Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. Genshin Impact is still holding my attention, but there were also some notable new releases to discuss. That said, I had more root canal work done today and I’m out of it, so these blurbs might be shorter than usual. As always, you can watch my videos for a better idea of what the games are like if my blurb isn’t enough. Anyway, let’s get to it before I pass out!

Dungeon and Puzzles

Dungeon and Puzzles may look like a typical dungeon crawler at first glance, but it’s actually a pure puzzler that just so happens to take place in a dungeon. To be more specific, all the puzzles are like Sokoban, where you slide your character around the room and it stops when it hits a wall. In each level, you need to kill all the enemies to unlock the exit and then head through it. The enemies don’t attack you at all — at least not in the levels I played — so you can use them as walls, too. If you bump into one, you might choose to use your sword to kill it or come back for it later because you still need to bounce off it again. So far, I’ve played some twenty-odd levels and some of them have proven quite challenging. I’ve come across two weapons so far — a sword and bow and arrow. The sword can only be used when right next to an enemy. But the bow can shoot from afar. You only have one arrow, though, so you have to pick it up before using it again. It’s a rather clever game with some surprisingly challenging level design. There’s also a move counter and you get a crown if you complete the level in the minimum number of moves. But you can still progress if you don’t. It can be a little frustrating trying to shave off a couple of turns when a puzzle has over twenty moves, but otherwise I don’t really have any complaints about it. If you’re not tired of these kinds of puzzle games, definitely give it a try.

Cards of Terra

For some reason, I thought Cards of Terra would be another card-based roguelike where you battle through hordes of enemies using a deck of cards. But, honestly, there are so many of those that are already done so well, that I’m glad it turned out to be something completely different. Instead, it’s more of a solitaire-based game in which you need to pair up monsters of different colors so they fight and kill each other. The goal in each level is to clear enough monsters to get to all the gold cards. But there’s a catch. You only have a certain amount of energy. If you run out before completing the goal, you fail and have to start over. Gold cards give you extra energy, so if you time it right you can get more just in time. There are all sorts of creatures with different skills and attack patterns. For instance, archers will continue to shoot at enemies if you keep them on the board. There are also bosses to take on. I only played through a couple of chapters so far but I’m really enjoying it. The only thing I find strange is that you can’t replay old chapters. So once you move on, that’s it. It’s a bit odd and I’m not sure why it’s like that. But otherwise, it’s a solid game. It’s also free to try, so I recommend just doing so.

Pawn of the Dead

I’m always open to a good pun, so I have absolutely no problem with a game being designed around the name Pawn of the Dead. The idea is that you’re a king whose kingdom is being attacked by the living dead, aka zombies. You need to fight them off, and the battlefield is a chess board. In earlier levels, at least, the zombies always play as pawns. They move like normal pawns, with one exception — they can move forward and backward, instead of only forward. If they manage to attack one of your pieces, they don’t just kill it — they turn it into another zombie. So the goal in each level is to kill all the zombies before they can overpower you and get to the king. It’s an interesting idea, but a little rough around the edges. I played on Normal difficulty so far and found that the best strategy is to keep moving until the zombies mess up and break formation. Theres a timer at the top but I’m not sure why, as I was able to take as long as I wanted and as many moves as I wanted. The animations are also a bit on the slow side, so it tends to drag a bit. I’d like to give the other modes a try and see if it gets more interesting, but the pace makes me a bit hesitant. Anyway, it’s another game that’s free to try, so I recommend doing so to see for yourself if it’s something you might like.

Genshin Impact

This week a new character banner arrived in Genshin Impact. I can’t really afford to pull for Yoimiya, as much as I want to, because I’m trying to get the 5-star character that comes after her. I did pull the new 4-star character, Sayu, who basically rolls around like Sonic the Hedgehog. She also makes it easier to catch crystal flies. I also beat the whole Spiral Abyss for the first time and drew my first 5-star weapon. So it’s been a pretty eventful week before even getting to the actual events. The Lost Riches event ended and I got my purple seelie from it. Then, yesterday the tower defense mini game, Theater Mechanicus, made its return. There are some changes to it that I really like. Instead of grinding to upgrade all your towers permanently, you unlock cards that can be used within a single game to upgrade towers. It leaves a lot more room to strategize and offers a lot more variety. I definitely plan to spend a lot more time with it when I’m not in a haze anymore from this root canal.

Sky: Children of the Light

This week in Sky there was another Rose quest where you help the Little Prince. You can see my guide for all those quests here. The Days of Summer also started, which means there’s a beach at the Home space and some cosmetics to buy with in-game currency or cash.

Adventure Escape Mysteries: Psychic Squad

Back when Psychic Squad released, one of the puzzles in Chapter 8 was a bit buggy. So I didn’t make a video for it right away. And then I sort of procrastinated for a while. I finally sat down and made a video for it this week. You can see my full walkthrough here.

Super Leap Day

I never really gave the original Leap Day a try, but I loved the look of the sequel, Super Leap Day, that recently launched on Apple Arcade. I really wanted to like it, but I gave up on the first level after the tutorial. I just couldn’t get a good handle on the controls and I got tired of dying and going back to the same checkpoint. It also doesn’t help that it’s harder to tell what’s coming when playing on an iPad. The levels stretch upward and the wider screen of the iPad means you see less of it. I might still give it another go on my iPhone, but to be honest I’m not really that interested in such a hardcore platformer.

wurdweb

And last, I was really looking forward to wurdweb, since it’s by the Hidden Folks developer, Adriaan de Jongh. I didn’t know what to expect from it, but I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s basically like scrabble but instead of placing individual letters to make words, you’re given entire words to place on the board. There are different modes, most of which are very laid back and stress-free. The daily challenge can be a bit more stressful if you’re competitive. The goal is to fit as many words on the board as you can before you run out of words or space. I got 71 and was somewhat proud of myself until I saw others’ scores. It’s a fun, chill word game, though, and I can see coming back to it for the daily challenges at the very least. I’m not sure how I feel about having to wait to unlock other modes, though. I appreciate not having a ton of information dumped on me at once. But at the same time, I’d like to play the game when I want to, not when it tells me I can. Hopefully it won’t take too long to unlock all the different modes and themes, but I’ll have to see. If you like word games, definitely check out wurdweb.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week, aside from being tortured by the dentist. I also watched a few movies and TV shows but honestly I’m too out of it right now to try and name them. I’m going to try and sleep off this tooth pain. So let me know in the comments section what games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back here next week with more of My Week Unwrapped!