Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. This has been another quiet week as the new year kicks off, and I’m somewhat grateful since it’s been hard to focus on games what with the whole country imploding. Since it was such a light week, I threw myself into Genshin Impact and made a lot of progress. I also picked up a game on sale and got to preview another. It’s not much, but I already have access to two games releasing this coming week, so things should pick up soon.
hocus 2
I wasn’t really sold on the original hocus, but mainly because the controls were clunky. So I didn’t grab the sequel when it released recently. But at the same price of $0.99, I couldn’t really refuse and decided to give it a try. This new perspective puzzler is definitely a lot more interesting than the first game, as you need to pick up several collectibles in each level instead of just getting to the exit. There are also moving parts to make it more interesting. I’m still not 100% sold on it, though, because a lot of the time it feels like I’m just messing around and using trial and error to find the solution. I might stick with it, but at the moment it hasn’t grabbed me like other puzzle games. If you liked the original, though, you can’t go wrong grabbing it for a buck.
A Simple Mistake: Escape Room
A Simple Mistake is the latest adventure game from M9 Packaging. The idea is that your car breaks down near a house and you try to see if you can use their phone. No one answers, so you break in and get stuck inside! Then you have to solve a series of puzzles to get from room to room to eventually find the phone. Overall, it’s not a bad game, but it suffers from some issues. It’s often too dark to see and there’s no hot spot indicator, which leads to a lot of pixel hunting. There also isn’t always enough feedback. I spent way too long trying to pass a puzzle with five levers because I didn’t hear the small click that meant I solved the puzzle. The clue for that was also way too hard to read, even on my iPad, so I can’t imagine how it is on a small iPhone. In fact, that was a problem for much of the game. Clues were small and blurry and hard to make out. The final puzzle of the game was also eye-rolling ridiculous and then it ends on a “to be continued.” I would still check it out if more content is added, but I would like to see all these issues ironed out. If not for all the pixel hunting and other silliness, it would be a very short game. So the frustration drag it out just a bit. Anyway, check out my video below if you want to see some gameplay, and I have a full walkthrough guide here.
Inked
I’d seen Inked pop up in the pre-order section of the App Store a little while back and it piqued my interest with its unique art style. I was lucky enough to get an early preview of the game and played through the prologue and first chapter. I’m very impressed with it, especially how the controls were redesigned from the ground up for mobile. The release date has unfortunately been pushed off to February because the developers want to polish it more, but I’ll definitely tell you when I know more and should have a proper review in time for release. Until then, I wrote a small article about it and made a video showing off the touch controls.
Genshin Impact
Like I said, I’ve really thrown myself into Genshin Impact these last few weeks. Between the event that took place in the new Dragonspine area and now another small event involving treasure hunts, there’s never a lack of things to do. And I’m still catching up on older quests, though I finally finished the one about Rex Lapis. I’m still struggling sometimes in battle due to the iPad controls and hope they fix them sooner than later, but I’m enjoying myself nonetheless. If you haven’t given the game a try yet because of the gacha mechanics, I really think you’re losing out on a game that’s actually quite good. I’ve made a playlist with all my videos here, which is now over 100!
Sky: Children of the Light
The Season of Dreams kicked off this week in Sky and, while it is a fun season that takes place in a new area in the Valley of Triumph, a lot of bugs from the beta version made it over to live. So I haven’t gotten any of my spirits yet or started the seasonal quests in the Village of Dreams. I’m waiting for all the bugs to be ironed out first. Still, I have guides from the beta version, so you can find my spirit and wing guide here, my quests guide here, and my seasonal candle guide here. Hopefully the bugs will be ironed out soon and I can update my guide with new videos.
Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon
And last, Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon is the first Apple Arcade release of the new year. It’s a roguelike that takes place in the same universe as the other Oceanhorn games, and this time its in 2D pixel art instead of 3D graphics. You have a team of four adventurers of different classes and can either play along and swap between them, or use local co-op with friends or family to team up. I only played solo so far and only for 30 minutes, but it was overall a positive experience. I just think the controls need a little work, since it’s awkward to have to move to aim your weapon, instead of having a separate joystick for aiming. I also don’t like that you can’t revisit older floors to look for things you missed. I opened a secret room and found a statue, but didn’t have enough gold to buy it so it was useless. I’ll probably play some more and see where it goes, but those little things do mar the experience a bit. You can watch some of my gameplay below if you want to see what it’s like before playing yourself
And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week, aside from the games releasing next week that I haven’t mentioned yet. I’m looking forward to another year of iOS gaming and hope that 2021 impressed as much as 2020. Let me know in the comments section which games you’re playing and I’ll see you back here next time for more of My Week Unwrapped!
