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 was an incredibly busy week with a ton of notable releases. I didn’t even get to cover them all yet and will have to leave some for next week. The highlight for me was, by far, Strange Horticulture. It’s a perfect fit for touchscreen and I’m so glad it came to mobile. I also continued with Hades and made a walkthrough for Deep in the Woods. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s not waste any more time on intros.

Strange Horticulture

I confess that I didn’t know much about Strange Horticulture before it got ported to mobile this week. But it immediately sucked me in and I couldn’t stop playing until I completed it. It’s basically a puzzle game in which you manage a plant shop. Customers come looking for a specific plant and you need to identify it from the plants you have so you can give them the right one. There are also other puzzles, many involving locating specific areas on the map. I never imagined that I could enjoy identifying plants so much, but I completed the game over the course of a couple of days since it’s all I could think about. I should mention that there’s a lot of small text to read, but the game lets you zoom in quite a bit to read it. I played on my iPad and had very few issues with it, but I could see how a small phone might be more problematic. A bigger screen is a better fit for a game like this. Otherwise, if you have any interest in puzzles or just games with an occult theme and chill vibe, definitely grab Strange Horticulture. I have the rest of my videos here if you want to see more.

Howl

Howl is another game that released a while back on other platforms but just came to mobile. It’s a turn-based tactical game that pretty much plays like a puzzler. I only played a bit so far, but I love the whole look and feel of it, especially the folklore theme. The puzzles themselves are starting to get tricky, so I really need to think about my moves. You can also ask the game for help in the form of showing the enemies’ expected moves. I’m trying to see if I can manage without that first, but I have to admit it sounds like it might make the game more enjoyable for me. I keep getting hung up on predicting enemy moves and I might just need to take the plunge and enable that feature. I hope to play more next week, but Strange Horticulture stole my heart this week and I forgot about pretty much everything else while I was playing it.

Zerko

Zerko is the latest puzzle game from Maciej Targoni, the developer behind the HOOK games. The idea is to place all the numbered pieces on the board so everything zeros out. It starts off easy but gets pretty tricky as you progress. His games are usually short but sweet, and this one is no exception. I played through the whole game in about an hour in one sitting. It was the perfect length and didn’t overstay its welcome. And, as usual, there are no timers or move counters. The game is very chill. I enjoyed it and would recommend it, especially at its low price.

Trust No One

Trust No One is a puzzle adventure game from Triomatica Games, the folks behind Boxville. I haven’t gotten too far in it yet because I got stuck pretty early on, but I started a walkthrough here. I’ll update that as I make more progress. I can’t speak of the quality yet, but it only costs $0.99, so it might be worth the gamble to try it out. There’s also a free demo if you’re not ready to take the plunge.

Lona: Realm of Colors

I loved the look of Lona: Realm of Colors and it sounded very much like my kind of game, so I took a chance on it at the low, low price of $0.99. Unfortunately, I don’t like anything about it besides the art style. It’s hard to tell which items are interactive and the puzzles are often too obtuse. I accidentally solved some of them and eventually quit on one that I couldn’t figure out. I do like the idea of swapping between two versions of the same scene, but I wish it had been done more thoughtfully. I also was going out of my mind from all the exceedingly slow cutscenes after just about every action you take. Overall, I would not recommend this one.

Hades

I continued playing Hades and I’m still enjoying it, but am wondering if I’ll ever be able to defeat Megaera, the first boss. I’ve made it to her at least a half dozen times so far but only came close to beating her once or twice. I did unlock new story bits, including one about Zagreus’ mother. And I met Chaos. I’m still working on unlocking the next weapon, and that’s definitely kept me going. I just hope I don’t lose interest before then because of my inability to beat Meg. The game is probably better with a controller, as I sometimes fumble the touch controls when I’m stressed out. But for now I’m going to stick with the touch controls and see if I can manage. In any case, it’s a fun game with tons of unlockables that make each run feel worthwhile even if you don’t get farther than before. It’s definitely worth checking out if you have a Netflix subscription.

Deep in the Woods

I already shared my feelings about Deep in the Woods last week, but I’ve since taken the time to make a proper walkthrough. My opinion hasn’t changed and I still think it tries too hard to hide things so it takes you longer to finish. But if you do end up playing, now you can use my walkthrough to help if you get stuck.

Genshin Impact

And last, I finished the Fayz event in Genshin Impact. There isn’t a whole lot else going on the moment, so I’m just biding my time until the next event or big update.

And that’s everything I’ve been ill to this week. I’m almost through with the seventh season of The X-Files and not looking forward to Mulder’s hiatus. But I’m sticking with it to the end. I also watched Villains, which was silly but fun. 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!