My Week Unwrapped: February 13, 2021 – Kitty Letter, Puzzle Dino, About Love and Hate 2, Deadly Secrets on Autumn Drive and More

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Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. There were a fair number of notable releases this week, as well as updates to existing games. I also spent more time with Titan Quest and wrote up some early impressions. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s not waste any more time.

Kitty Letter

I had no idea that The Oatmeal, the developer of Exploding Kittens, was working on a new competitive mobile game. I especially didn’t expect it to be completely free, aside from a few optional cosmetics. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the game today. I recorded my full playthrough of the story mode but have been joining multiplayer matches on and off all day. I’ve been enjoying the game so much that I wrote up a short piece about it here. If you like word games, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Puzzle Dino – Egg Adventure

Puzzle Dino is a tricky puzzle game that I almost discounted because of its cutesy graphics and theme, but I’m so glad I didn’t. The mechanics are similar to ChuChu Rocket, in that you place arrows down on the ground to make the dinosaur change directions. The goal in each level is to collect all the eggs and get to the exit. It starts off simple, but each chapter adds new mechanics to shake things up and add more challenge. There have been a number of levels that stumped me for a good while, but I managed to complete all six worlds and unlock the bonus world. I’m still working on that, as even the first level is proving difficult for me. But I’m up for the challenge and will continue working at it. I highly recommend this one for any puzzle fans out there. It’s also free, supported by ads, or you can pay $0.99 to remove the ads. For just another $0.99 you can unlock a few extra dinosaur skins, as well as hints, if that’s something you’re interested in. I should mention that the larger boards can be a bit awkward on an iPhone, unfortunately, so I recommend playing on an iPad. It’s still doable on an iPhone, but more cramped and the controls are a bit fiddly as a result. I also have a walkthrough guide if you get stuck.

About Love and Hate 2

Another surprise release this week was About Love and Hate 2, the sequel to the award-winning game from 2014. It released on Steam last year but is a perfect fit for touchscreens, especially a spacious iPad. I only played about twenty minutes so far, but I’m impressed with what I’ve seen. The main difference I’ve noticed from the original is that the puzzles are 3D instead of 2D, so you have to rotate them to see the full stage. One thing I don’t get, though, is the move counter. I don’t see any indication how many moves I’m supposed to be solving a level in, and the moves don’t even seem to factor into your score, only the coins do. I would prefer the moves to either have a purpose or just to be removed completely so they’d stop distracting me. It’s not like I’m going to replay for fewer moves without knowing what to aim for or why. That’s still a very minor complaint and I’m otherwise enjoying the game and looking forward to playing more.

Deadly Secrets on Autumn Drive

It’s been a while since I’ve played one of Midnight Adventures’ point-and-click adventure games, but their latest, Deadly Secrets on Autumn Drive, is a solid addition to their library. It ends with To Be Continued, but I enjoyed solving the puzzles up to that point. Some clues could have been a little clearer and I wish used clues would disappear from the journal, but overall it felt worth my time. I’m looking forward to the next part to see where the story goes. You can either buy the game outright or try the demo and unlock the full game from within it. If you get stuck and the in-game hints aren’t enough, try my walkthrough guide.

Knightin’+

I’m not sure what to make of Knightin’+. I like the idea of it, battling through dungeons and solving puzzles along the way to access treasure chests. But the joystick is fixed in place and feels awkward on my iPad because it’s not located where I normally place my thumb. Aside from that, I found the puzzles confusing. I’m not sure if I missed clues elsewhere or was misreading the clues in the room, but I could never tell which lights I was supposed to step on to access the treasure chests. I got the first one mostly through trial and error but couldn’t figure out the next one. I didn’t notice any obvious clues while fighting through enemies and I don’t really want to backtrack, because changing floors make enemies respawn. I might revisit it if a floating joystick is added, but for now I’m taking a break from it.

Titan Quest: Legendary Edition

I spent more time with Titan Quest: Legendary Edition this week and made some good progress through the map. I even took on a crazy Shadowmaw that nearly killed me but I managed to defeat him after running away a lot, guzzling potions, and reviving my pets a whole bunch of times. I also finally made it to Delphi and will meet the oracle on my next session. I plan to keep playing as long as I can find the time for it, as it really does scratch that action RPG itch. I wrote more impressions here, where you can also see more of my gameplay videos.

Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is celebrating the Lunar new year over the next few weeks with a huge multi-part event. You get to play through Xiao’s story quest, as well as partake in the lantern rite festival. The highlights for me are the decorations in Liyue, especially the giant deer lantern, and the Theater Mechanicus board game they added for the next few weeks. It’s basically a tower defense game that has you setting up elemental towers to cause reactions and take down monsters. You can still use your characters to throw elemental attacks at them, but they won’t do any direct damage. They can only cause reactions with the other elements. It’s a really interesting take on the tower defense genre and fits well within this world. I wouldn’t mind seeing something like this added to the game permanently to shake things up. If you haven’t tried it out yet, I highly recommend doing so. It’s especially fun in co-op with one other player so you can each manage a section of the board.

Sky: Children of the Light

I don’t have much to show off in Sky this week, but the Days of Fortune and Days of Love began. I got another video of the luck dragon and the free cosmetics, but didn’t make a new video of the pink grass at home or the see-saw. I do have videos of those form when they were in beta, but the main point is to just check them out for yourself in the game.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also caught up on WandaVision and realized that I prefer Marvel series over their movies. I also gave The Sinner another chance by skipping the first season and going straight into the second and enjoyed it enough to now start on the third season. Man, there is way too much to consume! I could really use more hours in a day. Anyway, let me know what you’ve been playing — or watching — in the comments section and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped!

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Dr Renier Palland

    I absolutely friggin’ adore Oatmeal’s humor. I’m the dude living in the trailer… I’m a cat man… Ha.

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