Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. If you’ve been following closely, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been spending a lot of my time with the Witness. This is true and hopefully won’t bother anyone, as I’m really enjoying it. But I did manage to fit in some time for other games and write a few reviews, which I’ll link to below. Also, don’t forget to look at the sales at the bottom of the page!
The Witness
Soooo it’s been quite the rollercoaster for me and Jonathan Blow’s The Witness. At first, I thought, “it’s just 2D line-drawing puzzles in a 3D world? Why do I need to walk to each puzzle?” Then I got motion sickness from all the walking around on my iPad and requested a refund. After managing to get my two devices synced properly, I gave the game a try on my iPhone and the motion sickness was much better. So I continued playing and then reversed my refund. The iOS port of the game still has issues, as it feels cramped on my iPhone 6S and the save system is a mess that has a mind of its own. But this game just won’t let me out of its grasp. When I’m not playing, I’m thinking about the puzzles I haven’t solved and what I need to do still. It’s invaded my every thought. I had to tear myself away from it just to play other games. And I’m happy to say that I seem to be able to play again on my iPad, which feels much more comfortable for the line-drawing puzzles. I hope you guys won’t mind me talking about this game for a while, probably until I finish it and review it. And it’s a big game. Did I mention that? I keep discovering areas on this island that I haven’t visited before. Basically, if you’re a puzzle fan and don’t have any issues with motion sickness in first-person 3D games, I highly recommend picking this one up. Yes, $10 is a lot on mobile, but you are getting way more than your money’s worth. If you have to skip buying five $2 games or ten $1 games in order to get this, do it. Even though I haven’t finished yet, I’ve gotten so much enjoyment out of it so far. It’s especially fun to discuss it with others who have played but won’t spoil it for you. If you don’t mind spoilers, I have lots of videos here so you can see what it’s like. But it will ruin a lot for you! I also realized that the game Lynk. borrowed a lot from The Witness, so if you liked that, you would like this as well.
Flower
Annapurna Interactive, the folks that published the critically-acclaimed PC game, What Remains of Edith Finch, surprised us this week with an iOS port of thatgamecompany’s Flower from 2009. Since I reviewed it, I’ll just let you read that instead of repeating myself. But it’s a game that’s held up to the test of time. You can also watch some gameplay videos below.
Kensho
Kensho is a beautiful game with a lovey soundtrack that unfortunately is missing a little something to make it a compelling game worth playing past the story. Even then, it makes things too easy if you mess up and fail. I would love the game to give me a reason to continue play, but as is I don’t see one. You can read more about it in my full review here.
Morphite
I took a break from The Witness to play some more of Crescent Moon’s Morphite, but it seems the motion sickness transferred itself between the two games. It’s a gorgeous game and I was enjoying it last week, but my latest session left me feeling sick and annoyed. After about a half hour of running around, trying to figure out where the game wanted me to go, I started getting nauseous. Maybe it’s my poor sense of direction, but the jumping around to get to places is not helping. I also hit a bug where I was underwater and my jump button stopped working, so I had to reload from the last checkpoint. I’m not sure if I’ll continue playing in the future, but for now I’m taking a break.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey
Asmodee’s Ticket to Ride: First Journey is an introduction to the board game, Ticket to Ride that’s mostly meant for kids, but since I never played the original, I thought this would be a good place to start. I did enjoy what I played of it, as it’s pretty straightforward and easy to jump into. The low-poly graphics are also easy on the eyes. If you do play, I recommend activating the fast mode, as the game can feel a bit slow otherwise. Unfortunately, it seems like a game that would be more fun against friends instead of the AI, but I can’t finds any online mode to do so. If you don’t mind playing against the computer or have friends and family for pass-and-play, it’s a solid game. You can see more in the video below to see if it’s something you’d like.
Harald: A Game of Influence
Harald is another board game — or rather card game — by Asmodee that released on iOS this week. I played a bit but am finding the rules a a bit confusing and overwhelming, so I have to give it more time before I give my opinion on it. It does have online multiplayer, so that’s a plus. You can see some gameplay video below.
Thimbleweed Park
And last, I finally finished Thimbleweed Park! Yay! But I’m working on a review, so I’m not going to say much here. But I have some early impressions here, some words about the controls here, and a guide about the touch controls here. And make sure to look out for my upcoming review!
That’s everything for this installment of My Week Unwrapped! Thanks for reading and I hope to see you back here same time next week. And don’t forget the sales below. Not too many this week, but still worth checking out, especially the free one.
Sales:
Cahoots! – FREE
Severed – $1.99
