The Wrapp - Life after Balatro, protecting Bruce Lee, and managing dice

Why hello there, reader! Welcome to another instalment of The Wrapp, our weekly feature where the Pocket Gamer team chats about their gaming plans for the next few days. This time, Catherine's back from her well-earned break and is eyeing up Set A Watch: Digital Edition while Iwan is... Wait, hang on. Playing something that isn't Balatro? Well, I'll be damned...

Dann Sullivan

Editor in Chief

With my previously mentioned mobile purge complete, I’ve not got many games left installed on my phone. As such, it’s pretty plain for me to explain the few that I’ll be spending time with over these next few days: Pokémon Go (as I’ll be in Amsterdam for the in-person event) and Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic+, which I’m attempting to burn my way through. There are a couple of other stragglers that’ll likely rear their heads - Suzerain and Monster Train - but for the most part, I’m looking to keep things light for the next few weeks.

On PC? Well, as you ask. Mount & Blade Bannerlord and Crusader Kings III have been taking up a lot of my time lately, and I’ve reinstalled Death Road to Canada (also available on mobile) as that’s one of my favourite fallbacks.

Will Quick

Freelance Writer

It's the end of the week, and I need to figure out what I'm gonna play while I'm out in the world or sitting down and idling. There are plenty of idle games out there, but I prefer a more active role when it comes to tapping, dragging, sliding, and pinching my mobile device. I'll see what kind of games get suggested to me when I search for Ironhide and Young creations. Who knows what I might discover?

I'm also enjoying Monument Valley 2 quite a bit, so I'll do some digging for artful puzzle works to feed my creative mind.

Toni Oisin H.C.

Freelance Writer

I feel like every time I’ve opened my phone over the past few days, I’ve been inundated with clips of people managing to do all kinds of weird stuff in the new skate. It’s a welcome break from videos of people actually skating, which I fear can only inspire me to do something that will lead to breaking my wrist, which is ill-advised, as a writer. 

I, too, want to be able to fly around high rises using only a skateboard. So, I’ll most likely be downloading it over the weekend. When I last tried earlier in the week, I couldn’t even log in to the new server, so we’ll see how it goes.

Catherine Dellosa

Reviews Editor

I’m emerging from the shadows to play new games again - by “shadows” I mean a corner of my bed, and by “new games” I mean something that might potentially pry me away from Shogun Showdown. The latest contender is Set a Watch: Digital Edition, which looks intimidating but might just be the thing that relieves me from my never-ending quest to take down the shogun.

There’s also a mountain of housework waiting for me this weekend, but I suspect I’ll use Set a Watch as an excuse to procrastinate since it’s semi-related to “work”. No rest for the wicked, I’m afraid.

Shaun Walton

Staff Writer

If you have been watching the Tokyo Game Show, then you will have seen that Bruce Lee is coming to Hitman World of Assassination as an Elusive Target. Kind of. You are tasked with protecting him from assassins, which could be incredibly interesting. WOA does a good job of giving you autonomy, so I hope that these threats are going to be active instead of reactive. 

I don’t want a sniper to pop up after I do tasks A and B. I want the ambushes to be happening all the time, and if you are in the wrong place, game over. That’s what my weekend is going to be anyway, protecting Bruce Lee. And then pushing him off a ledge for giggles afterwards.

Iwan Morris

Staff Writer

For once, I’m actually playing something new! Don’t worry, Balatro is still in rotation, but this week I’ve been giving Torerowa a go too. It’s basically Dark and Darker but with a JRPG-style twist. And honestly? It’s not too bad, even if touchscreen hack ‘n slash has always sat poorly with me (not to mention my thumbs and wrist).

I think I might also dip my toes back into Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, too. Considering that the mobile port is one of the few places you can play it easily, I think that my smartphone takes the win for that. Now to decide what I’m going with first…

Stephen Gregson-Wood

Deputy & Special Projects Editor

Following on from my last update, I did successfully snag Jerry in Acecraft before his Skyward Recruit vanished, so I'm happy with that. Now, there's a new, original character to chase after called Botto. He's a nerdy little tortoise, and I want him for no other reason than he's cute. This must be the Gacha Life I've been warned about.

Outside of mobile, I recently got the Platinum trophy in Demon's Souls, meaning it was time to move on to something (relatively) new. I've gone with Cyberpunk 2077 because if I'm not five years late to a non-mobile game, am I being true to myself? I must admit, it's not grabbing me yet, but it's still early days. I've just met Neo Wick.