February 2016 Archives

[Note: Please be aware that this game contains graphic scenes and material that may be upsetting to some players.]

They say the people who graduate from prestigious Hope's Peak Academy are guaranteed success in life, but since they only accept the best of the best, most will never find out. Makoto Naegi thinks he's lucked out when he wins a lottery to become one of the students, but neither he nor the other fourteen exceptional (and eclectic) teens who step inside the doors are prepared for what happens next. They've been trapped inside by the school's... unusual administration, and told they're to live out the rest of their days behind its walls. The only way out? To kill one of the other students and not get caught. Originally released for handhelds and now available on Steam, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a surreal murder mystery visual novel adventure from Spike Chunsoft and Abstraction Games with its own distinct style, a wild cast, and one seriously strange plot, though a lot of tiresome and potentially upsetting tropes and stereotypes may taint the experience for some.

There's something about the slightly old fashioned yet cozy aesthetic of most TomaTea escape games that feels a little like receiving some sort of hand crafted artisanal gift from a relative, and Vintage Card is no different. It's a bite-sized game compared to some of TomaTea's grander efforts, and this time you're trapped inside a tiny but well decorated sitting room with a lovely view. To play, just click to interact with things and explore your limited environment. As usual, the tip of your cursor will glow when it passes over something you can click on, and, also as usual, if you come up against a puzzle with a hint you haven't yet locked eyes on, the game will tell you that you have no idea how to solve it, so keep peeping! There's a solidly satisfying chunk of puzzles here despite the smaller scale, though the musical/note puzzles might give some players pause.

Play Vintage Card

[Note: This game is available in Pay What You Want format, including free. If you enjoy the game, show your support for the developer who made it by paying what you think is fair!]

When you're lost in a trackless desert waste, everywhere looks pretty much like everywhere else — and may as well be, for all that it matters. You'll need to not only get through a fierce Sandstorm, but also get yourself, your beast of burden and your creaky cart to a distant mountain you can't even see in order to complete your pilgrimmage. And this adventure by Daniel Linssen does a phenomenal job of recreating a wild sandstorm: gritty siroccos and mirages obscure the outer bounds of your view, and the whole landscape veers and wends arbitrarily as you move, providing an uncannily accurate depiction of just how disorienting a landscape can be when you can't find a single point of reference with which to get your bearings. Fortunately you've got a compass by which to orient, and a disc that shows you how much of the day has passed. Provided you can keep them. As the day progresses everything will eventually grow dim and narcolepsy hits you suddenly, with daybreak snapping on just as abruptly, and it's then that you'll find that your camel has invariably wandered off and any number of your tools have become scattered in the wind. They're out there somewhere and you'll need to find them, but if you stray too far you'll never find your way back to the wagon! Retracing your footsteps is an option, but they will become sandblown before too long. You have a meager supply of guide markers you can place and retrieve in order to find your way back, and you'll need to retrieve your camel and any strewn tools if you're to continue your quest effectively. Finding notes will also allow you to understand more about the area, and unlock a plethora of new game options as well.

In Night School Studios' story-driven indie horror adventure Oxenfree, on the night she and her friends are planning to spend some quality time together out on a remote island, teenage Alex finds herself bringing along her new step-brother, Jonas... who she's only just met. It's a little awkward, sure, made even moreso by Alex's best friend Ren inviting Nona, the girl he's been pining after, and Nona's friend Clarissa... who happens to be Alex's late brother's prickly ex-girlfriend, and definitely not Alex's biggest fan. If it sounds like a bit of a mess waiting to happen, well, nobody ever said dealing with life and the people in it was easy. But they've got worse problems than uncomfortable silences and catty remarks when they accidentally stumble across something better left undisturbed.

A mysterious air? A luxurious elegance in design? Cunning escape game puzzles? It must be Tesshi-e! In The Happy Escape 10, after chancing across a mysterious door and knocking on it, you find yourself trapped inside a richly appointed dining room, but since there's no food or drink to go with this sumptuous setting, you'll want to find your way out eventually. There's no changing cursor to tell you what you can interact with, so make sure you click everywhere to search the room, and of course click the language button in the lower right corner to change it to English if you can't read Japanese! While you'll want to keep an eye out for puzzle clues, some of which are more obvious than others, no Happy Escape is complete without sweet, sweet moolah... by which I mean Happy Coins, of course! There are quite a lot of hidden secrets in this one, and a new perspective may shed some light on a puzzle or two. Will you escape? Or will you wait it out a little and see if dinner is served?

Play The Happy Escape 10

Inspired by Undertale, Chibixi's Can You Escape Love?, also free for Android, is a bizarre escape game that blends action sequences with point-and-click gameplay. In it, the previous year's Zodiac isn't ready to give up the ghost... in fact, they've become more than a little obsessed with you, and are determined to keep you to themselves, forever, even if it kills you. The gameplay is split into two parts... exploring the locked room by clicking on things to interact and discover secrets and solve puzzles, and taking part in boss "fights". These sequences take a page from Undertale's book by tasking you to move a heart icon around the screen to avoid enemy projectiles and attacks... take too much damage and it's game over, but outlast the boss and you'll win. Can You Escape Love? isn't what you'd call subtle, and its action sequences aren't that hard if you can find the "sweet spots" to hang out in to avoid the lion's share of damage, but its weirdness is part of its charm. With multiple endings and a plan to add even more content down the line, Can You Escape Love? is strange and twisted, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Play Can You Escape Love?

Can You Escape Love? (Android, Android Tablet)

Created by The Molasses Flood, indie action adventure The Flame in the Flood is a rogue-lite post-apocalyptic tale without zombies, mutants, or nuclear weapons. An enormous flood has washed away most of the land, and with raging rivers, hostile wildlife, and dwindling supplies a real issue, survivors are few and far between. One such survivor is Scout, whose campfire is visited one evening by a dog bringing with it a backpack and a radio, whose signal seems to lead far downriver. With only a makeshift raft and the things they can find along the way to keep them going, can Scout and this intrepid pooch survive a wild and untamed landscape long enough to find out where the signal is coming from? With both a story-based and endless modes, The Flame in the Flood is a challenging, gorgeous survival adventure with a few rough edges but a singular charm and style.

Rise and shine, my little escaperinos! Wednesday has finally shone its smiling face upon us, banishing the drudgery of Monday and the resignation of Tuesday, and what better way to make your week a little faster than to find yourself trapped in implausible locations and scenarios? This week! Vitamin Hana was you to get pumped, but no weights are required. Esklavos's puppy has a broken airplane and a bone to pick with a mythological beast. And Tototo Room may have you trapped, but that doesn't mean it has to be within four walls.

In Carmel Games' short and silly point-and-click adventure Piece of Princess Cake, our ginger viking hero has a hankering for a slice of a traditional Swedish cake called prinsesstårta, or Princess Cake, but due to a family feud, the shopkeeper is only willing to sell if our hero buys him an expensive rock from Vikea. To play, just click to interact with things when the cursor changes as it passes over people or objects, and remember that you can both combine some items you're carrying, and occasionally view them up close. As you might expect, simply walking into the store and buying the much coveted giant rock isn't going to be an option, so you'll need to do favours for people and solve a few puzzles along the way. Some of this is more intuitive than the rest, though a scrambled picture jigsaw might give the most pause since it's a little awkwardly put together. Still, to stand between someone and cake is the cruelest thing imaginable, and reuniting our viking with some sugary goodness is an admirable quest indeed.

Play Piece of Princess Cake

In a far far future where humans have left earth so long ago that the idea of it has become a myth, the human genome is deteriorating. Some believe that if the original human genes are found a cure can be made, but such a gene would reside on the long forgotten little blue planet. Dr. Lisa Adams and her crew are on the search for Earth and to aid their search Lisa creates a small robot named Emeth. His sole goal is to search the galaxy to find Earth, but one day in the darkness of space Emeth reboots and finds a very dark and very lonely ship. Still looking for the elusive earth Emeth must continue to use the computer system OPUS and slowly discover where his beloved Doctor has gone off to. OPUS: The Day We Found Earth, by Team Signal, is an adventure puzzle game for iOS and Android, but is much more than about scanning the universe as it's also a tale about Emeth. You'll be surprised how much emotion this little orange robot can stir up. There is a free demo to the game, where unlike most demos, this one lets you play almost two thirds of the game before asking you to purchase it. But you won't even need to complete the demo to realize a game with this much beauty in its art, music, and storytelling is one you won't want to pass up on.

What's a little breaking and entering when priceless gems are on the line? In Carmel Games' point-and-click adventure Dakota Winchester's Adventures Part 3, our titular hero is close to the last legendary ruby he's been hunting for years, locked up in an abandoned fort, but his former teacher (and total jerk) is hunting the ruby too. To play, just click to interact, and watch the cursor to see how it changes when it passes over things you can click on. You might still encounter a little pixel hunting due to how small some hot spots can be, and some item uses are definitely... creative, but since when has that stopped a totally-not-Indiana-Jones-please-don't-sue hero before? Like all of Carmel Games' titles, Dakota Winchester's Adventures Part 3 is short and silly, just the right size for a coffee break, so don your fedora, invest in some tight pants, and find that gem!

Play Dakota Winchester's Adventures Part 3

The title of Pine Studio's escape game Cleopatra's Escape, also free for iOS and Android, would seem to imply that you play as Cleopatra, but when you're only represented as an ambiguous white fist in your inventory, who knows? Regardless of who you may be, you're trapped in this tomb, and if the bones by the door are any indication, you probably want to try to find a way out sooner or later. The cursor will change when it passes over something you can click on to interact with, and text at the top of the screen will give you an idea of what that action is. Remember that you can combine some items you're carrying by clicking on them in succession, and the fist actually represents using force on things, so try it out if you're stuck. Which, chances are, you may wind up being, since Cleopatra's Escape doesn't always give you the hints or nudges it could to subtly steer the player in the right direction. Still, it's easy on the eyes and at times fairly clever, but if you don't want your bones to wind up inside it as well, you'll need to be more clever still!

Play Cleopatra's Escape

Cleopatra's Escape (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Cleopatra's Escape (Android, Android Tablet)

Looks like Funkyland wants you to prove yourself, because before you can play the rest of the escape game Alice House 2 No.07: The White Knight, you'll have to puzzle your way through a locked gate right off the bat. As usual, you're looking for five items bearing the image of a specific character, the white knight this time, and there's no changing cursor to provide any extra guidance, so you'll have to click around to make sure you find everything on your own. If you aren't in the habit of clicking everywhere and trying to use items in ways that might not be immediately instinctive, The White Knight might stymie you from time to time, though its trickiness can be admirable as well. Funkyland's usual whimsy is on display here and weaves with the puzzles nicely, making for a pleasantly off-the-wall challenge that fits perfectly into a break from your day.

Play Alice House 2 No.07: The White Knight

[Note: Please be aware that the developer has chosen to include short ads at intervals throughout this game. The ads benefit the developer!]

The little penguin that could returns for more, in Lightbringer Games' action and upgrade-packed launch game Learn to Fly 3. Like the original and the sequel, our favourite cutely chubby tuxedo'd birb is, unfortunately, still having to prove himself to internet losers who don't get how amazing penguins are. Along with the fuzzy baby penguins of Penguin NASA, he's going to get to the moon, darn it, even if it takes a ton of grinding and tweaking to get there. Each day, you'll launch yourself using the materials available, and get paid based on your progress. That cash is used to buy new additions and upgrades to your contraption that will let you fly farther, and faster, with the ultimate goal of reaching the MOOOOOOOOOON! You'll start very simply, but you'll unlock many more components to experiment with as you progress. Just don't go too crazy, since some components work better with lighter materials than others, and the more you pile on, the heavier your assembly gets, and of course once you unlock boosts to help you steer with [WASD], and different aircraft bodies with different slots for materials, well, things get even trickier. The Learn to Fly series has always been a little more involved than most launch games, not to mention a great deal cuter with its fantastic animated visuals and sense of humour, and this third installment has everything we've come to expect. It's definitely very grindy, but the sheer amount of things to buy and unlock, from passive bonuses to aesthetic tweaks, will keep fans busy for a long, long time.

Play Learn to Fly 3

Thanks to Lceninexp for sending this one in!

Just as you finish building your house and brush back your lovely locks to take it all in, a strong wind blows and carries every last piece of your house away. Kicking you when you're down it also steals all your beautiful hair except for one last strand. Thankfully, you've been gifted teleportation shoes and your quest to take your house back has just begun! Blown Away: Secret of the Wind, a platformer for iOS and Android (Android users have 30 free levels to try before they buy!) by Black Pants Studio. You help Hendrik as he walks steadfastly forward, by tapping on the screen where you want him to teleport. At first you only have one charge for one jump and letting him walk forward slowly builds it back up, but as your adventure continues you gain more and more upgrades as you transverse this windswept world. Keep Hindrik from falling into the abyss and have him gather up all the pieces of his house as he goes to find the source of this odd wind.

It's Wednesday and you know what that means... it's the middle of the week! Only a few more days 'til the glorious freedom of the weekend. You know, unless you're an adult and no longer find your responsibilities bound solely to Monday through Friday, in which case, the cycle never ends! But no matter what you have to do, or how long you have to do it, Weekday Escape can always make it just a little bit better. This week! Vitamin Hana doesn't want to keep you in so much as out. Nagamochi Games delivers something a little fishy. And Twinkle is both wonderfully weird and sugary sweet.

In Rusty Lake's creepy point-and-click adventure Cube Escape: Birthday, also free for iOS and Android, the year is 1939, and it's your ninth birthday... at least, you think it is. Everybody at your party seems to be having a good time, but an ominous letter hints that not all is well. Click around to interact with things and move around the room, and click an item in your inventory to hide it for use. Some objects can be dragged around with the mouse, but the cursor won't change to tell you what you can interact with, so be sure to check everywhere and try everything. When you're carrying a lot of items, you can click the little white arrow that appears in the bottom right corner to expand and collapse your inventory. Don't expect a whole lot of help... like most of Rusty Lake's games, Cube Escape: Birthday is more than a little surreal, and you'll have to think outside the realm of everyday logic in order to proceed.

Do you like arcade games? Do you like retro graphics? Do you like barely restraining yourself from hurling your iOS device out a window while shrieking in incoherent rage? Happymagenta's free Tomb of the Mask may be for you! You're racing upwards through a randomly generated temple, avoiding everything from spikes, bullets, and enemies to the ever oncoming wall of instant death. Just swipe to go flying in that direction and you'll stick on whatever surface you land on, but watch out, since a single hit will be a game over. The coins you gather along the way can be used to by powerups like temporary shields or magnets, while the little dots increase your score and can eventually unlock different masks with various bonuses. You can choose to watch ads from time to time for extra coins or to keep going during a run if you hit danger, and for 200 coins, you can spin a wheel that can give you a shot at great rewards, or puny returns.

[Note: This game is available in Pay What You Want format, including free. If you enjoy the game, show your support for the developer who made it by paying what you think is fair!]

In Romance Detective, a linear indie visual novel from NomNomNami, Protag, and Konatizer that's available in Pay What You Want format (including free), love is in the air, but so is crime! Chrys is a cop who's been called to the local art museum to investigate a stolen vase, but she never imagined that would mean teaming up with the (dubiously) legendary Romance Detective. She's an eccentric crime-solver who's dedicated to love (she claims she was born with that rose in her mouth), and although she may seem strange, she gets results. There's something weirder going on in this city than a simple case of a theft of a gaudy vase, but with Romance Detective and newly re-christened Romance Cop on the case, people have nothing to fear! Just click to advance the text and make choices when presented with them, though there's really no way to lose. Romance Detective is strictly on-rails, but it's cute, funny, sweet, and strange... even if it ends with a "to be continued"!

Evan Gibbs' puzzle platformer The Big Pig Game is about a cuddly little porker's quest to find pancakes, and the food that powers him along the way. Using [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to move with [K] or [Z] to jump, the goal of each level is to reach the door, though simply waddling to and fro usually isn't enough. The catch is that the food you find and eat bestows different powers on you... grapes allow you to spit seeds with [J] or [X] that can break crates, for instance, while coffee puts some pep in your step and allows you to jump farther and run faster. Just don't touch veggies, since those aren't what our little pig is after, and you'll have to restart the level if you do. The door usually doesn't open until you've gobbled up all the food, but since one food replaces another's special abilities, you'll have to plan your way through, while contending with switches, vanishing platforms, peashooters, and more.

When you're wanting to become a millionaire you need to save every last coin. Or match every last coin. Millionaire POP is a free match-3 game brought to you by DeNA Seoul. You goal, besides becoming insanely rich with fictional money, is to turn every blue spot yellow by connecting three or more dollars, pounds, euros, and yuan in a specific number of moves. When you get four of the same color, you replace that fourth coin with a Power Bill which, when activated by another match, will send it flying across the screen, knocking out every coin in its path. The seventh coin in a match becomes a Double Power Bill which goes in two directions, and then the tenth coin becomes the legendary Super Coin, that removes all coins of the same color. But there are a lot more stumbling blocks in your way than the first few easy levels lead you to believe. With locks, bombs, and more trying to halt your progression to the 1% you'll find that every penny saved is a penny earned. And, boy, will you go through a lot to earn it.

In Pencil Kids' point-and-click puzzle game Monkey GO Happy Hearts, love is in the air, but it's also hidden under rocks, behind puzzles, and in every weird place you can think of. To make your Monkey GO Happy, you have to find the three hidden hearts in each level by clicking on things to interact with them, and dragging the items you gather from your inventory to use them onscreen. There are 20 levels in all, and in most cases, the difficulty is skewed more towards the sort of thing that the average player won't have much trouble with. But regardless of whether you have a special simian to call your own, Monkey GO Happy Hearts is still a cute Valentine's treat for everyone to enjoy.

Play Monkey GO Happy Hearts

You can move away from people, you can lock yourself inside to hide from nature, but you can't ever escape what's in your head. Or at least that is what the premise is for Nyctophilia by Cat in Jar Games. This free indie game follows our protagonist as he tries to recover from something he'd rather forget. Fighting his way through nightmares he must do everything he can to stay sane. But when you're staying in a house where the last owner may have not had all his marbles himself there is only so much you can do. While it plays like a point-and-click adventure, this is a "mouse free" game where you move with the [arrow] keys and inspect, pick up items, or makes choices with [X]. The [Tab] key lets you into your inventory, see the notes you've collected or view what your main task at hand is. This slower paced mystery has two endings, a few puzzles and an unnerving atmosphere from start to finish.

Before you fire up Chocolala Studio's Chocolate Shop Escape, I'm going to need you to clamp down tight on your sweet tooth, because otherwise you're never going to escape from here. As the title implies, you've been locked inside a small, trendy chocolate shop, and to find a way out, you'll need to solve some puzzles and gather some items, and resist the urge to lay underneath the chocolate fountain once you get it going. There's no changing cursor to show what's interactive, but the design is clean enough that you shouldn't need one. Just click on things around the room, and pay attention to your surroundings... even if a clue seems to be sitting right out in plain view, it might need a second look to make sure you're using it correctly. Chocolate Shop Escape is short, sweet, and just clever enough to make it a nice, light treat for escape fans. Make sure you have everything before you go!

Play Chocolate Shop Escape

Also free for iOS and Android, AumGames' simple sim Blacksmith Lab is an incremental clicker game designed to give you the big, burly muscles of a blacksmith... at least, in a finger. The goal is to mine ore, turn it into weapons, and then sell those to fulfill orders and unlock higher levels, as well as generate sweet, sweet cash you can spend on upgrades, or invest in the bank or the stock market. Click the material to generate ore, then, when you have enough, click the piece of weapon or armor below to create it, and then the button below that to sell. As you unlock more materials and things to make with higher requirements, you'll be able to buy upgrades that can help you automate the process or improve your clicks or prices. Periodically you'll be given special orders to fill, and if you can do so in time, you'll graduate to the next level. Blacksmith Lab is simple for its genre, and perhaps too clicky for some, but its clean, sleek presentation and voice overs let me pretend I'm on How It's Made, so that's alright by me.

Play Blacksmith Lab

Blacksmith Lab (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Blacksmith Lab (Android, Android Tablet)

Wakey wakey, there's games to escape-y! You've survived a whole seven days. That's no small feat... just ask the mayfly! To celebrate, the developers have been hard at work turning out three finely crafted escape games for you to glut yourself upon. Vitamin Hana thinks if you're so smart, you can make your own way out. Nagamochi Games knows you've always wanted to play with an old man's facial hair. And Sarameya is worried you haven't been getting enough fresh air, but might have gone a bit overboard.

Matthew's grandmother wants him to take on the family business she left behind, something Matthew is surprised to hear considering he just came back from her funeral. In Carmel Games' spooky point-and-click adventure The Gatekeeper, Matthew's going to become a ghost hunter like his grandmother whether he likes it or not, starting with an evil spirit haunting a hotel. To play, just click on things to interact, and click two items in your inventory to try to combine them. The cursor will change when it passes over something you can use, so don't worry about pixel hunting. Or haunting, for that matter, since despite the game's morbid subject matter it's not particularly scary, though there are a few attempts at jump scares to be had. Carmel Games rarely try to play it straight when it comes to subject matter for their games, and they've managed to craft a sufficiently creepy atmosphere here. Most of the puzzles make sense, though some small items are hidden in the dark a bit too often, and while it's over too soon, hopefully Matthew's adventures will be even bigger and scarier from here on out.

Play The Gatekeeper

Uh oh, you guys. Uh oh. Cookie Clicker, the absurdly addictive, funny, and weird incremental idle game from Ortiel has finally gotten its long-awaited 2.0 update, which includes new buildings, a revamped ascension system, new features and mechanics, and much, much more. Check out the changelog on the official wiki to see what's new. What's Cookie Clicker, you say? Superficially, it's a simple webtoy where you click a huge cookie to generate cookies that can in turn be spent on upgrades that generate more cookies, as well as some other surprises. If it sounds silly, well, it is. If it sounds strange, well, it also is. Cookie Clicker's charm comes not just from its absurd concept, however, but from how chock full of easter eggs, random occurrences, secrets, and other surprises it is. It runs by itself once you've clicked your way to a few autonomous cookie-crafting purchases, but you'll want to keep an eye on it in case anything... odd happens. So warm up those ovens and limber up your fingers as we discover what's new, and remember... watch out for the grannies.

Play Cookie Clicker 2.0

Making games is good. Free, professional software that allows you to make and sell or share your games across multiple platforms? Niiiiiice. Amazon has just released Amazon Lumberyard, a 3D game engine currently available in beta for developers who want to make things for PC and consoles, with mobile and virtual reality platforms coming soon. It's based on CryEngine, though in addition to a complete lack of any subscriptions or fees (unless you decide to use any of the Amazon Web Services) and full source code included, Lumberyard makes a pretty good case all on its own. It's also geared towards being Twitch-friendly, with features that allow you to let players chat or otherwise interact through Twitch with their viewers, or even invite others to play in multiplayer set-ups through it. Though still in Beta, any potential tool to allow more people to create games is a good thing, and there are already plenty of tutorials on the forums, though time will tell how well Amazon Lumberyard actually stacks up against its competition once developers really start digging into it. It's a 10GB file, not including some free asset packs, so clear some space. If you need me, I'll be over here getting a head start on dreaming up all the projects I want to make that are far beyond the reach of my current skillset and experience. You, though? Get started!

Windows:
Get the free full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

I'm trying to think of a game that better encapsulates my childhood than OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo and I can't quite do it. Free for iOS and Android, it's an action-packed brawler filled with evil robots, aliens, punching, and a whole lotta neon. See, the eclectic folks of Lakewood Plaza shopping center have been fending off the evil Lord Boxman, who wants nothing more than to take the place over and put everyone out of business, including exciteable kid dynamo K.O. and his butt-kicking mom, Carol. When a mysterious energy drink leads to the destruction of the plaza and scatters his friends across town, K.O.'s got to bring them home and rebuild the only way he knows how. With punching. And kicking. Throwing, too. Probably smashing. Simple to play and full of (weird) personality, OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo piles on the old school charm with a heaping helping of enjoyable silliness for a simple but fun classic punch-em-up.

Running Zombie's The Hunt is a supremely creepy and otherworldly short point-and-click adventure where the subject matter sadly isn't as scary as its clunky pixel hunting, though superb atmosphere still makes it worth checking out. In it, you're hunting down the legendary Elk King, a demon that's cursed the forest and all who go after it. To play, just click on things to interact. While some objects will display text when you mouse over them, not everything that's interactive will, and since the cursor won't change, you'll need to click everywhere... especially given the game's tendency to hide things along the very edges of the screen. You can click on items in your inventory, and in most cases they'll be used automatically if you're in the right place for them, but others may require you to click a specific part of the scenery. It's this awkward gameplay that keeps The Hunt from being the immersive experience it might otherwise be, with its beautiful imagery and spooky audio. The Hunt could use some more polish, but we hope this isn't the last time the developer experiments with the genre!

Play The Hunt

The Great Forest Studio has dug up a cozy adventure RPG for you with plenty of resource mining and survival game elements! In The Great Underground you play a lone miner out to seek his fortune with just his knapsack, pick and a few provisions. Your digging skills improve with practice for each terrain type along with your ability to survey valuables within them at a distance. Retrieve them and sell them at the shop to earn money for better supplies as your skills improve! Different foods and teas each provide their own enhancements and you'll want to be sure to stop by the Inn to get the latest info and storyline plot points from the local villagers in this endearing game with soothing music and hand-painted graphics that's more about character development than utilitarian grinding. The Great Underground is free to play on your Android with hours of play and gorgeous artwork, and has a code available as a single in-app purchase which releases everything in the game, with more to discover and more storyline to encounter. This one is great for digging and exploring on your Android whether for short, relaxing adventures when you just have a few minutes to spare or for long, planned crawls to the depths where the greatest valuables can be found.

Goody Gameworks blends action and defense in Arc of Templar, a game about purging evil from a castle by filling demons full of lead, and dropping the odd chandelier on them. To play, use the mouse to aim (you'll fire automatically), and [WASD] or the [arrow] keys to move around behind the barricade, keeping the demons at bay. You can activate special skills with the number keys when they've cooled down, and stepping on triggers behind the wall can activate traps when available. Slain enemies drop experience points, and when you level up, you can choose to enhance your Templar's abilities, or gain a new power altogether. You'll also gain heroes who will fight automatically to keep enemies at bay... don't worry if they get knocked down, they get back up again! (Sorry kids, that's as current a reference musically as you're going to get out of ol' Auntie Dora.) Just watch out, since if they get close enough, enemies can target you, too, and if you get taken out, you'll have to try the level again.

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a whole bunch of little squares in different colours, and to be able to play with them and paint them any way you like? And if those squares jiggled about like the happy little quadrilaterals they are? If the answer is no, feel free to step right up and see what you've been missing. Coloruid is a lovely little puzzle game where the goal is to turn all the squares the same colour in a limited number of moves. Think you can handle it? Alright, let's get jiggly with it!

It's good to be bad in Amaranth Games' very funny casual RPG Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist, where you play the wicked Boyle Wolfbane, whose plans for world domination... don't go so well. Three years after being soundly defeated by a group of sniveling heroes, Boyle and his loyal storm wolf Fang are sullenly scraping by in a dingy little shack in the monster town of Wyrmwood, and looking down on all the other has-been retired villains. But while Boyle might consider himself above it all, when he gets roped into something threatening the world (and the safety of his beloved pooch), Boyle's got to roll up his sleeves and undertake some heroism, or as he calls it, the "H word"... whether he likes it or not. Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist is a wonderfully funny and cheeky indie RPG that's positively perfect for anyone looking for something to kick back with.

In Ichima's Room 12, you're trapped in a perfectly pleasant little room with locks on virtually everything, and a trick or two up its sleeves. If you want to escape, you'll have to solve puzzles that require you to be observant, and even a little clever. There's no changing cursor to show what's interactive, and unfortunately you may run into some pixel hunting here, so if you're stuck, make sure you've examined every surface from every angle. If you want to examine something you're carrying, click it once to highlight it, and then click the big blue button in the menu. Some clues might be a little vague, so you might have to experiment with implementing them in different ways to make them work, and there is one interactive spot that is tucked away in a somewhat intuitive place. But while Room 12 isn't as smooth as some of Ichima's other escape games, it's still enjoyable, with a cute surprise or two inside.

Play Room 12

When some researchers get lost in a vast cavern the army calls on the perfect man for the job. That's you of course because um ... you've got a ship? Deep Underground by BenGAMEn, may not have all the most detailed story, but it does have plenty of upgrades, physic-based puzzles, and dangers around every corner. Fly your ship with ease using the [arrow] or the [WASD] keys and use your mouse to aim and fire. Not only does this keep you safe from the enemies, but you can carve pathways through the softer sand, and break apart boxes to free the treasured contents. Don't be too greedy though as you'll need some boxes to hold down switches or block lasers. But your main goal is to rescue the men in the orange jump suits. When you've collected all on the screen the exit will open up so you can go even deeper and claim the rightful title of hero.

Ah, the Tempala. So mysterious. So graceful. So elusive. Such... A JERK! In this tricky action game from Guy and Suvrik, you're chasing the Tempala into a temple full of tricks, traps, and other danger while it mocks you every step of the way. To be fair, you were trying to murder it! Use the [arrow] keys to move, and the [spacebar] to perform a dashing roll, trying to figure out how to reach the key to open the door in each stage without getting splattered! Move quickly to earn bonus points to unlock different costumes, but, well, move quickly in general because this place is dangerous! Tempala is a relatively simple game, but it plays well and earns high marks for its cartoonish cheek and charm, making it a wacky romp where death is always just around the corner.

Play Tempala

B... Bianco-Bianco? Is that you? It's a miracle! Magical Sphere 2 is an odd little escape game with two different endings, set in what appears to be one seriously mystifying museum. The cursor will change when it passes over something you can click on to interact with, and the arrows at the edges of the screen can be used to move around the room. One of the biggest challenges might actually be accidentally missing something simply because its hotspot is tucked in at an odd location, so be sure and comb over every nook and cranny if you get stuck! It's not actually a particularly long or difficult game once you've found everything you can click on, but it's an appealingly odd escape that'll fit inside a coffee break without taking all of it up.

Play Magical Sphere 2

From January 29th to the 31st, across the globe developers came together to make games with their own unique interpretations on a theme in a very short time. During January 29th to the 31st, I was... uh... probably playing X-Com or Borderlands in my jammies. It's no small task to make a functioning game in just a few days, and yet for Global Game Jam 2016, a whopping 36,000 creators in 93 countries did just that, crafting almost 6800 games! This year's theme was "ritual", and while we obviously haven't gone through all the games yet, here are a few of our favourites that are playable free online in your browser right now. Play or download all the Global Game Jam 2016 games at the official site! Have one you think is awesome too? Post it in the comments!

Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will keep Weekday Escape from your waiting hands... spiders are another matter, though. Also, I don't really like it if it gets muggy out? And sometimes you just aren't feeling getting out of your jammies, you know?... but hey, we're here today! This week! Esklavos and a canine friend with a troubling name send you sky high after a giant. MayMay wants you to go on a vacation, but you'll have to earn it first. And Afro-Ninja is going to make you feel all nostalgic (and maybe a little old) with a remake of one of their oldest games.

In Stolen Couch Games' adventure island sim Castaway Paradise, available free with optional in-app purchases on Android and iOS or for a flat fee via Steam, your grungy, kelp-covered self washes ashore on an island full of animals who look and act like people. No, it's not Doctor Moreau, cease your screaming! It's a cute and casual little game designed to give you a place to kick back and get away from it all. And by "get away from it all", we of course mean "perform countless tasks and heavy lifting for animals who never ever ever help out ever". But we also mean "catch bugs, donate to museums, dig for shells, fish for... um... fish, decorate a mansion, farm crops, and more". That'll do!

The game is afoot!... or, um, a-wheel? In Pegas Games' point-and-click puzzle game Wheely 7: Detective, our little red car is on the case when the local bank has been robbed! To play, just click on things in each level to help clear a way forward for Wheely. Click him once to start him moving, and again to make him stop. You may need to click and drag to manipulate some objects, such as doors, or hunt for hidden mechanisms. Turns out Wheely is quite the amateur criminal catcher, and in no time he's on the hunt across town for the robbers. Wheely 7: Detective isn't a particularly long game despite some clever levels and challenges, but if you're looking for something light and fun, it's big on charm and is easy on the eyes to boot.

Play Wheely 7: Detective

Solitaire may be pretty simple, but PC owners and office workers throughout the world will always have a soft spot for it. And yet, sometimes you might want to spice things up a bit and play something fancier than your garden-variety card game. Introducing Legends of Solitaire: Curse of the Dragons, a fantasy solitaire game by The Revills Games. Dragons are on the loose, your kingdom is in danger, so hop on your mighty steed and shuffle some cards!