Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. It was another busy week, though some of it was spent finishing NUTS and playing the first Switch game I’ve touched in a while, Heaven’s Vault. This week is more about quality than quantity, though there’s still a good deal to discuss. So get comfortable and let me fill you in.

IrisFall

NExTStudios’ puzzle adventure, IrisFall, released back in 2018 on other platforms, but somehow I’d never heard of it until it was announced for mobile. But I’m generally a fan of puzzles that play with light and shadow and I loved the look of it, so I knew I had to play it. It’s not a long game and I’m not sure it meets its full potential, puzzle-wise, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The monochromatic visuals and animations were the highlight for me and and a joy to watch. I’m also partial to cats, and Iris follows a cat throughout the game, so I might be slightly biased. I’m still planning to write a proper review, so I don’t want to say too much here, but if you like puzzle games and don’t mind them being on the easier side, this is a pretty easy recommendation. Just be aware that after purchasing, you’ll have to agree to a user agreement in order to play. I also have more videos here if you want to see more.

pink (game)

pink is the latest in Bart Bonte’s series of color-themed puzzle games. If you played the others, you’ll know what to expect. The game consists of fifty levels and the goal in each is to turn the whole screen pink. Each level has different rules and you need to mess around and experiment to figure out what they are. So far I’ve played through the first 29 levels and found the puzzles to be fair, though some were a bit more challenging than others. I’m currently stuck on level 30, but I’ll update my walkthrough once I figure it out. The game is free, supported by ads with a one-time IAP to remove ads, so give it a try for yourself.

Casual Metaphysics

I really had no idea what to expect from Casual Metaphysics, but I was curious and it’s free, supported by ads, so I figured I’d give a shot. It’s slightly confusing at first, as there’s no tutorial. It’s easy enough to figure out that you need to combine the two identical shapes on the screen. But after that, a giant hand starts matching shapes and it took me a bit to realize what was happening. Basically, the hand is the AI and you take turns. The goal is to combine like shapes so they turn into bigger shapes, and then keep combining until it turns into a pearl. Whoever reaches 100 points first wins, but you lose points when your opponent matches and also if you take too long to make your move. It starts off easy, though, and the AI isn’t particularly smart. But after you beat each level three times, you move onto the next, which is harder. There are more shapes and colors and the AI gets smarter. I had a number of losses a few levels in, as even taking a few seconds to think can tank your score. I think it would be even more fun with a friend, so I’m going to try to convince one to play with me. I recommend at least downloading it and playing past the first three rounds so the difficulty ramps up a bit. Early on it might seem boring, but it gets quite frantic. I also appreciate that there’s no penalty for losing. You simply try again until you can pass that level. If you’re still confused, I made a short guide here.

Micetopia

I love the pixel artwork in Micetopia, a new metroidvania published by Crescent Moon Games after first releasing on other platforms. I also like the idea of playing as a little sword-wielding mouse going on an adventure. Unfortunately, I got frustrated and quit after ten minutes. The onscreen buttons are a bit hard to work with, though I could maybe manage if not for the teeny tiny sword. I feel like I have to get right up on top of enemies to attack them, which tends to end with me dying. After several deaths and being forced to restart the same dungeon, I gave up. There’s probably an audience for this, but I’m not it. You can see my short experience with it below.

Genshin Impact

I’m still playing Genshin Impact and this week traveled to an island that was a bit hard to reach and unlocked a fairly difficult quest, but still managed to beat it. I’m also trying to hunt down the oculi I missed and I unlocked the Monstadt treasure compass so I can have a slightly easier time finding missed treasure chests. I also found a heart and was then informed that I need to take a friend there to stand on it and get a chest. Again, I’m trying o pace myself so I don’t get overwhelmed, as it is a big game with a lot to do. Again, if you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend doing so.

Sky: Children of the Light

There’s not much to report for Sky this week, but beta did finally get access to the Wool Hat that’s part of the upcoming Days of Fortune event, so I made a video to show it off. The luck dragon also drops balls instead of crabs now, but I haven’t had a chance to record it yet. There’s also a new quest for the Season of Dreams, so make sure to check it out.

NUTS – A Surveillance Mystery

I mentioned NUTS last week in my roundup, and mentioned it had a rough start but the developers were quick to fix it. I’ve since completed the game, though there were a few more bumps in the road, including one small bug that’s still waiting for an update. Basically, there are points in the game, specifically late game, where the menu at the top will disappear and you won’t be able to interact with anything. But if you tap at the top of the screen where the lock normally is, it should make it appear and everything will work as normal. So please play the game and just remember that if you run into that problem. Otherwise, the game plays great and has had some quality of life improvements that really make a difference. The game itself is wonderful and I highly recommend playing it. I still plan to write a review, hopefully within the next few days. But if you have an Apple Arcade subscription, just play it.

Populus Run

Populus Run is the latest Apple Arcade game from FIFTYTWO, the developers of the gorgeous puzzle game, Kensho. Once again, the art style stands out, as does the hilarious soundtrack. The game itself is an autorunner in which you control a group of people and have to try to keep them all alive. That’s easier said than done, though. I only made it through a few levels before throwing in the towel. I gave up on the first boss after multiple heart-crushing fails. I do appreciate the work that went into the game and there is a lot to like. But it’s just too hard for me, especially when having to play a fast-paced game like this with onscreen buttons. They are adjustable and I moved them to the most comfortable position I could, but there’s still a portion of my brain that’s occupied with thinking about finger placement. I may give it another try with a controller, but even then I’m not sure I’m masochistic enough for the type of punishment this game doles out. If you’re a fan of difficult reflex-based games, though, give it a try.

Heaven’s Vault

And last, but certainly not least, Heaven’s Vault from inkle released on Switch this week, and without any news of it coming to iOS, I decided to play on there. I’ve so far invested about five hours into it and am finding it an absolute joy to play. The idea is that you travel around to different moons and look for artifacts and other items with inscriptions on them. Then you try to translate those glyphs using educated guesses. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I wrote a proper impressions piece here and included more videos if you want a better idea of what it’s like. If you just want to know whether to play it, though, the answer is a resounding YES.

And that’s everything I’ve been playing this week. I still want to review some of these games and play through Heaven’s Vault at least once. There’s also a big content update coming next week to Genshin Impact, so I’ll probably be pretty busy with that. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back here next week with more of My Week Unwrapped!