July 2015 Archives

When a hidden-object adventure opens with some lady casually obliterating some woman in weird cosplay lounging sexily on a rock a few miles away from the ocean, you know you're in for a weird ride, and EleFun Games' Witche's Legacy: The Dark Throne. See, that was no ordinary bejeweled lady... that was the wicked witch queen, Morgana, and ever since destroying her several months ago, Lynn is just now beginning to relax and enjoy married life with her boring husband... you. You have, in fact, with the help of Lynn and her mother, opened a museum of magic named in honor of your brother (and I mean literally... the name on the building is "Museum Named in Honor of Thomas Charleston", Lynn, you creative minx, you), and it's in that museum that Lynn is suddenly spirited away by dark energies after stumbling upon a stained glass window that turns into a portal into another world. Together with the help of your loyal family imp, you set off to rescue Lynn and find out what's going on, which means exploring a lot of dangerous places seething with dark magic, and undertaking a lot of tasks and otherworldly puzzles your witchy wife is probably way more qualified than you to undertake. Then again, you are a former Witch Hunter, so maybe things will work out in your favour after all. Click around to explore and interact with things, pick up optional puzzle pieces to unlock more of the backstory, and use your little imp pal to help you in certain situations. You know, like when you need a tiny grunting green dude to pop a pose and flash gangsta signs. Witch stuff.

The latest installment in Rusty Lake's wildly popular point-and-click horror adventure series has arrived in the form of Cube Escape: Case 23, also free for iOS and Android, and right away its apparent that this already surreal series is getting even darker. As it opens, you're investigating the murder of a young woman, someone who may look a little familiar to you if you've played Cube Escape: Seasons and Cube Escape: The Lake, and this isn't your cut-and-dry homicide. Hope you've got your sunglasses ready and puns all thought out. To play, just click the tiny black arrows at the edges of the screen to move around, and the cursor will change whenever it passes over something you can interact with. You can click an item in your inventory to hold it to try to use it somewhere, or you can scroll through it using the white arrows or by dragging up and down on that side of the screen. You're looking for evidence as you examine this grisly scene, but this house has some seriously weird secrets, and it's going to take a gumshoe who can think outside the box to make sense of things... if, that is, there is sense yet to be made, and that's just the tip of an adventure that continues to add up the puzzle pieces from the previous games. Settle in, folks, this is a long one... and get ready for a jump scare or two.

When you or I are unhappy, we have to do all the work ourselves. Find something to cheer us up, like going outside, playing a game, making ravioli... but if you're one of PencilKids' monkeys, someone just handles it all for you, and in point-and-click puzzle game Monkey GO Happy Madness, once again that someone is you! In each of the game's 27 levels, your monkey is sad, presumably because things start off with a very bizarre Twin Peaksian flavour and that's unsettling (but awesome!), and it's your job to figure out how to cheer them up by solving a small puzzle. Just click to interact with things, dragging any items from your inventory at the top of the screen to use them, and your cursor will change if it passes over an interactive area. Like most Monkey GO Happy games, Madness tends toward kid-friendly difficulty, so players who demand their puzzles to be stimulatingly challenging may find the pleasantly oddball collection of stages a little too simple. Still, their weirdness is part of the appeal, and while some of them are more pointlessly clicky than they are actual puzzles (eggs and punching bags, I'm looking at you), Monkey GO Happy Madness is bright, cheerful, happy fun for all ages.

Play Monkey GO Happy Madness

If you love simple, stylish puzzle games, Elio Landa should be a name you already know, and Finite Moves should be about what you expect. The goal in each level is to make each numbered tile decrease to zero by moving it around the screen, and cover all the glowing dots. Each move, executed by clicking and dragging, drops a tile's number by one, until it becomes immovable at zero, and winning means having all tiles zeroed out and all dots covered. The trick is that a tile's number will only go down if that's the one you're actively manipulating... a three tile won't go down to two if you use a different tile to push it somewhere, for example. The simple but well-executed concept, the mellow guitar soundtrack that makes you feel like you're glamorously gaming on a beach under a sunset somewhere, the shiny-smooth presentation... all of these things are rapidly becoming Elio Landa's calling cards. Finite Moves isn't necessarily that difficult, especially since the question mark icon to the bottom right next to the "undo" and "restart" buttons automatically turns on a function that shows you specifically what to do for that level. But even if it doesn't break your brain bank, Finite Moves belongs in that category of pleasantly chill, smartly made little games that encourage you to kick back, relax, and puzzle an afternoon away.

Play Finite Moves

I don't know why you'd ever want to escape from Ichima's Room 8. With its lounge-friendly decor, lovely balcony, and frosty drinks, it's literally everything I've ever wanted in a getaway, but if you're not a laze-bag like me, well, you'll need to solve some puzzles to get out. There's no changing cursor, so you'll have to check everything to figure out what you can interact with on your own, though there's also not much pixel hunting to speak of either. Room 8 doesn't hide new views or items in places without some sort of visual indicator, so you don't need to worry about clicking madly only to find you missed the one fraction of screen you needed to see what you were missing, and the whole thing is tightly designed with logical and clever puzzles that will wake up your brain without making it blow smoke. It's not a particularly long game, but it is a charming, crafty one, and a perfectly pleasing escape from whatever ails you.

Play Room 8

Alright, adventurers! It's time for a spot of good old fashioned temple exploring action! That's just what you get in Duke Dashington, an action puzzle game by Adventure Islands (also for Android and iOS!) that puts you in the role of the titular chipper explorer whose upper lip is so stiff he can break walls with it. Duke's quite the eager beaver when it comes to diving headfirst into collapsing temples, so much so that once you launch him in a particular direction with the [arrow] or [WASD] keys, he won't stop until he hits something. This is extremely useful, as you only have ten seconds to complete each room before the roof collapses on top of you, but it does have its drawbacks when spikes, saws, or lava pits are around. Reflexes are the name of the game, here - you have to assess each level quickly and get to dashing if you want to complete all 120 rooms spread out over four temples in good time.

Feature to take your tiiiiiiiiime, new games every weeeeeeeeeeek, lock you in a room, escape'll chase away your gloom, Wednesday has what you seeeeeeeeeek. ... well, I never told you I was Howard Ashman. I'm just one woman working in her jammies, trying to do what she can for the greater good, which in this case is serve up your Weekday Escape! This week: cuddly little yellow peeps hiding in a relaxing garden, a house that takes its teddy bear security very seriously, and a return to one of the most perplexing (and distressing... where's all the food?!) dining rooms around.

'Do you recall the first time we ever met, darling? Was it... fate that brought us together? Kismet, perhaps?' 'Nope. It was those giant mechanical novelty hands shoving us into each other.' '...How strange. I don't remember those at all!' In Andrew Morrish's new physics puzzle designed for Ludum Dare, you're just a love machine. A Tough Love Machine. Literally! Well-armed with cartoonish pair of mechanical gloved hands, your objective is to join true love in the form of two hearts by pushing and sliding them around levels that are, er, also you... to bring them both together in a wave of profoundly amorous synchronicity. Or to light up the entire level in an exciting disco-floor suffusion of color. You know. Whichever.

Poor Goblin Lord. He tried turning over a new leaf. He stopped trying to devour human flesh and chose a healthier lifestyle. One that would be good for his heart instead of the artery clogging innocents he usually devoured... so he started a vegetable garden. The only problem is he doesn't have a green thumb. In fact just the opposite. His neighbor, however, has the best looking carrots all around, and in a rage of jealous fury, or perhaps he was just "hangry", he sends his horde after the delectable veggies. But there was something else he didn't count on... this little rabbit farmer has a gun. Yes, in Harvest Defender you play as the swift rabbit shooting down goblin after goblin to keep them away from your growing plants. Obviously inspired by Plants vs. Zombies, Ottomoto's defense action game has plenty of guns and allies you can upgrade to keep your food safe. Be warned however. While you can replay the level, as soon as you move on, there is no going back. With no way to farm gold you have to be smart about your purchases. Some find grinding a boring weight on the gameplay, but Harvest Defender shows that without it you have to really think twice before you make a purchase.

Broken Pixel's Ruffian! is all about being the no-gooding-est baddie around while doing the least amount of work possible, which is to say it's a puzzle game where a single well-placed bullet can ricochet around each level to take out all your hapless, helpless victims. Just use your mouse to aim and fire, you no-goodnik, using the dotted line trajectory to help plan where your bullet will go, and hopefully where it'll end up, and remember... spare no-one, not even the women and children! It's the sort of thing we've seen before in games like Ricochet Kills, but Ruffian! focuses on aiming and pulling off some pretty impressive trick shots, and with only a handful of bullets in each stage, things get tricky in a hurry. A lot of the game's appeal comes from its fantastic old-timey presentation, with its highly stylized visuals and attention to detail in everything from the sound-effects to the way they're represented graphically. While the gameplay doesn't really offer any surprises after a handful of levels, Ruffians! emphasizes going for the gold by offering up a slew of challenging achievements, such as completing certain levels in a specific number of shots. It's a fun facelift for a familiar formula, and one pulled off with style and flair. Not that you'd appreciate such things, you ruffian, you.

Play Ruffian!

In Justwo's physics-driven shooter Newton's Law, you may only be a space mall cop, but you're the space mall's only space hope when space criminals fill it full of space dangers, trap the space civilians, and turn off the gravity... in space. You've got to get to the third floor, but since you're floating around, you need to fire your (space) gun by aiming and clicking the (normal, boring) mouse to use it to propel you where you want to go. Use the [spacebar] to free trapped civilians and open doors, and blast enemy robots along the way. If you die, or, well, when you die, don't despair... not only will you be taken back to the security room where you can upgrade your pistol using gears from rescues and kills, but you'll face a new randomized set of levels when you leave. Newton's Law is actually a neat little idea, with the shuffled stages doing a lot to alleviate some of the grind, but it is still a grind, and suffers from a lack of in-game explanation on some of the aspects, to say nothing of the way some players are going to find the movement hard to get used to in a setting where you still have to be able to react and maneuver quickly at times. Still, Newton's Law has such a great style and sense of charm, both in its bright visual style and bouncy soundtrack, and its clever concept is one we hope gets more fleshing out in the future. ... the space future. In space. ... spaaaaaaaaaaace!

Play Newton's Law

When you need a little sunshine in your day, Funkyland's escape games can always be counted on, with their bouncy soundtracks and eye-poppingly cheerful design. In Fruit Kitchens No. 24: Papaya Yellow, because you can leave this kitschy kitchen, you need to find seven payapas... some of them are simply tucked in odd places, while others are locked away behind puzzles. There's no changing cursor, so you'll want to click on everything to make sure you don't miss something you can interact with, though this game is definitely of the short and sweet variety. There's just something about Funkyland's Fruit Kitchens games that makes you want to twirl around with some cartoon birds while you make a batch of cookies (or garlic bread, because let's face it, savory is better), and Papaya Yellow's biggest difficulty is likely to be simply missing a hotspot or two given its colourfully cluttered design, though you may need to give your thinker a light shake to wake it up. Fruit Kitchens No. 24: Papaya Yellow is as sunny and happy as you'd hope, and a lovely way to spend a few minutes.

Play Fruit Kitchens No. 24: Papaya Yellow

If you like point-and-click horror adventures, ScriptWelder's is a name that should make you a little twitterpated, especially given how Don't Escape and Don't Escape 2 turned a popular genre on its head. Instead of trying to find a way out of a place, you're trying to find a way to keep yourself securely in, and in grand babel fish tradition, that's a lot harder than it sounds. So when, in Don't Escape 3, you wake up with a pounding headache aboard a starship, in the airlock, with flashing warning lights and the computer counting down to... something... you know you're in trouble. Right off the bat, you have to think on your feet, and things only get more complicated when you begin exploring the ship. Your cursor changes when it passes over things you can click on to interact with, and moving it to the top of the screen will cause your inventory to drop down. To combine items you're carrying, click first one object, and then another, and if the combo is valid, it'll automatically combine. The mood is tense. Ominous. Almost predatory. And you don't have a lot of time, since the ship only has enough air left for an hour... but even with a distress call activated, you're not in the clear, since the ship is detecting an intruder. But don't worry. Nothing bad ever happens in space.

If you want to build the greatest gem trade empire, you've got to hire the best gem collectors, network the best gem shippers, and attract the richest gem enthusiasts. As luck would have it though, they all want to be paid for their services... in gems. In Splendor, the mobile port of the strategy board game by Space Cowboys, gems beget gems, and you've got to get to them first. Gems taken from the supply are used to buy your workers who provide more gems for you to use, but you've got to prevent your rivals from doing the same!

[Note: Please be aware that this game contains optional purchases for real cash, as well as intermittent, random ads. Both of these benefit the developer, and JayisGames takes no profit from either element.]

Also free for iOS and Android, Doodle God Blitz is a browser port of JoyBits' newest free-to-play spin on the classic Doodle God game formula, and a flashier (and timer-y-er) version of their Doodle God 2 online game. The premise is still the same... as the preeminent doodle deity, your job in this puzzle game is to create things by combining elements. Fire and Earth make lava, for instance, but how do you suppose one goes about making Ice Cream? Warriors? Fireworks? See, whenever you make a new "element", it gets added to the pool to be combined with others, and there are tons to unlock and use. Unlike the original Doodle God, however, Doodle God Blitz uses several different currencies and timers... while you can play it without paying a cent, especially if you complete the quests to gain more energy (in which case our Doodle God walkthrough may help!), it means a lot of waiting around. Every successful match you make costs you one point of energy, which regenerates at a slow pace, or you can use the Mana you earn to purchase more immediately (as well as hints) if you don't want to spend real cash. None of this is news to you if you've checked out the mobile versions, which this is identical to, but it's a little jarring to see it in your browser, and the ads can be frustratingly interruptive, so caveat emptor. Doodle God Blitz is still a gorgeous game with a great premise, and watching the world get filled in as you play is a lovely touch, so if you've been craving more of that doodlin', it's worth a look.

Play Doodle God Blitz

Doodle God Free (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Doodle God Free (Android, Android Tablet)

Thanks to CyberJar88 for sending this one in!

Don't be fooled by names. While BlOCnog might sound like something you'd drink at a LEGO-themed Christmas party, and while it might look like an ordinary Sokoban game, BLOCnog is actually a cool, slick little puzzle game from Gameshot that combines the best of sliding block games, Tetris, and everyone's favorite pastime: sticking stuff to other stuff! You're a lone orange block who just loves sitting on top of red-and-yellow striped squares. But not all striped squares are created equal, and some are too big for you to cover up alone. Luckily, there are other orange blocks around, and you can adhere to them just by touching them! As you slide around with the [arrow] keys, gather up blocks to change your shape and get into the right configuration to enter the goal! Just remember that the stranger your shape, the harder it's going to be to move around the board without hitting things or getting blocked off! But don't get too stressed, because BLOCnog is a game that wants to make very, very sure you have fun with it, no matter how you play.

[Mac user? Try freeware tool RPG Hub]

Zai awakes in a dark room and has no memory of anything. As he starts to explore his surroundings he finds out a little more about himself, and soon decides he wants all of his memories back. Zai is very calm about things, even if he's in an abandoned lab that just reeks of creepiness, in this story-driven free indie science fiction adventure game by Jestereir, DELETE? Zai isn't alone, as early on he runs into a girl named simply 04. It may seem nice to have some company in such a eerie place, but she seems determined to follow him around, watching his every move... almost uncomfortably so. And you can't but help to feel like 04 knows a lot more than she is leading him to believe. Still, she'll occasionally speak up to help you with the puzzles or let you know what's allowed and what's not. There is something definitely off here, but it's your choice if you want to explore to find the whole truth or just find a way to restore your memories. With four different endings you have a lot of ways to chose Zai's fate.

From its plinky plonky guitar soundtrack to its vibrant cartoon visuals, Crayon Hero's physics puzzle game Bouncy and Monsto holds few surprises, but gosh if it isn't a cute game for kids. Bouncy's got a taste for stars, which leads to him often being separated from his furry pal Monsto, so in each level you'll have to figure out how to remove or otherwise interact with the scenery in order to get Bouncy safely back to his burly buddy as he rolls and falls. You can remove wooden obstacles by clicking them, detonate bombs to harmlessly give Bouncy an explosive boost, and use warp circles to get around. While its presentation is great, though that guitar track might get repetitive, Bouncy and Monsto might be a bit too kid-friendly for older or simply more experienced players simply because it never really feels like it takes the training wheels off, making it pleasant as all get-out, but not much of a challenge. If you have a fledgling gamer around, however, or simply want something light and pleasant, Bouncy and Monsto is a fun and cheery game of reflexes and puzzling to brighten your day.

Play Bouncy and Monsto

Things get a little tropical in Carmel Games' point-and-click puzzle game Fun in the Sun, but our hero Andrew isn't feeling very sunny when the island council votes to close down his hotel unless he can come up with a cool five grand... oh, and they'll also throw him in a volcano if he doesn't have the money, because of course that's what happens in tiny island nations. To save Andrew's inn and his life, you'll need to find a way to make some quick simoleons, so you'll have to travel around the island, doing tasks for other people and solving puzzles, as well as maybe entering that contest at the library with a suspiciously coincidental cash prize. The cursor will change whenever it passes over something you can click on to interact with, and just click an item you're carrying to "equip" it for use anywhere onscreen. While the text for the dialogue contains a rather unusual amount of typos, spelling, and grammatical errors for Carmel Games, Fun in the Sun's gameplay is as quirky and silly as you'd expect, from a snore-inducing tape that ruminates on the nature of boredom, to needing to find the proper book on language to understand a foreign glue salesman. Some of the puzzles solutions are more than a little off-kilter, and it can be easy to get stuck simply because you missed finding and clicking on something in the scenery that you needed in order to progress. Still, if you like your point-and-click games goofy and lighthearted (or as lighthearted as a game about a guy facing financial ruin and ritual sacrifice can be), Fun in the Sun will deliver.

Play Fun in the Sun

So you say your week is half over. Maybe it's been good to you, maybe it hasn't. Maybe it's just been a little eeeeeeehhhh. We've all been there, my friend. That's why Weekday Escape is here to shake things up a bit, or at least as drastically as a random trio of escape games can be said to do! This week, no1game gets goopy when you find your way out after a late night barred by a strange house guest, Esklavos introduces you to the least threatening vampires ever with their customary style, and Lu-taru knows you can open a door, but can you open it over and over when new complications keep getting added?

Being locked on a train with not a soul in sight would sound like a good reason to panic, until you hear the soothing music kick in and then all is good. For slow instrumental pieces in an escape game means one thing; TomaTea! They're back with their next escape puzzle game, Orient Express Night:First Station. Yes the grand maker of our favorite escapes such as Early Evening Escape and Salvadoor has given us a new adventure. On this train as you try to find a way out you'll find not much has changed from their other games, but since there wasn't anything really needing to be changed this is good news. There are still plenty of puzzles to figure out and hints to be found. With a mouse that lights up when it's over something you can look at closer or pick up, you won't have to worry about the dreaded pixel hunt. No, things are pretty straight forward on this locked train, and with your skills in seeing hints in the surroundings you'll be finding your way off in no time.

From the title, you may get the image of little specks all over that thing stuck in your head, but Brain Dots, a puzzle drawing game free for Android and iOS by Translimit Inc, is really nothing of the sort (and much more pleasant to think about). Although this free game for your mobile device has simple rules, the puzzles can be anything but. The goal is to get the blue dot and the pink dot to touch. Tap and hold to draw some lines, then sit back and see if you've managed to pass the level. If the dots don't touch, or one falls off the screen, it's game over. There are no time or line length limits, and you can try each level as many times as you need. After you figure it out, there's an option to share your masterpiece or haphazard solution with your friends.

If you're going to read this you better do it quick because you're running out of time. In roughly 20 minutes a subway train is going to go off the rails and you're the only one on board this speeding death sentence. In TrainYard's free indie game Process it's up to you to solve the puzzles to restart the subway train's system before your time is up. Trapped on the dingy, darkly lit two-car train you start out with nothing... not even a reason why you're there and why you're the only one there. There is something definitely unsettling in this horror point-and-click game, besides just the horrific wreck that will happen in a little more than a quarter of an hour. Something is trying to stop you from completing your tasks, but how can you fight something that never shows its face, if it even has one? Your best chance is to just try to focus on stopping the subway train. Better hurry because it's picking up speed.

In BrandLibel's fast-paced game of questions, answers, and predetermined guilt Indefinite, also free for Android, it's only a matter of time before you fail. Something terrible has happened in the world, and people in authority are pretty convinced you had something to do with it. They're bombarding you with questions that seem simple, such as your age, name, where you were born, but you only have a limited amount of time to answer, and while they may ask you the same question more than once, you better be able to remember what you told them the first time, since even a single contradiction is the end. Just click to select your choice before the bar at the bottom of the screen depletes. The report you see at the end of the game changes based on the answers you give, and you may even find yourself learning a little bit more about the world you're in and what, exactly, you're being accused of. It's a tense, unsettling experience that does a lot with its minimalistic presentation by dredging up the fears everyone has had at least once, of being in an unwinnable situation, of being helpless, of being unable to make someone believe you even when you're telling the truth and the consequences are dire. The simple, repetitive gameplay and concept feel more experimental than anything else, like it could be part of a larger project, but it's a very clever idea for a dystopian title, one that becomes more sinister the longer you play, and we'd love to see it developed further later on.

Play Indefinite
Android:
Indefinite

Libertechno wants to PUMP *clap* you up with a visit to your local sports club in Aries Escape No. 17, the latest in the Aries escape games, but as often happens in gyms, when you arrive, you find yourself trapped inside. This always happens when I show up for tabata drills! With one half of the room shrouded in darkness, you'll need to hunt for a means to both turn on the lights, solve puzzles, and then finally escape before you're forced to do burpees. Your cursor will change when it passes over something you can click on to interact with, and the white arrows at the edges of the screen will let you move around the room, or occasionally look at something you're zoomed in on in a different way, so don't neglect any that appear when you're examining something! Aside from a somewhat odd method of navigation that might cause you to miss being able to flip something over or look elsewhere on an object, Aries Escape No. 17 is a very solid little game. None of the logic you'll need to solve the game is particularly obnoxious, though you'll encounter some familiar puzzle types and need to scour the room more than once when you make progress to see if anything has changed. Aided by your friend, the sports-bra wearing torso, you'll need to hunt for clues and put two and two together in order to solve most puzzles, though you'll need to be prepared for a lot of codes. Just examine everything, from every angle, and you'll hopefully get out before you get roped into the next Zumba class. Don't forget to stretch afterwards!

Play Aries Escape No. 17

Thanks to Cyberjar88 for sending this one in!

In Aetheria's cute, short visual novel puzzle adventure Lunchtime at St. Expeditus, Emma (or Erik, if you prefer) is just your average high school student who's mildly psychic, able to tell the right time to say the right thing. Their friends have come to rely on them to solve their problems, and one lunch hour they find themselves faced with a whole bunch... they need to find missing notes, help a friend with a prank, secure a bite of a delicious dessert, and more, all within a single lunch hour, and the students keep moving around depending on what time it is. To play, just click "Next" to advance the story, and click the choice you want to make when available. Most of your time is spent moving from location to location, and each time you interact with someone, time advances by ten minutes, so you need to not only figure out where everybody will be, and when, but the most efficient order to talk to everyone in order to accomplish all of Emma's tasks in the time you have available. If you're lucky, you may be able to find something that'll help you know where everybody will be at any given time. Created in just two weeks, Lunchtime at St. Expeditus is very much a slice-of-life game, with a lighthearted, whimsical tone and a healthy dollop of high school comedy antics. Emma/Erik and their friends are all fun and likable, and the time-based puzzle concept is solid, even if Emma/Erik's "psychic" abilities feels like an odd element that's just sort of tacked on. You might not necessarily call the ending all that satisfying, regardless of what you get done, but St. Expeditus is a great setting for some carefree visual novel stories, and we'd love another chance to visit it again for an even bigger adventure.

Play Lunchtime at St. Expeditus

[Mac user? Try freeware tool RPG Hub]

Our story starts out with a fisherman who falls down a hole. The rest of the fisher clan sees this, so when they decide he was a "chosen one", they all follow suit and fall into the same hole... where they started a whole new society gardening in the underground jungle. Sounds odd? Well that's just the beginning of this surreal free indie adventure made in RPGmaker. In The Fishermen and the Worm, by Geezerflakes, you have a party of three... two fishermen, who one day realize that they've never fished once in their life, or even seen water, so they climb to the surface to find some. The other member of your party is a worm named Deliah who agrees to be their guide on their strange adventure in some pretty terrifying lands. Like, really. I wouldn't label this game as purely 'horror' but there are some unsettling things, so players beware. In the beginning, things are pretty silly and random, and then the middle is... just terrifying and haunting, but still with its lighthearted humor. It's a perfect mix of the two, like salt on your ice cream. (Seriously try it. But only once cause that just ain't healthy) You'll have to give it some time to get moving, though, as the beginning can be a little slow, and the first few maps look like someone flung construction paper on a dirty rug. But once it picks up, you'll be able to enjoy all the madness and the brilliant story The Fishermen and the Worm tells.

What are you in the mood for? A visual novel? How about something sweet and fluffy where a thorny but tender heart finds true romance? And adventure? Maybe you'd like something strange but bittersweet where regrets and secrets keep loved ones apart even after the end? Or maybe just a short puzzle game? Something cheerful and simple, where two friends can splash and chomp the day away under the sun? Whatever you need, the free indie games of Weekend Download have you covered, thanks to Melsephant, Jupiter Lighthouse, and S.K.Y. Art and Design!

When the kingdom is at war, it's a dangerous time to be a fresh-faced young man newly recruited into the king's army, and it's even worse if you're a young woman desperately trying to keep the fact that she is not, in fact, a man secret. In Aqualuft Games' indie visual novel RPG adventure Queen at Arms, you're Marcus, whose name is changeable, and you've just signed up with the army in a desperate bid to find your brother and after the death of your father. A father, who, it must be said, is not your parent by birth, and who warned you to keep your real identity a secret at all times, lest "everyone you care about be in great danger". Hmmm, is that a plot twist I smell? But even when Marcus is reunited with her brother Nicholas early on, things get harder, if anything. Nick seems like an entirely different person, even simple tasks become a challenge when Marcus needs to hide her physical gender, the locals at the army camp are downright hostile to soldiers, intrigue and politics make the war far more complicated than Marcus had first imagined, and no matter what she does she seems to wind up sticking out one way or another. When the war takes an even more serious turn, can Marcus keep her identity a secret, even to the people she's fighting alongside? What will she do when she suddenly finds herself burdened with heavy responsibility? With over ten hours of play time, multiple endings, four chapters, and five romance options, Queen at Arms is one seriously meaty adventure where every choice you make, big or small, has an impact on the way things play out. By turns hilarious, intense, and touching, Queen at Arms is an epic tale with a gripping cast of characters that is definitely worth a try despite spreading itself too thin in some areas.

Can you imagine what your life would have been like if your uncle was Doc Brown? All the crazy adventures you would have gone on? Well our protagonist in Once Upon A Timeline can, as his aunt is working on a time machine. He soon finds out it's not all fun and games, though there is a great deal less worrying about destroying the timeline. He and his aunt are pretty lax about that. In Awfindlay's free indie point-and-click adventure you play as a nephew who goes to visit his aunt after she stopped writing him back. Entering her home, he runs into her murdered body, and when someone else comes a'banging on the door he jumps into the large box in the corner to hide. Fiddling with a few things he finds himself hurtling through time itself. Can he use his aunt's technology to save her? Sure. Why not. It is a time machine. And it's easy to use as well. Using the mouse you adjust the time at the bottom to be between the years 1880 to 2022 and then pull the lever. Other than using the mouse to look at or pick up items, the only other thing you'll need is the escape button to get out of the time machine. And maybe with that you can escape this predicament. HA...oh wait... no good?

Rise and shine, my little ponies, it's Friday! I can almost taste the weekend! Whether it tastes like freedom and relaxation or the same ol' same ol' drudgery, why not celebrate it with a bunch of games to kick it off? This week! Urban exploration that goes awry as related via an increasingly disconcerting chat session, an alien invasion thwarted using an oddball combination of game mechanics, some mighty big shoes to fill that are going to take a lot of time and swords, and a fun new toy that relies on you for its very survival.

You're Grounded! Words any kid hates to hear, especially when you're a child genius who just needs to dismantle a few more household appliances to make his inventions. But in Random Games' point-and-click puzzle game, your evening spent stewing in your room is interrupted by... you! From the future! Seems the city is about to be destroyed and only you can stop it, but you've only got a few minutes. Luckily, you've got a time machine that you can use to rewind (and only rewind) time, so all you need to do is gather everything on the list your Future Self left you (or build it... once you figure out what it is...), assemble the machine, and save the day! Easy!... right? To play, just click any item that highlights when your cursor passes over it to interact. Click any two items in your inventory to try to combine them, and click the numbers at the bottom of the screen to travel to different points in time, though be warned... you can only move backwards, not forwards, though at least you can do so as much as you like!

Also available as a free HD download, Mateusz Skutnik's hidden-object 10 Gnomes series is back for more in 10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc, and just as gorgeous as ever. Wandering through quiet streets with rustic black-and-white beauty, you are, as the title might imply, hunting down ten tiny gnomes who are scattered around, well... everywhere. Being very small, they can fit into the oddest of places, and there are many nooks and crannies for you to look through. Just click to interact when the cursor changes as it passes over different areas, and make your way around town. The only real "puzzle" is finding the gnomes themselves, making the game sort of "Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul" as Mateusz has taken us to so many quietly stunning locations throughout the years with these games. He excels in bringing out the loveliness of each rustic locale, though there's something about Montaigut-le-Blanc that feels a little lonelier than some of the others. If you really want to feed your eyes, check out the gorgeous free HD versions on Mateusz's site, but maybe more importantly, check out his Patreon, too, since he's given us all so much amazing content for free over the years. 10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc is every bit as sleek and professional as we've come to expect from the series, and the lack of a timer means you can go at your own pace as you explore. If you're looking for something zenlike and just a wee bit whimsical, 10 Gnomes in Montaigut-le-Blanc is worth a quiet stroll through.

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Carmel Games' favourite mildly unhinged parental figure is back, and he's all wound up again in point-and-click puzzle game Payphone Mania, and for good reason! Despite not having a phone, Crazy Dad, as he's affectionately called, receives a bill for one... specifically, for the payphone outside his house. Determined to set things straight, he heads to city hall, but things are never that simple for Crazy Dad. Just click to interact when the cursor changes its icon as you pass over things, whether it be to talk to people or move to a different location on the map. Click on an item in your inventory to select it, then on wherever you'd like to use it. As usual, Crazy Dad's world is pretty crazy, as are the people in it, so all the puzzles and the solutions are a little offbeat. Saw-proof beachballs, suspicious dieters, a shop that sells schemes... Crazy Dad isn't looking so unusual anymore if this is where he lives. It's an appealingly weird little game that gives a lot of winks and nudges to Crazy Dad's first two games. Oddball? You bet. But when it comes to Crazy Dad, we wouldn't have it any other way.

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You don't need any commercially engineered camel to tell you it's Wednesday when you've got Weekday Escape! We're here to bring a little sunshine into your week with some free online escape games... and remind you that there are still three more days of drudgery until the weekend!... hooray! This week! Funkyland lives up to their name once more with a pretty-in-pink hunt for some more cosmetics, Vitamin Hana is terrified at the destruction four tiny green lizards will lay to waste on humanity unless you can stop them, and no1game wants everyone to just kick back, relax, and enjoy some frozen treats seaside.

While the first "real" installment of this episodic indie visual novel adventure isn't due out until November following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Scalemail delivers a chilling, intriguing taste with their free release of Walkerman Prologue: The Thing in the Weald. The story stars Jorgen, a young man just beginning his career as a walkerman... the people also known as "pouchers" who brave the outside when the sun goes down and use the items they collect to combat the beings that come out to roam... "supernatural ratcatchers", Jorgen says. Unlike your typical sellsword, walkermen don't necessarily rely on might and swordplay to win, instead figuring out and intuiting the strange rules that govern the creatures they hunt, gathering items with unique and even abstract properties to help. Pouchers might be a necessity, but people hate hiring them for the dark things they represent and remind others of, not to mention the rumours and speculation swirling around them. As the prologue opens, Jorgen is lost making his journey to Midgard, leaving his father and their life in their remote hut behind. But Jorgen's resolve in his new life, and his abilities, are about to be tested, as he gets his first one-on-one encounter with the very things he's going to be spending his life fighting against... if he doesn't lose it first, here in the dark of the trees. Almost teasingly short but beautifully illustrated and well-written, The Thing in the Weald is a tantalizing blend of atmospheric and unsettling storytelling and adventure that I can't wait to see more of. Note that while the prologue is free, estimated at "1/12th" the length of a proper installment, future episodes will cost money.

When it comes to colour, a dab'll do ya, but Yonashi has taken things a step further in No Name Room 2, an escape game much like the original that takes decor to minimalistic new heights. Everything is white, and the furnishing is especially bare, but if you click around, you may find that things are not so barren as they seem. The cursor changes when it passes over something you can interact with, and items in your inventory can either be "equipped" for use by clicking their icon, or examined up close by clicking the tiny magnifying glass. You'll want to check out things you're carrying up close to look for clues, because No Name Room 2 doesn't hold your hand, and you'll need to experiment and hunt around on your own. Not that the game is particularly difficult, despite some sneaky puzzles that may require you to rethink what you think is the solution, and a potential need to seriously strain your eyes when yellow is involved, and nor is it particularly long. It is, however, is fun, surprisingly clever and tricksy-false at times, and worth adding a little bit of colour to your day.

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What's in the box? While there are many different references I could tie that line to, what matters about this particular white box is that it's the centerpiece of Tsuregemu 6, the newest escape game from Paradise Kung Fu and the direct successor of Tsure Game 5.2. (Whether it's "Tsuregemu" or "Tsure Game" seems to depend on your translator.) The goal's the same: point and click your way around the box, click the navigation arrows when they appear to change what you're looking at, use and examine inventory items, and eventually unlock the box's final secret: your key to freedom. However, this box is a huge step up in depth from its predecessor, with many more puzzles and secrets hidden inside it than originally meets the eye.

Lost on a foreign planet it doesn't seem like you have much choice but to survive by gathering food by hand. This is a very slow way to do so, so soon you plant a trap to try and gain something yummy to eat. Instead of finding some fluffy and delicious beast you find an odd looking imp-like creature who then follows your every command. You decided to lovingly call it a Trimp and when you catch another and another you realize you could have a small army. So you make one. Trimps is an incremental game that is much like A Dark Room in style and gameplay. The mysterious circumstances of your arrival are quite similar, and the goal is not to just get the most of everything, but to traverse the world around you. Though it is a bit less serious and has a good string of humor (even if it is a bit dark) that goes all through the game. It entertains you while you explore with your new army, build and upgrading your new minions and keeps you smirking even as you search for clues for where exactly you are in this fantastic adventure by GreenSatellite.

Also free for Android, Nambers, aside from being the sort of name that's really fun to mash around in your mouth, is a puzzle game by Oleg Kuzyk that's all about numbers and blocks. The idea is that each number indicates how many adjacent cells with that same number must be linked together in a single line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) without crossing over any other lines. Click on one cell and drag to create a path through cells, and, once they're linked, you can actually raise or lower their value by clicking on one of them and dragging to the right or left. Remember that a cell can only be successfully and changed if you have the proper numbers of cells linked... so if you're working with a two, you can't only manipulate one, or more than two. Sound confusing? It's actually easier in practice than it is to explain. Your goal is to make each level's grid match the one shown at the bottom of the screen, and do so in a limited number of moves to get all three stars. Click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to undo your last move. Though initially a little awkward to pick up, once you do, Nambers is a surprisingly stylish, clean little puzzle game that makes for some satisfying brain work, with more levels to be found on the mobile version.

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Android:
Nambers

The year is nineteen-twenty-whenever. The cities are roaring, prohibition is very much in swing, and your just another fella who's quick with a gun and a quip, lookin' to make a semi-honest buck on the mean streets. Vinnie Cannoli's your name, and those who hear it tend to forget it quickly on account of rapid and severe lead poisoning. You've been sent to Thugtown, USA on the lookout for some jadrool by the name of Frankie. You're supposed to bring him in alive, but one look at the locale tells you that being among the living is a precious commodity here in Thugtown. Zombies. It's always zombies isn't it? But hey, it looks like the boat that brought you here is out of commission, so if flight's not an option, you might as well fight. A job's a job, innit? Besides, you're nearly as curious as to what happened here as you are in figuring out how many different ways the undead can be eviscerated. And, if nothing else, the town looks stocked with your three favorite things: Guns, Gore, and Cannoli! An indie run-and-gun action-platformer horror game from Crazy Monkey Studios and the Claeys Brothers, Guns Gore, and Cannoli takes you into a gorgeously gory hand-drawn gangster wonderland, with twists and turns aplenty and a nice dash of comedy as well.

WonderCat! He's the greatest adventure there is... I mean come on, he's an adorable little cat in a sweet robot suit. His adventure started when he crash landed on an alien planet, and he now must find his friend and save him from doom. He's an inspiration to us all. Getting us to dream again and wonder about the world around us. Thinking things like "Why was this mine abandoned when there are gems literally floating the the air?" And "How are there still so many mining carts for a track that ended up in pieces?" and even "What the heck is Wondercat?" Well wonder no more because... He's... I don't know he just is. M4de's and MDCK Tech's new iOS and Android game, WonderCat Adventures, has you leaping from moving platforms, dodging furious bats, and trying too stay one step ahead of this fast paced gem. There are only 50 levels, all with beautiful graphics and a new score of music for each of the five areas, but those levels are going to last you a long long time as this game is quite difficult. It will have you testing your reflexes and doing your hardest to spot the false trails before you find yourself on the path to destruction. There are also 5 different bosses which have you trying to keep away and grab missiles as you go. There's never a dull moment when WonderCat is around.

The Huntsman had a perfect life with a beautiful wife by his side and a darling little girl to make his heart warm. Then Fate became cruel and summoned death to take his wife away. Silently mourning, the small family tried to continue on, but Fate was not done with the Huntsman and one day his daughter does not return from playing. Searching for her, it becomes clear she has entered the woods, a feat that has been forbidden by the king... and for good reason. For the woods are ruled by the Hollow Queen and all those that enter never return. Help the Huntsman find his daughter in Tom-Olivier Martin's and David Fortin's free indie visual novel The Hollow, available as a download or in your browser with Unity. There are hard decision to be made and the wrong ones will have serious consequences for the Huntsman and his little girl. Choose wisely and perhaps you can find the happily ever after in the end.

Please note that Psychopomp High carries a content warning for non-explicit references to murder, sexual assault, and car accidents.

The word Psychopomp literally translates into "Guide of the Soul". Makes the Grim Reaper sound much less aggressive, but it doesn't explain how he... she... it can be everywhere death is. Psychopomp High explains this, being of course a school for those who are training to be a Psychopomp. But this free indie visual novel doesn't just focus on the dark themes passing of souls but also of love and romance. In Mary Borsellino's playable story you star as Caleb, who finds himself recently deceased and instantly training to be a Psychopomp. Obviously a confusing time, he is quickly saved by Luke and Marcella, fellow students, who take him under their wings. While in this new world and uh... life... Caleb is on the search for his lost identity... that is if he doesn't get distracted by one of his two super cute friends. In this odd mix of fantasy, scifi, and surrealism, Psychopomp High shows that even in tragedy love can be found and that even death can't stop teenage hormones.

While on your way to a book signing (your own!), an avalanche distracts you from your task of terrible driving to strand you inside a tunnel, and between the unsettling flickering images you keep seeing and the threatening call on the nearby emergency phone, not to mention the creepy little girl crooning disturbing nursery rhymes, you're beginning to think AAA won't be much help here. But in Eipix Entertainment's hidden-object adventure Phantasmat: The Dread of Oakville, your troubles are just beginning. As you hunt for help in the dark hamlet, strange visions plague you, the locals seem more than a little out of it, and with missing persons fliers plastered everywhere, it quickly becomes apparent that you may be in over your head. Hunt through the town for clues, solving puzzles and rooting through piles of items in hidden-object scenes, and brace yourself for a jump scare or two. With gorgeous visuals, an intense moody atmosphere, and a story full of twists, Phantasmat: The Dread of Oakville is a stellar spooky casual adventure that's perfect for any night, dark and stormy or otherwise.

[Note: This game has an unfortunate bug that does not save your progress, so the level select screen does not work if you leave the game and come back to it. We will update with a fixed version when/if available.]

Nervous Bot, the star of Arctic Arcade and Izzy Aminov's quirky puzzle platformer, is in a bit of a pickle. His best bot buddy has been bot-napped, so naturally he sets out to run to the rescue, but the problem is he's programmed to explode if he breaks even a single rule in each level... and there are a lot of them, which complicates even a simple task like reaching a door. Forget to turn left at least once? Ka-boom! Dawdle too much? Ka-boom! Try to leave without jumping? KA... well, you get the idea. There are 47 rules in all, which you can view by pressing the big alert button in the top-right corner of the screen, but though they all have names, you'll need to figure out what each one is through trial-and-error... so, yes, you won't know if you're doing something wrong unless you blow up. Use the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move and jump, and fire weapons, when available, with the [spacebar]. Nervous Bot is a cute game and a neat idea, but not every player will appreciate the game's try, try again approach to failure, or the way you'll need to mentally keep track of so many things to, y'know, not explode, though the layouts of many levels force you to complete most rules just as much as they require you how to puzzle your way around others. Nervous Bot is a neat idea that gets trickier the farther you progress, and hey, if you think you've got what it takes, why not try the more difficult mode and complete the game without a single death to your tally... ?

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As I type this up on Thursday afternoon, looking longingly at the clock, I can't help but wonder what the weekend has in store for me. Pizza and margarita shooters? Staying up late and playing video games all night long? Pajamas as accepted daily wear? The answer is ALL OF IT, because I'm an adult and I do what I want! Haha, take your youth and your energy and your limitless potential and suck it, kids! But it's not all bad even if you can't have ice cream for dinner, because Link Dump Friday is here! This week; infamous gaming critic Yahtzee tests your reflexes and your feelings, a chat session late at night between two friends turns terrifying, a way to make a high score that breaks your keyboard, and a young man awakens deep in the woods with only a ring and no memory.

"Forgetting isn't enough. You can paddle away from the memories and think they are gone. But they will keep floating back, again and again and again. They circle you, like sharks. Until, unless, something, someone? Can do more than just cover the wound." What is worse than forgetting? In Forever Lost: Episode 3, the final point and click mobile adventure game (available for Android and iOS in HD or SD flavour) in the Forever Lost Trilogy, you learn that although losing your mind, memories, and everything that makes you you is pretty frightening, there are actually worse things than forgetting.

You may remember Spryfox as the fiendish masterminds behind the unputdownable Triple Town, among other hits, and with their release of Alphabear, free for iOS and Android, they're gunning for the free time of word game fantatics in a big, adorable way. The goal is simple... spell words by tapping available letters to select them in order, and get points based on the word and any multipliers you may have. The catch is that each round an available letter on board isn't used, it counts down by one, and if it reaches zero, it turns into a stone, blocking part of the board and hindering your ability to make sweet high scores... by growing your bears bigger. That's right, folks, as you make words on the board, tiny, well-dressed bears appear, and they grow bigger the more room you clear for them, allowing you to get a higher score, with each game ending when the board is clear of letters. Performing well means you'll actually unlock bears your can take into a game with you (though some have cooldown timers), to get bonuses like extra points for certain letters, or a final score multiplier. As Alphabear is free-to-play, you need honey, which is generated slowly over time, to play new games, though you can opt to buy more with in-app purchases, convert bear coins you earn into honey, or just buy infinite honey for $4.99USD so you can play as much as you want, whenever you want. With different puzzle boards unlocked each day, different modes, "boss" levels and more, Alphabear is an addictive, charming game that no word puzzle fan should be without.

In Qiabo's physics puzzle game Disaster Will Strike Defender, the dinosaur eggs still aren't willing to give up the earth, and now they've begun smashing all the bird eggs they can find! It's up to you to once again use the power of natural disasters to destroy all the dino eggs in each level, while at the same time making sure those (creepy looking) bird eggs (seriously, why so creepy?) remain intact. Click on a disaster in the top-left corner of the screen, then click where you'd like to activate it, keeping in mind you have a limited amount of them, and different disasters have their own unique effects. Earthquakes shatter glass and shake things up, for example, while the Landslide opens up holes in the ground. All of this is old hat to fans of the Disaster Will Strike series, and while the need to keep the bird eggs safe adds another layer of strategy, the core gameplay remains much the same, apart from the way you'll cringe at the sound when you accidentally crack an egg without breaking it. If you've already got an itch for more yolky destruction, Disaster Will Strike Defender adds a neat new wrinkle to the series without shaking up what fans love, though seriously, why are all the eggs so creepy now.

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The team behind Sentry Knight and its sequel take the popular series in an unexpected new direction with Sentry Knight Conquest, where, rather than playing the tower-bound bow-wielding knight, you're actually in control of the surly marksman, who's in a race to stop an invasion in this action-packed shooter. Using [WASD] to move and the mouse to aim and shoot (controls are fully customiseable to any keys under the options!), blast and dodge enemies as you move around the field in each level, making sure to nab any coins dropped by enemies to spend on upgrades between stages. As you slay foes, you'll level up, which unlocks or allows you to enhance powerful abilities like the explosive blast, and you'll even unlock pets, each with their own way of helping you in combat. Like its predecessors, Sentry Knight Conquest looks fantastic, and has surprisingly well-written few snippets of story to flesh things out as you go. It is, however, very different from the other games in the series, though still just as grind-y when it comes to money and levels. Still, it's a rock solid little shooter with a ton of charm and personality, and if you like the team's work, you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for the upcoming Sentry Knight Tactics, as well as vote for it on Steam Greenlight. So take up yon blunderbuss and blast ye merry skeletons, because it's time to get medieval up in here!

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How's your week treating you, precious friend? No matter your answer, it's bound to get a lot better with Weekday Escape on the job! After all, there are few situations in life that aren't improved by being trapped somewhere and forced to solve a series of strange puzzles before you can escape... that's what makes the Saw franchise so uplifting! This week, we take a look back with two older titles, including a stage show gone wrong by Just Pine Games (now Pine Studio), and a loft apartment overflowing with gems by TeraLumina, and then cap it off with some refreshing summer treats from Funkyland!

Need a puzzle? Trick question! When do you ever not need one, especially when it's a deceptively simple logic puzzle with an appealingly minimalist presentation? GooDMage delivers the goods (heh, heh) with Logical Element, where all you need to do to win is turn all red outputs to green by delivering current to them. Easy, right? All you have to do is click on switches to turn them on and off. Very quickly, however, the game introduces you to things like gates that invert incoming energy, thus turning green to red, and vice versa. Then you have diodes, which only allow energy to pass in one direction, and... well, suffice to say it's a little more complex than first blush would lead you to believe. As it adds in more gates with special rules, Logical Element gets a little harder... but only a little, since after all we're talking about a game that can be won by randomly flipping switches with no repercussions. Still, it's a nice idea, and once you've finished twelve levels, the sandbox is unlocked for you to make your own logic circuits, and besides... who doesn't want to solve puzzles while bopping along to that cute little soundtrack?

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In Farway Studio's visual novel adventure series Cafe Rouge (chapters Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven also available!), sixteen year old Isis Black is your average teenage girl (apart from a unique case of hypoglycemia...) who gets a job at a cafe that just happens to be run by and cater to vampires, which is a problem we've all dealt with at least once. (Remember kids... when you get interviewed for a job, ask about benefits, duties, and whether your employer is a creature of the night.) Click to advance the text and make choices as they appear, but be wary... not every outcome is ideal. To protect the secret of the cafe, Isis is taken on as an employee permanently, . Please use the password at the end of each chapter to unlock the next. Note that as the original website is no longer available, "Play Next Chapter" as linked inside the game will no longer work. Use the links below the game window to play the other installments, or come back here! There is no save, so you must finish each chapter in a single sitting and keep track of your passwords manually. While the series lacks polish when it comes to typos and a clunky interface and navigation system, some stylish animation and an intriguing tale full of interesting characters makes it worth playing through for any fan of love bites.

This game was submitted by SmartCookie17, who says, "A creative and immersive game with a lot of skill, Cafe Rouge lived up to my expectations and beyond. Isis is easy to identify with and the evocative music really sets the mood for each scene. There are 3 possible love interests, with a good ending and a bad ending for each one... but even those who don't enjoy romance can still find themselves enjoying this brilliant game. The astonishing performance of the game easily overshadows the few bugs there are. The controls are easy and the graphics beautiful. I give this game 5 shrooms and more!!!"

Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 1 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 2 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 3 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 4 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 5 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 6 Play Cafe Rouge Chapter 7

Eyezmaze's beloved Grow puzzle games are back with GROW PARK, also available for Android, and for free! Eyezmaze fans will know the formula by now... at the bottom of the screen represent various objects, creatures, or elements that can be added to the world, and the order in which you tap them influences how they grow and change their environment. Used items will change and "level up" as you use others, but not all of them level up as many times, so the task is to figure out what order to activate each item in, in order to make them all reach their maximum level. Add to that 150 characters to unlock, who will appear and frolic in your newly grown fields under certain conditions, and you have an adorable puzzle game that fires the imagination of young and old alike and encourages experimentation beyond getting the "perfect" maximum level solution. We had originally planned to wait for GROW PARK to become available on more platforms before we featured it, but, well, there's a reason why On's work is so well-regarded, and people have been poking us about it already. So those of you with Android devices, get to GROWing, and the rest of you, well, like you needed an excuse to replay Eyezmaze's back catalogue anyway!

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Android:
GROW PARK

Thanks to Jordan, Debbie, Gray, and Jonathan for sending this one in!

An endless parade of freshly delivered sushi ferried straight to our lazy laps? Yes please! In no1game's Find the Escape-Men Part 158: Sushi Go Round 2, you've decided to check out the new sushi joint in town, because somehow despite there being 158 of these little escape games, and even being the second time this scenario has happened, you're still surprised when you find yourself trapped somewhere and unable to leave without finding the ten green men hidden throughout the area. But, well, I guess I understand... there's a lot I'm willing to do for a spicy salmon roll. As usual, there's no changing cursor, so you should click everywhere, on everything, and sometimes more than once (or after some time has passed!) in order to find what you need. Sushi Go Round 2 manages to be surprisingly sneaky for working within a limited amount of space, but it may also make you a little hungry, so hurry up and finish so we can go get some tuna nagiri... your treat!

Play Find the Escape-Men Part 158: Sushi Go Round 2

TIS-100 is an indie puzzle game from Zachtronics, the developer of Infinifactory, Ironclad Tactics and SpaceChem. You're given a literal manual for the titular computer, a "massively parallel computer architecture comprised of non-uniformly interconnected heterogeneous nodes", and tasked with using the information gleaned from that manual to not only properly code and complete puzzles as efficiently as possible, all under a very serious guise of realism, but also potentially discovering who really built the machine, and why. Anyone who played SpaceChem will notice similarities between that game and this latest effort, as they follow the same spirit of game design. If you enjoyed SpaceChem for its brain-bendingly difficult puzzles built on abstract thinking and planning, it's likely (with one caveat) that you'll appreciate TIS-100 for the same reasons. Both games center on analyzing a problem, conceptualizing and constructing a system to transform some given inputs into a desired output, then pressing "run" and standing back to watch your system either fulfill your desires perfectly or go completely awry. Sometimes it takes several complete restarts to find the solution, but the feeling of accomplishment when you finally achieve that output can be extremely rewarding. The player must program each node individually so that they cooperate to do tasks like multiply numbers or detect maximums within a sequence. The game manual is completely in-character: a PDF of a well-used copy of the strange computer's printed instruction manual, which offers very little hand-holding for the uninitiated, instead getting right down to business describing operating parameters and detailing the game's instruction set.

When we last saw Emily, she had just said goodbye to her old restaurant and moved into a new home with her husband and daughter. Now it's time to settle into the neighbourhood and fix up the house while still trying to keep her business afloat. Emily is nothing if not a superb multitasker, but this might prove to be her greatest challenge to date. Join her in Delicious: Emily's Home Sweet Home, the latest episode in the highly successful time-management Delicious series by GameHouse, as she deals with six restaurants, a dilapidated home, and one particularly nasty neighbour.

There's nothing like a sultry summer night. The night air, just cool enough to be refreshing while still being warm enough to fall asleep in. The brilliant glow of the moon and stars. The gentle buzz of nighttime insects, using their superhuman (super-insectoid?) strength to carry giant boxes and colorful lanterns. Nightflies 2 is the sequel to Qribo's original 2012 puzzle game Nightflies, and just like it's predecessor, it's a super-chill ode to summer in physics-filled form. Your goal is to help the groovy, glowy nightflies carry the multicolored lanterns to the top of the screen. Just click on a lantern to send the bugs swarming towards it, and as long as three of the four flies make it to the bulb, they'll whisk it away. And if there's anything in their path? Click on the boxes, wheels, and other doodads to summon rope-bearing ladybugs to whisk the objects away! You can click and hold to aim the ladybugs and choose what direction they take off in, so make sure they steer clear and don't accidentally knock a lantern into a pit! That's all there is to it, but Nightflies 2 whips a lot of clever puzzles out of its simple foundations.

Another week, another Friday. Did you celebrate Canada day this past Wednesday like I did, patriotically eating poutine while the national anthem plays? (Not kidding.) Will you be celebrating the Fourth of July on Saturday like I will, glaring resentfully outside at the sweltering sun and warring with your desire for fireworks and hotdogs versus air conditioning? (Also not kidding.) Whatever the case, friend, and even if you're celebrating nothing at all, let's celebrate this Friday with some free games! This week... a creepy interactive animation about judging the wrong sorts of people, an incremental game of robots and more that may make your finger fall off, a turn-based game where shoving is the solution, and a single-screen adventure where a fish is out to save his little world.

To win at Popcap's popular free-to-play tower defense game for iOS and Android Plants vs Zombies 2 you need to use your braaaaaaaains, but even the wiliest gardener might find themselves between a rock and a hard place with so many levels. Want to bury the zombie horde without spending a cent of real money? We're here to help you with our strategy guide, provided by Stan, that will give you tips and tricks to get through each level! Hit on below for our best strategies, or share your own with other players in the comments!

[Note: This game contains cartoon gore, with an option to disable SOME of it from the main menu.]

In tinyBuild's deceptively adorable indie puzzle game Divide by Sheep, for iPad and iPhone (with Android on the way!) as well as PC and Mac, things get dangerous when Death gets lonely. A kraken for a best friend is great, sure, but you know what? There are a lot of animals on Earth, and surely nobody would miss a few dozen of those to bring some comfort to the Grim Reaper, right? Unless you're the sheep, pigs, and wolves our skeleton friend wants to cuddle up with. Now thanks to death, the happy grasslands our woolly friends frolic in are flooding, and the incoming life rafts can only save so many! In each level, several rafts will show up, each with a specific weight limit... too many sheep and it'll sink! The problem is the sheep are all stranded on tiny islands in random groups, so you have to figure out how to combine them to get the maximum number of sheep per raft to save, or, well, how to sacrifice the ones you don't need for the greater good. Tap on an island and drag towards an adjacent land mass to move all sheep on it to where you've indicated. Each sheep needs a tile to stand on, and if there isn't one for it, well, it's into the water it goes. You need to figure out how to make best use of the available land to fill all three life rafts to maximum capacity... easier said than done, especially when hungry wolves, barbed wire, lasers, and more begin to be added to the mix! What can we say, Death is really lonely, and with 120 levels to solve across four worlds, he's also pretty persistent. And what do you think will happen when the other animals want to get out of the way of the rising water too? Or when Death gets tired of waiting?

Pixelulsar's retro puzzle platformer Ribbitation might not have even heard of bells and whistles, but it doesn't really need them to provide a tidy little experience either. Using [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to move, you play a frog that can't jump, which makes reaching the flag at the end of each level full of girders and ladders a little more complicated. You (and objects you push) can also only fall straight down, so you need to figure out how to climb, fall, and shove crates to get where you want to go. Complicated? Not really, though it does introduce a few new obstacles as you go, such as locks and keys, and hazardous spikes, but Ribbitation doesn't need to pad itself with a lot of extra content to make an enjoyable little puzzle. And we do mean "little", since the game is only a dozen levels long, but while it lasts, Ribbitation is a solid retro title that's great for kicking your brain into gear.

Play Ribbitation

Chris Nordgren's Last Invader is an arena shooter about a topic that's near and dear to everyone's hearts... the inevitable robotic uprising. As a sort of single-gun weilding AT-AT, you stand alone against waves of enemy robots, with only a rockin' soundtrack and a ton of heavy weaponry on your side. Using [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to move, swapping between your two weapons with [Q], with the [spacebar] to give a short, speedy leap out of harm's way, and the mouse to aim and shoot, you'll mow down increasingly aggressive and bigger foes, automatically earning scrap that's added to your score with each KO. Between waves, that scrap is used both to repair your 'bot, and increase the power of the various weapons you can swap out by picking them up when they're dropped by blasted enemies. Get an egg bomb? Deploy it with [F] for a huge area attack, but they're not that common, so save them for sticky situations! While its gameplay may be straightforward, Last Invader offers a few twists, like waves that force you to use a specific weapon, and provides frantic top-down action that'll keep you in tip-top shape for when the metallic overlords arrive to take your skin.

Play Last Invader

Everyone's favourite simpering simians are back, along with their massive brood of mini-monkeys, in PencilKids' point-and-click puzzler Monkey GO Happy Ninjas 3, where, as you might surmise, the only way to make our Monkey GO Happy is to find the seventy tiny ninjas hidden throughout the game. Lest you think this sounds like an impossible task, it helps to know that these ninjas aren't exactly good at the stealthy bits of ninja-ry, and so not only is every scene you can visit absolutely heaving with them, but your cursor will change when it passes over something you can interact with (like, say, a ninja hiding behind something), so you know what to click on. As usual, standing in your way of covering yourself in dozens of tiny monkeys (what else are you going to use them for?) are puzzles. Some of them simply require using the right item in the right place, while others have clues to their solutions hidden in the scenery throughout the game. By now, Pencil Kids has the art of monkey gathering down to a fine science, and Monkey GO Happy Ninjas 3 is surprisingly robust compared to more recent entries into the series, with more locations, puzzles, and gameplay. So what are you waiting for? Get huntin'!

Play Monkey GO Happy Ninjas 3

I keep telling myself that one day, I'm going to make an escape game of my own for you guys to show you how much I love you. And it's going to have amazing puzzles. And augmented reality. And a unique soundtrack. And consultation by Idris Elba, because Idris Elba. And then I remember that I wore my Cthulhu slippers to get the mail today because my sandals were on the other side of the room and thus "too far" away, and I figure that sort of motivation is a long way off. But on this edition of Weekday Escape, you've got some feline freedom to attend to from Vitamin Hana, the world's most complex cobbler's house from MayMay, and a makeup routine from Funkyland that would probably be a lot simpler if you stopped hiding things all over the place and just invested in a makeup bag like the rest of us. So it's all good!