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 good chunk of this week working on my GOTY List, so I haven’t had as much time to play as I would have liked. Still, I managed to spend some time with two new Apple Arcade releases, a new Adventure Escape game, and a room escape game I somehow missed when it first released. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it.

Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom

I’ll admit that I’m not the target audience for these cozy town-building games inspired by Animal Crossing. But I do usually enjoy them for a few hours before they start to feel too grindy. Tamagotchi Aventure Kingdom is the latest one and it’s part of Apple Arcade. I wasn’t really sold on the Tamagotchi theme, but I can’t deny that this is an incredibly polished game with a ton of charm. It looks great and feels great and nearly an hour flew by without me even realizing. Yes, it does feel very similar to all the other games that have you chopping wood and helping townsfolk, but there’s enough to keep me interested for now. I plan to spend more time with it, so I’ll give more impressions next week. But if you have an Apple Arcade subscription and like cozy games, give it a try.

Cornsweeper

I honestly don’t know what Apple was thinking with Cornsweeper. It’s been in the “upcoming” section of Apple Arcade for a while now and I liked the bold yellow minimalistic design so I was looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately, there’s very little to like here. It’s basically Minesweeper but with popcorn kernels. There’s a “story mode” that I initially missed because the user interface is so atrocious that I didn’t even know it existed. But thanks to an update that makes that area obnoxiously flash white forever and always, I couldn’t miss it anymore. Before I saw that, I played some of the Arcade mode, which was just randomized 7×7 Minesweeper boards. The music got on my nerves, though, and I shut it off… only for it to turn back on every time I played a board. So each time I started a round, I had to open the menu to turn off the music. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you could end up popping kernels through the pause menu. I ended up quitting when the game froze because I managed to set off a bomb through the pause menu. I wasn’t planning to play anymore, but when I learned about the story mode I wanted to see what it was like. Well, it’s not any better. If you mess up, you can just memorize where all the bombs are and go again. In fact, one of the early levels just had the bombs in a straight line, so it was easy to just copy the winning board in seconds from memory. There is very little redeeming value to this game. If you have an Apple Arcade subscription already and want to try it, go ahead. But please don’t pay for a subscription just for this game. It’s absolutely horrid.

Adventure Escape Mysteries – Sweet Dreams

I was not expecting another Adventure Escape game so soon after the last one, but I woke up this morning to see an update with the VIP package offering the latest game, Sweet Dreams, a few weeks before it releases for free. Since I wanted to get a head start on my walkthrough, I of course purchased it. I’m glad to see this one is labeled as “advanced,” because the last few games have been a little too easy. I’ve only played through the first chapter so far, but it does have more interesting puzzles than Vanishing Act did. I’m also intrigued by the new art style, since their games usually all look alike. This game has you playing as Revi, a dream manager who has to help a young boy named Arlo gain confidence through his dreams. I’ll have more impressions for you as I get deeper into the game, but so far it seems worthwhile. I’m also working on a walkthrough here if you need help.

Extraordinary: Soul

I saw there were some upcoming room escape games and then realized that I had already missed some installments in the same series. Since they’re free to play with an IAP to remove ads, I decided to try one of them, called Extraordinary: Soul. I played through the first chapter and liked the hand-drawn art style, but wasn’t really sucked in by the story or the puzzles. Some of the puzzles also felt a bit too convoluted. I made a walkthrough guide for the first chapter, but the game already includes very detailed hints (read: solutions) so I don’t think I’ll bother continuing with my walkthrough. If you’re desperate for some free room escape games, you could do a lot worse. It’s not particularly memorable (so far), but it’s worth trying if you don’t have anything else occupying your time.

Genshin Impact

And last, I continued with Genshin Impact, even though there isn’t a whole lot going on right now. I played through Navia’s story quest and have been making my way through the Lost Riches event so I can get a new seelie pet when it ends. That’s about it while I wait for the next big content update.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week. Again, make sure to look through my 2023 GOTY list if you’re looking for something to play. I also saw Founders Day in theaters as a mystery movie, meaning we didn’t know what we’d be seeing. It was a dumb slasher movie, but fun. TV-wise? I decided to start watching The X-Files from the first episode, since I never watched the whole series from beginning to end. I figured it’s something I’d watch if it released today, so why not? I’m only a few episodes in, but so far so good. Anyway, let me know in the comments which games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back here next time with more of My Week Unwrapped!