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 a few new games I tried out this week, including one that’s upcoming. I also continued with some that I started last week. The big surprise for me was a Vampire Survivors update, which is always welcome. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get started.

A Tiny Sticker Tale

A Tiny Sticker Tale has been on PC for a few months already, but it just got ported to mobile this week. I loved the art style (that donkey is so cute!) and the overall idea of it, so I grabbed it at the low price of $3.99. On paper, I should absolutely love this game. And there is a lot to like about it. You play as a donkey named Flynn as he explores Figori Island. Most of the objects you come across — even the characters — can be turned into stickers and moved around. You can even put them in your sticker book so you can carry them to other areas. So it’s essentially a point-and-click adventure where pretty much anything can be added to your inventory. The only problem with that is that the sticker book is tiny. I feel like I’m playing an inventory management game instead of an adventure game. I’m constantly having to move stickers around to make room for others, and sometime’s I just had to leave stickers behind altogether because I absolutely did not have the room. Some stickers can be quite big — like trees — and it starts to feel tedious to have to run back and forth to pick up and drop off one item rather than being able to grab what I need and keep it with me. The map is fairly big, so running around to go back for things you couldn’t fit in your bag before starts to get old pretty fast. The sticker book is also finicky and often closes if my finger gets too close to the bottom edge when I’m trying to squeeze a sticker in. I honestly don’t think I have enough patience for all this. The game is absolutely adorable and I want to love it, but I don’t know why it had to have such a small sticker book. I also wish it had landscape support on iPad, especially since it started on PC. It feels awkward using a joystick to move on my iPad in portrait. If you’re still interested in the game, I recommend watching some of my gameplay video before deciding whether to buy.

Ex Astris

Ex Astris is basically a unicorn in that it’s a premium open world adventure RPG with turn-based combat. It looks like a lot of free-to-play gacha games but it isn’t one. As a Genshin Impact fan, I needed to try it, as it’s the free-to-play aspects that drag the game down for me. Unfortunately, in the half hour I spent with Ex Astris, it didn’t really pull me in. A large part of that is because I don’t love turn-based combat. It feels like a lot of waiting, and I tend to get bored of it. Ex Astris does make it a bit more exciting by adding the ability to parry attacks. But I suck at parrying in every game (included Genshin). I’m just so bad at timing my parries and I’m not compelled to get better at it, so it wasn’t enough to save the combat for me. I probably won’t continue with the game, but for those who like turn-based combat with a mix of reflexes involved, it might be worth checking out.

Recursion

Those of you who have been following me for a while likely know that I have a soft spot for Glitch Games and their punny sense of humor. It’s been a while since they last released a new game, but their next one is named Recursion and is out on March 11th. I got an advanced copy and have played through a good chunk of it now. Like their other games, it’s a first-person point-and-click adventure game with puzzles meant to trick you. But this one is unique in that it’s based around a time loop. You can set the timer to 2.5, 5, or 10 minutes, and when it counts down to zero, the game resets. Only your photos remain constant. It seems like it would be annoying at first, but it works surprisingly well. I’ve gotten to the third chapter, but like most Glitch games, I’ve gotten stumped and need to work out how to get past the next puzzles. I’m sure I’ll feel silly once I do. I wrote more about the game here and also made a short gameplay video if you want to see what it’s like before buying. If you’re sure you want to play it, though, you can pre-order the game right now.

Vampire Survivors

The Vampire Survivors 1.9 update arrived yesterday and includes a new map called Space 54, two new characters and two new weapons (plus their evolutions). It’s completely free and new Vampire Survivors content is always welcome, in my book. I especially like the new Phas3r weapon and its evolution, and I’ll definitely be choosing it in the future. I have a walkthrough here with more videos that show you how to unlock the new map and get all the new achievements.

BROK the Investigator

I played some more of BROK the InvestiGator and made some progress, but I’m starting to worry that my next step involves the arena battles. I tend to mess up with the brawling sometimes and lose health, so I’m a bit scared of taking on that task. I am still enjoying the game, but I’m wondering if I should have chosen the easier difficulty level that focuses more on the point-and-click adventure aspect. Anyway, I’ll likely still stick with it for now and see how far I get. It’s charming and I want to see where it takes me.

Close Cities

I played through another chapter of Close Cities this week, but unfortunately it’s feeling too same-y and I don’t think I’ll continue with it. I’m not sure if more mechanics are added later, but the first three chapters all felt pretty much the same. The difficulty is also a bit all over the place, as I’ll struggle a bit with a level and then breeze through the next few. It’s an interesting idea, but I think there’s perhaps too much content. I would rather have quality over quantity and see fewer levels that all offer a challenge. It’s still free and supported by ads, so try it for yourself.

Genshin Impact

And last, I’m still keeping up with Genshin Impact. I finished the cooking event, which was nice, and now started some bizarre event where you try to trip a gigantic hilichurl. I’m digging it, but it is weird. I’m also almost finished with Chenyu Vale, so I hope we get a new map to explore soon. Otherwise my videos will be less frequent.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to this week. I also watched Hatching, a horror movie about a young girl who finds an egg in the forest and decides to take care of it until it hatches. It held my attention, but man was it disgusting. I got queasy a number of times throughout the movie. Still, I don’t regret watching it. Aside from that, I’m now on the fifth season of The X-Files and just finished the episode about the demonic doll. I never realized how supernatural this show can get. Anyway, let me know in the comments section which games you’re enjoying and I’ll see you back her next time with more of My Week Unwrapped.