There was a day when the mention of pirates didn't immediately connote Johnny Depp in dreadlocks and eyeliner; it actually brought goose bumps along the spine and many a salty utterance amongst lawful sailors. Then, the pirates of the Caribbean were to be feared and hated, not queued up for in hours-long lines at a theme park near you. The tales of murder and mayhem along the high seas always titillated and intrigued, nevertheless, which is just what you can expect from Artifex Mundi's spectacular thriller, Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart.

You begin this adventure hybrid game as the director of a well-appointed nautical museum buzzing with excitement over its newest exhibit: the mummified remains of the notorious 18th century blackguard, Captain Remington. In a twist of the supernatural, you soon find yourself aboard his ship, bargaining with skeletons for a map and listening, enthralled, to an undead dwarf's recounts of an unlikely romance.

Navigate by following your cursor—it will change to indicate new paths and interactive areas. Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart does a top notch job of explaining all this when you first begin; an optional tutorial is offered to those new to the genre while those who want absolutely no "hand holding" can select expert mode which stiffly penalizes mis-clicks while eschewing the glimmering active areas and a quick-filling hint/skip timer of regular mode. In both modes, a number of convenient implements make playing frictionless, so you can focus all your attention on plot and puzzle rather than mechanical issues. These include a journal to record clues and story development, a bottom loading inventory keeping tools near-at-hand, and a smart map that helps you stay oriented. In regular mode, the map will also display where to find interactive areas.

Gameplay is a bountiful blend of exploration, mini-games, and a choice between hidden object searches or mahjong solitaire. Aye, a perfectly piratical game of mahjong! When entering a hidden object search scene, choose mahjong instead if that's what suits your tastes. Then, you won't be searching for twelve objects to earn the coveted prize, you'll be matching pairs of symbols until all tiles are gone. What this means is you can finish the entire game and never once bother with traditional hidden object scenes. Well, a few miniature search scenes pop up; in these you must find a few parts to assemble a whole item. Yet you won't be bombarded by a extraneous hidden object searches, mahjong or minigames. The focus is on adventuring and unwrapping layers of stories, both of Captain Remington's life and love as well as your quest to rescue your daughter.

Analysis: Artifex Mundi, known for hidden object adventures brimming with atmosphere and in depth story development, such as Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek, has reeled in a treasure trove of all things good in Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart. Every scene exudes not only high production values, but the talented art and craft of the story. Many of the visuals are so distinctly rendered and layered in dimension, it looks as if you could reach a hand out and actually feel the smooth wood paneling or squishiness of a sea sponge. The plot is a mixed bag, though. The cursed pirates scenario is nothing new and holds no real surprises and, although the narration tries to steer you in that direction, it's hard to sympathize with Remington's plight; he's no innocent victim here! Nonetheless, the way it's done will keep you just as enthralled as if you've never seen a pirate in your life.

Besides fantastic story-telling, Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart comes as close as possible to the best of all worlds, something to satisfy everyone. The choice between mahjong or a search scene is great news to those who may have tired of the conventional hidden object adventure game. Search scenes are standard fare but they're improved by gorgeous graphics, orderly composition and the addition of fragmented items. You'll run into the typical array of minigames yet they're redeemed by how well the puzzles merge with the story and theme, so you are never pulled out of the moment, which is good because the excitement and urgency continually build depth into the experience. With so much going on, this results in a longer than average length of play.

It is truly an experience to play Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart. It's likely you'll be so impressed by the ambitious production values that nothing seems ordinary, not even the oft-used story. It's one of those games that's better seen than read about. Take a dip into the demo and you'll know what I mean; it's less a nightmare and more an adventurer's dream.

Currently only the Collector's Edition is available. It contains bonus content not found in the standard edition: an extra chapter, minigame access, wallpapers, strategy guide, and more. Remember that Big Fish Game Club Members pay only $13.99 for Collector's Editions (or 2 club credits), and collector's editions count 3 card punches of 6 total needed for a free game.

Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Get the full version

I'll be honest. I don't know much about kids, and I tend to assume that if you just leave them a can of some meat paste, something to poop in, and a cardboard box to mess around in they'll be fine. (Or is that cats?... eh!) But it doesn't take a parental dynamo to recognise that Jimp and Gary Smith's utterly adorable kid-oriented game Teddy's Excellent Adventure is something children would presumably enjoy. Part platform, part puzzle, and even a little point-and-click adventure-sy, it tells the story of a teddy bear trying to find his way back home to the little girl who lost him. Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move and jump, and the mouse to click and interact with certain objects. If Teddy falls off a platform, he'll have to start over at the last screen he entered, but you'll also have to solve little puzzles in different areas by figuring out what to click and in what order.

It goes without saying that this is, by and large, a fairly easy game. A few of the later areas require a smidgen of platforming skills, but by and large this is simply a quick, colourful game meant to engage the young or young at heart. A few of the areas have some scenes and action that might be a little intense for really little'uns, and bigguns might be mildly annoyed at the way you have to keep moving with moving platforms or they'll slip right out beneath you. But with its sweet story, gorgeous cartoon and fabric style, and accessible gameplay, Teddy's Excellent Adventure is a warm and cuddly little treat that is just the right size for itty-bitty gamers to grasp, and for bigger ones to relax with while it lasts.

Play Teddy's Excellent Adventure

In FazeCat's everything-but-the-kitchen sink strategic defense game, Paladog, Critterland has been invaded by zombies, witches, skeletons, and just about every evil little thing you can imagine, including television sets! It's up to you to fight them off, but are you dog enough to take them on? Move Paladog back and forth with the [WASD] and [arrow] keys, use your number keys to choose and build different units, and [J], [K], and [L] to use special attacks. Units cost food and special attacks cost mana, both of which are generated automatically, while money for upgrades comes from killing bad guys.

While you've probably seen most of the gameplay concepts before, the game does feature a ton of content, from nine different units to a whopping 120 levels, including special mini-games. Also, the artwork is great and the enemies so cute you almost don't want to bash their brains in with your mace...almost. It's such a hybrid, juggling so many elements that it takes on a little more than it can chew. Though many of the elements it tries on aren't as fleshed out as they could be, Paladog's sense of style and ambition helps keep it fresh in a way that other defense games might wind up as one-note. You'll find that the upgrades can be pretty expensive, but this is one puppy that spoils you for choice with tons of weapons and magic rings to liven things up. Paladog isn't quite perfect, but is a big, cuddly, newspaper-fetching machine, that brings back the Sunday paper... and slobbers all over the funnies. And you love it anyway.

Play Paladog

iTunes App Store (iOS):
Get Paladog (iPhone, iPod Touch)
Get Paladog Free (iPhone, iPod Touch)

Google Play Android Games:
Get Paladog (Android)
Get Paladog Free (Android)

Hey, did you know that mini-golf games are, like, a thing? Yeah, me neither. But if there is one title that will warm you to this slice of gaming life, it's Putt More Base, a relaxing new addition to the genre by Jayc Santos.

Simply click the golf ball, then hold and glide your cursor up and down to adjust the force of your swing. There are direction arrows to let you know where your ball is headed and lots of creative bumpers and boosters that you can place most anywhere on the screen to achieve the perfect score. But you'll have to avoid some traps, of course, like sand and water, but also...mines! If you get into trouble, the reset button is never far away. The game will even remember where you placed your bumpers and leave them there for you to keep or change.

Putt More Base is much more streamlined and casual than its predecessor, making it a mellow rather than frustrating experience. It has its share of challenges, too, but isn't a hard game. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then, by all means, take a swing.

Play Putt More Base

Ever since Pac-Man first escaped off the right side of the screen to magically appear on the left, players have had a certain thing for games that skew traditional notions of spatiality. The Village Blacksmith offers another wonderful take on this kind of teleportation in Recursion, a cool little retro puzzle platformer. Having crash landed on an alien planet, you must make it to the flag in a series of single-screen levels. However, you had better be ready to start thinking with portals, as falling from bottom will drop you from the top, heading to the left will transport you to the right, and so forth. Throw in the enemies, the collectible stars, the flag activators, the bubbles and balloons to bounce off of, and some good old fashioned gravity manipulation, and you're in for some crazy fun.

Recursion's mechanics have the clever feel of a stripped down Continuity, and, for the most part, it never feels too simple or too overwhelming. New aspects of gameplay are introduced a little haphazardly, but they feel natural fits, and the game has a good challenge curve right up to the end. The overlay on the pixelated graphics does cause a strange sense of flatness, and yes, expect a little over-precision in the jumps you'll need to make. Still, Recursion is a fun time waster that, despite its name, never gets repetitive.

Play Recursion

Chikarou. Chikarou. Chikarou. Heh, the name of Chikarou 5 is fun to pronounce. Chikarou chikarou. Chika-chika-chika-rou-rou-rou. Rou-chika-chika-rou. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you about the game, aren't I?

What Chikarou 5 is is a bite-sized escape puzzler from Dghgbakufu (a name that's a bit less fun to say), whom you may remember for Chikarou 3. The game drops you in the middle of a cross-shaped five-room dungeon and dares you to solve its puzzles and escape to the surface. Chikarou. (Chikarou is apparently Japanese for dungeon, by the way.)

Bakufu shies away from the complicated clichés like using screwdrivers to pry open panels and finding power cords to plug in computers. All the keys and doors are symbol-coded, and there's no pixel-hunting, either; what little challenge this developer's games contain—chikarou chikarou chikarou—lies in deciphering the simple yet clever little clues to open the safes, which is fine for someone wanting a quick and easy escape but not so much for a challenge-seeker.

Are you ready to escape from the dungeon? Go ahead; I'll stay here and keep saying "chikarou"...

Play Chikarou 5

In the mood for some good, old-fashioned, retro arcade fun without the need of a roll of quarters? Brandon Williamson's Forget-Me-Not, which was originally a popular mobile game, is now ported over to your browser! It takes the classic concept of Pac-Man, and adds a shooter to it.

Your little hero needs to find the exit on each increasingly difficult level, and in order to do that, you use the [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to navigate yourself towards the key, which will drag behind you when you get it. Collect all of the flowers, while enemies spawn randomly around each maze. If you can get enough shots into an enemy and kill them, then they will convert themselves into a cluster of food that you can chomp up for extra points. Additionally, you should be aware that your own bullets can hurt you, so be careful when using the lateral and vertical tunnels that take you from one side of the screen to the opposite, and try not to shoot yourself in the back. You've only got a finite amount of lives on hand, after which point you'll have to start all over, so caution is advised.

Strategically, you will want to attempt to collect as many flowers as possible in an unbroken string, in order to maximize your score. You can also "grind" against the wall in order to charge you up, increase the speed of your firing rate, and speed up your hero. Use the appropriate [arrow] key which is opposite one of the walls you are cruising down. In other words, if the wall is on your right, hold down the [left] arrow key. When you start to flash silver, you are fully charged, and you can then run right through your enemies and crush them. Be careful not to over charge yourself when your icon flashes red, because your hero will explode! There's also a huge ghost which will randomly appear on the screen. Avoid it, because it can instantly kill you, and put you in a tiny pixellated grave.

If you've ever thought to yourself that a game like Pac-Man could be conceptually improved with bullets, then this is your lucky day! Quickly addictive, and perfectly frustrating, Forget-Me-Not is old-school fun at its finest.

Play Forget-Me-Not

iTunes App Store (iOS):
Get Forget-Me-Not (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Hey, wizard man, that's a pretty fancy wand you got going on there. So, it makes dummies, eh? Well, let's see what you can do with it, Fancy Wizard, in this eighteen-level puzzle platform game by Aizat Haibulin.

Show your stuff by magicking up dummies to do your bidding and use [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move them around. Stepping on buttons and lowering gates is just one of their useful purposes. A few clobber-happy golems and cantankerous warlocks pop up on occasion, so it won't be too easy, yet reaching the exit door is never a strenuous feat. Fans of the genre will enjoy elements similar to The Company of Myself and Pursuit of Hat, even if Fancy Wizard never quite conjures up the same innovative intricacy. That's hardly a drawback during your mellower spells, when a mild challenge and a charming design will suit your fancy just fine.

Play Fancy Wizard

Just one more turn. Just one more level. Just one more card battle. Just thirty more random encounters. We've all been there. We've all found that game that scratches our particular itch so we can't put it down, even when we have other things we really should be doing. Here are a few games we've found hard to walk away from over the years... I mean, except for me. I don't do game addiction. *elitist, condescending nerd snort* And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go wade through the tall grass another thirty or a hundred times until I get a shiny Meowth.

• Robot Unicorn Attack - We probably don't need to tell you that Adult Swim can be a little weird, but check out this glorious jump-and-run arcade game and you'll see they're more than a little wonderful. Combining a ridiculous premise with fast, snappy gameplay and the musical stylings of Erasure, it's as silly as it is sensational. You control a unicorn, that is a robot, racing across a fantasy landscape, and tap keys to jump and dash through obstacles for as long as you can. If you keep it up long enough, you get magical robot dolphins for accompaniment. It's since spawned several successful themed spin-offs, but you know what they say; you never forget your first.
• Phit - Phit! I do so love it when a game is as fun to say as it is to play, and Jeff Wofford's massive tangram/sliding block puzzle is definitely fun. All you have to do is find a way to slip and fit all the Tetris-style blocks at the top of the screen into the yellow space at the bottom... preferably in as few moves as possible. It sounds easy, and its fast moving, vibrant presentation is exactly the sort of devilish formula that draws in cocky can-do'ers and keeps them up late into the night. Phit is a perfect example of a simple concept taken and polished to a beautiful shine. And given a catchy name. Phit. Phit. Phitphitphitphit...
• BowMaster Prelude - LostVectors knows that deep inside each and every one of us is a glorious Legolas yearning to break free, and few games plugged into that urge as neatly as this action-packed defense game. You are an archer, tasked with defending a castle, and as you shoot down incoming enemies you gain gold and experience you can use to purchase upgrades to make your life a little easier. By packing in a variety of troops, enemies, and even arrow types to use, BowMaster gives you great incentive to keep playing, and while mastering the aiming will definitely take a little practice, by the time you've done so you'll be hard pressed to put the game down. So go ahead. Indulge your inner Orlando Bloom. The kingdom needs you.
• Kavalmaja - No discussion on addictive gaming is complete without mentioning the best secret Pokemon of them all; Tonypa. Kavalmaja is a tile-based exploration adventure that offers up puzzling maze gameplay but not a whole lot of hand-holding. You're simply dropped into an odd minimalist little world, and it's up to you to explore and figure out the rules. Figuring out why you died or how to get around an obstacle without much feedback may sound frustrating for some, but for others it represents another puzzle to crack, and it's definitely worth spending some time trying to suss out the mechanics on your own. If you die, you have to start all over, but for some players the curious mystery of this unassuming little game is going to be worth coming back to again and again to try to conquer.
• Craziest - Finally, a bonus... an animation about a lady who really knows something about game addiction. Specifically, Scrabble. Liz Dubelman delivers a bizarre narrative about a young woman obsessed with letters and numbers, and the lengths she goes to uncover their true meaning. By turns funny and freaky, it's a superbly well-told little tale with a hypnotic delivery and beat-poet style of narration to it that makes it worth watching. Just a little something to keep in mind the next time you get a little too excited about that triple-word-score.

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

As you pass by, the village elder's words of encouragement still ringing in your ears, a citizen calls after you, warning against the lower road. Who knows what malefic danger lurks there? Or anywhere else for that matter? With your majestic blue hair and green jerkin, you present quite a picture to your enemies (or so you might hope), but this is Swordigo, you are the hero, and nobody can kill the hero in his own game. Er... right?

Putting all worries aside, continue on your way in Touch Foo's nostalgia-inducing RPG platform adventure using the supremely handy and very well functioning on screen controls. As your left thumb adroitly negotiates left and right movements, employ your right to hack, slash, jump and cast spells. As you rise in level and acquire a wealth of soul shards—earned in battle or from cutting down grass (sound familiar?)—your character customization opportunities also increase. Health is monitored via red red hearts on top of the screen while a blue mana bar traces your magical abilities. If all this seems like homage to popular platformers of days gone by, it probably is!

Analysis: The road starts out mellow, yet soon dexterity and practiced maneuvers are called for. This multi-quest journey is long, more than ten hours to reach every corner of the complex map and richly varied landscapes, including a number of platforming puzzles. The deadly fail from a missed move is inevitable from time to time, but teleporting portals/checkpoints lessen the sting. Your efforts to trudge on are repaid with the delight of boss battles, treasure chests, weapon and armor upgrades, and spelunking through intricate caverns.

Responsive controls aid well-timed jump maneuvers through serpentine cave passages and spell-triggered switches give another way to burn off magic energy, something you'll want to conserve for boss battles. Sword combat with tougher baddies and bosses is less reliable. Combos are not an option and mobility is limited during melee fights. If you're looking for an easier battle, devote time to grinding and leveling up your magic ranks to best use all four spells.

Touch Foo, creators of the equally charming Soosiz, knows how to please with elements that matter most in a mobile game. Some games are all gorgeous retina displays but awkward controls. Swordigo's on screen button controls work very well, on the other hand. You may have occasion to slip up once or twice at first but soon the intuitive interface transports you back to an earlier time, happily playing Zelda on your Game Boy. Swordigo has beautiful environments to behold as well, especially when seen through the warm tide of nostalgia and the immense enjoyment of hack and slash platforming. It's the quintessential epic adventure. Can you, the hero, succeed in this quest? There's only one way to find out!

iTunes App Store (iOS):
Get Swordigo (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on an iPhone 4S. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

A Long Way Home is an arcade physics puzzle game from Jonathan Mulcahy. Stranded 100 light years from Earth, you play an astronaut whose only companion is a wrist-mounted computer who offers bits of advice. Using a sharp eye and impeccable timing, trot around asteroids and planets and jump from their surface across the screen, the goal being to collect dark matter so you can open successive worm holes that get you closer to home. Along the way, you'll encounter exploding asteroids, comets, teleporting dark matter, and more. Not exactly a leisurely walk in space.

Although the description sounds like an action movie, A Long Way Home is more of a calm, thoughtful puzzle experience than a fast-riding explosion fest. That's not to say there's no excitement, but your navigating will be based on careful observation and obtained skill, not button tapping or mobile device shaking. Using a variety of control mechanisms (we prefer on-screen buttons), simply move around each spinning asteroid and jump when you line up with a piece of dark matter. Make sure you land on solid ground, though, as one false move and you'll be adrift for the rest of your life!

Later levels introduce new objects to contend with, but the basic premise remains the same. You'll dare countless long jumps, narrow misses, and lucky breaks, all while mastering the art of asteroid jumping. A Long Way Home is a very beautiful game, sticking to minimalist roots and providing a simple but incredibly enjoyable gameplay experience. It manages to evoke actual emotion, which can't be said for most action/physics games, though it's never sappy or emotional itself. In short, this is a fantastic casual mobile game that is slow enough and challenging enough to be entertaining while tugging at a few heart strings along the way. Grab it, kick back, soak in the soundtrack, and have a good time!

iOS App Store:
Get A Long Way Home Mini (iPhone, iPod Touch)
Get A Long Way Home (iPad)

Google Play Android Games:
Get A Long Way Home (Android)

Nook Apps:
Get A Long Way Home (NOOK Color/NOOK Tablet)

Amazon Appstore for Android:
Get A Long Way Home (Kindle Fire/Android)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a NOOK Tablet. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.

Oh no! The king of the realm needs you to save the princess from the evil clutches of the Dark Knight! Go figure, right? Wind-up Knight is a mobile run and jump adventure very similar to Canabalt HD except you get a fancy sword and armor to fight enemies while dodging traps to make your way to the princess. Convenient items in adventuring, yes, but it won't save you when the Dark Knight starts getting really serious about stopping you. A knight's mettle will never be more tested and neither shall your timing skills as pits, enemies, and environmental dangers stand in your way.

All your little toy knight's actions like shielding, jumping, rolling, etc. are activated by using the virtual buttons on your device's touch screen. Run through grabbing coins and finding hidden cards to get secret items and notes (a.k.a. money) to spend on new levels and items. The knight runs along the level automatically but needs to keep grabbing wind-up tools to continue chugging along, so the timing of your actions is important. The journey only gets harder as you complete more of the 52 levels, but fear not, for your reflexes and timing will be well trained to handle anything. Plus, you will repeat levels a lot because it is very easy to fail. Trust me.

Wind-up Knight improves upon the genre standard with more complex obstacles and added combat mechanics other similar games generally lack. The challenge level is also quite high, as you must collect almost all of the notes to unlock new levels. It's tempting to give into the in-app purchasing system just so you can see more of what the game has to offer. If you're serious about perfecting a great arcade game, or you just want a challenging distraction for the long bus ride, don't hesitate to grab Wind-up Knight so you, too, can show that Dark Knight who is boss. Just don't get burned, stabbed, bitten, drowned, impaled, scratched, or crushed in the process!

iTunes App Store (iOS):
Get Wind-up Knight (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Google Play Android Games:
Get Wind-up Knight (Android)

Amazon Appstore:
Get Wind-up Knight (Kindle Fire)

NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a iPod Touch. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.