The Wrapp - Cards, Conquering and Cultivation

Hey there, welcome to our latest edition of The 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.

Shaun Walton

Staff Writer

I am endlessly bouncing between games and this weekend is no different! On the mobile front, Lingsha will be releasing in Honkai: Star Rail next week and I need her for my Super Break team, so I will be grinding passes there. In between the odd game of Rocket League Sideswipe, got the itch to jump back into that lately, a lot of fun.

Saturday night is raid night for my FC on FFXIV, and I somehow stumbled into the role of Raid Leader. Been a lot of fun and not as stressful as I expected. Besides that, I have fallen under the call of space once again and restarted Starfield recently. There's been so many updates, including the new buggy which is amazing.

Stephen Gregson-Wood

Deputy & Special Projects Editor

For this week, I'm going to check out Athena Crisis, Null Games' take on the XCOM and Advance Wars formula. I find myself leaning more towards strategy on mobile at the moment, and Athena Crisis' cheerful pixel art is calling to me. If you're also interested but not entirely sold, you can play a browser demo on the game's official site. Thanks to Shaun for pointing that out.

Outside of mobile and not at all being six years late to the party, I've started playing Red Dead Redemption 2. So far, I have mixed opinions. The vocal performances, story and stellar attention to detail keep me going, but the gameplay is kind of... just okay. I appreciate they shoot for a more realistic feel, but moving Arthur Morgan feels like I'm wrangling a boat, and that's just not all that fun.

Dann Sullivan

Editor in Chief

It's Balatro for me.

Jimbo and I will be burning cards and calling on a mixture of planet and tarot cards all while clowning around. I was lucky enough to get access to it a couple of days before launch and am already making great progress on my collection and the unlocks.

Balatro is absolutely perfect for mobile, in fact, this is perhaps its ultimate form. Touchscreen control is a natural fit for anything card related and, much like Windows with its Spider Solitaire, Hearts, etc, Card games have never really gone away from mobile since its inception as a platform. 

I love that it's made it over to mobile, there's a long, long line of fantastic indie roguelikes and run-based games that have made it to the smaller screen and Balatro's fantastic port gives me hope that more will make that jump and find success here.

Jupiter Hadley

Staff Writer

You might think I am going to play Pokemon Go this weekend. You’re wrong! Well, not entirely wrong. I am going to play Pokemon Go this weekend, but I am also playing a bunch of other stuff as well. I am currently in Barcelona, where Indie Dev Day is taking place. I am hoping to see some mobile games on the show floor. I know that the developers of Pineapple: A Bittersweet Revenge are going to be here, so there is hope.

On the plane ride home, I am likely going to be playing Fairy Village, which is a very cute-looking game where you need to build your own cottage and decorate it. It’s by HyperBeard, who always make games that are not only stunning but quite fun to play.

Catherine Dellosa

Reviews Editor

I’m still on a self-imposed ban on any kind of hardcore button-mashing, so thankfully, I’ll be playing an early build of Pine: A Story of Loss this weekend for an embargoed preview. It’s supposed to be really chill controls-wise, but I’m already anticipating zero chill when it comes to its feels.

Speaking of, we talked about a few emotional games in Episode 2 (S2) of our Pocket Gamer podcast - yes, we do have one! Have a listen over the weekend while waiting for the train, or while playing your favourite idle time-waster on your phone.

Will Quick

Freelance Writer

Having gotten over my stint of seeking out silly weapons, I've gone a more serious route. Thanks to Dann, I was lucky enough to get a preview of Age Of Empires Mobile which will be launching soon. This holds a special place in my heart for me since Age Of Empires (2, specifically) was the very first RTS I ever played. It started my love for strategy and helped fuel my love and interest in history (Joan D'Arc, S-tier historical figure, fight me).

Though, right off the bat, the game is designed to be far different from the rest of the series. To put it straight, Age Of Empires has been mobilised no-not-that-way. It's become a mix of management and strategy similar to Clash Of Clans and that's not a bad thing. It kind of makes sense since building an empire takes time: You've gotta harvest resources, build buildings, train soldiers, scout territories, sail to parts unknown, and hope that you pull legendary historical (and fictional) warriors and leaders from the tavern. 

This will make it much more accessible as an online and community-based game with some solid graphics, but I guess we'll just have to see how long this mobile empire will stand.

Cristina Mesesan

Staff Writer

After a long time on the road traveling to visit my family, I found myself craving a game that brought back memories: Stardew Valley. Despite it not being a new game, it's always something I go back to whenever I want to relax, and that's exactly how I want this weekend to be. 

I could spend hours upon hours redecorating my farm and grinding the Skull Caverns, but since I haven't had a lot of time to do the Ginger Island quests and whatnot, I am probably going to do a little bit of that too. I started with the Pirate Wife's quest, and then I will most likely end up doing all I can to farm the dungeons here. Or at least, I'll try. I heard they can get pretty dangerous.