Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. Vampire Survivors is still consuming my life and even made me forget about Genshin one day until I was in bed and realized my resin would cap if I didn’t use it. There were still some other big releases this week that I made some time for, but Vampire Survivors made up the bulk of my week. Anyway, let’s discuss the games.

Kentucky Route Zero

I played the first act of Kentucky Route Zero a few years back when it released on Nintendo Switch, and I enjoyed it but really felt like I’d have a better time with it on my iPad. So I decided to wait, hoping that opportunity might come one day, and I was thrilled when Netflix announced it was coming to mobile under their subscription service. This week, it arrived and I’ve so far played through the first two acts. It’s a very relaxing narrative game with some light puzzles and a bit of a strange story. The dialogue is well-written and the world is compelling, so I’m eager to play more and see where it goes. I’ll definitely continue with this over the weekend.

Twelve Minutes

Twelve Minutes is another Annapurna game that came to Netflix this week, one I hadn’t played at all before. I did hear about it and was very curious, and knew only that it was a time loop game. Coming into it with that knowledge, I immediately picked up the knife and wanted to see if I could kill my wife… which did. And then a “cop” arrived and killed me, too. Then those few minutes rewinded and I had the opportunity to try something else. I at least knew what the person claiming to be a cop wanted, but after several loops, I had no idea how to find out where it was. I like the idea of the game but I’m not sure I have the smarts or the patience to actually complete it. I get very frustrated by this gameplay loop (pun intended) so I’m not sure how much more I’ll play. It seems like the kind of game I’d end up looking up guides for just so I could make real progress before the repetition does me in. It’s still interesting and worth checking out if you have a Netflix subscription.

Afterplace

Afterplace is a one-handed action adventure game in the vein of Zelda, but designed specifically for mobile. I only spent about an hour with it so far — thanks to all the other releases this week — but I absolutely love the sense of humor. Right off the bat, a bird explains how to cut down bushes and then comments every time I cut down another bush. I often get annoyed with dialogue in games that aren’t specifically narrative games, but I here I kept tapping on characters after they stopped talking to see if they’d say more. I’d almost prefer the game to just let me explore and talk to characters and leave out the combat, because that feels the weakest to me so far. I’m hoping it will be better once I get more equipment, but right now I all I can do is tap on enemies to swing my sword at them and it feels a bit clunky. I also wish I had a map, though it’s possible I either missed it or will get one later. In any case, there’s definitely something special here. I recommend watching some of my gameplay video below to see if it’s something you might enjoy.

Little Inferno

I completed Little Inferno years ago — though I didn’t record it — and enjoyed it enough to immediately grab the new holiday DLC when it released this week. It made me start a new game in order to access it, which is fine since I barely remembered anything. I’ve now spent a few hours with it and unlocked all the catalogs, but I’m still working on finding all the combinations. I like how this update adds new combos that use the original items together with the holiday ones. The game also tells you whether to look through the old items or new ones, which helps a little if you’re struggling to find all of them. I’m going to keep playing, but the timers make it a little awkward when I’m recording. Again, you can watch some of my videos below if you want to see if the DLC is something you’d enjoy.

Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors took hold of me last week and hasn’t really let go. Since then, I found an item that reveals new power-ups and also a book of secrets that offers clues on how to unlock new characters. I managed to kill death and unlock him as a playable character, and I’ve just been having a blast. There’s also a DLC that landed today on other platforms and should be coming to mobile soon. I’m looking forward to that, since I’m now running out of content. Again, the game is completely free on iOS and Android, so just grab it and give it a try. I also have a ton of videos on my YouTube channel that I didn’t include here.

Adventure Escape Mysteries – On Thin Ice

The latest Adventure Escape game, called On Thin Ice, is only four chapters long and on the easy side, so I was able to complete my walkthrough this week, along with all the videos. It was an enjoyable enough game, though many of the puzzles felt rehashed from older games. It’s still worth playing, especially since it’s free.

Genshin Impact

And finally, I played more Genshin Impact, though I cut back due to Vampire Survivors. The Misty Dungeon event was very forgettable, but I’m intrigued by this new event that’s basically 3D Brick Breaker. I also finally figured out how to get to Level 2 in the card game, but it’s still not really my thing. I’ll probably just stick to the limited events until 3.4 arrives with some new areas to explore.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week. I also started watching For All Mankind on Apple TV+, which is an interesting take on space exploration. I also watched Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which was every bit as weird and wonderful as I was hoping. 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!