My Week Unwrapped: February 11, 2017

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Welcome back, everyone, to the latest installment of My Week Unwrapped! It’s been a busy week for me, but some of the games I’m playing aren’t coming out until next week and I can’t talk about them yet. But there’s still plenty to discuss, as there were a lot of releases this past week.

First off, I spent some time with Goodnight Games’ Malevolent Machines. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. It’s an auto-runner broken up into stages, and you need to shoot robots, jump over and under obstacles, and fight bosses. I made it through almost the entire first three worlds without dying once, so it felt too easy. Then I died on the third boss multiple times, even when it seemed like I was performing flawlessly. The developer is working on improving the game, though, so hopefully it will be more enjoyable after a future update.

Big Bucket Games’ Stagehand: A Reverse Platformer finally released and I’ve been having fun with it, even though I’m not particularly skilled at it. It’s an endless runner in which you control the platforms instead of your character. You need to quickly and frantically slide platforms up and down to keep Frank from getting squashed or falling to his death. There are no in-app purchases or silly power-ups, continues, or endless unlockables, and for that I’m thankful. The only unlockables are three characters you get if you score 1,000, 4,000, or 8,000 points in one game. So far I’ve only unlocked the 1,000-point character, but I like having a goal to strive for. You can see the game in action in my videos below. The second one spoils the second character, so only watch if you don’t mind.

The Ice Cream Headaches expansion pack released for Gambrinous’ Guild of Dungeoneering. Sadly, it’s an easier area that is meant to play early on in the game, instead of giving older players new challenging content to play. The developers recommend starting a new game for it, so I did and I was enjoying it, but it’s a bit of a drag having to scrounge coins together again to unlock all the upgrades. So I don’t know how long I’ll stick with it. If you haven’t gotten too far in the game yet, though, it adds a lot of new mechanics that make it worth playing, such as cards that can freeze you, as well as new classes. You can see it in action in my video below.

I also spent a little time with Gumballs & Dungeons, by Qcplay Limited, because I heard s lot of good things about it. Sadly, it’s another game that felt so easy I barely had to think, then all of a sudden got so hard and I felt unprepared for it. It might still be a good game, but I lost interest at that point. Still, it’s free, so check it out for yourself.

Despite my lukewarm feelings towards the gameboy aesthetic of Werther Azevedo’s Warlock’s Tower, the puzzles are extremely well-designed and I’ve so far made it through seven floors of the tower. It’s been quite a journey, with lots of surprises and tons of tricky levels. Just about each one feels satisfying to complete. I’ve been momentarily sidetracked by several other puzzle games, but I have every intention of trying to complete the game. I’m also working on a walkthrough if you need help.

One of the other puzzle games I got sidetracked with is Link Twin by Carbon Incubator. It’s similar to Color Glide in that you swipe to move both characters at once. The difference is that there’s always two of them, never more, and they can fall off the board. Although the game has a lot of filler and takes a while to ramp up the difficulty, there are some tricky puzzles and I’m enjoying the challenge. There is a move counter, so you get one star for completing the game, another star for one move over par, and another for getting it on par. I’ve completed about ninety of the hundred levels so far, and the last twenty are where the game gets truly challenging. But there are some real doozies scattered throughout. The game is only $1.99 with no in-app purchases, so check it out if it sounds like your type of game. I’m also working on a walkthrough if you need help.

I spent a few minutes with Good Dogs! by the folks behind the popular Twitter account, Dog_Rates. I didn’t find it much fun, though, it’s free if you want to try it yourself.

And last, I played some of OK Golf by Okidokico Entertainment Inc. I like the visuals of it, but I found the gameplay a bit uninspired. I also felt like I was fighting the controls every step of the way. Developers talked about improving the controls, so I may revisit the game when that happens. You can watch my gameplay video below to see if it’s something you might like.

I also updated my Upcoming Games list to include gameplay trailers. Check it out if you want to see what great games there are to look forward to!

Whew! That was a busy week! And next week is possibly busier! I hope you find some games to add to your collection, even if they weren’t all to my taste. Let me know what you’re playing in the comments below and I’ll see you back here next week!

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