Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. Sadly, I didn’t get Zhongli before his banner disappeared, so I’m going to try and cut back on my Genshin Impact time now. I’ll still do the events, but not worry too much about getting every last primogem. This week there were some notable releases, including the port of Divinity – Original Sin 2, which didn’t have a set release date. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s not waste any more time.

The Chronos Principle

I wrote about The Chronos Principle last week and had intended to write a review shortly after that, but got sidetracked. But after finishing the last two levels a couple of days ago, I finally got all my thoughts down on paper. I really enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it. But if you want to know more, read my full review here. I also have a walkthrough guide if you get stuck.

Divinity – Original Sin 2

Larian Studios brought their highly popular PC game, Divinity – Original Sin 2, to iPad this week. They promised “no comprises,” which means it only works on the latest devices, those with 4GB RAM. I’d never played it before, but I was immediately blown away by the detailed graphics in the character creation screen on my 2020 iPad Pro. I spent a lot of time in there, examining each class and race, and then went with the lizard named The Red Prince. I ended up making him a Shadowblade, but I’m not sure I’m happy with that decision. From what I understand, it’s possible to respec later, so I may just stick with him and see how it goes. So far, I woke up as a prisoner on a ship that got torn apart by a sea creature in the end. I ended my first session just after reaching land. I definitely plan to play more, but I’m a little worried about having 15GB of data stuck on my device permanently. Since most of the 17GB game is downloaded after the initial download, it can’t be offloaded to save space, The game is supposed to have iCloud sync, but I’m not seeing my save data in the iCloud Drive where it’s supposed to be. There’s also some other little oddities, like I have trouble getting the two-finger tap-and-hold to show all interactive items. But overall, this is a quality port that looks and plays great on my device. I’ll be sure to share more impressions as I dig deeper into the game, but check out my gameplay video to see what it’s like.

Samorost 1

After the recent mobile release of Samorost 2, it was only a matter of time before we got the original game that started it all. Amanita Design gave us a surprise release of Samorost 1 this week, and completely for free! It’s short, taking only about ten minutes to complete, but it has all the charm of the sequels. It was also remastered with a better soundtrack and graphics, though I never played the original so I can’t compare. In any case, it was a lovely surprise and I highly recommend playing it — along with both sequels. I also have a walkthrough guide here if you get stuck.

Niffelheim

What stands out about Niffelheim is it’s gorgeous art style, full of snow-capped mountains and animal-shaped caves. You get to select from four different classes — I chose the Valkyrie — and then set off on your journey. I was a bit taken aback by the information dump at the start. Instead of teaching you as you go, the game just drop a bunch of screens in front of you to scroll through and read. By the time I finished reading a page, I’d already forgotten what was on the previous one. I decided to just jump in and wing it. And I seemed to be doing fine for a while. I was chopping trees, picking berries, killing little defenseless animals for food. I mined a bit, explored a dungeon, and even competed a few small side quests. But things went awry when I started exploring more, looking for more resources. I traveled to different locations and eventually encountered a wolf. I attacked said wolf, not realizing how strong it was, and died. I then had to walk around as a spirit and reunite with my body. The problem is, now that they’re reunited, I seem to be unable to find my way back to the area that had my home base and — more importantly — no wolves. I feel horribly lost and ended up stopping there. I’m not sure I’ll go back to it, as it seems a bit tedious to be running around, back and forth, collecting resources and then crafting them. I might read up on the tutorial again and see if it helps, but there’s also the possibility that my journey ends here. You can watch some of my gameplay video below to see what it’s like.

Ears and Burgers

I loved the art style of Marginalia Hero, so I was thrilled to see the developer was releasing another game with similar medieval art, centered around the rabbits. Ears and Burgers has you helping little bunny rabbits build burgers according to specifications of the customers. Each ingredient is assigned a button and you need to press them in the right order as fast as possible for more points. Mistakes get points docked. It’s a solid idea for one-handed play and the art style really sells it. But there’s a lot that’s keeping me from playing more. First off, it seems like it was originally intended to be free-to-play. You earn coins and gems as you play, which can be used for upgrades. But it’s not clear what the upgrades are actually for. They’re broken up into sections with names like “Plates” and “Buttons” but I can’t figure out what they actually do before I spend all my coins on them. Besides that, each world has a progress bar and the levels themselves seem to give experience based on how well you do. So if you do well, you’ll take less time to get to the boss of the area. But that means there’s no way — from what I can tell — to try and do better on a certain level. It also makes the goals feel shallow. Why try to do better if it all leads to the same place? I’m having a hard time finding motivation to play outside of the quirky graphics. I’m sure there are others who will enjoy it more, but for me it just seems like a grind for the sake of grinding.

Mars Power Industries

I’d been eyeing Mars Power Industries for a good while, but never thought it looked like something I’d enjoy. I didn’t realize it’s actually a level-based puzzler, which I am very much into. It was free last week, though, so I finally checked it out. It’s a bit confusing at first, as the game doesn’t like to explain anything. You really have to experiment and learn as you go. The goal in each level is to power up all the lights on Mars and keep the colony active. I didn’t understand how the spikes worked at first, but after messing around some more, it became clear. That’s basically how each new mechanic works. I like the overall idea of the game, and it’s user-friendly in that it invites experimentation. There’s no penalty for messing up and it even has an undo button so you don’t have to restart completely each times you make a mistake. But it still hasn’t sucked me in and I’m not sure why. I’ll probably chip away at it, but I’m not in any rush to finish it. Anyway, check out my video below to see what it’s like.

Vestigium

Vestigium is another puzzle game I was curious about but couldn’t get a feel what it was like from the App Store description. It was also free last week, so I finally gave it a try. It borrows the cards mechanic from Golf Peaks, where each card has a number and a direction on it. For instance, playing a card with a 2 and an up arrow on it will make your character walk up two spaces. I was a little confused at first, because I didn’t realize I had to follow the yellow path the firefly drew for me. I was further confused when his path started getting longer than any path I could make. Then I realized he was just showing me the spaces that I could walk on without falling through. That means it’s more a memory game than anything else. You’re not really working out a path so much as memorizing the path he took so you don’t step off it. I found that a bit dull, and it didn’t help that the game moves incredibly slowly. So I stopped playing at the start of the second area. It might still be worth grabbing for free, but I personally wouldn’t recommend buying it from what I’ve seen.

Genshin Impact

So, Zhongli’s banner has come and gone in Genshin Impact and I sadly did not get him, despite my best attempts. I decided not to spend the money on him even though I would have been guaranteed him if I spent about $50. I don’t want to head down that path, so I’ll just wait for him to return again. This week also had the Windtrace event, which is like hide-and-seek. I really enjoyed it, and I’m sad that it’s not sticking around as a permanent game we can play just for fun. They also introduced a new character, Eula, this week, but I’m not going to try to get her, since I already have Ganyu as a 5* cryo character. And last, the Battlefront: Misty Dungeon event started today. You need to select from a few pre-built characters and then make your way through a dungeon on a timer. I only played through one so far and managed to complete it. But I chose my team poorly, with three healers and no real damage dealers. So I need to go back in later and finish faster for more rewards. This event lasts 9 days, so I’ll work on it over the next week.

Sky: Children of the Light

This week in Sky, there were some additions to the beta version. They introduced Shared Spaces, which is a little area by the Treehouse that you can decorate using different props, such as the swing set, seesaw, tea set, etc. You can then share it with others. Unfortunately, it’s very limited and you can’t actually choose whose space to see. So you can’t really invite friends over to check out your design. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think I’d use it much in its current state. They also previewed the upcoming anniversary party, including a new anniversary hat and party bunting, which you can place in the Shared Space. Besides that, there was a new Treehouse quest in the live version of the game, so I made a new video of it.

SP!NG

And last, I’m still making my way through the new SP!NG content. I’m on Chapter 12 and don’t have much more left, but I’m glad to hear they’re working on even more content. I don’t know that there can ever be too much SP!NG!

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also finished all three seasons of Westworld and I’m not really sure why. The third season was far more watchable than the second, but still pretty nonsensical if you think about it for five seconds. At least it had a good pace. I just started Mare of Easttown, which is a very different mood, but I’m enjoying it. 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!