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’s another busy week, between regular iOS games and Apple Arcade. It’s getting hard to keep up, especially since some of these games are upcoming and there’s even more on the horizon. And please, if you’re reading this, let me know in the comments section that you find these roundups helpful so I know that it’s worth to continue writing them.

Fate of Kai

I hadn’t heard of Fate of Kai before it released, but I was thrilled to see that it came to iOS the same day as PC, especially since it’s a perfect fit for the platform. It’s basically a graphic novel (aka comic book) where you change the outcome by picking up a word from one frame and placing it somewhere else. The artwork is gorgeous and the story is entertaining. But I got stuck on a specific part where I’m supposed to figure out a path using a line drawing and I haven’t been back since. I do want to continue and plan to do so, but there were simply too many games this week and it kept getting pushed off. You can still watch some of my gameplay video to see what it’s like and I’m working on a walkthrough guide here. I’ll hopefully have more impressions for you as I get deeper into the game.

Card Hog

I played the beta version of Card Hog a little while back, but now it’s out for everyone and I spent some more time with it. The mechanics aren’t groundbreaking, as you’ve seen them before. You play as a hog — or pig — and move around a dungeon that’s made up of rows of cards. If you move onto an enemy, you attack them and kill them if you have a weapon that has more attack points than their health. You can pick up various types of weapons and some have dual purposes, like the shovel’s ability to dig up scraps. There are spikes that shoot up out of the ground every other move, so you have to be careful to land on them when they’re harmless. There are enemies that will evade certain attacks, there’s health potions, poison, and bosses you’ll encounter if you survive long enough. You can also buy upgrades and other items during your run using the coins and scraps you collect. The idea is to last as long as you can, and then go again. Between runs, you can also unlock permanent upgrades, though these feel like they’re tacked on to pad out gameplay. For a game like this, I would prefer not to have a grind for small upgrades. Still, there doesn’t seem to be too many, so I can forgive it and still enjoy the game. I especially like that there are different s characters to unlock through play that change the experience. The one that’s most noticeably different to me is the pig that drops fire every few moves, burning both enemies and things you don’t want destroyed, like potions and coins. There are also several gameplay modes to keep things varied. I’m not sure yet how long the game will hold my attention, but I’m enjoying it for now. I’m also waiting for iCloud to be added so I can continue my progress on my iPhone. If you’re looking for an endless card-based dungeon crawler that has great artwork and isn’t too punishing, give Card Hog a try.

Cats in Time

Cats in Time is the latest puzzle game from Pine Studio, and this is the first one for them that’s self-published. What happened is that a bunch of cats jumped into a time machine when they should have and now you have to go back in time and rescue them from different points in history. The game looks great, with each level made of a diorama that you rotate to explore. I’ve only played the first few levels and — aside from one puzzle that tripped me up — it’s pretty easy so far. The puzzles feel very familiar, similar to ones we’ve seen in their other games. I’m still enjoying it and will play more, but it needs to get a little more interesting to hold my attention. I do like looking for the hidden collectibles and other Easter eggs hidden throughout the game. It’s a pleasant experience so far and features fair monetization, as you can try a few levels and then buy the rest of the game if you like it. On a quieter week, I might have played more, but I’ll likely have to chip away at this since there’s other games hogging my time. I definitely recommend trying it out if you have any interest in these types of games. I’m also working on a walkthrough guide if you need help.

Pureya

Pureya is a collection of mini games that you play one after another for only 10 seconds each. The goal is always to collect marbles and avoid obstacles. It’s a neat idea and I appreciate that it’s a premium game, but I was finding it repetitive after just a few minutes. I’m not even sure what the overall goal is. It just seems that I collect the marbles, drop them in a pachinko machine and try to make them fall in the green hole. Most of by marbles went to waste, but I did manage to unlock….something. I’m not really sure what. There are no words in the game, no explanation of anything. You’re thrown into it and meant to figure out why you’re doing all this. I’m sure there’s an audience out there for it, but it’s not me. You can watch some of my gameplay video below if you want to see what it’s like.

The Secret Elevator Remastered

A few years back, I played an adventure game called The Secret Elevator. It was pretty rough around the edges and I gave up on it before completing it. Well, the developers took my feedback to heart and remade the entire game, so it’s now the same app but named The Secret Elevator Remastered. I played some of it and it’s definitely better designed and more enjoyable to explore. Unfortunately, I encountered a bug when I found a secret ending and had to cut my video short. The game has since been updated to fix that, but my progress was wiped. I still want to give it another chance, but I just didn’t have the time right now to start the game over. You can still get an idea of what the game is like from my video below, but I can’t really give impressions yet.

Machinika Museum

About a year ago, I found the demo of Machinika Museum on the App Store and was really impressed with it, but had no idea if or when the full game would be released. Well, this week it came out on PC and went on pre-order on iOS and Android, with it coming to both platforms on April 20th. I was lucky enough to get an early copy and have since played through five of the seven chapters. It’s basically a puzzle box game similar to The Room series, but you’re fixing up alien artifacts. Everything looks incredibly realistic and I’ve been enjoying all the puzzles. I wrote a bit more about it here and started a walkthrough here. The game is free to pre-order at the moment, but it’s not clear yet what the monetization will be like once it’s out. Either way, it’s worth pre-ordering at no cost. This is a quality puzzle game.

Cards! – MonkeyBox 2

Cards! is another upcoming game, this time from TheCodingMonkeys, as part of their MonkeyBox series. It’s a card-based adventure game in which you choose from three cards at each junction and watch the story play out. There’s many ways it can go bad, but failure is still fun to watch. I’ve played through the first three chapters and even replayed some of of them multiple times to find different routes. It involves a lot of experimentation, which I like. It’s very playful. I wrote more about it here, but once again you can pre-order it ahead of its April 15th release.

Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

I already reviewed Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins last week, but I’ve since had a chance to re-watch the episode it was based on, Blink, and play the game again, this time getting the best ending. I updated my walkthrough guide to go with it, so if you’re stuck it should help you.

Psycholonials

I’m still don’t really like Z, the main character in Psycholonials, but at this point I’m so deep into the story that I guess I’ll see it through to the end. I am intrigued by the arrival of her nemesis, but will have to wait for the next chapter to see how it plays out. I have the first six chapters here if you’re curious.

All That Remains: Part 1

Glitch Games’ recently made some of their adventure games free to try, but that occasionally meant adding new puzzles. For All That Remains Part 1, one of the doors was locked and a puzzle box was added that you need to solve to get the key. I updated my guide with the solution to that puzzle and also made a short video for it.

Genshin Impact

The Windblume Festival is still in progress in Genshin Impact, and to be honest, I’m so over it. I’m not a fan of any of the mini games. The one part of the event that is somewhat enjoyable is the co-op mini games, but they’re so poorly optimized that I end up waiting 80% of the time and only playing 20%. All the waiting wears me down, and it’s also super repetitive because you’re just playing the same games over and over. I’m just ready for this whole event to be over.

Sky: Children of the Light

There’s a lot going on in Sky these days. The Days of Bloom started this week, bringing with it a cherry blossom tree and blossom cosmetics. The hair and cape are free, while the tea set costs money, so make sure to at least grab the free stuff while it’s available. There were also some changes in the beta version of the game, including some props added to the seasonal guide’s tree. The treehouse itself also got a huge makeover with things like swings and a river raft ride. I made a video fo the final treehouse quest and showed off both the new props and the treehouse changes.

Farm It!

I didn’t have much hopes for the new Apple Arcade release, Farm It!, as both the graphics and gameplay shown in the App Store looked super generic and the opposite of what I would expect from a premium games service. I can’t really say that playing it for a few minutes was any different from what I expected. You just clear away a plot of land to make space to plant vegetables, then you choose the plant, water it, collect it and load it into the truck. Over and over and over. For some odd reason the game calls each round of this a “level” and scores you, even though you’re not going to go back and try to get a better score. You’re just going to do the same thing again. And again. I was tired of it after a few minutes and I have no intention of playing anymore.

Hitchhiker – A Mystery Game

Thankfully, Apple at least had the decency to release two games this week and one of them is Hitchhiker, which checks off so many boxes for me. It’s a road trip puzzle adventure in which you play as someone who’s trying to recover lost memories by hitching rides with strangers. It stands out for its art style, but especially the writing and voice acting. The puzzles have also been really interesting so far, though I did rely a bit too much on the game’s gentle nudges, I think. I only had tome today to play through the first ride, but I’m definitely going to spend more time with it tomorrow. Don’t sleep on this one!

SP!NG

I’m still slowly making my way through SP!NG. I finally completed all the Classic levels and got all three stars on each. Now I’m working on the One Chance chapters, which are more challenging. The developers are also working on new levels a new new mechanics, so I’m excited to see what they come up with. This is one of the best games on Apple Arcade and I highly recommend it. I’m also working on a walkthrough here.

Genesis Noir

And last, I played some of Genesis Noir on my Nintendo Switch. It’s a stylish black-and-white adventure game in which you play as No Man, a watch peddler who has to destroy creation. There aren’t many words in the game, though, so you need to interpret the story yourself. I’m enjoying it quite a bit, but it feels very clunky with a controller much of the time. A lot of the puzzles would be much better interacting directly with the screen instead of moving a cursor around. It also just generally doesn’t feel responsive enough. I was genuinely worried I would break my Switch’s joystick because of how hard I was pulling on it to get it to work. I’ve never had that issue with a game before. It’s a shame it’s not on iOS, as I think an iPad would be the perfect platform for this kind of game. I’ll probably stick with it because it’s short, but I think a controller is not the best way to experience this otherwise enjoyable game.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also finally subscribed to HBO Max, so it’s a miracle I played any games, to be honest. I’ve been catching up on Doctor Who episodes I missed, but trying to pace myself so I don’t run out too soon. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’re playing and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped!