Kung Fu paradise's little brainchild, Tsuregemu 4, drops you in the three-room house of an animated white stick figure named Shirojin; his only housemate is his cat. Obviously, your task is to escape from the house by any means necessary, even if you have to solve a hundred puzzles to do it. The drill should be familiar by now: click around to inspect and interact with things and pick up inventory items, and use or examine things from your golden inventory bar at the bottom. Tsuregemu 4 won't be winning any awards with their 3D graphics, but you can tell what you're looking at most if not all of the time. The game's true meat, however, is its puzzles, which are original and cleverly designed without being too nonsensical, and many of them require interacting with Shirojin and his cat in various ways.

There are two circles in front of you: Circle A and Circle B. One of them has a certain quality. And the question you must answer, in this puzzle game by Yoshio Ishi, is simple: Which? Figuring out the challenges will depend less on logic, and more on playful experimentation to determine what the developer had in mind. This can be occasionally frustrating, but all of the levels are quite clever, making for a quality five minutes of fun.

Coming out of your shell can be hard, so wouldn't it be nice if everyone looked the same? After all, we'd all be happy then, wouldn't we? Talha Kaya delivers a personal puzzle-platformer mixed with an art game to tell the story of a guy, a girl, and figuring out who you are and what matters most is action.

They say the grass is greener on the other side, and one sad, little rabbit knows that better than anyone else. After failing to make his way into paradise, he's dropped into the surreal world of A Rabbit's Tale, a point-and-click adventure by Antennaria Games. Interact with a cast of bizarre, comical creatures and solve your way through puzzles and challenges in order to help our hero overcome defeat and find his true love.

Everyone likes to think they'd be a leader and a hero if a zombie apocalypse started, but this surprisingly challenging indie strategy sim proves it's not that simple. Take control of a group of five extremely different survivors who may or may not hate each other and make them work together to eventually escape the city... if you can keep them away from each other's throats. With randomisation of characters and locations, as well as a user-friendly content creation system, there's endless replayability to be had.

Ready for a challenge? When you accidentally activate a mysterious dark prism that begins warping the land around you, you have to track down each piece and deactivate it. Easier said than done since the prism's influence has sent out shifting pools of blackness that turns friendly flora, fauna, and even the land itself deadly. A challenging, stylish platformer from Connor Ullmann and Noel Berry.

It's easy to occasionally indulge in some less than cheery thoughts but what if you're in a job you hate, you're lonely, and you have no confidence? What if you're in a life you hate? Meet Evan Winter, a man that has reached his limit and you're along for the devastating ride that shows the reality of how quickly depression can turn to suicidal. How long can Evan resist the whispers that encourage him to go to the roof?

Destiny works in unexpected ways, and Heileen, a young girl in the 17th century who has always longed for adventure, is about to find her life and her future turned upside down when her uncle takes her on a voyage to the new world. In this big indie visual novel series from veteran developer Winter Wolves, the choices you make will shape not only Heileen's life, with romance and peril on the horizon from all directions, but Heileen herself as well.

Don't get too close to these teddy bears... they're less about being cuddly-wuddly and more about wreaking bloody vengeance. Lead, outfit and train a squad of lethal furry killing machines in team deathmatches in order to get revenge for the sacking of your village. A fun if frantic and more than a little chaotic action-packed platforming experience.

Help Gray get back to his UFO and keep him safe from monstrous farm animals, aggressive wildlife, and an itchy trigger finger redneck in this retro point-and-click adventure by Fitz. Guide him through a surprisingly rich, 4-color world as it changes from day to night, and solve all the tricky inventory-based puzzles that block your path. Gray has as much encyclopedic knowledge as he has snark (and he's more than happy to share both with you), but will it be enough to get him back home?

When a masked organ grinder begins handing out deadly fortunes to the townsfolk, it seems like a lucky coincidence that a detective of your caliber was already on hand. But do the strangely poetic fates of certain people at the hands of fantastical creatures somehow tie in with your own investigation into an old crime? Elephant Games delivers a gorgeous and engaging hidden-object adventure with style and creativity. And baby phoenixes!

Work with other players to cooperatively end the frosty reign of darkness in this gorgeous and deceptively casual looking game of kingdom building and resource management. Blending elements of puzzling with real-time strategy, your task is to lay roads and factories for your little Flans to travel, gather resources, and beat back the winter. But it's not as easy as it sounds, and you'll need real planning, logic, and craftiness to win at this engaging and innovative game.

Sterile laboratory setting. Series of dangerous test chambers. Generic Omnipresent Voice running the show. Oh, and a syrup that can bring you back to life. With clever level design and overseer dialogue that captures just the right mix of humor and menace, Revive, a puzzle platformer by JonBro, is perfect for players looking for that sweet spot of simple concept and challenging gameplay.

When a defense game gets almost everything right, kiss your productivity goodbye! In Dreamgate Company's gorgeous title, you're building a towering mechanical structure and staffing it with upgradeable weapons like miniguns, tesla cannons, and saws in order to stave off waves of enemies. With smart design and sneakily casual gameplay that will bring you back for more, it's a highly polished and engaging little strategy game that's perfect for passing time.

Under the sea! Under the sea! Darling it's better down where it's wetter take it from me! Eat a lot of little fish, without being turned into a tasty dish, chomp all the small ones, flee from the big'uns, under the sea!

Vertical shooter meets RPG? It's not as far-fetched as you'd think! Framed for a crime he didn't commit (not that he wasn't planning to) Josh the thief finds himself swept up in a battle for a magical gem and forced to gather a group of unlikely allies in this unique hybrid from IriySoft.

It ain't easy bein' green, especially when you're a lone frog in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and all you have to eat are mutant flies who want to take a bite out of you too. Monzazart serves up a familiar but quirkily-themed little physics puzzle where you'll use a truly remarkable tongue to climb, swing, pull, and lift your way through levels and hazards.

No matter where you are, it's always TomaTea time—time to settle back in your lounge chair, dip your feet in a cool blue pool and gaze up the halcyon sky to escape from whatever stresses might be bringing you down. Point-and-click around, gathering tile pieces, helpful objects and clues to solve puzzles until you find the exit key. It's the perfect blend of thinking and relaxation as you encounter the familiar puzzles and pleasant atmospheres for which TomaTea can always be relied on.

As silent and weird as a Detarou can be, there is also much puzzle love to be found inside any escape-the-room game from this developer. Umiga is no exception: the puzzles massage your grey matter while surreal and oddball humor keeps a grin on your face. You'll need to do some extra footwork and thinking to put together clues, but it's always the right amount of difficulty to be exceedingly fun.

Broom attack! Also, you might be trapped in a dream. Or some other sort of subconscious realm. It's tough to tell, but judging from the strange sights and the cryptic "as legend has foretold" messages from sages and statues, there's definitely something odd going on here. Anodyne from Sean Hogan and Jonathan Kittaka is an adventure through a melancholy world that plays out like a classic 16-bit RPG. It borrows some of the best micro-concepts from games like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Yume Nikki, and even Earthbound, creating a world that's as innocent as it is moving and as dangerous as it is surreal.

In a land blanketed in snow secrets are beginning to see the light of day and in Star Stealing Prince the young Prince Snowe is about to be plunged into a world of intrigue that he never could have imagined. In this RPG adventure you will travel across the land trying to uncover the truth that has been denied for so long, and in the process try and find a way to make things right again no matter what the cost is. With an intricate magic system, a lush world to travel, and a story that will keep you guessing just what is in store only a life or death matter will be enough to pull you away from your chair.

Last spring, you thought you stopped the nasty Shade for good, rescuing the innocent yet magically-gifted young Fiona to boot. Now you must again stop the dark creatures with the help of Fiona's magic and some visits to a pernicious pixie, baleful banshee and unforgiving nyx. In this next installment of BoomZap's dark fairy tale series, adventure through gorgeous color-saturated environments, solving puzzles, completing minigames and searching uniquely rendered hidden object scenes for magical artifacts to put a stop to the Shade once more.

I told you! I told you not to trust clowns! And now the kingdom is in peril AGAIN because one seriously creepy jester has kidnapped the royal family! In this simple but gorgeously made realtime strategy game, you'll travel across the land besting and recruiting a roster of heroes with unique abilities to defeat your foes in defensive combat and eventually bring peace to the kingdom once more.

Proteus is a exploration-based piece of interactive art by Ed Key and David Kanaga. In it, players take a walk through an abstract procedurally-developed island. While Proteus is probably not going to challenge the conception some have of art games as low-rez inaction-fests, that niche of gamers who'd be interested in a chill 45-minute retro vacation will find it a place worth hearing, and a song worth exploring.

Vampires, man. They're jerks! But admittedly if you decide to live right underneath the most notorious one of them all, you probably deserve whatever's coming to you. Still, when a pack of demon's abduct Luke's pregnant wife Grace in the middle of the night, he sets out to bring her home in this somewhat clunky but gloriously cheesy and fun classic point-and-click adventure for download or iOS.

With the dead roaming the streets and the living mysteriously aging to dust right before everyone's eyes, this town already has its share of problems, and it all seems to go back to the disappearance of two students from its celebrated musical academy. In this gorgeous and engrossing adventure from ERS Game Studios, you'll have to master life and death itself through music to thwart a plan from beyond the veil and uncover the mysteries and bitterness at its core.

Grab your grandfather clock and go back to the future with Adam, a short puzzle platformer made in just 48 hours. In order to charge up your time machine, you've got to place your clock in the heat zones to gather energy. But with every time you make a collection, time resets, and you've got to dodge your previous self in order to avoid a chronological conundrum!

Full of questions about who he is and how he came to be, the little who knows a few things already: the world is dangerous, so move blocks to mitigate that danger and use the [arrow] keys to move around it. The world is also lonely, until the moment he meets "her" and, together, they make their way toward the light, seeking answers in this atmospheric puzzle platform game with as much emphasis on story as on the puzzles it contains.

A great calamity is approaching, and you're the only one who can stop it. Unfortunately, you're a sentient stone idol who can do little more than use your patience and timelessness to let the world and time pass around you, watching the landscape change with time and the seasons (or your own actions) until a solution presents itself. Scriptwelder delivers a slow but beautiful bit of interactive art married with clever puzzling for a zen-like experience.

Pull up a seat beneath the Japanese quilted Kotatsu and enjoy this delightful little gem based on the traditional heated table frame. If there is any downside it is the lack of a changing cursor which might lead to some minor pixel hunting, a small complaint considering the entertainment this little gem brings. Sit down, power up, and let the warmth of Kotatsu Escape sooth away the stressful day.

Happy birthday to you, haaa-ppy birthday tooo you! Well, it's somebody's birthday here in LiberTechno's festively decorated escape-the-room game, and this somebody thinks it's great fun to rig up the room with an abundance of challenging puzzles. This equals a hefty amount of content while the large banquet table in the center of the room will also challenge your navigational skills, which is especially happy for anyone who'd much rather sleuth his or her way through clues than fill up on frosting-laden cake.

Strange things are happening in the town of Vortex Point, and a pair of ghostly burglaries are just the start of it. Head up a paranormal investigation in this fun and freak point-and-click adventure from Carmel Games. Don't worry if you don't feel like you have the brains to tackle it. This one features two just laying around.

Can you handle the demand for split-second timing and reflexes while constantly being vaporized? If so, this challenging yet simple little stylish platformer is calling out for you to conquer it as you run, leap, and dodge across a cityscape full of hazards and portals.

Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller is a planned series of four point-and-click mystery adventure games by Phoenix Online Studios, makers of The Silver Lining. Starting with The Hangman and continuing with the early 2013 release of The Wise Monkey, the series puts you in the role of FBI agent Erica Reed as she investigates a series of horrific murders, continuing the story across releases to keep the suspense as palpable as possible.

Calling all heroes! It's up to you to defend the castles of the kingdom in Wild Heroes. In this tower defense game you must place your heroes wisely to keep the enemy at bay. Upgrade them to wild status to really do some damage. Show the monsters what a hero is really capable of!

You are Edwin, an ordinary kid, ready to beat your favorite game "The Legend of Hooligan" when, before you know it, you're lying unconscious on your bedroom floor. Paying homage to and parodying your favorite RPGs of old, this point-and-click adventure is a deep pool of satisfaction for those who love racking up awards for every success as well as failure, who delight in discovering the many ways to kill—or die—in an oozing, bloody chaos of body parts. It's not a game for everyone: painstakingly precise timing and the patience to restart after multiple deaths is requisite. While it's surprisingly short, Elf story overflows with engaging graphics, narration and action.

If you've ever seen some of M. C. Escher's paintings, you probably know what "impossible" looks like. If you play through Alexander Bruce's Antichamber, you'll know what "impossible" feels like... and also how to beat it! Set in a convoluted world where you can never be too sure which way is up, Antichamber challenges you to cast aside your usual video game logic and face a plethora of mind-bending puzzles that will have you rethinking what "impossible" means.

Surprise! Just a few weeks after Knytt Underground made its appearance, Nifflas has released a brand new game! The Great Work is a platform adventure deeply inspired by the Knytt series that follows the metroidvania outline of interconnected passageways strewn with items that grant new abilities and access to new areas. Featuring an alchemy-infused story, The Great Work was made to help promote Bautafilm's latest film that follows the story of Christer Böke, a man who took a year off from his job to become a full-time alchemist.

Remember when? Nicolas Cannesse's short action-adventure/interactive art piece will have you asking yourself that as you go on a journey through the evolution of games. Made in just 48 hours for Ludum Dare, it'll remind you that there was a time when polygons didn't exist, save points were a myth, and just how far we've come over all.

Many people have issues with their childhood, but Adam doesn't even remember his deceased parents. Now a thirteen floor apartment building slowly reveals the horrors of his past in Tempa Labs' point-and-click adventure game, Traumata. Puzzle your way through each of the floors as you avoid an evil, lurking presence. What awaits you on Floor 13?

Underneath that rainbow of squares lies demons galore! Cool demons, though! Mamano Digger is a simple idea puzzler by Hojokama Games that makes the SameGame formula feel a little different. A minimalist gaming experience that probably won't have much replay value once you've beaten it, but you probably won't be able to stop playing until you do.

Quick, the patient needs a heart transplant, and a doctor! Too bad all they have is you in this hysterical, gory, and very challenging simulation where you control each finger of your hand individually as you attempt to perform life-saving surgery... without dropping a bonesaw into his chest cavity!

Ever had a tennis ball delivered to your face? Not in the gentle way your local postal service worker might deliver a package (*snicker*), the kind of delivery where a professional aims for your head and gives it a good shot? We're glad you answered "no", because if it were true, you might end up like the villains in Tennis in the Face, a game of precision physics from 10tons. A little bit of aiming and a whole lot of ricocheting can go a long way. It's time to take down the corporate machine!

There's nothing unfamiliar about the setup of Find the Escape-Men 49: In a Hut. Since this is a Find the Escape-Men game, you have to find 10 green men before you can pull off your great escape. However, it shouldn't take long to realize that something is a little... off... about our protagonist. I feel we could feature more work from No1Game, since what they do, they do well. Their puzzles are original and logical yet not too frustrating, there's no tear-your-hair-out pixel-hunting, and there's just the right amount of whimsy holding it all together.

This third installment of Mike Morin's surreally noir point-and-click adventure, continues to chronicle Rick plight to save his wife, Lily. Taking a turn that is strange dream slash time melding, Rick feels like someone's playing a cruel game with him. Propel him further through the story and solve a series of puzzles to unlock the final door to find a new destiny...or another beginning?

This sub mission was a fiasco from the start, but if you could have said no to your Nazi commanders you wouldn't be spending December 1941 in the depths of the Atlantic. And there are... things out there. Subbania is a metroidvania-style action-adventure by ektomarch, where cosmic horrors lurk in the depths. Quite unsettling and atmospheric, if a little stingy on save points.

Hexaganator is a soothing point-and-click puzzler from Char Studio that's perfect for those brief snatches of free-time that present themselves throughout the day. Just click and drag your hexagons to their proper slots so that the colors match to create a perfect pathway to harness the power that is the hexagon. Get them all in the proper order on the first try to receive all three stars at level's end.

Spin had a girlfriend, but he fell down a hole! What else do you need to know? Spin Spin: Chapter 1 and Spin Spin: Chapter 2 are a pair of puzzle platformers by Chris Hughes that take the simple ideas of world-spinning and spike-avoiding, strip them down to its minimalist essence, and the result is truly something special. Presentation is a little no-frills, but these are very cleverly designed games.

Ready, set, fold! In this simple to learn origami puzzle game, your folding skills will be tested like never before. Enjoy a relaxing atmosphere as you try to create various shapes with your paper with a limited number of moves. Origami has never been so much fun!

If you're a Gratuitous Space Battles nut then chances are you've got the various expansions already and are likely to do the same with this one. If you haven't tried the game yet, The Outcasts is a good starter DLC once you've exhausted the base content; the Outcasts' unique modules and ship aesthetics add a bit more unique flavor.

What's inside the Cave, DoubleFine's latest platforming puzzle adventure? For seven very unusual and very different heroes, that answer is quite personal indeed. But no matter which three you set off to solve the mysteries of the depths with, you can be sure you'll encounter hilarity, challenging puzzles, memorable characters, stunning visuals, and more than a few secrets of the bizarre and personal sort.

What is the most romantic, and at the same time, most tragic story in Western literature? No doubt about it, the answer is the story of Romeo and Juliet which, since it was first staged in the 16th century, has spawned countless adaptations in theaters, movies, television, ballet, operas, and now casual games. Despite the ominous sounding title, Death Pages: Ghost Library, the latest adventure hybrid from Elephant Games, is less about ghosts and death and more about living vicariously through one of William Shakespeare's most well known works.

Polymer Rabbit kicks it up a notch with the next entry in their top-down shooters with Frantic 3. More levels, more bullets (and let's not forget bigger bullets too)... they're just gonna throw everything they can at you. But you can take it cause you're a lean, mean, projectile-avoiding, shooting machine. Seriously, your ship's set to auto-fire. At least that's one less thing to worry about as you weave your way through 15 stages (plus 15 more bonus stages) of bullet hell.

Riven, the 1997 sequel to Myst, has finally made its way to iPad! Ported to iOS back in 2010, the team at Cyan had some graphics issues to deal with before a large screen release would be possible. After lots of tinkering it finally happened, and the result is the lush and intriguing Age of Riven staring you in the face, complete with a refined interface and full touch screen controls.

Stupid heroes! Always looting your randomly scattered GPs, knocking down your doors and whacking that stupid sword of theirs against your orbs of true evilness. Well, this one picked the wrong dungeon to vandalize, because you're the Atomic Creep Spawner and you've got a whole mess of atomic creeps just waiting to be spawned.

So, you were cursed by a witch to be a human magnet, and all for collecting cans. Figure out how to use your newfound powers to save your sister in the action adventure game Cantrip. In this twisted take on the Hansel and Gretel tale, wend your way through the scrapyard, fight off guard dogs and more as you cleverly use your magnet powers to find the witch and get your sister back.

You need to be playing with a full deck to take down the Four Horsemen and ultimately The Beast in this real-time strategy game from Nerdook. Summon powerful warriors to the battlefield from cards you earn and unleash spells to drive the enemy back before they do the same thing to you. A simplified game, but an enjoyable one, and good for letting your inner warrior out on a coffee break.

Join Yepi on Yepi planet as he attempts to rescue his Yepi girl from hostile aliens in BeGamers' delightful and whimsical point and click adventure. You just need to find the right combination of actions to get Yepi across the scene and on to the next. This is a short and sweet little time waster, packed with tons of personality, quirky characters and backgrounds, and more than a little rude humor.

Everything wants to kill or trap you in Nitrome's newest arcade game, where you control a cheerful little block that travels along poles it shoots out of itself as you move. Get to and connect the nodes on each level to win, but when figuring out the deadly properties of your environment is part of the fun, it's harder than it looks.

A charming, sea-side salon seems (try saying that 5 times fast) like the kind of place you'd never want to leave... only this time you don't seem to have much of a choice! Libertechno returns with the seventh episode of Aries Escape, along with a whole new batch of dastardly puzzles to keep you locked inside. Navigate the room and explore your hint-laden surroundings by clicking key areas indicated by a changing cursor. Can you solve the hair-pullingly difficult riddles before you ruin your brand new 'do?

In this short, logical escape from GamezHero, you wake to find yourself trapped in a room with only a few poor, departed souls for company. You'll need to click around to find a way out, and with some superbly creepy atmosphere and straight-forward puzzling, this is a simple but tidy little escape to keep you entertained. Also available free on iOS and Android!

Lost and alone, the little gray pegasus stranded in the Everfree Forest doesn't seem to have a hope to safely navigate the hazards... until an expected friend shows her the way. Though the controls might be too frustrating for some, Derpy's Story features superb atmosphere, some lovely animated cutscenes, and unexpected heart.

In order to repay a massive debt to the notorious Pike Club, you're given a chance to earn cash by competing in a series of matching games. Just clear the board by making pairs from memory, and you're golden. But with various beneficial and harmful effects, talent and skill cards to add to your debt, and the strange members themselves to deal with, that's easier said than done. A clever twist on a simple concept with a very unique style.

Technology has advanced all walks of life but every now and then I'm sure the primitive colonial side of you craves a chance to go back to a more simple time. A time when warfare was fought with rowboats and planes that needed a passenger to fly itself. Well today is your lucky day for Colonial Wars is available for you to sink your teeth into. Break out your maps and strategy books because you'll be the guiding force behind entire fleets and it's up to you to take ownership of every island you see!

An after-school project traps five students in a nightmare wrapped up in an urban legend that turns out to be all too real in this free indie horror game. Will they be able to unravel the mystery and lay a spirit to rest? Or will they drown in blood in a bathroom stall? Maybe! A complete rebuild of the classic Japanese horror game released in English.

Available for the first time in a bundle pack, the Avernum series is one of the crown jewels of classic-styled indie RPGs. Created by Spiderweb Software, this seven-game ensemble takes you from the beginning to the end of an adventure spanning decades that changes the world. Avernum begins as an underground prison for the people the Empire wishes to get rid of, but over time you'll see the land evolve, lead an expedition to the surface, start a rebellion, and much, much more in these huge adventures.

KRUNCH from LeGrudge & Rugged is going to make you growl in frustration. The good kind of frustration. The kind that VVVVVV, Super Meat Boy, and the Kairoshi series bestows upon you. The kind that, even after dying in the same short level two or three dozen times, you still come back for more, hoping to slip through that tiny gap between a sawblade and a crushing pillar of death just so you can fly forward and die again. And you'll continue to play until you've clawed your way through over 100 levels of painful, challenging, gorgeous arcade fun.

Mushrooms. It's all about mushrooms. And keys and crates and stuff, too, but really, mushrooms. In Corrypt, a puzzle game by Zaga-33 creator Michael Brough, your job is to work your way through maze-like screens as you hunt for the items you need to appease unsettled citizens. Using a slightly tweaked sokoban-style setup, be ready to sit and scratch your head as you wonder at the logic of carving a path through groups of wooden crates.

Getting into a science laboratory is much easier than it looks; just ask Dee Dee. Getting out of one, however, is another story. espcgm's clever little escaper drops you into what appears to be a chemistry lab, and tasks you with puzzling your way out. Don't let the MS Paint graphics throw you off; Escape from Mystery Science Room is not a bad game. The meat of an escaper is its gameplay, and this is a game that has it; the puzzles are logical and flow well, and although there's no changing cursor, the lack of pixel-hunting means you don't really need it. Overall, EfMSR is a game that's just difficult enough, and well worth the trip.

Uirdz isn't a word game, but you can use words to your advantage! In this high-difficulty puzzle platformer, you've not only got to find a way to reach the exit, but you've got to drop words in your path to make it possible. And some of those words come alive, so be careful how you wield them! No matter how you slice it, Uirdz is a tricky challenge that will give you plenty of opportunities to reunite with your favorite platforming nemesis, spikes.

Qoosh, like many protagonists before him (she? it?), is a lab experiment being guided through a series of tests by a narrator who seems less into actual science and more his own sadistic amusement. But despite the familiar premise, Qoosh wins with both charm and challenge to provide a fun and engaging experience that gives you a warm sense of satisfaction as you tackle its puzzles.

Go on a stunning retro action-adventure to uncover the identity of a murderer in this old-school styled Western tale. Do odd jobs and favours to learn clues to the identity of the villain, and travel all over the sun-soaked land. Though the controls and the lack of a save feature make this one a specific, and an acquired taste, Westerado is one of the most beautiful browser games to come down the line in a long time.

I can has cheezburger? How about sausage from Germany, cheese from Switzerland, and any and every food this kitty wants to sample in this easy-yet-thinky physics puzzle from the folks that brought us Cat Around the World. Just like last time, your goal is to send the round food to the hungry feline by removing blocks, pressing buttons and avoiding electrical hazards. It's 30 more levels of the same formula, but when same is so tasty, it's always a good thing.

How do you make a unique puzzle platformer? By breaking it! At least, that's what it looks like happened when you play this clever game. Your goal is to reunite the little boy with the probably-not-going-to-steal-his-soul pink ghost, but each level has been shattered and strewn about, so figuring out how to navigate your way through piece by piece is a trick for your hands and your eyes.

From the imagination of MyGames888, enter a dreamlike aquatic abode full of enigmas. If you want to escape—and avoid a permanent case of prune skin—you'll need to find the answer to many questions such what does that turtle have on its back and why is that fish behind bars? Put together clues and creative tools to solve puzzles and find your way out to one of the funnest "Congratulations!" screens in the genre.

While the surroundings may look dull in this escape game from new-to-the-scene designer, Indice, the beauty in its clean design and simple lay-out soon becomes clear. Just a bit of wit and logic is all that's needed to solve the puzzles before you, making for a brief but satisfying excursion that will leave you looking forward to the next sticky situation you can be trapped in.

A short and simple game of cards? Well, not THAT simple! In this clever strategy game, you're tasked with assembling a group of heroes, represented by cards, on the playing field before your opponent does. The catch? Each card has special abilities that can hinder or impact your enemy's progress, but they're also being used against you!

Not all fairy tales are made the same, and not all locked away princesses want to be saved. In Mad Princess, a defense strategy game, the goal is to help the princess destroy her would be "heroes," and ensure she gets to stay in her cozy castle filled with corpses. Armed with an assortment of traps, you will have to time and plan your attacks well to be effective against the attack.

There's a new robot on the gaming scene! Help Sparkman navigate to the exit portal in this clever puzzle platformer. Use Sparkman's special ability to stop the screen from scrolling allowing you to maneuver through the sides of the screen to reach areas that you wouldn't be able to get to otherwise. Beware hazards and collect discs to get a perfect score in this creative twist of the platforming genre.

Magic and mystery, much to the displeasure of many, is not as ever-present as is should be. On one hand that fact makes reality seem far too dreary, but on the other, it might be for the best that power of that nature isn't lurking around every corner. In the newest installment of Elephant Games' Grim Tales series, Grim Tales: The Stone Queen, this is made very clear. In this hidden object puzzle adventure mystery game, it's easy to realize why magic and supernatural powers can be a grim alternative to the mundane normalcy of bill paying and chores.

Here's a deceptively simple point-and-click puzzle game from Emiel de Graaf in which you determine just how to lay out a series of stepping stones to reach the goal. Each stone has a limited number of spaces in which it will move; select the stone and choose the direction you want it to go, using strategy to determine just how to connect pathways and successfully complete the sixteen levels. It's both easy and thoughtful, the perfect way to chill while still steppin' up those brain cells.

Kentucky Route Zero: Act I is a curious mash-up of an old school adventure game and a cinematic text adventure. Created by Cardboard Computer (which includes A House in California developer Jake Elliott), the game is packed with phenomenal visual and sound design, setting an atmosphere that's one of the most intriguing in recent indie gaming history. it's a bit like Twin Peaks meets a moody old school adventure game (on a dark night in the middle of Kentucky).

After playing John Clowder's Middens, you might ask yourself the following question: what just happened? Calling this adventure/RPG "surreal" is a bit like saying a hike to the moon would be a bit of a trek. You start off with a talking gun who reminds you that each time you pull the trigger, its tongue will be close enough to lick your nails. Then you're dropped in the Rift, a place where... well, who knows what's going on there. The surprising part is Middens actually begins to make sense after a while, though your first experience with the game will be filled with delightful, bewildered confusion.

Lake House: Children of Silence is a casual adventure game from Alawar that involves a young couple, a mysterious death, a kidnapping, some really creepy goings-on, and, naturally, a lake house. It all begins in the cafe with an awkward wedding proposal met by a cold reaction from the would-have-been bride-to-be. When she explains that someone broke into your house and burned/scratched you out of the photo albums, you can understand why she's so freaked out. And you should be too, seeing as how there's a masked man who may or may not be Ann's long-dead brother following you around. At least the proposal will be a day to remember!

Unlike many similar platformers, Vex's goal isn't to frustrate the player. Checkpoints are liberally scattered throughout the levels, typically ensuring that you won't have to repeat tasks if you die. With a little patience and focus, anyone can get through Vex... and once they do, it's off to the Level Editor to see if you can throw together a stage to stump the world!

Poor Shawn had been planning for a nice night in watching horror movies. Alas, his wandering eye spotted a beautiful blonde that he simply had to convince to go out with him. The catch: She won't even speak with him and her friend is clearly blocking the opportunity. In this light hearted point-and-click adventure you'll journey through the town searching for the right incentive to make blondie want to spend some time with you.

The tired box is back in the fifth installment of the Wake Up The Box series. Once again use whatever means are at your disposal to prevent the little guy from getting his sleep. Get your physics puzzle fix as you draw various shapes to bounce, slide, or rocket the box out of dreamland.

Come build a snowman and enjoy the magic of a holiday night while treating yourself to one of TomaTea's most gorgeously atmospheric escape games to date. You will need to have a keen hidden object seeking eye to locate all essential parts but the neat design and helpful features will make puzzle solving much more pleasant. Anytime you're wistful for a wintery fiesta, ring in the season with this Golden Bell!

A lovingly detailed homage to classic platforming adventures, this retro-styled Metroidvania game takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where your only reason for living is suddenly abducted from you by a mysterious stranger. While it could use some more to do, it's a beautifully made title fans of classic gaming will enjoy.

Escape from the same old habits and start a new resolution for wackiness with Detarou's discovery-filled escape game. This time you're locked inside a large, multi-roomed house with new things to discover around every corner. With so much to explore, and three endings to reach, the challenge lies in how to sort through the abundance of information to solve the puzzles that lead to your escape. So shape up those synapses, prepare for strangeness, and you're well on your way to a fresh new Detarou outlook.

The babies of fairyland have been nabbed! What kind of monster would do such a thing?!... well, um. You. Command a demon army trying to shepherd a group of babies back to their evil leader in this real-time strategy/tower defense hybrid. With upgrades, spells, fake demon babies, and more, it's a seriously cute, challenging, and quirky game where you get to be the bad guy.

Keep monsters from reaching the portal to our world, where they will presumably lurk under beds waiting to snap off toes, in this colourful tower-defense game. More an expansion and improved version of the original, it brings a new tower type, an expanded upgrade tree, and a creative level design that will up the challenge and keep you busy.

All you need is a sword on your back and revenge in your heart to be a hero in this combat-centric RPG from JIMP and Grindhead Games. Venturing outside the city walls in search of the monster that killed your father, you'll slice, dice, and magic-fisherize your way through a series of colourful battles in this simple but fun title.

Point-and-click your way to rescue your sister in this charming adventure game. You and your bee team together to get your sister back from the bad guys who whisked her away. Experiment on each level until you discover the secrets to continue on to the next. Short and sweet, Shapik: The Quest is a wonderful way to spend a little time.

With a name like F.O.L.D. - Fantastic Olfactory Latrine Discoverer, you know something interesting has to be going on. This puzzle platform game by Cosine relies on just two mechanics to fuel its levels: picking up blocks, and folding the screen. By combining those in some seriously head-splitting ways, you get to figure out how to get from one side of the screen to the other, all in the name of making it to a single pristine bathroom fixture!

In this direct sequel to the original dark fantasy title, Kathleen and her daughter Emily thought they'd escape the bizarre otherworld and mysterious legacy left to Emily by her dead father. But a letter ten years later as Emily is preparing to go off on her own forces the family to realise they must confront and uncover the dark truth behind dreams and nightmares in this stunning hidden-object adventure.

Zap away colorful jewels to save the townsfolk in Jewelanche 2. In this beautiful match-3 game, draw lines to connect gems of the same shape and color to remove them from the board. Fight evil bosses and collect gold on your way. Beware obstacles, and spend your cash on the power-ups best suited for the level. Once again use your magic to save the day!

The next chapter in Sam Otero's fan-made spin on the popular Pokemon franchise has arrived! RPG meets tower-defense as you are free to manually explore the world, hunting for and capturing Pokemon in the field as a boy or girl, and ultimately discovering the truth behind the strange Shadow Pokemon while you save the world... again! Homage or imitation? That's up to you to decide.

Although Soom 2013 isn't long at all, particularly compared to Place of Light's earlier works like Loom Dawn and Room Marine, it's good while it lasts. The room and its puzzles are very well designed, and although the lack of any sound can be a little disconcerting, it doesn't really get in the way. As someone born in the year of the snake myself (...er, not this year of the snake, the one 24 years ago), I consider myself qualified to recommend Soom 2013, and I do so eagerly.

Nitrome's latest itty-bitty game puts you in charge of a bird with frost-spewing abilities who can freeze its enemies solid. But with one-hit KOs threatening you and a limited amount of icy power at your disposal, you'll have to think carefully and fly fast in order to make it through challenging gauntlets of foes, switches, doors, and more in this simple but clever little action game.