AppUnwrapper

Hi everyone! Welcome back to My Week Unwrapped! I’ve been pretty busy playing games, but not many of them have been winners. Still, I’ll give you my impressions of each of them and let you decide for yourself.

Mechanical Box

First off, I’ve been playing Mechanical Box by Andrey Sklyarov. It’s a puzzle game in which the entire screen is a layer of a box and you need to look for clues and clear each level to get to the inside of the box. I’ve completed the main content and wrote a walkthrough, but I’m still working out how to find the secret level. Overall, I like the idea of it and I enjoyed solving some of the puzzles. But others were a little too cryptic, and it seemed like without using any hints, I would need to read the developer’s mind. There are also some reflex-based puzzles that can be frustrating if you don’t find that fun. The game is free with ads + IAP to remove them on Android, but on iOS it’s a paid game, so you’ll have to spend the money to see if you like it. It definitely will take some patience and out-of-the-box thinking, so consider that before purchasing.

Towaga

Next up, I’ve been playing the absolutely gorgeous Towaga, by Sunnyside Games. It’s challenging reflex-based game where you have to destroy oncoming swarms of shadow monsters. I’m only on the second area because it’s that tough for me. It is a really interesting game with breathtaking visuals. I’m just not that good at it and it gets my heart racing when I play it. So I’ve only been playing when I know I have enough focus for it. You can check out my gameplay video below.

Milkmaid of the Galaxy

I also finished my Milkmaid of the Milky Way walkthrough and made a new video because of a bug I wasn’t aware of on my first playthrough.

HERO UNIT – 911 Dispatch Silmulator

I also spent some time with HERO Unit – 911 Dispatch Simulator by Jassim Albuarki. It’s a text adventure in which you play as a 911 dispatcher. You receive calls on your iPhone and have to respond to them and try to save lives. You then get a newspaper article based on your performance, whether you saved the person or not. I liked how they mixed in some humor, such as non-emergency calls and what I believe was supposed to be an homage to the Lifeline games. It’s pretty short — about a half hour — but then you can try for the alternate endings. Aside from the length and some typos and grammatical errors, I did enjoy it. I would have liked to see more, but I think it was an interesting concept that could hopefully be built on in the future.

Journey of HAHA

I really wanted to like Journey of Haha by Sergio Arrascaeta / Tau Ceti, but the controls killed it for me. It’s a puzzle game in a retro Zelda-like style, but the joystick requires too much precision, making it easy to mess up and having to restart. On top of that, you’re timed for each level and then awarded a number of stars based on your performance. Combined with the finicky controls, I found it too frustrating to stick with it past a few levels. I hope something can be done to improve the controls and make it more bearable to play.

Mysterium

I also gave Asmodee Digital’s Mysterium a try, but I was completely underwhelmed. I never played the board game, but neither my solo or multiplayer experience with this digital version has been positive. If you already know the game and have a plan to play with some friends online, you might get something out of it. But I think those new to the game will find it confusing and just not all that interesting. It seems like a game that loses its luster when the player’s aren’t all in the same room together. But you can watch my video below and see if it looks like something you’d enjoy.

Pzzl

And last, I played Tobias Werner’s Pzzl. a few weeks ahead of release, but now it’s out. It’s a nice one-handed high-score puzzler that requires some strategy. I also have two promo codes to give away to the first two people to comment asking for it, as long as you include a valid email address I can contact you with. (Update: Both promo codes have been claimed!)

And that’s everything! Ill see you back here next week with more of My Week Unwrapped!