplayer online battle arena game — colloquially called a MOBA — akin to hugely popular games like League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients, but built from the ground up for your iPhone 6.

Don’t confuse that with “casual,” however. In an effort to prove their gaming cred, the developers call Vainglory an “unapologetically core” game, which is to say that it will pack all the features and depth that players of bigger, fancier MOBAs would expect.

It’s certainly looking the part. Courtesy of the added processing power of the iPhone 6, Vainglory looks smashing, running at a healthy 60 frames per second and showing off loads of nifty lighting and particle effects.

So how does it play? We have no idea yet, but it’s nothing if not ambitious. Six players — three a side — can play together on separate devices, and matches should take about 20 minutes apiece. The control scheme is entirely touch driven; you won’t need a gamepad. For all intents and purposes, it looks like a legit MOBA.

Vainglory is a free-to-play game, which means it will likely noodge you to cough up some dough for new characters or levels. Still, free is free, and as the first game fully optimized for the iPhone 6 line, it’s likely a no-brainer download when it releases in October. In the meantime, a trailer!

Follow Ben right here on Twitter.