Akaw-akaw-akaw-akaw... That's the sound of Nam-Cap, an innovative retro arcade game from Studio Piña. Billed as an arcade cabinet imported from an alternate universe, Nam-Cap takes the familiar concept of Pac-Man and turns it backwards in many ways.

You play Nam-Cap, the titular heroine. Use the [arrow] keys to navigate the maze, leaving a trail of dots behind yourself. Your goal in each level is to fill the whole maze with dots (as opposed to consuming them all, obviously), but two catches make this task substantially difficult. The first catch is that the heart in the center of the maze will shrink as you lay dots, and if it disappears completely you can lay no more.

You can prolong or recover your dot-dropping privileges by catching one of the four kings that also wander the maze, forcing it to scramble back home to recover its crown. (Why kings instead of ghosts? I'm guessing it's so the spiky part can be at the top instead of the bottom.) However, that's where the second catch comes in: when you catch a king you leave a small heart behind, and if a king nabs that heart poor Nam-Cap will be temporarily weakened, not only unable to create dots but erasing every dot she passes over! Get caught while weakened by a king or at any time by the level-specific baddie, and you lose a life; lose all your lives and that's all she wrote.

The thing most people overlook about creating something set in an alternate universe is that it has to make sense within that universe, ignoring our own. Nam-Cap is a little uneven in that area; seeing the kill screen at the very beginning of the game is just odd, but on the other hand, "Work Began" as a substitute for "Game Over" makes sense because once you're done gaming, it's time to get to work. The developers might have just gotten lucky there, though.

But that's not what matters to us; what matters is how fun the game is, and this game is definitely fun. Despite the reversal, Nam-Cap captures everything that made Pac-Man entertaining, from the alternating pursuit towards and from the four other parties in the maze to the panic when you thought you'd finished the level but really there's one little spot of the maze you haven't gotten to yet. There are even little cartoons between some levels, like in the original arcade Pac-Man, although they make slightly less sense because they're attempted direct adaptions. The game has its inherent flaws, like confusion about what needs to be covered in dots and what doesn't, but those are easily overlooked in an otherwise entertaining game.

Are you ready? Excuse me... are you ABLE??

Play Nam-Cap

This week's edition of The Vault is sponsored by... I forget the name. I think it was Opening Science or something like that. Anyways, today we're featuring a selection of Portalesque games. A Portalesque is a puzzle-platformer with a unique mechanic and a sadistic host. Such games include Revive, Qoosh, and the games below. There'll be cake after the showcase, I promise!

• My First Quantum Translocator - Now this is as Portalesque as Portalesques can get without being Portal itself. In this classic from Cellar Door Games, you're tasked with testing the Quantum Translocator 4300, which involves dropping shadows and warping directly to them. Momentum is conserved during a warp, which allows for some creative puzzles. Of course, Steve might not be intending to let you go unscathed once you're done testing... anyways, the game has an excellent difficulty curve, exploiting the QT's mechanics in every way possible, and the pixel visuals and chiptune soundtrack don't fail to charm. The plot's anything but original, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
• Never End - Okay, so there's no sadistic host in this one by Zlong Games, but it's definitely got everything else a Portalesque needs: a faceless protagonist, a clever gimmick, and lots of deadly spikes. You have to jump, run, and rotate the world to get through every room, collecting keys to unlock doors until you reach one of the maze's four exits. You'd be amazed at how thoroughly the gimmick of world rotation is used, crafting all sorts of puzzles involving huge blocks that need to be arranged in just the right way with careful turns. Although the controls are questionable, the atmosphere is breathtakingly simplistic, and the notes you find along the way really help to fill things in. As for the sadistic host... well, what humane host would set up that many spikes and deadly obstacles everywhere?
• Tower of Heaven - Don't act so surprised! Not every Portalesque has to take place in a science lab! Born as a downloadable game but later ported to Flash, Askiisoft's Tower of Heaven places you in the shoes of a dark figure who decides to climb a tower guarded by a disembodied voice... who constantly makes new "rules" for you to follow at the risk of being annihilated by divine lightning. Rules like "don't touch golden blocks" and "don't walk to the left". As if it wasn't hard enough with all the spikes and saw blades everywhere! This game's even more retro than average with graphics that literally look like they belong on an old Game Boy, and although it doesn't have that many levels, the game's high difficulty means they'll take a while to clear. There's even a level editor in case the canon levels weren't torturous enough!

As per usual, comments about the weekly feature itself can go here, but comments about the games themselves should go on their respective review pages. Thank you for that, and go rediscover some good games. Oh and one more thing: we haven't had a chance to install the deadly electric traps in the hallways yet, so if you step on or otherwise touch a surface marked in yellow, please shake like a maniac, drop to the ground, and die. Thank you.

You're in a room with a beautiful view of the horizon. An Escape from the Scenic Room might be the last thing you're interested in doing, but in Tesshi-e's latest escape game of the same name, that's exactly what you're tasked with. Hey, we've all got to go to the bathroom at one point or another, right? After changing the Language setting from Japanese to English and sitting through the introduction, you're good to go. Navigate around the room by clicking on the shaded bars, collect inventory items for examination and use, solve every puzzle in the room, and eventually get out with one of two endings... depending on whether or not you found the Happy Coin, of course.

Like Escape from the Quiet Room and many before it, Scenic Room is as well done as a burnt hamburger. The bouncy accordion music somehow fits the atmosphere quite well, the visuals are realistic but not overwhelmingly so, and the puzzles are well-designed and flow perfectly. Some puzzles are old standbys (seriously, how do those pictures detect what corners you're handling?), some are new, and some are older than escape gaming itself. Just remember that 1 mL of water weighs 1 gram and you'll be fine. It all adds up to an excellent escaper that's well worth your time. Go and escape... or just sit for a while and admire the scene out the window... that works too.

Play Escape from the Scenic Room

It's been almost three months since we've heard from Tesshi-e. They're like an old friend, always welcome when they turn up after a long time, prepared with yet another room to lock you into... look, we have some eccentric friends, okay? Anyway, Tesshi-e has come back with Escape from the Quiet Room. The setup's a tried-and-true one, and one many can sympathize with: the protagonist is worn out from days of work, and is invited by a friend to a quiet room. Obviously, said room turns out to be locked, and you've got to solve one puzzle after another to escape from it.

Before you start, make sure you set the text to English by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen that says Language. Just click around to navigate, interact, and pick up items. This room is a quaint one, with the furniture, walls, and floor all made of wood (presumably the incentive for escape is fear of splinters!), a beautiful view of the night sky, and a cuckoo clock. Even the familiar Tesshi-e fixings are there, such as the Mr. Hippo, the picture with the sensitive corners, and the optional Happy Coin.

As usual, the Quiet Room is a masterpiece of escape, with soothing guitar music, photorealistic graphics, and puzzles that make sense if you think about them just right. There are some slightly more obscure puzzles than usual, and there's one point where you have to click something you can't quite see (which makes the non-changing cursor slightly more frustrating than usual), but those are easily overlooked when everything else is done so well. Come, escape the chaos of your day for a little while.

Play Escape from the Quiet Room

The Japanese are known for a lot of things, two of which are escape games and surrealism. Today we introduce you to yet another Japanese developer whose work falls into both of those categories. The artist is Kung Fu paradise, and the art is Tsuregemu 4. You're in the three-room house of an animated white stick figure named Shirojin, whose only housemate is his cat. Obviously, your task is to escape from the house by any means necessary, even if you have to solve a hundred puzzles to do it. Click around to inspect and interact with things and pick up inventory items, and use or examine things from your golden inventory bar at the bottom. There's also an "About item" button for when items need further inspection, and a musical note that toggles the insanely catchy soundtrack.

Tsuregemu 4 won't be winning any awards with their 3D graphics, but you can tell what you're looking at most if not all of the time. The game's true meat, however, is its puzzles, which are original and cleverly designed without being too nonsensical, and many of them require interacting with Shirojin and his cat in various ways. There's even a memo containing optional hints should you need them. The lighthearted atmosphere is just the icing on the cake; in how many escape games can you catch yourself wondering how you're going to get that afro-wearing weirdo to stop doing the pelvic thrust in front of the picture you want to look at? If you haven't smiled enough today, Tsuregemu 4 is a good way to put one on your face. Have fun!

Play Tsuregemu 4

There's nothing unfamiliar about the setup of Find the Escape-Men 49: In a Hut. You're trapped in a room and have to escape from it, which you do by navigating around, collecting and using items, and solving puzzles left and right, all with the usual mouse controls. Since this is a Find the Escape-Men game, you have to find 10 green men before you can pull off your great escape. However, it shouldn't take long to realize that something is a little... off... about our escaper. (Seriously, who does that when examining a bucket?) To say any more would spoil the surprise.

I feel we could feature more work from No1Game, since what they do, they do well. Their puzzles are original and logical yet not too frustrating, there's no tear-your-hair-out pixel-hunting, and there's just the right amount of whimsy holding it all together. Part of the fun is figuring out why the protagonist is behaving so curiously; trust me, you'll burst out laughing when it clicks (no pun intended). The game's only drawback is that it's a little short- you'll probably be done in less than half an hour—so if you came here looking for something lengthy, keep looking. If you're interested in a short but sweet distraction, though, this is it. Just don't forget to click "English" on the title screen, unless you can read Japanese.

Play Find the Escape-Men 49: In a Hut

Getting into a science laboratory is much easier than it looks... just ask Dee Dee. Getting out of one, however, is another story, as is evidenced in Escape from Mystery Science Room. espcgm's clever little escaper drops you into what appears to be a chemistry lab, and tasks you with puzzling your way out. The navigation is all mouse-controlled and should be self-explanatory, but just in case... click on things to examine, interact with, or take them, click the arrows to navigate, click something in your inventory to highlight it for use, and click the "about item" button for a close-up of the highlighted item. Below "about item" are a language toggle, a sound toggle, and a save button for later resumption.

(Note: to get the description text to appear in English, click the "Jp" button on the title screen or below the inventory. It will turn to "En".)

Don't let the MS Paint graphics throw you off. Escape from Mystery Science Room is not a bad game. The meat of an escaper is its gameplay, and this is a game that has it. The puzzles are logical and flow well, and although there's no changing cursor, the lack of pixel-hunting means you don't really need it. There's one part that the scientifically handicapped may be especially troubled by, but not hard to deduce with trial and error (and seriously, what elementary school graduate doesn't know what shape memory alloys react to?). Escape from Mystery Science Room is a game that's just difficult enough, and well worth the trip. Now, let me stand back while you try science.

Play Escape from Mystery Science Room

Welcome to 2013, the year of the snake. Everyone celebrates the coming of the new year in their own way: party-goers engorge themselves on wine, people with bad habits make resolutions they usually can't keep, and escape game developers like Place of Light create tributes. Soom 2013 is such a game. You know the basics if you're a point-and-click fanatic: click around the room, pick up items, solve puzzles, and ultimately (hopefully) escape. Items that appear in your inventory in the lower left can't be examined or combined, but you can select them by clicking them, then use them once they're marked with the red star.

Although Soom 2013 isn't long at all, particularly compared to Place of Light's earlier works like Loom Dawn and Room Marine, it's good while it lasts. The room and its puzzles are very well designed, and although the lack of any sound can be a little disconcerting, it doesn't really get in the way. There's one part that'll absolutely stump anyone who's not familiar with those weird Japanese doodads involving a tangerine-headed snowman on a pedestal (seriously, what are those even for?), but the rest of the puzzles are so well done that that's easily overlooked.

As someone born in the year of the snake myself (...er, not this year of the snake, the one 24 years ago), I consider myself qualified to recommend Soom 2013, and I do so eagerly.

Play Soom 2013

It's hide-and-puzzle time with Ubooly and Friends! All twelve of Ubooly's friends are hiding somewhere on the nine-screen map, and the only way to reveal them is to point and click around and solve puzzles relating to the clues they give. Pick up or interact with items with the mouse, and navigate by clicking the blue arrows on the edges of the screen. Where inventory items are concerned, click on the magnifier in the corner of an item to hear Ubooly's comments on it, or drag the item out of its card if you think you know where it goes; if your inventory gets crowded, click the arrow button to scroll through it. If you get stuck, click the fortune-telling platypus in the upper left corner of the map and he'll supply you with a hint.

If the premise sounds familiar, it should. Its author, BenRadish of BeardShaker Games, was also the one behind Tanooky Tracks, which is very similar both in art style and in gameplay, and there's no reason to complain about that. The puzzles are logical and well-designed, the tropical environment is well implemented, and the graphics and audio have a charm all their own. Ubooly's comments on everything can get a little annoying, but as cute and full of personality as he is (to say nothing of his friends as they all appear) that's hard not to forgive. Also, the game's apparently an ad for some sort of iTunes stuffed animal, but here on Cas-Ga we judge the game, not the merchandise behind it... and this time around, the game definitely passes judgment.

Play Ubooly and Friends

By any real-life standards, the titular Mr. Y of Tesshi-e's Escape from Mr. Y's Room 1+ would be a very weird host. After all, if you were a typical person and someone invited you to get locked into a room so he could make you escape from it, chances are you'd call the police instead. Which is a shame, because you'd be missing out on a very entertaining experience.

You know what to expect from Escape from Mr. Y's Room 1+ if you've played Tesshi-e's past games: click around the room, solve puzzles, pick up items and use them (or examine them with "About Item"), and ultimately get the door open and escape. Or stay for a bit longer and find the Happy Coin that'll grant you the better of the game's two endings.

If anyone knows how to follow a tried-and-true formula, Tesshi-e does; they've gotten a lot right in the past, and they don't change any of it. As usual, the graphics are nicely photo-realistic yet never distracting, and the puzzles are logical and just challenging enough. There's some construction to perform as in many of Tesshi-e's past works (Escape from the Brick Room and Escape from Mr. K's Room 2 come to mind), but thankfully you've got some in-game instructions this time. The game is colorblind-friendly, with significant colors identified with text prompts when the cursor is over them. The music's an odd choice (seriously, it almost sounds like it belongs in a barnyard rather than in a brick-walled lounge), but you can mute it if it gets annoying, and with everything else so fine it's hard to complain.

But I've rambled for long enough. Feel free to go ahead and let Mr. Y lock you up. ...Wow, that came out sounding VERY wrong.

Play Escape from Mr. Y's Room 1+

(Crack-FLASH!) Arooooooo! Haha, it worked! Project Timewolf was a complete success! Now I can tell you all about Haunted Halloween Escape, an oldie escape from TeraLumina, and just in time for the Halloween season! The Union of Mad Science called me nuts (and from them that's a compliment!) when I suggested splicing temporally enhanced genes into werewolf DNA to become a time-traveling lycanthrope, but look at me now! I've successfully broken through the spatial-temporal plane to...

Haunted Halloween Escape drops you into a room full of spooky features and creatures. Navigation is nothing to write home about: click the edges of the screen to turn and look around or take a step back (look for the arrow and shaded bar), and click things to pick up or interact with them. Rather than emeralds or sapphires or what have you, this time there are a whole bunch of bats to find, thirteen to be exact, and they don't fly into view until you click on their hiding places so keep an eye out for when your cursor changes. Finding them all is optional, but makes for a good score bonus.

TeraLumina knows how to make a good game; the atmosphere is excellent, with the graphics and sound adding perfectly to it without being too distracting, and the puzzles flow just fine. Even the added challenge of making the game Halloween-themed didn't affect its quality. Plus the game autosaves, so if you need to take a break you can. My only serious gripe is one puzzle that involves counting things scattered around the room, a common pet peeve because it's too easy to miss one and then have no idea what's wrong with the combination when you try to enter it.

Nevertheless, it's an excellent escape, and if you'd like a little Halloween in your day, here it is. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go into hiding before my past self turns up. Who knows what sort of paradox will occur if he finds me...

Play Haunted Halloween Escape

Sky blue and ocean blue, those are the eponymous Two Blues of Tomatea's latest escape masterpiece. You know the drill if you've played this developer's work before, but for the uninitiated, everything's controlled with the mouse: click when the cursor's tip glows to zoom in on, interact with, or pick up things, and click the edges of the screen when the black bars appear to move around. Eventually you'll presumably solve all the puzzles in the room, a distinctly nautically flavored room this time, and escape from it.

Two Blues is very, very Tomatea, with intuitive puzzles, masterful graphics and sound, clues that can be hidden in plain sight and yet still baffle you just enough, and a few classic puzzles (yes, that IS a corner-controlled wobbly picture). It's clear that Tomatea values every good quality of an escape game equally; the visuals are masterfully crafted to create a perfect atmosphere without being too distracting, the soundtrack is neither bland nor disruptive, and the puzzles are just difficult enough to be entertaining. All this weaves together to produce an escape that is not to be missed. So come with us, escape the dull gray of everyday life, and put some blue in your day.

Play Two Blues