Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. This week has been very focused on adventure games, so if you’re looking for one to play, make sure to stick around. I also spent a lot of time with Genshin Impact, but I sped through the new Chasm area a little too quickly and am now back to having just the events to look forward to. At least that gives me time for other games. There are some this week that are really worth your time and money, so don’t sleep on them.

Sumire

At first glance, Sumire looks like a cutesy — albeit gorgeous — children’s game. But just a few minutes with it will clear all preconceptions. This is a game about a little girl who’s been depressed since her grandmother died and regrets that she never got to learn what her grandmother wished to tell her. Her parents are also separated and she doesn’t seem to have any close friends. She just wants to stay inside and wallow in her depression. Then she finds this mysterious seed that grows into a talking flower. It takes her on an adventure for just one day, helping her achieve things she was too afraid to do on her own. The game could have easily been roll-your-eyes cheesy and overly preachy, but instead it gets downright weird at times and even gives you the choice in how you treat people you meet. I was genuinely moved by the game and even took away some important lessons from it. And it doesn’t hurt that the artwork and soundtrack are both gorgeous. There’s also some replay value if you want to collect all the achievements, but I’m not sure I’ll chase after the ones I missed. I worry replaying it might dilute the experience for me. But I highly recommend the game to anyone who’s not afraid of a few punches in the gut. I also have my full walkthrough here if you want to see more.

Kombinera

I was looking forward to Atari’s colorful Kombinera since it was first announced, as I’m a big fan of level-based puzzle platformers. Now that it’s finally out, I had a chance to play some and really like what I see. The goal in each level is to combine all the balls. But the catch is that they all move together. You need to use walls and other obstacles to hold one in place while you move the other. Some have special properties, too. For instance, a white ball will die if it hits pink spikes, but a pink ball can roll right through them. I had a bit of a rocky start due to a pretty nonsensical tutorial, but once I figured out what the controls are and the goal, I started to get the hang of it. That said, I’m now on level 18 of 300 and I have absolutely no clue how to pass it. I mean, I have a vague idea of what I need to do but can’t see how I’d ever pull it off. I’ll keep working on it, but I do wish there was a way to skip a level rather than have to quit the game completely if I’m stuck on one. There’s definitely a lot to like here, but if you struggle with tricky platformers, you might want to check out some gameplay before buying it.

Nora’s Dream

Nora’s Dream is another adventure game, one that can actually be quite tricky. You walk around the forest, interacting with animals and puzzles and looking for clues. There’s a lot to like about it, and I spent a full hour playing before taking my first break. I like how the game tells you if you’ve seen the clue for a puzzle already or if you still need to find it. Why I don’t like is how much backtracking there is, especially since the controls are a bit clunky. You have to tap to move, and it’s usually small taps close to each other instead of tapping once and letter her walk a long distance. You also have to be right next to an object to interact with it or the game won’t recognize it. I’m also stuck right now on a musical puzzle and I’m starting to worry that I’m going to have to repeat music that I hear, which I have a very hard time doing. But otherwise, this is a quality puzzle game that’s worth checking out, especially since it free to download. You can either play with ads or remove them with a single IAP. So give it a try!

Catchee

Catchee is a one-handed arcade game from Laser Dog, that simply has you dragging a cup across the screen to catch balls. If you drop any, the meter to the left starts falling from green to yellow to red and if it hits the bottom, it’s game over. You can get it back up to green by catching more balls, but it’s a real balancing act, especially as the balls start falling faster. There are also some tricks to getting a higher score, such as tapping to flip your bowl and hit a ball, causing it to bounce and spin. It’s then worth 10 points, but it’s also a bit harder to catch and could mess up your rhythm. It’s not an easy game, at least for me, and my high score is only 329. It’s a fun little time-waster and something you get better at with practice. I should note that there’s a bug with the coins you earn to unlock themes, as I’ve lost a few hundred. But the developers are aware of it and it should be fixed in an update. Anyway, give the game a try. It’s completely free with opt-in ads and I believe an ad removal IAP is planned for the future.

Dumpling Delivery by Mailchimp

Dumpling Delivery is a short miniature golf game in which you need to get nine dumplings into their holes. You have to play through all nine wholes to get scored. If you’re not happy with how one hole went, you can’t restart just that hole. So it’s like a real miniature golf game. All your mistakes count. There’s some replay value if you care about improving your scores, and I might have tried to do so if not for one issue that bothers me. I can’t find any way to zoom out or pan the camera around. Anything I do — pinching or swiping with two fingers — all controls the ball. It’s frustrating to play a game like this when you can’t always see where the hole is during your shot. It’s fine for a free game and for a playthrough or two, but I personally can’t imagine trying to perfect my score with it the way it is.

Panmorphia: Awakened

This game isn’t out yet, but I got an early copy of Panmorphia: Awakened, the third game in the series from developer LKMAD. I’m still playing through it and really enjoying the puzzles that involve changing between different animals — from human to cat, bird or fish. I wrote more about it here and have a short gameplay video below if you want to see more. You can pre-order it now and play it on April 28th when it releases on pretty much every platform.

John Ray’s Space Adventure

I started playing John Ray’s Space Adventure last week end have since completed the game. It was a quirky little planet-hopping journey to find all the Xec artifacts for Mr. Maljerk. I won’t spoil it for you, but the ending was pretty ridiculous — in a good way. Overall, I enjoyed the game, but I do think some puzzles could have used better clues. I resorted sometimes to just trying random items with things and at one point I couldn’t really understand a clue for a puzzle and just brute forced my way through. Because of all the locations available to travel to, it can feel overwhelming when you don’t know exactly what to do next. I still think it’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of somewhat cheesy point-and-click adventures and don’t mind the lack of guidance. If you do get stuck, you can try my walkthrough, but it’s not particularly streamlined.

Genshin Impact

I spent a lot of time with Genshin Impact this week, as exploration is my favorite part of the game. But I’m sad now because I don’t have much left to find in the Chasm and it’s going to be a while before we get more to explore. There is a big event going on right, now but new story only unlocks every other day, so it’s still pretty quiet. It is giving me a chance to save primogems for upcoming banners, though. I also reached a milestone this week with my first ever 36 stars in the Spiral Abyss. It was difficult for me but I was determined to do it before they brought back the harder bosses. I want to focus on getting some 5-star weapons so things like that will be a little bit easier. Still, it feels good to have finally done it.

And thats everything I’ve been up to this week. I also watched the fifth season of Better Call Saul and now I’m not sure what to watch next. I think I watch too many series, as I’ve already seen all that Netflix keeps recommending to me. I do need to watch the final Fear Street movie, though, and will probably do that tomorrow with a friend. Anyway, 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!