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 is the first time in what seems like forever that I don’t have any videos of Genshin Impact. With the 2.7 update pushed off, there just wasn’t anything worth recording. There is a new event tomorrow, though, so that should change. Aside from that, a few noteworthy games released this week and I also continued playing Square Valley after it got a huge update with some bug fixes and quality of life features. Aside from that, one of my favorite games got a content update. So there’s quite a bit to discuss.
This Is the President
This Is the President has been out on other platforms for about half a year, but it was just ported to mobile by HandyGames, the folks behind some of the best ports I’ve seen. And the game fits the platform well since it’s mostly choosing dialogue options and navigating through different menus. In it, you play as the newly elected American president in 2020. But you’re a corrupt politician and actually only ran so you can try and pass Amendment 28, which would give all presidents immunity over any crimes committed. To do so, you need your approval rating to hit 90%, and it starts at a little under 50%. Every choice you make can have positive or negative effects on your approval rating. For instance, do you keep the promises you made in your inauguration speech? Do you find ways to do good even while you’re looking out for your own skin? It’s a compelling idea and moves at a good pace thanks to new events constantly popping up. But my second session did leave me a bit conflicted. I witnessed the most ridiculous and entertaining musical that had me ready to call it one of the best games of 2022. And then immediately after that I had to figure out how to stop someone from my past going to the press with one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I tried every plan my advisers could think of until the only options left were two ways to murder the guy. So I was forced to do it no matter how much I didn’t want to. That was the first time I really felt like the choices were meaningless, and I’m worried there will be more like that. I’ll probably stick with it for now, but that left a sour taste in my mouth and tainted that wonderful musical I witnessed. You can watch some of my gameplay videos below to get a better sense of what the game is like.
King’s Path Solitaire
King’s Path Solitaire is a relaxing puzzle game in which you need to chain all the cards together. You do so by starting with the King and then selecting a card that’s either a lower number or any number from the same suit. The Adventure campaign is free but ad-supported and features almost 200 self-contained puzzles to solve. You can also pay $2.99 to remove ads and unlock the Free Play mode, which gives you a randomized board full of cards. There’s a king in each corner and you need to use the four of them to try and cover as many cards as possible. You’re then scored based on how many cards you used, how long it took you, and any undos you used. I made the mistake in my first game of using a lot of undos because I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to. So I ended up with a score of -100! But after that, I made sure to think through my moves ahead of time and did much better by not using undos. I do wish speed didn’t factor into the score, but aside from that it’s a pretty solid mode. There’s also dailies if you want to compete with others. Overall, I’m enjoying the game and plan to spend more time with it. I’m also working on a walkthrough guide here.
Luminous Labyrinth
Luminous Labyrinth has is named after its bright, neon aesthetic and maze-like level design. In each level, you need to collect all the little dots and find your way to the star to complete it. It starts off easy, but soon moving obstacles are added that kill you if they hit you. Thankfully, death is just a small setback, as you respawn at a nearby checkpoint. Deaths are recorded, though, so those who don’t like seeing them might find a lot of replay value in aiming for a no-death run. The game is also very touchscreen-friendly, since the only controls are swiping to move in one of four directions. I was really enjoying it at first, even as it got harder to avoid death, thanks to its relaxing and forgiving nature. But just eight levels in, I encountered an enemy that follows me throughout the whole level and kills me if I’m not fast enough to outrun it. The game suddenly felt very punishing and very stressful. I took a look at the map to see where the star was and I just couldn’t bring myself to try and reach it. Perhaps those looking for a fast-paced challenge might enjoy it, but sadly I don’t think I’ll be playing more. You can see what the game is like in my gameplay videos below.
Machinika Museum
Machinika Museum was one of my favorite games of 2021, with my main complaint being its short length. So I was thrilled to see that two new chapters were added to the game this week, shortly after its one-year anniversary. The new content features the same high quality realistic graphics and two new alien artifacts to uncover. I thoroughly enjoyed playing through both chapters and was especially impressed with the variety of the puzzles. I also appreciated that the tools, such as the 3D printer, we’re all heavily used here. It was lovely being able to revisit the game after all this time and it got me excited again for the sequel we’ll hopefully get one day. If you already have the game, don’t forget to play the new chapters. If you don’t have it yet, now’s the best time to grab it.
Square Valley
I’d been playing Square Valley since it released, slowly making my way through its three chapters. But a couple of weeks ago it had some bugs that needed to be fixed and a huge update was in the works, so I held off playing meanwhile. Now that update is out, and it added things like an undo button, a “skip turn” button, and all sorts of little adjustments and description improvements. So I’ve been playing all week and played another nine levels, including the dastardly Jewelry Shop. I’m still enjoying the game immensely and look forward to playing more. If you need any help with a specific level, I’ve been adding all my videos here. And if you still haven’t bought the game, why is that??
Knotwords
And last but not least, I’m still playing Knotwords daily, but also completed May’s puzzlebooks. There’s not much else to say. I made a video for the Tricky puzzles since I had already made one for the standard ones. I think it goes without saying that the video includes spoilers.
And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I also watched the 2022 “requel” of Scream, which was a blast. And I resubscribed to HBO Max to watch Free Guy, which was cute but also extremely cheesy. I also started the second season of The Flight Attendant before realizing that not all the episodes are available yet. So I now switched to the third season of Snowpiercer, and am reminded once again that it’s basically torture porn. Yet somehow I can’t stop watching. 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!
Showpiercer — still torture porn
Hi! I love Machinika MuseumΓÇÖs last 3 chapters. I got through 7 and 8 on my own mostly but when I was stuck your videos were helpful. Did you record the Last Chapter and post it yet? I am stuck sitting in the pilotΓÇÖs seat trying to figure out the solar system puzzle.
It’s in there… it’s the last video but it used to be chapter 7, so it’s together with chapter 6. I’ll make a new one when I have time.
Thanks. I ended up figuring it out. You have to look at each symbol on the map and count which icons should be green. The ones that should be green are in bold/highlighted on the map. The ones that are red are not in bold. Then you double tap on each planet to set them to match the map! Also, thanks for sharing that Season 2 of Flight Attendant is out on HBO! I loved watching Season 1.