Hi everyone and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. It’s been a fairly busy week, though I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with pre-releases. This coming week is going to be a lot busier for iOS games than I realized. So if nothing caught your fancy this past week, you should be able to find something to spend your money on over the next two. Anyway, strap in and let me regale you with the story of My Week Unwrapped.
True Legacy
I hadn’t heard of True Legacy until I saw it pop up in the pre-order section of the App Store, but I knew right away I needed to play it. I’m a big fan of dystopian future stories, like Black Mirror, that show the dark side of seemingly helpful technology. In True Legacy, that technology is an all-knowing algorithm that scans people’s genome and phenome to determine if they’re viable candidates for any jobs and, if so, which ones. Most people in this world are “inactives,” meaning they have no jobs because machines can do their jobs better than they can. It’s a harsh world, but one that’s not hard to imagine. The game started off a bit slow for me as I got accustomed to all the terminology and began to form an image of this world in my head. But the last three chapters of the game were tense and I could barely put it down until I finished. I have a full review here, so I’ll just let you read that to help you decide if you should buy it. I also have a walkthrough guide for the puzzles if you get stuck.
Bluebird of Happiness
Daigo Sato’s Bluebird of Happiness is a short little point-and-click adventure with a strange but sweet story. It’s free with banner ads at the bottom of the screen. I don’t see any way to pay to remove them, even though there’s a Restore Purchases button. But they’re not too intrusive, since the game is designed so they don’t block anything. You can also watch video ads for hints. Otherwise, it’s completely free to play and I recommend it for a brief but enjoyable experience. There’s also two endings, so make sure to get both! But if you need help, try my walkthrough guide.
Death Squared
I’d been following news about SMG Studio’s Death Squared since it was released on other platforms, hoping it might one day make it over to iOS and that day has finally come! It’s releasing this week on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. I got a copy a few days early and I’m really enjoying it. It’s pretty punishing, though, so I’ve only completed about twenty of the eighty levels. Unless you’re better at it than I am, I don’t think you’ll be breezing through it too quickly. I’ll hopefully have more to say about it at release, but until then you can read my first impressions and watch my gameplay videos.
Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition
I had a bit of a rocky start with Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition. After about twenty minutes of playing, my character got frozen in place. I could interact with the menus and the characters continued their dialogue, but tapping on the ground to move didn’t do anything. I killed the app and opened my save just to have the game crash. A couple of more attempts, though, and I was able to open it and continue playing. There are aspects of it I like, but I find the cutesy graphics distracting, especially since they don’t move their mouths when they talk. For me, even though I haven’t played any since FFVII and FF Tactics, the appeal of the newer Final Fantasy games was always the realistic graphics. I’m only in Chapter 1, but the story and characters aren’t really doing much to make me want to continue, especially at a $20 price point. The battles are kind of fun, and exploration is also enjoyable, but often I’m forced to quit while I’m still looking around, because I completed a quest. I also can’t seem to find any way to adjust the camera, and it makes it feel like I’m not seeing the action. I came upon enemies from a really weird angle in my last video and it felt awkward. I’ve also heard complaints about crashing and game save losses, and since I had some issues myself, I’m a bit wary about spending the $20 on it. I know I would not want to start over if my save gets corrupted. I’ll likely continue the first chapter and see how I feel, maybe pay the $0.99 for the second chapter to see if it grabs me more. But until then, I can’t really say whether or not I’d recommend it. I guess try the free chapter and see if it sucks you in.
Purrfect Date
I’ve been waiting for the iOS port of Bossa’s cat dating simulator, Purrfect Date, ever since I saw the announcement trailer for it. You should really watch it, embedded below for easy access. It sounded kooky and weird and I love cats, so of course I was eager to play it. I just got an email this morning announcing its iOS release is this week! It’s actually out a bit earlier than expected and you can buy it now! I also got a copy of the game this morning and started playing. It’s not really what I expected, and is perhaps a little too heavy on the narration for me. But the dialogue is entertaining and I’m curious to see what’s going on with this strange island of talking cats, so I’m going to stick with it. I’m not sure yet if I’ll have time for a proper review, but you can watch my gameplay videos and see if it’s something you’d enjoy.
80 Days
Before all these new games came to my attention, I had a bit of a lull, so I decided to finally boot up Inkle’s 80 Days. Then I got busy with all these other games, so that’s on the back-burner again. Maybe I’ll continue it one day, but certainly not this week!
Dissembler
Ian MacLarty, the developer of Boson X, is releasing his first puzzle game on February 22nd and I got it a bit early. I liked it so much, I couldn’t put it down until I completed all 120 levels. I also wake up every morning and work on the six dailies. I’ll have a proper review closer to release, but if you like relaxed puzzle games, this is definitely one to pre-order. It’s super satisfying and very user-friendly with its unlimited undo button. Check out the video below to see gameplay of some earlier levels. But again, you can also wait for my review if you don’t want to take the plunge just yet.
Florence
I don’t have this yet, but am excited to play Florence, the first game from Ken Wong since he worked on Monument Valley. You can pre-order it now and get it automatically on Valentine’s Day (see a pattern here?) or wait for my impressions.
Alto’s Odyssey
Alto’s Odyssey release date was also just announced for February 22nd. I haven’t played it yet, but I really enjoyed the first one, so I’m looking forward to it. Check out the announcement trailer below with some gorgeous visuals. You can also pre-order it or wait for my impressions or review on release day.
And that’s everything I’ve been up to and a bunch that I will be up to over the next two weeks. Very busy month with lots of quality games, so get your wallets ready! Let me know what you’ve been playing and what you’re excited to play and I’ll see you back here next time for more My Week Unwrapped!
