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 were quite a few notable releases this week, with the highlight for me being Unpacking. I also spent a lot of time with Genshin Impact because I’m really enjoying the new area, Fontaine. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s not waste any more time.

Unpacking

I was hoping Unpacking would come to mobile ever since it was first announced and I’m so glad it’s finally on both iOS and Android. I haven’t been writing many full reviews these days, but I couldn’t pass up the perfect title for this one. So here you go — a full review for Unpacking. You can also find more videos from my playthrough there. The gist of it is that I found the game to be very impactful, but I personally don’t enjoy organizing things, so it’s the environmental storytelling that drew me in more than anything else. Anyway, read my review and then play the game. It’s great.

Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out

I know Six Ages and its sequel are both very popular and for raving reviews from those who’ve played through them. And that’s great — I’m sure if they find the target audience, those folks will love it. But that’s just not me. I tried both the original and the sequel and I just couldn’t get into them. I’m not against reading — in fact I’m in middle of a gamebook right now and other games I play have tons of dialogue. But there’s just something about this that makes my eyes glaze over and I don’t absorb what I’m reading. I’m not sure what it is, but it probably doesn’t help that there’s also a ton of decisions to make that could impact your game down the line. I’m just looking for more relaxing games these days. But take a look at my video and decide for yourself if it’s something you might enjoy.

Luminaria: Forgotten Echoes

I really love the idea of Luminaria. It has you manipulating shadows in order to move a drone around them. I’m reminded in some ways of the Apple Arcade game, Spek. I enjoyed it early on, especially the little details like the shadows highlighting the city below. But it started to annoy me in the later levels and overstayed its welcome. The problem is that it seems like it should be a relaxing puzzler, but it’s really not because of the way the drone speeds along while you’re trying to manipulate the shadows. The “bonus” challenges also drove me crazy most of the time, because they involve steering the drone through a constellation of stars using the shadows. Some were easy enough, but others annoyed me so much that I just didn’t bother with them. You do need to complete some of those challenges to unlock new chapters, so they’re not as optional as the game makes it seem early on. In any case, Luminaria is certainly an interesting game, and cheap enough to take a gamble on if you’re still interested in it.

Pizza Hero

As a fan of Vampire Survivors who’s completed all the available content, I’ve been on the lookout for similar games that could scratch that itch. So I was intrigued by Pizza Hero that released recently and seemed to have the same monetization as the mobile version of VS. So far I’ve spent a couple of hours with it and there’s a lot to like. Yes, it is very similar to VS, especially the weapons. But it stands out a bit due to the pet dog that helps you pick up experience and coins. There’s also a dash that I still need to get used to using. Aside from that, I like how each map has caged animals to free and boss arenas. There’s a lot of reasons to explore. I can see sinking quite a bit of time into it. That said, progress feels really slow. I beat the tutorial world and the first real world but now I can’t unlock anything new until I survive 20 minutes in the second world. And I seem to always die around 10 minutes. Coins are very slow to come by, so it feels like I’m barely upgrading anything between runs. I do like the ability to unlock new starting weapons by upgrading them first to level 10 in a run. That’s how I got the mushroom as a starting weapon and it’s helped a great deal. But if I don’t manage to beat the second area soon, I might get tired of it. I also encountered a forced ad after one of my runs and haven’t seen any way to remove either those or the opt-in ads. So that’s a bit of a turn-off, too. Still, it’s very worth checking out if you’ve been looking for a Vampire Survivors replacement.

GUBBINS – It’s a word game

GUBBINS is an upcoming word game that should be releasing this year, but the developers haven’t announced an exact date yet. I got a preview build and played some of it and I have to say the animations are just adorable. Whenever it does release, it’s worth checking out for those even if you’re not big on word games. I wrote more about it here if you want to learn more.

Omen Exitio: Plague

I’m still playing Omen Exitio: Plague, but I had less time for it due to all the other games that released this week. I’ll continue with it and you can watch my progress below if you’re interested.

Cyber Manhunt

Last week, I thought I encountered a bug that was stalling my progress in the fifth chapter of Cyber Manhunt. The developer got back to me and explained that it was not a bug, but instead the walkthrough I found gave me the wrong information. Either I didn’t know about it or I forgot about it, but I used the in-game hints this time to find what I was missing. Then I made more progress and was close to finishing the chapter, I think. But there was a timed section that I started getting frustrated with and then I guess I didn’t work fast enough. A bomb went off, I failed and it was game over. I really don’t like timed sections in these kinds of games, especially when I’m trying to actually read through stuff. I hate feeling rushed. Because of that, I don’t know if I’ll bother reloading my save and trying again. I think I may have just had enough of this game.

Sky: Children of the Light

I quit playing Sky a while back because I didn’t like the whole cosmetics system and how it had me redoing the same things over and over to earn currencies. That was a complaint from the very beginning, but I finally reached my limit and called it quits. But I still had some friends who play and they wanted me to join them for the AURORA concert. We failed to schedule a time during the season when it first played, but they brought it back for a few days this week so we tried again. It was really nice meeting up with those friends again in there and a bit surreal. The concert itself was better than I expected. I like how they incorporated all the Sky environments and animals into it and really utilized the digital aspect of it to make it special. I recorded it so you can watch the whole thing if you missed it. I do have to say, though, that the ticket system they added in order to collect emotes and cosmetics from the concert spirit reminded me why I quit the game in the first place and why I can’t get back into it. It’s a shame, because the live service stuff is at odds with the messages it’s trying to portray. While I do wonder what I’m missing by not playing, I think I’m at peace with my decision to quit.

Genshin Impact

And last, I spent a ton of time exploring Fontaine in Genshin Impact. I finished a bunch of world quests and completed the first act of the new archon quest. I’m also having a hard time resisting pulling for Lyney now, as I just love everything about his character. I just don’t really like his kit or see myself using him that much. So im trying to stay strong and skip him so I can save for a character I’m more likely to use. Anyway, you’ll see a lot more of Genshin from me as I continue to explore Fontaine. I apologize in advance to anyone who is tired of watching me play Genshin.

And that’s everything I’ve been playing this past week. I also started watching Harlan Coben’s Shelter, though it’s not particularly good. The Chosen One is a little more interesting, but I still need a show that will really suck me in. I’ll keep looking. 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!