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Hi everyone, and welcome to the latest installment of My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the past seven days. I actually managed to write several reviews this week, so you’ll be able to get more than some quick impressions for a few of these games. I’m also playing some ahead of release and I’m allowed to share video, so I’m including them here. But I’ll have more on those once I’ve played through the whole game. Anyway, I’m exhausted from being up with my sick cat in middle of the night (she’s ok now!) so let’s get straight to it.

BACKFIRE

I finally finished BACKFIRE! I was working at it for a few weeks, chipping away at it one boss at a time, and honed my skills enough to beat the final boss. Sadly, there’s not much to do once you defeat all four bosses, but the developer is working on a proper endless mode that I’m really looking forward to. Even without it, I highly recommend grabbing this one. It’s tons of fun and looks and sounds great. You can read my full review here if you need more convincing.

Roterra – Flip the Fairytale

I mentioned Roterra last week when I was still in middle of playing it ahead of release. Well, it’s now out and I wrote both a review and walkthrough. The gist of it is that there’s a lot of great ideas here and I thoroughly enjoyed my time unraveling the puzzles. I just wish the camera was friendlier, as it didn’t always show me everything I wanted to see. If you’re looking for a new puzzle game that’s not too stressful, read my review and then give Roterra a chance. You can also watch my gameplay video to get a sense of what it’s like.

Dragons: Titan Uprising

I so wanted to be wrong about the latest How to Train Your Dragon movie tie-in, Dragons: Titan Uprising. I love dragons and I love the series, but I know that the mobile games have all been free-to-play games filled with endless currencies and energies. Still, I’m a fan of match-three games and I liked the look of this one, so against my better judgement I gave it a try. And there is a lot to like. But unfortunately, the game constantly forces you to stop playing due to its energy requirement. You can spend real cash to replenish it, but I refuse to spend money on stuff like that, so instead I’ve been waiting. I’ll probably just delete the game soon or just forget about it entirely. It’d unfortunate, because it looks like a lot of work went into making the dragons look and feel like they’re right out of the movies. Again, I have a full review here so I’ll let you read that instead of repeating myself. And if you need help with the game, try my walkthrough guide here.

The Horns

Fluttermind, the developer of Incoboto Mini, has been working on a new game for quite some time now, but took a break to release a choice-based horror text RPG called The Horns. I’ve only spent about thirty minutes with it so far and died a few times, but I really like what I’ve seen. The atmosphere is spot on and the text is bite-sized and easy to read. I look forward to learning more about it and hopefully making it to the the Horns eventually, instead of ripping my face off from insanity. I’ll be sure to share more impressions after I get deeper into it. But for now, you can watch my gameplay video below to see what it’s like.

The Shapeshifting Detective

I’d been looking forward to The Shapeshifting Detective ever since it released on PC and was hoping it would make its way over to iOS. Well, it’s finally happening! On February 20th, you can change into different characters and solve a murder mystery on a train, on a plane, or just comfortably relaxing on your couch. The idea is to get people talking because they think you’re someone else. That way you get information they wouldn’t normally share with you. There are also three possible murderers and it’s randomly chosen each game, so there should be plenty of replay value. I’m still on my first playthrough, but I’m enjoying it quite a bit and it feels great on a touchscreen. You can read more in my preview here and watch my gameplay videos if you want to see it in action.

Matchington Mansion

Like I said in my Dragons: Titan Uprising review, I wouldn’t normally play free match-three games. But I was curious about Matchington Mansion after it made its way to the top of the free games charts, even after being out for about a year or so. I was not surprised to discover that it’s just a clone of other similar games, pretty much a direct copy. And like all other games of its ilk, it starts off super easy and then ramps up the difficulty so much that you need to either use power-ups to pass the levels or buy extra lives so you can try again when you fail. I’m not impressed and it saddens me to see this kind of junk doing so well while much better games go unnoticed. Anyway, feel free to play it if you want, but I had my fill.

The Stillness of the Wind

I’d heard of The Stillness of the Wind a while back and was looking forward to playing it, as I’m always up for unique experiences that are trying to tell a story in an unusual way. I also love the art style. The game is actually releasing in just two days, on February 7th. I haven’t spent that much time with it yet, so I’m not ready to give my impressions. But it’s definitely a slow game with minimal challenge, as you play as an elderly woman tending her goat farm after everyone else moved away. I plan to spend more time with it and hopefully have a proper verdict for you on release day. Until then, you can watch some of my gameplay video to see what it’s like.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also took advantage of the springlike weather we got right after the polar vortex, and it was so nice to get some air without freezing my butt off. I also got sucked into the Hulu show Future Man after first thinking it was the dumbest show ever. I still think it’s pretty dumb, but also kind of brilliant. It’s also about video games, and the jokes are spot on. Check it out if you need a silly show to watch. Anyway, back to the games. Today is the Lunar New Year, the year of the pig, and a bunch of great iOS games are on sale. I started a list here that I’m adding to as I see more, so make sure to check back. And please buy Golf Peaks if you don’t have it yet, as it’s on sale for only $1.99 ahead of a content update that’s bringing two new worlds this week. My only complaint in my review was that it was on the short side, and since then it’s gotten a whole bunch of extra content. So check it out! And I’ll see you back here next week with more of My Week Unwrapped!