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 weren’t too many new games that caught my attention this week, but that allowed me to catch up on some games I was either in middle of or had been meaning to play for some time now. Things have also slowed down some in Genshin Impact, which gave me more time to focus on other games. I also tried the latest Apple Arcade game and an upcoming Switch game that I’d been looking forward to. So let’s get started!

Prestige Solitaire

Prestige Solitaire is a twist on classic Solitaire, where the rules are a little different and you even get to use magic to help you out. Instead of a regular deck of cards with four suits of 13 cards each, you have 50 cards all counting from 1 – 50. They do vary in terms of color and design, though. So the rules are that you can stack cards in direct descending order or a lower number that matches the same color. At the top, you have stacks that start with 1, 11, 21, etc, and only hat cards — 10, 20, 30, etc — can be placed on an empty slot. Aside from this, you can draw three cards at a time at the bottom, but can only use the top card unless you use magic to separate the three. It sounds more complicated than it is. The game does a good job explaining it through the tutorial. It’s also free, supported by ads with a one-time IAP to remove them. So if you have any interest in solitaire games, just give it a try for yourself.

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

I heard good things about the OPUS series over the last few years and downloaded them all a while back but kept forgetting to play. Then, this week developer SIGONO released a new game in the series on PC and it seemed like a good time to give the iOS games a try. OPUS: The Day We Found Earth is the first in the series and I played through the free demo so far. I really like the story, which has you playing as a little robot named Emeth, helping a doctor find planet Earth in order to save humanity. The dialogue is natural and genuinely funny at times. I really want to know what happens to Emeth and Lisa. That said, the gameplay gets a bit repetitive. You drag your finger around the galaxy looking for planets that might be Earth. I would gladly pay the $2 to continue playing the game, but I’m confused by all the extras available through IAPs. You can get everything for $15, but I’m not sure I like the game enough to spend that much on it. I’m also not exactly sure what I’m getting with the bonus stories. I still might buy it, but having all those different options is making me hesitant. I still recommend trying the demo for yourself. There’s something special here and I do plan to try the other games as well.

OPUS: Rocket of Whispers: Prologue

Rocket of Whispers: Prologue is a short free game that’s part of the OPUS series and comes before Rocket of Whispers, which I haven’t played yet. I assume it will make more sense when I have, but it did pique my interest and make me want to play the full game. I’ll hopefully start that next week.

CuBuGo

CuBuGo is a completely free puzzle game that combines mechanics from games like Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO with the perspective-based mechanics from games like Monument Valley. The goal in each level is to get the head to its hat by swiping to move along the path, one node at a time. You can rotate the camera to change the perspective and see paths that bend over the side. This also allows you to connect paths that wouldn’t connect from a different perspective. There are also hidden collectibles to find if you want an extra challenge. I like the overall idea of it, but the controls drove me a bit mad. I would often rotate the camera when I meant to move my character, and vice versa. There’s no undo button, so if you mess up and get yourself killed, you have to start the level from scratch. This was mildly annoying at first, but became unbearable when I started encountering enemies that move in real time instead of turn-based. I had to time my moves to avoid being hit by them or it was game over. After a couple of deaths like that, I threw in the towel. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t know why they couldn’t just keep it as a fully turn-based puzzle game. It’s still 100% free, so try it for yourself before dismissing it.

Night in the Woods

I mentions Night in the Woods last week and have since spent another couple of hours with it. I’m still not sure where the story is going and I think it could move a bit faster, but I’m enjoying it for what it is. My favorite character is Gregg and I take every opportunity to spend time with him. I also loved the dream sequences, where Mae has to find four musicians to add their instrument to the soundtrack. I wanted to stay in the dreams and just keep listening. Anyway, hopefully I’ll finish the game this coming week and have more informed impressions for you. Until then, you can watch some of my gameplay videos to see what the game is like.

Dungeons & Miners

Dungeons & Miners got yet another update, so I continued playing. After my session last week, it turned out that I unlocked a lot of changes to the dungeons, so I saw new monsters, new crystals and even tasks. I played a few more hours and got an imp companion that attacks enemies and managed to unlock the treasure door a few times. I also got a nice flaming sword and encountered a giant spider boss that squashed me like a fly. I want to go back and try fighting it again, but I also want to give the game a little more time to iron out the bugs. The core gameplay loop also gets a bit repetitive after a while. I think it would help if I could see how much of each material I have so I know which ones I need to search for. It’s frustrating mining and having no clue how much I have or need. I’m still going to play the game, but I needed a few days away from it before it became too much. Again, you can watch my latest gameplay videos to see what it’s like.

Genshin Impact

I’ve been spending less time in Genshin Impact this week, focusing on the daily commissions, limited events, and a few side quests or challenges here and there. I made more progress exploring the new islands, but I’m running out of things to do so I’ve just been playing less each day. There’s a new character banner in a few days, though, which should also bring a story quest with it, so I’ll have a bit more to do next week. I’m still having fun with the game, but also glad when I can take a bit of a break and not play for hours each day.

Sky: Children of the Light

Not much is happening in the live version of Sky right now. There’s just a few more days left of the Season of the Little Prince, so if you want the sword pants or asteroid jacket, now’s your last chance. I also finally collected all the seasonal spirits for the Season of Flight in the beta version of the game. You can see them all here, as well as all the cosmetics from each. I still have to do the seasonal quests, which I’ll start next week.

Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls

The latest Apple Arcade addition is a game that was initially meant to release as free-to-play on the App Store, but was abandoned before it ever got there. Apple rescued Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls and got it added to Apple Arcade, minus the IAPs. It still feels very much like a free-to-play game, especially since it has gacha mechanics, but at least now there’s no way to spend real money on those things. Everything is earned through in-game currency. It’s a bit of a weird experience but not all bad. “Summoning” upgrades can be satisfying when you’re not being pushed to spend real money on it. That said, the controls feel a bit weird to me. I don’t like that you tap anywhere on the right side to attack but have a button for jumping. My brain keeps mixing it up because it feels like it should be the opposite. Also, the movement feels very slow, not matching the running animation. I feel like I’m running through quicksand. I’m not sure I’ll stick with the game, but there’s quite a bit to like if you don’t mind the way everything’s been built for free-to-play and pretty much stayed that way.

Bonfire Peaks

And last, I tried out Bonfire Peaks on Nintendo Switch, the upcoming game from Corey Martin of Pipe Push Paradise fame, published by Draknek & Friends. It’s a puzzle game about burning your belongings by carrying boxes of them up to a giant bonfire. You need to use boxes to help you climb between puzzles and then use boxes to help you climb within a puzzle to the bonfire with your box of belongings. So there’s a lot of climbing and a lot of carrying. But the the game has some other tricks up its sleeve, like how you can use a box to knock another one around, or pile boxes on top of each other. There are also longer boxes, and I’m sure I’ll encounter many more twists as I get deeper into the game. I did struggle a bit with the controls because my Switch’s joystick felt overly sensitive. And it was hard to use the directional buttons instead because I would often hit the wrong one. Ideally, I would like a directional pad, but there is none on the Switch. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get used to it as I play more. I do hope the game comes to iOS one day, though, so I can play on my iPad. If you’re interested in playing Bonfire Peaks, there’s a free demo out now, with the full game releasing on September 30th.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also watched Brand New Cherry Flavor, which was quite a trip. And I’m now enjoying Frequency, even though I could have sworn I tried to watch it back when it first aired and I thought it was stupid. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’ve been enjoying and I’ll see you back here next week with more of My Week Unwrapped!