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, I played a mix of new and old games, and even caught up on an old walkthrough I never finished. The highlight for me was Twilight War: Aurora, though I’m currently stuck and feeling dumb for not getting further yet. I’m also looking forward to playing more of MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline, and I’m intrigued by the idea of a gacha free-to-play game becoming premium. There’s a lot to discuss, so pull up a chair and let’s begin.

MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline

I never tried the original MEGA MAN X DiVE, not least because it’s a free-to-play gacha game. I mostly avoid those, with the main exception being Genshin Impact. And that’s because I like the surrounding game enough to put up with the gacha stuff even though I hate it. In fact, if Genshin Impact got a premium version that would allow me to unlock all the characters through normal play, I would be very interested. So I was curious about this new premium version of MEGA MAN X DiVE that’s completely offline and completely premium. It is on the higher end for mobile games — $30 — so one’s willingness to pay will depend on just how much you like the game. If you enjoy it and want to get the full experience, I imagine this is a lot cheaper than spending on in-app purchases. So far, though, I’ve only played through the first six levels and can’t say whether it’s worth the price. I will say it’s been very easy so far and I’m not sure exactly how much the difficulty ramps up. I’ll definitely spend more time with it and give you more impressions next week. But if you already played the free version and know what you’re getting into, it should be pretty easy to decide whether it’s worth the money.

Twilight War: Aurora

Twilight War: Aurora has been out for almost a year, but a reader brought it to my attention recently. It’s completely free, so I figured I would give it a try even though I couldn’t get a good feel for what it is from the App Store description. It ended up being an immersive room escape-type game in which you have access to a whole slew of items on a table. The goal is to find eighteen 5-digit codes so you can unlock the door and get out. So far I found five codes and some extra numbers that I need to figure out how to use. I also encountered some voice that is helping me out in places, and there’s other strange stuff going on. I’m struggling at the moment, but I’ll probably spend more time with it on my own and see what else I can solve. If I do find anything, I’ll update my walkthrough with it. Anyway, the game is completely free as far as I can tell, so if you’re even remotely interested you should check it out.

Drifter: A Balloon’s Adventure

Drifter is a relaxing endless runner where you play as a balloon floating up in the sky. It’s a pretty game, and I did enjoy seeing all the environments I passed over and the different birds that tried to pop me. But the controls don’t feel great, at least on my iPad. I always felt like I had to swipe a ton to move my balloon and it was getting tiring, even if the game isn’t particularly challenging. The other thing that bothered me was the progress bar. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense. You see, as you’re flying you collect these little wisps that fill up your bar. But you also encounter stars that decrease the bar. As far as I could tell, I was supposed to collect both the wisps and the stars. But doing so meant my progress bar was never full. So what exactly was it there for? I found it very confusing and the game never took the time to explain it. If I loved the game otherwise I guess I could probably ignore it. But it just didn’t feel all the great to play, so that extra confusion just made the experience worse. It is completely free, though, so try it out for yourself and see if it clicks more for you.

Legend of Keepers

I really enjoyed Legend of Keepers when it released earlier this year. But I never actually managed to fully complete a campaign with any of the original dungeon keepers. That said, I was still excited when the new DLCs were added this week, including three new keepers. I immediately jumped in to try a run with the Goddess, Shaman and Lord. I managed to beat the first stage with each of them on my first try. But the second stage is giving me a lot of trouble and I’m not sure what I could do differently. I don’t know if I’m just bad at strategizing or choosing monsters or if I need to grind more. But considering each stage takes about an hour and doesn’t give a whole lot in return if you end up failing, it’s starting to feel like a huge time sink. I enjoy the game, but not if I’m not progressing. I might still give it another go, but I am feeling a bit defeated. I still think it’s worth checking out the DLCs if you already like the base game, though. I especially like the Shaman and all his cute and cuddly monsters.

Adventure Escape Mysteries: The Sultan’s Inventor

I realized that I never finished making walkthrough videos for The Sultan’s Inventor, so this week I decided to take some time and do so. There’s not much more to say about it. If you haven’t played yet and need help, here’s my Full walkthrough.

Genshin Impact

And last, I’m still making my way through Fontaine in Genshin Impact. It is getting harder to find stuff I missed now that I have over 80% in each area, but I’m determined to get to 100%. I also have a lot to find in the desert, but I’m less motivated to explore there. Other than that, I’m just saving wishes for whichever character strikes my fancy.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week. I also finished watching both seasons of Bloom and would highly recommend it. Three Thousand Years of Longing would also be worth your time. I also finally started season 3 of Only Murders in the Building and am thrilled to see Meryl Streep is in it. I need to slow down my binging, though, or I’m going to run out of episodes before the new ones air. 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!