The Week’s Wrapp

Hey there, welcome to our latest Pocket Gamer Week’s Wrapp. 

This is a chance for you to see what the various members of the Pocket Gamer team are planning to play over this weekend and will, hopefully, give you an idea of some of the weird and wonderful things we get up to when we’re not keeping you up to speed with the latest news and tips. Heck, you might even find a new game to play.

This weekend, like every single weekend and every single day, I am playing Pokemon Go. The local Pokemon Go group that I run is doing a litter pick over the weekend, to clean up our town and catch Pokemon! As Niantic officially supports our group through the Pokemon Go Ambassador Program, doing a little bit to give back and dole out some of the merch we get from them is always fantastic. 

On the Sunday, there is a Research Day (I swear, they are running something in-game every single weekend!) so I will be taking on those research tasks and trying to solve them. I’ll also be playing another AR-based game, I have downloaded Solebound. Solebound seems to just be about “discovering” the areas that you live in, but I am not completely sure as I’ve not dived in too deep yet. I’ll be checking it out along with my Pokemon Go adventures.

Two games are sitting on my to-play list this week. The first is the recently released Elder Scrolls: Castles. Now, I admit, I did the same sceptical eyebrow raise as many people when I heard Bethesda were releasing another mobile game. Yes, I know Fallout Shelter was – and is – widely enjoyed but I can’t help being a pessimist when a big studio thinks they know mobile. Just look at how many things shut down this year alone from well-respected mobile developers and you’ll understand my concern. Anyway, I’m always happy to eat my words and after reading Jack’s Elder Scrolls: Castles review, it sounds like a wonderful little sim, so I’m looking forward to building up my kingdom.

Beyond that, I also want to try Suzya’s Dice Route, a far more minimalist and low-budget effort than Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Castles. As I get older, I tend to lean towards games that rely on thinking rather than speedy reactions – mine went a long time ago – and Dice Route certainly fits the bill. While the rules are simple – get from point A to B in a set number of moves – I can see the difficulty ramping up the further I progress, leading to moments of frustration and elation in equal measure. I also find dice quite cool to look at. Is that weird? Quite possibly!

I’ve dropped my Ghost of Tsushima playthrough again for the nth time because my arms just can’t cut it – am I now doomed to playing simple tapping games for the rest of eternity? I suppose so – thankfully, there’s Usagi Shima to tide me over this weekend. Fluffy bunnies you can brush, feed, and play hide-and-seek with? Yes, please.

I’m also really looking forward to Neko Atsume 2, but the launch has been delayed to sometime later this year. In case you haven’t had the pleasure of falling under its spell, this game traps you into a life of serving cat masters so they can leave you fishy treats, which you will then use to buy them even more treats – a life well-lived, if you ask me.

This weekend I’ll be on my regular Pokemon & Monster Hunter Now duties (for those curious, I failed in my mission and still have 43 of the weapons to craft). However, I’m also preparing myself for the arrival of Balatro on the 26th.

How does one prepare for such things? Well, I’m going to be playing other deck-builders to get into the mathematical mindset. That means that I’ll be stretching the ol’ Apple Arcade subscription with Monster Train and Slay The Spire+. I’m a massive fan of both games already, although I did flag some UI issues with Slay The Spire when it was first ported, but let’s see how it’s been treated since then, eh?

I’ve been in a strategy mood lately, and after being burned one too many times by Darkest Dungeon I’ve chosen to dive back into the excellent Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. As far as adaptations of the tabletop game go I think it’s second only to Darktide in capturing the vibe of the grimdark future.

On the mobile side of things, I’ve got a flight to catch this weekend, so Vampire Survivors will be in rotation. I may grab Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge if I fancy a chaser of more ‘hammery stuff. As card games go it’s pretty good, and I enjoyed how it helped to translate tactics and mechanics from the tabletop to mobile.