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 looks like the insanity won’t end anytime soon. Aside from several new games, revisiting older ones, and even some upcoming ones, Apple Arcade just got a massive update that added 30 games, including 11 new ones. You can read more about that here and also my latest Apple Arcade Unwrapped roundup here. As you can see, it’s been a very busy week. So bear with me here as I cover the rest of the games I played.

Tic-Tac-Crow

I’m not really sure what to make of Tic-Tac-Crow. I spent nearly an hour with it in one sitting, so there is something compelling about it. But at the same time, I’m not sure what the point is or why I should continue playing. You see, you play as a bird that visits a park every day to play Tic-Tac-Toe against other birds. Each of the birds learns from their mistakes and gets better over time. Some birds also cheat, like the bunch of pigeons who take multiple moves at once. It’s all very charming, but Tic-Tac-Toe is a very simple game that’s easy to win. I just kept using the same strategy each time and it never failed me, unless I got distracted and made a mistake. The birds are cute and it’s fun to watch them play, but eventually it just feels pointless. I’m not sure if there’s an end to the game or you just keep playing forever. I still enjoyed my time with it, but I don’t really see any reason to go back. I wish there was a little more to it than playing Tic-Tac-Toe. I don’t regret playing it, but I recommend watching some of my gameplay video before deciding whether to pick it up for yourself.

Book of Myths

Book of Myths is a stylish little puzzle game made by a solo developer, in which you play around with letters and words. In each level, your goal is to find a mythical creature using the clues given. For instance, the first level tells you that Nessie comes out at night, so you need to figure out how make it nighttime. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it is as short as it says in the description. The first time I played probably took me around 30 minutes, and it’s shorter once you know the solutions. They are creative, though, and I would love to see more like this. If you don’t mind its brevity, I would recommend giving Book of Myths a try. I also have a walkthrough guide if you get stuck.

The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother

The Wake is a game from Zero Rock Entertainment that’s been out on other platforms for a little while already. It just released on iOS this week and I was excited to play it, as I’m a big fan of the developer’s other game, Replica. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into it. I was able to solve the first couple of puzzles, but found the next one too confusing. The game gives you cryptography tools and you’re meant to crack the codes, but I couldn’t really figure out what to do with the clue for “blue letters.” I also found it confusing because when it used a Caesar cipher and the clue said +2, it actually wanted me to use -2. After about a half hour with it, I was more frustrated than anything else and I’m not sure I’ll continue with it. If you have more patience than I do, by all means give it a try. But I recommend watching some of my gameplay video first. I should also mention that it’s not optimized for the latest iPad Pro, so be prepared for that if you do pick it up.

Dead Man’s Phone

I wrote about Dead Man’s Phone a little while back, as it was close to release and I replayed the first episode, which I had originally played last year. Now the game is available for everyone, and at the insane price of 100% free. Yes, you read that right. There are no ads or IAPs. You can play through all seven episodes of the first season completely free. I’ve only played through the first two chapters, but I’m planning to play more. I do wish there was more voice acting, or at least some music during the quiet parts. But overall, it’s made well and I want to find out who killed Jerome. If you like murder mysteries or “found phone” games, definitely give it a try. You have absolutely nothing to lose at this price. I also started a walkthrough here if you get stuck.

Puck Sumo

Puck Sumo is another free game without any IAPs or ads. It’s a high score chaser with an interesting concept. You fling your puck at other pucks, with the goal to push them outside the ring and earn points. But if you slingshot yourself too hard and bounce back out of the ring, it’s game over. The game also ends if you have five opponents in the ring at the same time, so you have to aim your shots well and not get overwhelmed. The smaller the puck, the easier it is to push it outside the circle, but you also get fewer points. I found it very hard to successfully push the biggest pucks out if they weren’t already close to the edge, as I’d usually end up bouncing too far back with the force needed to move them. My best score actually came from the game in which I got mostly smaller pucks, so there does seem to be a luck factor involved. There also aren’t any leaderboards that I could find, which makes it hard to stay motivated to keep playing. Once I beat 50, which the game considers a gold medal, I didn’t see a reason to keep playing. I would maybe play more if I could see what other people are scoring and try to beat them. It’s still worth a download, but I’m not sure it has sticking power without leaderboards.

Cats in Time

I mentioned Cats in Time last week and was impressed with the visuals but found the puzzles too easy. I’ve since finished the game, including the secret level and, while some puzzles are a bit trickier, it never really gets that challenging. I would have liked to see more variety with the puzzles, and some are reused over and over. It’s a fairly big game, so it’s understandable, but I don’t think it ever truly reaches its potential. It’s still an enjoyable game and I especially liked looking for all the hidden postcard pieces so I could unlock the secret level. There are also little Easter eggs throughout, some attached to achievements. So I enjoyed the game, but do wish the puzzles offered more of a challenge. You can play a number of the levels for free, so I recommend giving it a try before deciding whether to pay for the rest. I’m also working on a walkthrough if you get stuck.

Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee

When Dungeon of the Endless got a re-release a few weeks ago, I bounced off it fast due to the tiny hard-to-read font and insufficient tutorial. But Playdigious have been hard at work improving it and recently updated it to include bigger font and UI elements, as well as some other quality of life improvements. I gave it another go and took my time to really try and learn as I go. I’m playing on the “Too Easy” mode which is really the normal mode and so far made it through two floors, which is a lot better than I did last time. I feel like I understand the game better now and am really enjoying it. I still think the font could be more readable instead of the italics, but it’s much easier on the eyes now. I hope to spend more time with it if I can squeeze it in among all the other new releases we keep getting. If you were on the fence with this before, I think now it’s a much better port. Again, you can watch some of my gameplay video to see it in action.

Machinika Museum

Machinika Museum is still not out on iOS, as it releases on April 20th. It is out on other platforms, though, and since I have the game already, I finished it this week. It was quite enjoyable to work on each of the alien artifacts and figure out their use. I’ll hopefully have a proper review in time for release, but this one is easy to recommend to puzzle fans. It also looks like a sequel is planned, which I’m thrilled about. You can see more of my gameplay videos here.

Psycholonials

Chapter 7 of Psycholonials released this week and things just keep getting crazier and crazier. I don’t want to spoil the story if you haven’t played yet, but at this point I’m so deep in I have to see where it goes. Again, you can see all my videos here.

Genshin Impact

This past week I finished up the Windblume Festival in Genshin Impact, though I didn’t complete all challenges. I really just had enough of it. I also did more Hangouts with Bennett and Chongyun. Most of Chongyun’s hangouts have been the same and therefore super repetitive, but I did like the latest one I got. I’m also trying to get artifacts for my characters so I can build up two good teams for the Spiral Abyss. It’s all so time-consuming, though, and I feel like I need another vacation from the game.

Sky: Children of the Light

And last, the Season of Assembly starts this coming Monday in Sky. I made a video showing where the Winged Lights will be in the new area, as well as all the expressions of the season. I also made a video showing the petals falling from the cherry blossom tree, which will sadly be gone soon.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week, aside from the Apple Arcade games, which you can read about in a separate roundup here. I’ll hopefully finish my walkthrough for Cats in Time this week and make more progress with Dead Man’s Phone, but there’s also all the Apple Arcade games and upcoming games I want to play, as well. It’s a bit overwhelming, but I’ll do my best. Again, let me know in the comments section which games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped.