Hi everyone, and welcome back to My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I’ve been playing over the last seven days. Once again, this will cover two weeks of games instead of just one. These were a busy couple of weeks with some major releases, most notably Crashlands 2. I even had to take a break from Genshin Impact for a few days to make time for other games. This is a big roundup, so get comfortable while I tell you what I thought of these games.

Crashlands 2

The original Crashlands came out a shocking nine years ago, and while I loved it enough to play it for sixty hours all the way through to the end, I did have some complaints in my review. And now that Crashlands 2 is out and I’ve spent some time with it, I’m happy to say that they’ve addressed basically all of my concerns with the original. I didn’t like that crafting had a timer and now you can craft things instantly. I also had issues with the quest log and map and both have been revamped. In fact, the quest log is so helpful and detailed in the sequel that it had me doubting my own words about the original. You now have a checklist of things you need to get done and in most cases the locations you need to get to will be marked off on your map. So you don’t need to take your own notes or remember from one session to the next what you were in middle of doing. It makes for a much more streamlined experience and a lot less wasted time. Now, I did struggle a bit at the start with killing creatures. I’m a coward and was so used to relying on my pets in the original that it took me some time to find my groove without them. Now that I’ve managed to get some better gear and my first pet, I’m properly hooked on the game and wish I were playing more right now instead of writing this. If you liked the original Crashlands, I think you’ll be very happy with the sequel. And if you had complaints like I did, give it a chance because the developers really listened and improved on just about everything. I have more videos here if you’re still unsure and I’ll share more impressions as I get deeper into the game.

Duck Detective: Secret Salami

Duck Detective released last year on Steam, though I didn’t know too much about it. I was thrilled to discover when I started playing that it’s fully voice acted and has just the type of humor I look for in a game. You play as a duck who happens to be a detective and someone from a bus company hires him but he doesn’t know who. It turns out someone’s lunch kept getting stolen, but there’s so much more going on that you’ll discover as you talk to all the characters and make deductions. It’s similar to The Case of the Golden Idol in that you collect words and then use those to fill in the spaces and prove you understand what’s happened. It’s much more relaxed, though, and the voice acting really takes it to another level. I admit I did get impatient sometimes and tried to brute force the answers, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and would highly recommend it. You can also play on Story Mode if you don’t want to have to think too much.

Follow the meaning

Second Maze, aka Rusty Lake, released their latest game, Follow the meaning, late last year on Steam. It’s a surreal point-and-click adventure that very much fits in their collection, though it was developed by Hiking Mind Studio. Mobile had to wait a bit, but we were lucky enough to get it this week and I liked it so much I played through it in one sitting. Well, at least I think I did. There’s something about the ending that made me think I’d either be able to continue and look for things I missed or restart with some differences. But when I tried to continue playing, it just reset the whole game for me. I do know I missed some achievements and some hidden cats, but I didn’t want to replay the whole game to try and find them. I still enjoyed the game in all its weirdness, but I would have liked a way to complete it all without starting over. As is, I probably won’t bother hunting for the rest of the achievements. I still recommend playing the game, but keep in mind it is on the short end, as it only took me an hour to play through.

Alcyone: The Last City

Alcyone is an interactive sci-fi novel that takes place in the last city in existence. You wake up in the Rebirthing Facility, which is kind of like what Mickey goes through in the movie Mickey 17. When a person dies, they’re guaranteed a certain number of rebirths by the government. When you wake up, you choose what kind of person you want to be and whether you want a more privileged life or to create your own path to success. I’ve only spent about two hours with it so far, but I’m impressed by the world-building and the quick pace at which things happen to my character. I managed to die once already, but thankfully was reborn again. I know I can only do that a limited number of times, so if I’m not careful my character’s story will end. I am eager to see where all this goes, and on a quieter week I might have played more by now. But there’s so many games competing for my attention that I’m not sure when I’ll continue with it. But I recommend watching some of my videos below to see if it’s something you might be interested in. And I’ll share more of my impressions once I’ve had a chance to play more.

puffies.

I have Apple Arcade for the month, so I decided to give the new puzzle game, puffies., a try. Unfortunately, I found it mostly boring. It’s a jigsaw puzzle game in which you open packs of stickers and then place them where they belong. The problem is, most of it has been way too easy, to the point that I was forcing myself to play just see if it would get more interesting. Most of the packs only give a few stickers to work with at a time and they all go in the same small area so it’s hard to mess up. The only time I felt challenged was when I was given all the stickers at once and had to solve the whole board without any guidance. Since most of the game is too easy, though, I don’t see myself playing more of it. And I wouldn’t get an Apple Arcade subscription just for this.

Magical Maintenance Adventure

I’m not much of a fan of idle games, but I still wanted to give James Senter’s Magical Maintenance Adventure a try. But after about a half hour of clicking on buttons I had had my fill. There were some interesting points, like where I had to use some clues I found to open a lock. But idle games just really aren’t my thing. If you like them, give the game a try or watch some of my gameplay video to help you decide.

Vampire Survivors

I seriously don’t know how Poncle manages to release so many content updates for Vampire Survivors in such a short amount of time. It feels like we just got the Castlevania DLC, which was so massive that I got burnt out before completing it all. And now we got two free content updates in one. First, there’s The Coop, which is a new area of just chickens. There’s also a chicken character to unlock. The second one is a crossover with Square Enix’s SaGa Emerald Beyond, called Emerald Diorama. This one is fairly big, with a lot of strong new weapons and a whole bunch of characters to unlock. I’ve only scratched the surface so far, but you’ll be able to find the rest of my videos here as I make them. I’m starting to wonder if there’s such a thing as too much Vampire Survivors, but I’m still glad they keep making more. And since these new updates are free, everyone should check them out.

Adventure Escape Mysteries – Dino Country

I’m still playing through the new Adventure Escape game, Dino Country, which is currently available through the VIP package. I just have one chapter left, which I’ll hopefully finish before the game becomes free for everyone. Again, you can see my walkthrough guide here and I’ll give full impressions once I complete the game.

Genshin Impact

And last, I’ve been playing a lot of Genshin Impact since the 5.5 update released. There’s so much new area to explore and I got the new character, Varesa, so I can do so with her. I love how bouncy she is and she runs faster than any characters before her. I did cut back a bit these last few days to make room for other games, but I’ll be back to it soon. If you took a break from Genshin, now is good time to come back. Natlan is just such a joy to explore.

And that’s everything I’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks. I also saw Hell of a Summer and The Friend in theaters. I finally watched the series Poker Face and finished up The White Lotus. I didn’t like this season as much as the others, but the cast was great. 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!