The last time I wrote a post like this was back in September and with a handful of other games I’ve been playing a lot recently or am looking forward to in one way or another, it felt like a good time to bring up some I’ve been playing these last couple of months or even just really recently that I already have enjoyed quite a bit. Like last time, there isn’t any particular order to this, but I hope at least one of these may sound interesting to you too!
Art Puzzle
First up is Art Puzzle. While I enjoyed some of the color by number games, a lot of them felt a bit overwhelming or boring after a while and constantly just tapping on the screen would eventually cause my a lot of wrist pain. I wanted something simple that would still be fun and randomly stumbled upon Art Puzzle around when it first began. The game essentially requires you to take pieces of art and fit them on the picture by matching them to the silhouette.
For the most part, the game is genuinely pretty relaxing and finishing a photo causes it to play a short animation. It’s like each puzzle has a story and sometimes I wish there were additional parts. While I don’t always play it constantly, I genuinely find it nice to play when I’m not feeling too well.
The game also recently introduced Daily Puzzles and a new Seasonal Event system along with a Trophy case. While the Daily Puzzles are cute and you can go back to at any time, the Seasonal ones haven’t been as fun as I hoped when they first spoke about it. Essentially, an Event lasts 9 days and each one has a total of 75 puzzles you need to complete. I generally like playing anywhere from a few a day or a week, but having to do 75 puzzles in 9 days is rough. There’s already been 4 events totaling 300 Puzzles and the next one is just in a few days. I think it would’ve been nice if rather than a 9 day time limit, it was a special pack in honor of the event that you can do whenever or just being 25 Puzzles instead. The other disappointing thing with Events is that you can’t actually view a puzzle you did again. Once you finish it, there’s no way to view it again, but it’s something I’m hoping they can eventually change in a patch as the finished mural you get for every 25 finished IS kept.
Besides that one issue, I don’t really have any complaints? I did pay to remove ads so I can’t comment how it was with ads as I liked it enough right away that I had no issue spending a bit for it, but the only other weird things with the game is a little with how puzzles work. Sometimes you cover up parts in the background completely with new foreground items and it’s kind of sad to see so much get covered up. Similarly, there’s no music in the game? Which I don’t really play many phone games with sound, but it’s something I really would’ve expected. Finally, it’s not always clear when a piece can be placed. Sometimes the lines blend into the picture too much or a piece that could be very close to one you just placed can not be put down yet as you can only place so many pieces at a time. There’s no always any kind of pattern to it. Sometimes I’ll actually use the Hint feature a lot– not to tell me where to place things, but just to keep track of what pieces I can ACTUALLY place at the moment.
Regardless, it’s still a really cute game and hopefully I can get more of the main puzzles done despite the barrage of Events. Below are just some of my favorite puzzles I’ve done in the game and give an example of some of the different styles you could see:
If you enjoy coloring-type apps and/or doing puzzles, I think this could be something fun and different to try out.
Kotodama Diary
Another game I just sort of randomly came across and was like “Sure, this looks incredibly weird, why not?” and have not regretted trying. The game almost makes me think of Tamagotchi to an extent with the cute Pixel characters and different evolutions, but rather than a pet care sim, it’s more of a silly collection game where you can just watch them hang out after raising one. The game does have a bit of dark humor, but is still more cute and silly if anything.
If you play and want to check out the Room yourself, my Room ID in the game is 842394B95195B0A1
Kotodama Diary involves you essentially feeding different words to a Kotodummy through various different stages with the traits of those words affecting which you may end up with. Each word can have one or more traits and some words are even required for certain forms. You only get 10 words total before the Kotodummy graduates and then it’s time to see who you get. The starting form (Kotodummy) is always the same, but it will then evolve into 1 of 4 Child stages, then into 1 of 5 Teen stages, followed by 1 of 8 “Pensioner” Stages, and then finally, a “Graduation” Stage which is their final one. While the first three stages can give you an idea what to expect, there are still some surprises debating on how the words have gone and with some actually having similar trait requirements or you even picking a word that may unlock a special evolution altogether. You can also use an Insta-Graduation ticket that can be bought for 100 Gems which makes it so whatever form the Kotodummy currently is will be the one they stay with if you really like a Child, Teen, or Pensioner stage. I personally used this for Dovey and hope to again the next time I get Woofie. If I ever manage to get all the others, I might try and do so for the rest for collection purposes.
The general surprise of it all is something that can keep things interesting, but also kind of frustrating if hoping to get something specific due to the fact that some really do overlap with a lot of traits and just a few factors seem to end up determining which you get. Toinette, who was one of my favorites, took me four tries to get– the first three all getting me Angelbit. While I have theories on why now that I finally did get Toinette, I’d be lying if I said I was 100% sure on the reason.
I’d probably be less frustrated at times if it wasn’t for the fact that each Rank you go up, the more experience from tapping hearts it takes before you get another Kotodama to choose a word from. I’m at Rank 28 now and it’s 300K-500K experience per word (with the last ones being over 550K each). The way to increase the amount you get from Heart Tapping is by buying furniture and thankfully, it counts just for owning it whether you have room to place it or not. That said, as someone who prefers just buying what I like and also worrying about not having enough for something I may really want.
There is a Premium Currency and a Gachapon, but the latter is simply for more vanity-esque stuff (Like Room Items or Accessories for the Kotodummies you’ve gotten to wear), though, obviously room stuff can help you get more Heart tap points, there’s still furniture you can buy and you can always buy multiples. The Premium Currency can be used for a lot of things from the Gachapon, special gifts (though, there’s one you can get free each day), an option to use instead of watching an Ad, and even increasing the space in your room for furniture, Kotodummies, and the Box space (for any Kotodummies you don’t want to show in your room). You CAN earn them in-game too though so they aren’t something you buy exclusively: You can earn 30 a day just from doing Dailies and get some from Errands as well.
Despite my frustration a bit with the RNG as I slowly try to keep a list of words and their associated traits along with concerns over the balancing as my required amount of experience keeps getting higher, I still find the game really cute and enjoy poking back in throughout the day. Below, you can see some of my favorite ones I’ve gotten.
And despite the craziness of it, it does feel kind of nice to get some reassuring words as they graduate.
While the game only released in English in mid December, they’re actually celebrating their 2nd Anniversary right now and have special gifts so if you have any interest in the game, now’s a good time to check it out!
Meanwhile, I have 8 or 9 I really hope to get (not counting another Woofie for Instant Graduation) so here’s hoping I finally have some success in that department T__T I also hope we’ll eventually be able to remove certain accessories we’ve given out.
Tears of Themis
Now for a game that technically isn’t out yet (at least in English), but did recently have a Closed Beta that captured my heart and soul entirely and I am doing my best to wait patiently for: Tears of Themis. I had gotten a message on Tumblr simply talking about a “new detective otome” and honestly, all you had to say was Detective game and I would’ve already been running (and did) to sign up for the Closed Beta ASAP. I was thrilled to get accepted.
I have already spoken a bit about the game on both Tumblr and Twitter and likely will repeat some things from both of them, but you know what I’m excited for the game so I’m going to talk about it anyway!!
We weren’t allowed to take any screenshots or record anything from the Closed Beta so all pictures I’ll be showing were either from the Official CB Announcement PV or the Chinese version of the game.
While the game is apparently also an Otome game (I say it this way as I don’t know if you actually end up with someone in the end or if you just have lots of fun outings and friendship moments– the story is still ongoing as it is), the Detective parts is really what caught my eye initially. I love investigating, I really enjoy the Court Scenes, the cases are great (even if they make me cry) and honestly, all the characters are incredibly interesting too and I can’t wait to learn more of their stories and more on the overarching plot as well.
Every time the Courtroom scene happens, it genuinely makes me think of Ace Attorney and it’s just… a lot of fun. The MC is also really adorable (though, every time she talks about her weight I roll my eyes– one of the few complaints I have and the only one I have that’s actually an issue with the story from what I’ve played so far).
One thing I also think is really nice, if you’re having trouble with your Card strength/cutting it close, struggling with an investigating part, or at the Court Room stage, the game is really forgiving and doesn’t punish you for trying. You can spam all over the Investigating area if you want, you can try and connect every dot, you can ask for as many hints as you want, and if you fail a stage, you get your energy back. Even if you pick the wrong dialogue option at a point, it’ll just roll back to the choice again. It just feels really freeing to be able to just try and even experiment with different options without having to worry about it ruining everything.
While I have mixed feelings on the Card system and find Debates relatively pointless, I do think the Card Art is really pretty and I enjoy the stories that come with the cards a lot as they give you more ways to learn about the characters, even outside of their own personal stories. Below are just some of my favorite Cards after going through all of them on the Chinese version of the game.
As you can see, I have no biases whatsoever. And if miHoYo somehow stumbles upon this post, please make the actual Plushie something I can buy, thank you:
Anyway, the game actually released almost a year ago now overseas and I am so curious if they may rerun events for us or how we may get some of the content that’s already been out for a while. I wouldn’t want to miss out on anything… Regardless, we’ll just need to see what’s to come.
From what I played during the Closed Beta Test, it honestly felt really solid. I think the only part that could use some work were some of the text messages after finishing certain card stories– the translations for those were a bit wonky, but still easy to understand for the most part. I am a little worried about Card upgrading though– ignoring that it was the one hold up for me while playing through the Closed Beta, even after receiving such a big gift, the amount of money was barely enough to get even a third of the way through the amount of upgrade material we received which is kind of terrifying.
Regardless, I can’t wait for release and am looking forward to recording the game too!
Otter Ocean
If I had to describe Otter Ocean, it’d be a cross between Kleptocat and Neko Atsume with more of a feeling of control, despite having similar RNG elements. There are multiple maps and the goal is to send Otters out diving in order to find other Otters and various treasures. Each time they return, you need to feed them before sending them out again. As you collect more of the items and Otters in a map, the amount of time it’ll take and the amount of Otters that need to swim out will go up. You’ll also unlock more Dive Spots as you unlock Otters, though, every map has their limit.
The game started a few months ago and there’s been repeated updates as they continue working on Balancing so I am hoping some of the current options will not be sticking around. At this point, there’s been a total of 5 maps– 3 Free Maps, 1 Premium Map, and 1 Event Map. The Premium Map price isn’t really great and is something I’d expect to pay for a full game– not a small extra map, especially as it’s same as all the other normal maps. Right now, the balancing is really rough with the longest time taking over 2 hours for the Otters to return and requiring 750 affection to receive all 3 rewards from an Otter.
Essentially, every Otter has 3 tiers of affection– one gives some of their favorite food (which if you haven’t found at all yet will let it be added to the roulette of what’s available for sale every 5 minutes), one gives a photo, and one gives a special item for the Otter to hold. You can have any Otter hold any of the items, though, I usually give it to the one I got it from.
Each Island is pretty much its own thing with the only carry-over being your Clams (the currency in the game)– You have to rebuy medicine and brushes per map and food is completely different per map as well. The main exception is the Earth Day map which just had special quests and a roulette and doesn’t play at all like the traditional maps including having a much lower amount of items.
Despite that, food prices are more expensive with each newer map. Also while each map starts a story, the only one that really felt fleshed out was the very first Map while all the others despite giving the introduction of a story, never have any kind of conclusion even after finishing the map.
One thing I’ll give the game a lot of props for though is having a No Ads option that actually does what it says on the tin! Every single thing that would require an Ad such as certain free clams, more clams, double spins upon dive returns, etc. just… confirm and go as if you watched an ad already. You truly have no ads and I wish more games that had this option would actually do this.
I also like feeling more in control, even if the roulette system isn’t much fun, it’s nice being able to send out certain Otters that I know have a higher chance of finding other Otters or something new and being able to choose which specific spot we check.
Below are some of my favorite Otters, Collectible items, and Commemorative photos :)
At the moment, I’ve officially finished the Lava World finally, but I still have a long way to with getting all the Otters’ affection up. I haven’t gotten a single one completely maxed out :/ Annoyingly, despite the favorite food situation to get your Otters back out yet, it’s actually more profitable affection-wise to just give 1 Energy food that is NOT their favorite up to one before their Energy is maxed out and then give them whatever their best favorite thing is to get the most out of their affection increase after each dive.
HIDDEN LANDS
The last game on our list and one I only started playing within the last week. It’s essentially a Spot the Difference game with a cute collection feature.
I actually really enjoy these types of games and even I Spy-esque ones, but find the timers tend to be overly stressful. For the most part, there haven’t been any timers, but I did get one most recently and for once, it wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’s due to the nature of the game being less overwhelming, but I’m genuinely just looking forward to playing more.
Anyway, that finishes up our current Mobile Game Round-up :) Be sure to look forward to more videos of these games in the future too!