Hi everyone and welcome back to another busy installment of My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last week. It’s been quite a hectic week for me, trying to finish some games and review them in time for their release. I also decided last-minute to go tothe Play NYC convention yesterday, and wrote about the experience here. But that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about the games! And make sure to scroll down to the bottom for the noteworthy sales of the week.
Technobabylon
I liked Wadjet Eye’s and Technocrat’s cyberpunk point-and-click adventure, Technobabylon, almost immediately. And the game held my attention the whole way through with its diverse cast of interesting and quirky characters, all voice-acted superbly. It also explores complex issues about our own technology and possible technology of the future. In the city of Newton in 2087, an omnipotent AI named Central keeps an eye on everyone and can even somewhat predict crimes. It gets into questions about relying on technology too much, as well as other moral issues. And there are quite a few clever puzzles that are so entertaining, but telling you too much about them would spoil the surprise. Anyway, rather than write a second review here, I’ll just send you over to the review I wrote earlier in the week. I also have a complete video walkthrough if you get stuck and need help.
The Girl Who Sold the World
Lyorah Studios released The Girl Who Sold the World this week, a game in the vein of Lifeline but some entirely in audio. You’re messaging a girl who is lost in the forest and can’t remember anything about herself. She talks to you and you can hear the wind blowing, the leaves rustling, her feet hitting the ground. It’s quite a unique experience and, for the most part is done very well. I’ve been compelled to keep returning to see what happens next. The audio is believable and the girl, who discovers her name is Frances, is quite likable. My main issue with it is my own character, who she calls Skyler because the messenger says that at the top. My character can be a real a-hole sometimes, and it’s not always clear that you’re about to choose a dialogue option that will be downright mean or even creepy. I’m not sure where this is all leading, but sometimes I seem empathetic and understanding of Frances’s situation, while other times I’m just a big bully. There also seems to be some choices that we make together that don’t really make sense considering her situation. But I don’t want to say too much, because that could spoil it. Anyway, it’s still quite a unique experience and definitely worth trying out. It’s free at the moment as part of a promotion, but it will go up in price soon, so grab it for free while you can. And I’m working on a walkthrough here if you need help.
DATA WING
I really suck badly at Dan Vogt’s DATA WING. And normally that would be enough to make me quit and move on to something else. But even though I have trouble getting used to the controls and keep failing miserably, the story is just so charming, I can’t walk away. You have to fly a little triangular ship through race tracks. But it takes a lot of finesse, as you tap the left side of the screen to tilt left and the right side of the screen to tilt right. But the real trick is that you need to slide your backside along walls to drift and speed up. This is where things get tricky but also really fun when you manage to make it happen. And it looks pretty cool, too. In between tracks, a friendly but snarky AI will chat with you and give you math problems to solve. There are also other surprises, like little notes to find that fill in other story bits. I really hope I can manage to get through the game-y part of the game so I can see where the story leads. I would hate to have to give up and miss the rest of it. Anyway, the game is 100% free, no strings attached, so you should definitely give it a try. And if you want to see story bits you may have missed, I’ve posted videos of my progress so far here.
Piece Out
Kumobius’s new puzzler, Piece Out, is a perfectly good game that’s free to try and gets tricky fairly quickly. It’s put together well and has a user-friendly undo button. There’s really nothing wrong with it. It’s just not holding my attention. I still recommend picking it up and seeing if it’s something you’d like.
cityglitch
Peter Rockwell’s cityglitch is challenging turn-based puzzler. In each level, you have to move your character to the pink circles to light them up. You can move as many spots as you want, as long as you go straight or diagonal, like the queen piece in a game of Chess. The catch is that there are obstacles and enemies in your way and each enemy has a different behavior. Spooks follow you around, one move at a time. If they touch you, it’s game over. Cats don’t attack you, but instead move away from you one spot in the opposite direction that you came towards them. And Sliders, well, slide down an entire row each move, only stopping when they hit something. If an enemy lands on on of the pink circles you lit up, it turns off again. There is a single-move undo button if you mess up, but you’ll most likely be restarting a lot. This is not an easy game. Each level does have an optional move counter you can turn on in the settings, which both makes the puzzles more strict but also gives you an idea of how many moves it should take to solve. I’m still working on the second world, but you can see my walkthrough for the first world here.
Finn in 1989
David Cordis’ Stranger Things-inspired text adventure, Finn in 1989, went free for a day, so I decided to give it a try. It’s another messaging game life Lifeline, where you have forced breaks. I actually am interested in seeing where the story goes, as it’s about a young boy named Finn who went missing in 1989…and you’re talking to him from 2017. There are strange alien creatures, including a huge dog that saves and befriends Finn. The dog reminds him of Falkor from The Neverending Story, but he names him Bear. My main issue with the game is that all the 80’s pop culture references feel forced. I’m interested in the boy and his story, but those references don’t pull me back to 1989 so much as they distract me from the rest of the story. As is, I’m not sure I’ll continue with it. The forced breaks are making it easy for me to just walk away from it since I don’t feel like returning to hear more 80’s names thrown around. Still, check out my video below to see what it’s like and grab it while it’s free to try it for yourself.
Burgle Bros.
I heard good things about Tim Fowers cooperative bird game, Burgle Bros, so I wanted to check out the new digital version. Unfortunately, I found it too confusing as someone who’s new to the game, and I wasn’t enjoying it enough to want to understand it better. I think it’s probably more fun if you play with friends instead of solo.
KARMA. INCARNATION 1
And last, I’m playing the trippy point-and-click adventure, KARMA. INCARNATION 1 that’s been out on other platforms but isn’t releasing on iOS until this week, August 24th. I’m enjoying it a lot, as it reminds me of Amanita Design’s games like Samorost 3 and Botanicula. It’s wordless like those other games and also tells the story and gives you hints through animated drawings. I’m not far enough into it to review it yet, but I like what I’ve seen so far. I’ll hopefully have more to say about it next week after it’s out.
Sales:
Tsuro – FREE
Finn in 1989: Episode 1 – FREE
Riptide GP2 – FREE
Costume Quest – FREE
Dropchord – FREE
Guild of Dungeoneering – $2.99
Telltale Games – A whole bunch of these are on sale. I’m not listing them all, but make sure to check them out!
And that’s all for this episode of My Week Unwrapped! Let me know what you’re playing in the comments section and I’ll see you back here next week!
