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’ve been pretty busy this week and mostly with new releases. The highlights for me were Hero of the Kingdom II and the upcoming CubeQuest. Both games dominated my time and made me forget about Genshin Impact for a few days. We’ve got quite a bit to discuss, so let’s get to it.

Hero of the Kingdom II

I never played the original Hero of the Kingdom — though now I want to! — so I was pleasantly surprised by how the sequel sucked me in. It’s kind of a cross between a point-and-click adventure and a survival RPG. The story isn’t anything groundbreaking — your sister is kidnapped by pirates and you go on a quest to save her, completing little side quests on the way. What I found especially appealing was how streamlined it is. Instead of having to move a character around the world, you just tap on thinks in the environment to immediately interact with them. You never have to watch a character walk across the screen. There’s even a map that allows you to quick travel to any area. All this meant that I could focus on the tasks at hand and not waste time watching the same animations over and over again. It made it easy to lose track of time and just enjoy the game. I ended up finishing the game in about two days because I couldn’t put it down. That said, I did find the ending a bit disappointing and I wish there was a way inside the game to figure out what I need to do to get the achievements I missed. I’m not sure if there’s any way for me to still get them or if I just messed up and missed out on them for good. For instance, there’s still one side quest I haven’t finished. This random guy wants 12 starfish from me, but I could only find 10. I scoured every screen and could not find 2 more. I’m not sure what the deal is with that. And to that effect, I should also mention that this game is probably not a good fit for a small screen. I played on an iPad and I still had to squint sometimes to find objects. I couldn’t see any way to zoom in on the environments, but it’s possible I missed it. I also think the original game might be free at the moment, so you could try that before deciding whether to buy the sequel. And I have more videos here if you want to see the game in action.

Slayaway Camp 2: Netflix & Kill

Slayaway Camp had quite the cult following back when it released a few years ago, thanks to its campy sliding puzzles that had you playing the killer from old horror movies like Friday the 13th. It had cartoon blood and many creative ways for innocent little campers to die. Now, just in time for Halloween, developer Blue Wizard Digital teamed up with Netflix to release a sequel called Slayaway Camp 2: Netflix & Kill. The first thing you might notice is that the characters are no longer blocky like Micecraft graphics. They’re still cheesy, but more detailed and with actual curves. The other thing you’ll notice is that instead of sliding automatically until you hit a wall, you now move your murderer one tile at a time. I can’t say whether that makes for a better or worse game, but it’s definitely different. I’ve only played through the first two movies so far and there have been some pretty tricky puzzles — especially the block-pushing ones. The game also is in portrait mode this time, which feels a lot more natural if you’re playing on an iPhone, and makes it much easier to play for a few minutes here and there. The main issue keeping me from wanting to play more is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to skip the cutscenes. There’s only so many times I need to see a kid’s head slowly get ripped off and I’d really like the option to skip it. It wastes too much time between puzzles and tests my patience. Still, if you have a Netflix subscription and like puzzles, it’s worth checking out. I also have more videos here if you’re not convinced.

Tingus Goose

I had no idea what to expect from Tingus Goose, but I knew from the screenshots that I had to try it. And since it’s free, there was no risk involved. It turns out it’s an idle game in which you grow a goose tree out of a pregnant woman’s belly that that…uhh… vomits babies? The artwork is definitely the main attraction here and I would love to see more of it, but I honestly don’t have much patience for idle games. This one, especially, gets to a point where you have no choice but to wait or spend currency to finish growing the tree. There’s opt-in ads to speed things up and there’s supposed to be an in-app purchase that makes it more premium, but the store doesn’t seem to be working at the moment and even if it was, I can’t see paying $23 to bypass timers in an idle game. My suggestion is to play it a bit for free until you’ve had your fill of its weirdness and then move on. For me, staring at the screen and waiting for things to happen is just not a valuable use of my time.

CubeQuest – a QB Game

As a puzzle fan, I was completely enthralled by QB back when it released in 2017. It looked simple on the surface, as you were just rolling a cube across tiles. But as new kinds of tiles were added, it got trickier and trickier. Not only did you need to take into consideration how the different tiles would interact with each other, but you had to consider the direction you were coming from. The whole game is controlled simply through directional swipes, but still manages to be incredibly clever. My main gripe with it was the lack of an undo button, which meant many restarts over a small mistake. So I was thrilled when I tried the upcoming sequel, CubeQuest, and discovered that the developer added an undo button. He also got rid of the move counter, and in my opinion it makes for a much better game. The puzzles are often more elaborate, but since you don’t have to worry about messing up, you can just focus on solving the puzzles. I wrote about it here after playing through the first 10 levels, but I had such a hard time putting it down that I’ve since completed the game. I plan to review it properly in time for its November 8th release, but if you’re a puzzle fan you should absolutely pre-order it. It’s free to download with a one-time IAP to unlock the full game, so you have nothing to lose.

The Talkie: Interactive Story

I covered The Talkie in my last weekly roundup and had mixed feelings about it. I’ve since finished the game and my feelings haven’t changed much. It’s mainly and interactive novel with very minimal choices. I don’t think those choices can really change much, but the story still had me intrigued enough to follow it through to the end. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who’s planning to play it, so I’ll just say that the ending was fine. There were some surprises I didn’t see coming and the writing was mostly decent. But I finished the game a few days ago and it left zero impression on me. I pretty much forgot about it completely until I had to write about it for this roundup. So yes, it’s perfectly adequate storytelling but I don’t think it’s going to leave a lasting impression the way some other similar games have. It’s only $2.99, so if you’re still curious it’s not a huge gamble to try it for yourself.

finity.

I took a break from finity. for a while, as I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t beat Silver II ranking. But one day this week I wasn’t sure what to play, so I decided to pick it up again. And on my second game that day, I actually beat Silver II and moved on to Silver III! That said, I’m now feeling defeated again by the new tiles that were added. There’s these hidden tiles that aren’t revealed until you drop another tile on them. The game was already stressful without that and now I’m losing games much earlier than I used to. It’s a bit demoralizing and I’m not sure I’ll continue with it. However, I did see that there’s some easier modes now so maybe I’ll try those if the mood strikes. It’s still a great game and worth trying, but the progression system is a bit of a turnoff for me.

Genshin Impact

And last, I made some time for Genshin Impact this week, but also took a break for a few days. Sadly, my recording of Neuvillette’s story quest got corrupted and didn’t save, so I wasn’t able to upload that. I did play through Wriothesley’s story quest, though, and it made me like him more. But then I tried him in the limited events going on now and he didn’t feel so good to play, so I’ll probably skip him. I still have some world quests to complete and some map to explore. I also just unlocked the Fontaine treasure compass, which should make it easier to find what I’m missing. Otherwise, I’m just saving up primogems until I see a new character I want.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week! I’m still watching Your Honor, but I’m not sure the second season was needed. It was only ever intended to be one season and I think they should have left it that way. But I still can’t stop myself from watching the rest. I also watched Landscape With Invisible Hand, a bizarre movie about human contact with “peaceful” aliens. It does a good job being entertaining and also offering some social commentary, and I recommend watching it if you can. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’re playing and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped!