My Week Unwrapped: May 20, 2022 – Otaku’s Adventure, Sokobond, Gunfire Reborn, DYSMANTLE, Voodoo Detective and More

Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. I spent a lot of time with some pre-release games, videos which you won’t see until next week, but this month is so busy that I still had plenty to cover. This is a week of ports, as pretty much all the new games I played have been on other platforms for a while already — one even for 10 years. There’s a lot to cover, though, so let’s get started.

Otaku’s Adventure

Otaku’s Adventure is a visual novel combined with an adventure game that got ported to mobile this week. For those who don’t know what an Otaku is, it’s someone who stays home and either watches anime or reads manga or plays video games all day. I guess kind of like me? And you take on the role of one in the game. Once I got past the awkwardness of using my feminine name as the name of a male main character, I started to enjoy it. It’s a weird game, for sure, with a character named Waifu, and the main character is desperate for some girl, any girl, to like him. The original base game is also more of a room escape type game with objects to find and puzzles to solve. It took me about 1.5 hours to complete and had a satisfying conclusion. The dialogue was also snappy enough to hold my attention. But then I started the DLC content, which picks up where the original ends. It’s more visual novel than adventure game. So much so that I could never figure out where to take a break. I ended up playing an hour, but the writing feels so bloated, with so much repetition, that I was just desperation looking for a good point to stop. I also didn’t like that the puzzles seem to all be replaced by reflex-based mini games. Almost all of them involve tapping the screen quickly at a specific point or tapping a fast-moving item. As much as I liked the base game, I don’t think I’ll be continuing with the DLC. I still think the game is worth buying for $1.99, and then it’s up to you if you feel the free DLC is worth your time. You can also watch some of my videos below to see what it’s like.

Sokobond

Alan Hazelden, aka Draknek, has made some of my favorite puzzle games over the years, and I was always disappointed that Sokobond wasn’t available on mobile. Well, ten years later it’s finally out on iOS and Android and playable in portrait with one hand. I’ve so far played through about 40 levels and it feels so perfect for mobile. Aside from the “undo” and “reset” buttons, the only controls are directional swipes. The idea is to make different molecular bonds using the different elements provided. The goal in each level to combine all the molecules into one compound, all while controlling only a single molecule to push around the others. I’ve been able to solve most of the puzzles so far by experimenting, but there have been a few really difficult ones that forced me to get very creative. I still haven’t solved one that seems impossible to me, but, as with other Draknek games, you have multiple levels unlocked at a time so you’re never forced to stare at one until you solve it. You can even unlock all the levels from the settings if that’s something you like. There’s really not much else to say here. It’s a fantastic puzzler with some real doozies and it plays great on a phone. I highly recommend it to any puzzle fans.

Gunfire Reborn

Gunfire Reborn is another PC port, but it’s also been adapted well to touchscreens. I don’t normally play a lot of first-person shooters, but the auto fire helped ease me into it. Gunfire Reborn is a roguelite, where you restart when you die and lose all your guns and perks. But there are permanent upgrades you can buy using the currency you earn. I actually had a lot of fun with it, especially trying out different guns I picked up. One of the favorites was a flamethrower! It can get pretty hectic when lots of enemies are coming at you, even with some cover to hide behind. The main issue for me is that I get motion sickness from first-person games like this, so I can’t really play for too long at a time. If that isn’t an issue for you, there’s a great game here. And the main character is even a cat that resembles Puss in Boots!

DYSMANTLE

10tons’ DYSMANTLE is a sort of survival game where you can break down 99% of the environment and then use the scraps to craft things like weapons, cookery or a bigger bag for your inner hoarder. I love the idea of it and the controls have been adapted well, with a floating joystick on the left and a couple of buttons on the right. I played for close to an hour and had a good time — except when I encountered zombies. If I kill one and then rest at a campfire to heal, they respawn. I have a quest to complete that will allow me to stop them from respawning. But until I can manage to complete it, they’re a real thorn in my side. Dying isn’t a huge deal, since you can just find the spot where you died and grab the stuff you dropped. But it’s annoying me how easy it is to die right now. If I alert more than one or two zombies, I’m likely dead. That’s because my only weapon is a crowbar at the moment and it really doesn’t hit hard. In the time it takes me to kill one, they take a huge chunk of health from me, leaving me weak for the next one. I have a blueprint for a throwing knife, which I’m sure will help, but every time I venture off to find plastic for it, I encounter a bunch of zombies and either have to run or die. It wore me down after a bit. I may give it another chance since I do like it, but it’s making the progress feel very slow. You can watch some of my gameplay video below to see what it’s like in action.

HATCHING Interactive Teaser

Hatching is a horror movie that came out recently about a 12-year-old gymnast who finds a strange egg and brings it home. To advertise the movie, they made a tamagotchi-like mobile game for it in which you take care of the egg and keep it safe until it hatches. Or you can ignore it and go to your practice. It’s a very short game that can be completed in a few minutes, but it did pique my interest about the movie. The pixelated graphics made it hard to see what exactly comes out of the egg, which actually made me even more interested in seeing the movie so I can find out what it is. If you want to play the game yourself, go ahead. It’s free and won’t take up too much of your time.

Voodoo Detective

One of the pre-release games I’m playing is a point-and-click adventure called Voodoo Detective. I showed about 30 minutes of gameplay, but the rest will have to wait until next week when the game is out. It’s a playful, humorous mystery about a woman losing her memory. You play as Voodoo Detective, who she hired to solve her case. The chemistry between the two main characters is my favorite part of the game, their witty banter. But there’s also the gorgeous hand-drawn art and full cast of voice actors. I’m about three hours in and slightly stumped, but confident I’ll figure out the next step. The puzzles have been logical so far, and I like how the book of voodoo spells plays a part. I don’t want to say much more right now. But I wrote a bit here about it and also have a giveaway that just started today and will end on the release day, May 24th. I’ll definitely have more about the game next week, but you can also pre-order it if you can’t wait.

Square Valley

I’m still making my way through Square Valley and this week completed the second chapter. The last few levels were quite difficult and some of them took a few attempts to reach the goal. Now I’m trying to get used to the new mechanics added in the third chapter, like cliffs, boats, marine life and even seaweed. I don’t know how much time I’ll have for the game this coming week due to all the other games releasing, but I’m definitely not done playing Square Valley. Even if I have to wait a couple of weeks to play again, I’m planning to stick with it. And again, I have more videos here that might help if you’re stuck on a specific level.

Genshin Impact

And last, I’ve been doing my Genshin Impact dailies, but there hasn’t been much else going on during the lengthened 2.6 version. There was an event that I completed today in which you cook dishes and then feed them to some characters for friendship experience. Not the most exciting event. Thankfully, 2.7 was properly announced today and we got a preview of the new characters coming, Yelan and Kuki. 2.7 is set to come on May 31st, so there’s just another couple of weeks left of this this drought. I’m also excited about Yelan because they chose a great voice actor for her and she looks like she’ll be a lot of fun. I may not be willing to skip her. But I’ll make my decision after trying her out and playing through her story quest.

And that’s everything I’ve been up this week! I also watched a few episodes of The Stairway on HBO, but I’m not sure how I feel about it. I haven’t seen the documentary it’s based on, and it seems it’s passing off too much speculation as fact. I’m not sure I’ll stick with it to the end if something better comes along. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’ve been playing this week and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped!

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