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 lot of surprise releases this week, which was a bit overwhelming. I tried to give each some play time, but I didn’t get to spend as much time with some of them as I wanted. So I’ll have early impressions for them, but you’ll have to wait until next week for a more complete opinion. There’s also a lot going on in Sky and Genshin Impact and so much to discuss, so let’s get started.
Chicken Police: Paint it RED!
Chicken Police released last year on PC and and consoles last year and I distinctly remember thinking that it looked perfect for touchscreens. It turns out I was right, as I got to test out that theory when it came to iOS to this week. It’s a noir adventure game in which you play as a rooster detective in a world inhabited by people with animal heads. Interactivity is very much like a point-and-click adventure, as you tap on people to talk to them or on objects to examine and pick them up. It all translates perfectly to touch controls. And since it’s from HandyGames, you can expect flawless iCloud sync and other quality of life features. For example, I skipped some dialogue by accident and panicked before realizing that you can rewind and fast-forward at will. What impressed me the most is that all the dialogue is voice acted, and it’s all a pleasure to listen to. The writing is on target and the soundtrack really captures that old detective movie vibe. I only spent and hour with it so far but I’m eager to get back to it. If you want a better idea of what it’s like, you can watch some of my gameplay video below.
Here Be Dragons
When it rains it pours, and this week we’ve been blessed with a number of ports. The next one up is Here Be Dragons, a satirical turn-based strategy game in which you lead a fleet of ships to eradicate legendary beasts so Columbus can discover the New World. The whole game is meant to look like it takes place on an actual map. You take turns attacking enemies or healing, but each turn starts with a dice roll. You slot dice into your skills and then that determines whether you can actually use that skill that turn. But there’s a catch. If you choose dice that add up to more than your enemy’s number, they’ll go first and also get to choose their dice first on the next turn. And if you don’t choose a die at all, your character will take damage. So there’s a lot to take into account. I’ve not gotten that far into it yet but I’m enjoying it a lot. I especially appreciate the ability to speed up animations, as it was feeling a bit slow at the default speed. Anyway, I’ll definitely be playing more of this next week, but meanwhile you can watch some of my gameplay below to see it in action.
Love – A Puzzle Box of Stories
Love – A Puzzle Box of Stories is another game I was hoping would come to iOS when I saw it announced for other platforms. It’s a narrative-based puzzle game in which you rotate sections of an apartment building to manipulate the past and future of different characters. It feels a bit like a Rubik’s cube and the controls are well-implemented for a touchscreen. As might be expected, it’s a very tactile mechanic. I did enjoy what I played of it so far, but once I got stuck it started to become frustrating. The repetitive music didn’t help, either. I do want to get back to it and try to make more progress, but I might have to shut the music to save my sanity. Anyway, it’s a very unique idea and I hope I can see it through to the end. You can watch some of my gameplay video to see what it’s like.
SNKRX
SNKRX is a mashup of a bunch of different genres. It’s like Snake meets an RPG meets a roguelike. You build a snake out of different classes that you buy from the shop. Each class makes up a section of the snake, up to a total of seven. For instance, a ranger will shoot arrows while a squire will boost your defense. Some characters heal or even spawn little helpers that shoot their own projectiles. There’s a lot of variety in the classes, which is I think the biggest draw. Every game is bound to feel different based on the classes you choose. You can also upgrade them by buying multiples of the same class. The goal is to get through all 25 rounds to beat the game. If one of your characters dies, it doesn’t die permanently. As long as one is still alive at the end of a round, the rest will respawn for the next round. You only lose if your entire snake dies. It really is a lot of fun. My only real issue with it is the control scheme. There’s two options and neither one feels natural to me. You can either tap the left and rifts sides of the screen to rotate in those directions or make it so the snake follows your finger. My brain can’t really handle the first option. The second is better, but my hand gets tired and also blocks my view sometimes. So I wish I could just control through a joystick or relative touch. I’ll keep an eye out to see if any new control schemes are added. It’s still a great game and cheap, too, so if those control options don’t bother you, try it out for yourself.
Riddle of the Sphinx: The Awakening
And the next game is — you guessed it! — another port. Riddle of the Sphinx originally release in 2000, but a remastered version came out earlier this year on PC and is now available on iOS. It promises immersion into the history of the Giza Sphinx and Great Pyramid. The hour I spent with it so far took place mainly in a small tent, as there was so much to find in there. I listened to four different cassette tapes, found all sorts of clues, and flipped through numerous books that I took photos of just in case. I can tell already that this is not going to be a short game or a particularly easy game. I have no idea what to do with most of the clues I found and can’t find the clue for the one combination lock I need to open. Overall, I’m impressed with the scope of it, but the navigation is a bit of a headache. It was redesigned for touch controls and I appreciate how the developers tried to keep the screen as clean as possible. But every time I tap to turn or move forward, I’m not exactly sure where it will take me. There was a point where I was trying to get back to the tent and I tried to go towards it but it just kept sending me in circles. I eventually gave up and tapped the scarab that appeared, and it took me back there. But it’s a weird workaround. I also can’t find a hot spot locator, so I keep trying to interact with things that can’t be interacted with. I’ll have to see if I can get past these issues and make some progress. I really do like what they’re going for here if I can get more comfortable with the navigation. I recommend watching some of my gameplay video below to get a better idea of how it plays.
The Wind: A Story of Surrender
The Wind: A Story of Surrender is a completely free game about a little bird who breaks her wing and then loses faith in herself and the wind to help her fly. She manages to double-jump and use the wind to get higher, but just can’t convince herself to try and fly again. Multiple therapists and friends try to help her, and you get to follow her along on this journey. I do like the story and voice acting and I feel weird complaining about a completely free game. But the controls were infuriating at times. In general, I don’t really like arrow buttons for movement and prefer gesture controls. I would sometimes miss the buttons or just get stuck mid-jump. It just didn’t feel smooth. I still made it pretty far despite that and I think I was very close to the end. But I couldn’t figure out what it wanted from me. I tried everything I could think of to progress, but I either got stuck on a tree trunk or fell back to the beginning of an arduous puzzle. I still think it’s worth checking out, but I wish it offered a smoother experience.
Duck Souls
As you might have guessed from the title, Duck Souls is meant to be a hardcore game, inspired by Dark Souls. I didn’t make it very far, even on Casual mode. I died over 60 times on the 7th level and threw in the towel. I’m sure more skilled players will have a better time with it. I just couldn’t get using to swiping to dash mid-air. And the distance I had to jump on that level seemed impossible. I may have missed something, but I still don’t think it’s a game I’ll enjoy if I stick with it. If you like hardcore platformers, check out my video to see what it’s like and whether you might enjoy it more than I did.
Genshin Impact
This week, Kazuha’s banner arrived in Genshin Impact. I’m very tempted to use my guaranteed banner character on him, but I’m waiting until I have more of his upgrade materials saved up. I did do a few pulls on his banner, though, and got Rosario. And then I pulled one fate on the standard banner and got her again! Now I’m waiting until I’m absolutely sure I want him. I also completed the Vagabond Sword event with some friends, stopping after getting the name card. And last, there’s a new event that takes place in the Golden Apple Archipelago, called Kaboom Kombat. You need to deflect kaboomballs back at the Dodo Fortress to destroy it. The more fortresses you take down before the timer ends, the higher your score. There are also other ways to improve your score, but that’s the gist of it. I played both in co-op and solo and had far more fun in co-op. But overall, I really like this event and am looking forward to more of it over the next few days. The rewards are great, too!
Sky: Children of the Light
And last, there was a new update to the beta version of Sky. We’re previewing the upcoming Days of Summer event, along with a whole bunch of cosmetics. I took some video of you don’t mind spoilers. The last two quests for the Season of the Little Prince are now available, as well, but I still have to do the last one, as I’m a bit scared of it. They also made the green Asteroid Cape available, but it costs $25 and you can only purchase it after completing the seventh quest. It will also disappear from the shop once the season ends. So there’s a lot of pressure if you do want it. It’s also a very special cape because it transports you to an area specific to the Little Prince that can only be accessed with that cape or a friend with that cape. I think it’s a bit expensive and I’m not thrilled with all these exclusive areas being added. But it’s not entirely unexpected at this point, either. Anyway, you can see all that in action in my videos below if you don’t mind spoilers.
And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I’ve also made more progress with Baba Is You, but I haven’t made any new videos yet. As for TV and movies, I watched Hard Candy even though it made me very uncomfortable from the very beginning, and I’m now making my way through Flacks, which is highly watchable. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back here next time for more of My Week Unwrapped!
