A series of five point-and-click mystery adventure games from Norm and Company, Stickman Murder Mysteries are oldies but goodies. As a homocide detective in Stickville, you must investigate each of the five crimes, and bring the culprits to justice. Those who can stand the MS Paint graphics and crude HTML programming will find a set of involving cases with serious crimes and twisty plotting that every lover of mystery games will enjoy.

The action-packed Enigmata series gets reincarnated as a real-time tower defense game. Protect the Core from wave after wave of enemies and huge bosses by upgrading and placing ships with a variety of explosive abilities, including upgrades that persist across levels. It's a gorgeous, though somewhat chaotic, spin on the genre that sci-fi fans will want to check out.

Clueless provides an easygoing escape challenge that is sure to appeal to anyone who loves the genre. Logical, pretty, and challenging, here's a bonus escape for those who love solving their way out of locked rooms.

Tesshi-e gives us a sequel to The Happy Escape with Happy Escape 2, yet another challenge to find as many happy coins (and, thus, happiness) within a classic locked room escape. There is only one escape scenario in this little charmer that features the standard gorgeous Tesshi-e visuals and a jazzy little tune to help pass the time while solving a nice selection of logical puzzles.

Gamer Mom, by Mordechai Buckman and Kyler Kelly, is a unique text adventure about a Mom trying to convince her family to play World of Warcraft together and mend their broken relationship. But it won't be easy! Your daughter hates you and only wants to text on her cellphone all day and your husband is a workaholic who doesn't want to spend anytime as a family. Even if you manage to succeed in your goal, the game doesn't end there and you might be surprised at what happens next. Gamer Mom is a short, but lasting, experience that manages to be sad, poignant, and even funny...just like life itself.

As the forlorn leader of scattered tribe with the power to utilize the elements, scour the pixel islands in search of your magic totem powers in this retro real time strategy game. An innovative strategy game that makes manipulation of earth your main priority if you hope to crush your enemies as swiftly as possible. The ability to rain fire from the sky or electrocute your foes is just a nice side benefit of elemental dominion. Do you have the fortitude to reclaim a tribe's history from ashes and bring them to new heights? Prove your worth.

Rambo is back and ready for one last adventure, but no need to fire up your Betamax, because Peter Javidpour has you covered in this surreal puzzle adventure based on a series of tweets by the fictitious Peter Molydeux. Just make sure you've brushed up on your 80's pop culture knowledge ahead of time.

Hire a jazz band to back you up, practice your "lurking around under lonely streetlight" skills, and order some fedoras because you're going sleuthing! The mystery game might not be as widely experimented with as other genres, but these three favourites prove that it can't be beat in terms of style, swank, and plot twists aplenty.

The Sandbox is a creative elemental puzzle game for iOS by Pixowl. It mixes puzzles and challenges with good old fashioned elemental interactions, exactly the kind you would find in classic browser games like Sand Sand Sand. Guiding the all-powerful element dropping utility that is your finger, you can mix dozens of unique elements to create fantastic reactions, functioning machines, crazy Rube Goldberg-like devices, or just paint pretty pictures on your screen. There's plenty of room for creativity, but also a fair amount of thoughtful challenge as well!

You think you're tired? Take a look at Mr. Box! You would think three games of sleep would be plenty but not for this cardboard narcoleptic. Too bad for him it's up to you to wake him up and this time around it's not only tree stumps and wooden boards you'll be using. It's up to you to draw the method that will have him waking up on the wrong side of what may have seemed a safe platform above a perilous fall.

We thought we had seen the last of Being One. The nigh-indestructable creature had escaped from the humans who imprisoned him and experimented upon them in their orbital lab, and returned to his people. Now he's back, though, and he's looking for vengeance. But nothing is as it seems in Being One: Episode 5 - Infection, the newest in Psionic's series of horror adventure games. Awesome atmosphere and twisty plotting is hampered by a lack of documentation and an abrupt ending, but all fans of sci-fi horror should love it.

Cappuccino Under The Leaves, by Japanese developer Karabina-7, is a point and click based around making a frog a cup of coffee. Yeah, it's an odd kind of work, but with its engagingly cute aesthetic, and challenging, but logical, puzzles, Cappuccino Under The Leaves is an excellent blend that's good to the last drop.

Retro shmup? More like Bullet Candy! An avalanche of colour and sound assaults you like a continuous rain of fireworks, but there's no time to stop and watch as 8 bosses, plus minions, are out to destroy your little spaceship. Or maybe you're out to destroy them. Score Rush requires registration before you can play, but shooter fans will find that behind the dazzling spectacle of the graphics there's a smooth, solid, and very playable game as well.

When you're trapped in a world filled with nightmares made flesh and are out for YOUR blood, your best bet is to... RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Nightmare Runner puts you in the depths of hell in this run and jump shooting game built with a player level upgrade system and in-game pick ups to aid in your escape. With an ambient choir-meets-action movie soundtrack and an easy one button click interface, you get easily entranced into 2D world that flows smoothly with the music and the difficulty. You have an infinite clip of bullets and finite distance to travel for salvation so this evil can be trounced in a single, well-lit sitting.

This little girl named Mabel is stuck in a cavern and her only means of escaping is combining letter creatures into words and use them as platforms to climb out. A cross between a platformer and a word puzzle game that gives you the challenge of navigating platforms carefully while making intricate words for as many points as possible. Your high score and hopes of surviving all hinge on your extensive vocabulary knowledge and quick thinking in this game by Joel Esler.

He's a ninja with a mission: to complete the report on time... it's Temp Ninja! In Games Northwest's high difficulty platformer, fly through the air avoiding spikes and trying your darndest to land on tiny platforms or plummet into the unknown. Grab the nearest cup of coffee and spiral your way through 20 levels of an experience you're not likely to find in your own office!

Tower defense fans, get your fix and ease your withdrawal symptoms with booblyc's Keeper of the Grove. In this lovely addition to the genre you play the defender of a beautiful garden kingdom, recently invaded by dark rogues, mean scaly louts, and ugly abominations. And they all want your gems! Keeper of the Grove features a long list of towers and upgrades to go along with it's lovely backdrops, but don't be fooled by it's Sunday afternoon Candyland exterior...underneath all that cute lies a monster of a tower defense game that will keep hardcore fans up at night, and more casual players entertained for the day.

The Podge's cute, cuddly, and ever-infernoey insect is back to set the world on fire once again in the puzzle platformer, Firebug 2. As before, the gimmick is that the protagonist will set everything he touches on fire, making speed a larger element than in most puzzle platformers. Refinement of the original's already fun gameplay, makes for a game that's a great for burning through a coffee break.

It's time to raise a toast in celebration of Tesshi-e's 73rd astonishing room escape effort and once again enjoy its tricky, twisty, mistily nostalgic personality. There's really nothing to complain about in Mild Escape 5. The puzzles are tricky and satisfying with some neat solutions, the construction is at a minimum, the English translations are terrific, the controls are top notch, and the color puzzles come with text making them solvable even for the colorblind.

Do you like puzzles? Do you like Tetris? Do you like BUTTER? Megadev's Big-Time Butter Baron combines all three of these in a tricky challenge of block placement set in one of the craziest factories you'll ever see. However, we don't recommend rubbing your toast on your monitor. It's not real butter. It's e-butter.

Choose your heroes and strategize your way through level after level in this addicting turn-based strategy game by Retro64. Available as a browser game or iOS download, Rune Raiders will have you hooked right away. Each hero has different abilities, which makes it easy to find the combo that suits your play style. Whether you favor the ninja or the pun tree, make your choice wisely and plan your attack to overcome evil monsters. Defeat the Dark Master, save the kingdom, then celebrate at the Victory Pub!

Dungeons, dragons, drills, decapitations... what do they all have in common? Fantasy, of course! This week, we're putting on our +20% Boots of Coolness to dive deep into the Vault for some titles that have brought a little fantasy into our lives in vastly different ways. Don't forget to bring a candle. It's dark in here, and you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Monstrum shows you exactly why they lead the pack in turn-based dungeon-crawling RPG strategy with this follow-up to the immensely popular Monsters' Den: Book of Dread. Conquer three campaigns by mastering the abilities of your heroes as you venture deep into dungeons that will require careful strategy to defeat the creatures within.

From long-time casual game creator Terry Paton, Waste is a simple but highly-polished puzzle game featuring every child's two favorite things: monsters and goopy green sewage! The undeniably cute release combines quick-action puzzle solving along with a little bit of old fashioned error-driven pressure, forcing you to make snap decisions that are not only efficient, but economical, too. It's an easy game to pick up and play, no matter what mood you're in or how long your "coffee break" happens to be!

Fans of Metroidvania style games, rejoice, and put on your virtual sneakers! SubMu entertainment's latest release, Blockstachio, incorporates quirky, blocky graphics, and a soundtrack that solidly consolidates retro bleeps and bangs over the top of the heroic theme music that will drive you towards your goal, while also packing enough platform action to keep you happily satisfied, while running and jumping your way through each level, in your pursuit to save the world. The world needs saving, and it is up to you and your cubic hero to do it. Are you up to the challenge?

You might not be ready for this Jelly Escape, a puzzle-platformer by Taw Studio. Games about anthropomorphic blobs making their way through dangerous obstacle-laden settings are nothing new, and this one is hit by a bit of CPU lag. With a fluid progression of 50+ levels, a comprehensive checkpoint system that allows the game to be challenging without ever feeling too tough, and a hilariously whimsical sense of humor, though, it's worth checking out.

This little red block monster's father doesn't want to play with him, but maybe you can change that in this eye-infested tumble drop physics game. Made with the Box2D physics engine, you get a cutesy puzzle game backed by reliable and well-tested physics that won't waste your precious free time. Click away as few mean monster blocks as possible to reunite a playful son and his tired dad for high scores and star ratings. The adorable music and a squealing son will put a smile on your face, guaranteed!

Why does negligent parenting get such a bad rap? If it wasn't for bum parents, we'd never have this lovely launch game, Billy The Pilot, from Erik Sombroek, about a little boy who just wants to fly, and who has a mom and dad that don't seem to mind their little boy building a launchpad in the backyard, right in the path of the family flower bed. The backgrounds and animations in Billy the Pilot are impossibly cute and the upgrades a lot of fun, especially the ability to build a pet dragon! But the gameplay is repetitive and the in-flight controls are clunky. It also isn't very hard. Really, Billy the Pilot is just an excuse to explore a beautifully drawn and colorful Never Never Land where kids are kings and parents nowhere to be found...as it should be.

Never trust blobby pink monstrosities! In this sequel to Nitrome's 2009 action platformer, guide your furry miner with speed but caution through crumbling caverns full of paths that fall away just as suddenly as they fly up before you. Packed full of new beasts, obstacles, power-ups, and now checkpoints, it's a difficult but worthy sequel.

An old idiom is brought back to life in the physics puzzle gaming scene in Eliot Pace's sequel to Pigs Can Fly. Manipulate multiple objects using time-and-space distorting colored potions so a little pig can get some wings. With a re-imagined look, more depth to the puzzles, and the same physics gameplay, this oinker has learned a few new tricks that are a welcome sight. This porker is as lazy as pigs get so it could use all the help it could get.

In Sergio Alonso's shiny new bullet hell shooter, Boss Slayer, Ten alien starships have entered the solar system and you have 12 days to destroy these bad boys before they make their final approach to Earth. The game features an array of upgrades, of which each has a clear, immediate effect and it can be a lot of fun to watch your weak little ship transform so quickly into a beefy alien antagonizer. Boss Slayer isn't an innovative game by any means, but it understands the genre perfectly and serves up a smooth, streamlined gameplay experience.

You know what's cool? Beatboxing. You know what's cooler? When you get to conduct a squad of digital human beatboxers right in your browser. So Far So Good serves up a simple but slick and stylish webtoy where musical creativity is just a drag and drop away. Warning; may make you irresistibly cooler by association.

Is your trigger-finger ready for a challenge? Then load up the beautiful but deadly Ludum Dare competition entry Kumiho. Pilot a ship with the ability to teleport against hordes of semi-organic monstrosities transformed by a vengeful Goddess. With striking visuals and simple but high-difficulty gameplay, it's a lovely little diversion if your reflexes are up to the task.

Aimed more at kids than adults but equally enjoyable by both for its charm, this sweet little adventure platformer tells the story of a teddy bear who gets lost and strikes out to find a way back home to the little girl who dropped him. Light on challenge but big on style and cuteness, it's just the right size for new gamers to try on, and just the right tone for old gamers to relax with.

In FazeCat's everything-but-the-kitchen sink defense game, Paladog, Critterland has been invaded by zombies, witches, skeletons, and just about every evil little thing you can imagine, including television sets! It's up to you to fight them off, but are you dog enough to take them on over a whopping 120 levels, including special mini-games. Paladog is a big, cuddly, newspaper-fetching machine, that brings back the Sunday paper, but slobbers all over the funnies... and you love it anyway.

Like your mini-golfing streamlined and mellow? This slick physics puzzle by Jayc Santos might be the offer. Serving up creative bumpers and boosters you place yourself, and your average golfing traps like water and mines, it's a mellow experience you'll definitely want to take a swing at.

Ever since Pac-Man first escaped off the right side of the screen to magically appear on the left, players have had a certain thing for games that skew traditional notions of spatiality. The Village Blacksmith offers another wonderful take on this kind of teleportation in Recursion, a cool little retro puzzle platformer. The series of single screen levels progresses nicely, even if the jumps require a bit too much precision. Still, Recursion worth playing over and over again.

A bite-sized escape puzzler from Dghgbakufu that drops you in the middle of a cross-shaped five-room dungeon and dares you to solve its puzzles and escape to the surface. Bakufu shies away from the complicated clichés like using screwdrivers to pry open panels and finding power cords to plug in computers. All the keys and doors are symbol-coded, and there's no pixel-hunting, either; what little challenge this developer's games contain lies in deciphering the simple yet clever little clues to open the safes, which is fine for someone wanting a quick and easy escape but not so much for a challenge-seeker.

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

Having a mellow spell and want a game that won't zap your brain? Conjure up a bit of amusement in this charming little puzzle platform game by Aizat Haibulin. Using your sparkly wand, strategically place dummies to overcome the obstacles and baddies standing between you and the magic door. Don't let the name fool you: nothing overly complicated or intricate here. It's just the right amount of cute design and mild challenge to suit your fancy.

Everyone knows games can be hard to put down, but some titles are trickier than most to pull yourself away from. From magical robotic equine action to fiendishly simple block puzzles and even medieval archer madness, here's a collection of some of the most addictive little games around that can keep you up into the wee hours.

In the mood for cracking some codes and breaking open a few boxes but short on time? This escape-the-room game from Tateita is just the right size for a quick fix. A sparse, five-walled room and several locks are all that stand between you and the open door. While its brevity might disappoint, Box 19's puzzles are sure to please.

Natural disasters are at your fingertips in this simple but clever little physics puzzle from Anton Koshechkin. Unleash hurricanes, comets, bees, and more in order to destroy eggs housed in protective structures. It's weird, funny, and just the right dose of egg carnage to see you through the day.

Up for a challenge? In BlockHopper, an innovative puzzle platformer from GreenPixel, you control an adorable little robot named Bit across 35 different levels and landscapes to ultimate victory. But here's the twist: this isn't just some run-of-the mill, jump over static platforms to victory kind of game. Instead, you control the placement of platforms in the form of many different and ingenious blocks, each with their own separate logic and mechanics. This game features some cute graphic and a great soundtrack by Starship Amazing, but don't kid yourself, this game is hard. VERY HARD. To win, you'll have to think outside the block.

Help Johnny through a level filled with hazards by buying upgrades for.... everything! From run speed to the game timer to double jumping, it's in the store. Collect coins, buy upgrades, and repeat until you're strong enough to take on the final boss. Simple but engaging, Johnny Upgrade is a little treat for platforming fans, or anyone who really likes upgrades.

Use physics to maneuver around obstacles in your quest to collect stars in this stylish platform game. Without a 'jump' ability, you're going to have to use all the physics-based tricks you can to stay off the deadly spikes below. Blip is a fun, playable, and completely fresh take on the genre.

Fly through a beautiful forest as Pixle, a mysterious multi form Shade. Along the way, collect power-ups and evolve into bigger, faster forms, while staying clear of shadow tunnels. Pixle is a short game with a beautiful sense of style and easy to learn gameplay.

Jonathan Whiting is here with another wonderfully vague Ludum Dare entry, arcade puzzler, Niña Nueve. Taking place in a nine-by-nine room (or does it?), Niña Nueve leaves it to the player to determine its mechanics, even as they grow ever more complex. Niña Nueve is a short game that will be run through pretty quickly. Still, it is a heck of a ride.

With modern and sharp looking graphics, Cube Mayhem brings isometric puzzle gaming to anyone looking for quick yet demanding casual experience. The cube will rock and roll along the map and follow the programmed sequence of action tiles you place in its way.

The classic first-person shooter credited with jump-starting the genre on PC gets a re-release in HTML5! As Captain B.J., blast your way through three different missions and all the original levels of over-the-top retro action. It's cheesy, it's violent, and back in its day it was more than a little controversial, but Id Software's iconic title is responsible for siring many of the games you play today and is still as fun as ever.

Given a choice between one or the other, is it better to have stronger personal relationships or longer life? This is part of Mihail's dilemma; he has an illness that presents him with limited options, both day and night. Play this interactive art/experimental game using arrows to move and [space] to interact; play more than once to see the full scoop of conversations and each of the two endings. What does it all mean? Well, that's up to you. The important things in life are always a matter of perspective.

The third installment in Mibix's physics-based puzzle shooter game with a faceless assailant and rather useful handgun. Bounce your shots off anything you see to take out your enemies with environmental objects or good old fashion lead. WIth loads of interactive objects to use in your mission, twenty extra levels outside the main 50, and smoother graphics from its predecessors, you have plenty of reasons to play one of the best puzzle shooter games this side of the internet.

Be afraid. Be very afraid of his scary love. In Bear of Love, a tongue-and-cheek action game from LeBrancher and rzafael, you play a bear who needs to hug people in order to breath, creating a form of photo-hug-synthesis that will have scientists baffled for decades. But there's a catch: you tend to come on too strong and end up killing those you hug when you don't pull away in time. Bear of Love features some great 8-bit pixel art and the funny upgrades and animations will have you chortling to yourself long after the five or ten minutes it takes to finish this game, making it a perfect antidote for the Monday morning blues.

A four-walled room escape game with simple, gradiented graphics and plenty of puzzles, most of which center around a particular theme. In this case, the theme is the blue enigma machine over on the cabinet there and the circular tumblers that it uses. Solve puzzles all around the room, get everything figured out, and eventually get that door open. The puzzles show a bit more variation than Otousan's games typically do, and the game as a whole is a bit longer and more substantial (it must be, there's a save feature this time!), which is good for those of you who found the developer's past games too easy.

A good story is great, but sometimes you just want to blow stuff up. In DN8: Pulse, a new shooter game from Squize, you are the commander of a puny little fighter who has to fight off swarms of enemy vessels if you want to survive. If you make it past the initial waves, you'll have the chance to upgrade your ship with extra shields, weapons, and even support pods and there are two upgrade paths, defensive and offensive. The clear selling point of DN8: Pulse are the graphics, done in Stage3D, which are unlike most anything you've seen in a flash game. The visuals are in a word, stunning. And it's a lot of fun to play a shoot-em-up that leaves the conventional retro pixelated setting and dares to take it to the farthest reaches of the universe for a truly immersive experience.

An interesting combination of Cyclomaniacs gameplay with Nerdook's trademark intense combat, Nuclear Outrun is a fun physics-driving-shooting hybrid about outrunning a nuclear missile. While lacking in depth, Nuclear Outrun still manages to be a lot of fun, especially once you get the gun that shoots sharks. What more do you need?

Who wants to be king? You do! Point and click your knight to victory in this cute puzzler. Topple the red towers to conquer the kingdom and take the throne for yourself. Begamer's latest may not be particularly deep, but as a means to fit some adventurous championing in your day and make you feel ready to conquer any adorable threat in your path, it can't be beat.

Emotions can be powerful stuff, and few people ever expect to encounter them to any great degree when they set out to indulge in a little casual gaming. Of course, by now you should know indie developers are a clever, dastardly lot who will never pass up a chance to mess with your heartstrings (or your head) no matter what genre you're enjoying. Here are three games you should try if you'll looking for a very different gaming experience that makes you feel.

Do you have what it takes to be a real Hero Mage? This turn-based, tactical strategy game brings the feel of tabletop RPG combat to your mobile device or browser. Take control of a small group of heroes on their battle-ridden path to victory over darkness in the realm of Papillion. It's like a tabletop game in your pocket!

Abounding with spring-loaded trampolines, electrical hazards, and an adorable cat with a winning smile, this physics puzzle is the perfect pit stop, even if it isn't particularly challenging or innovative. Whether you go for the full challenge of 3 stars on each of the 30 levels, or breeze through grabbing an occasional star, it's fun to help our feline friend visit and sample culinary delights around the world, especially when he purrs happily upon receipt of his treat. Besides, it's easy to empathize: who wouldn't tire of plain ol' boring cat food?

It's always great when Japanese developer, Yoshio Ishii, gets experimental, and his RPG, Parameters, is certainly that. It looks like an Excel Spreadsheet, and plays like a computer hacking scene from a 1980s action movie. Abstract, but very addictive, Parameters won't be for everyone, but those looking for something a little different should find it quite compelling.

Made in only 48 hours for Ludum Dare 23, this miniature point-and-click adventure is big on impact. Help a forgetful old man remember through exploring his tiny cell, looking for the key memento to bring back his memory in full. Game designer Sébastien Bénard makes perfect use of the theme, Tiny World—from the scale of game window to the limits of the protagonist's world—creating a memorable story and enjoyable playing experience.

Come along for the adventure with Pee Wee and Nits the dog as they travel through history to learn and get their friends out of trouble. Run and jump your way through Greece, Rome, Egypt and Great Britain to solve physics puzzle and learn a little from British sitcom star, Tony Robinson. The excellent voice over work, grainy sketch art style, and casual difficulty will draw anyone to this advergame who is looking for a quick distraction.

You'll enjoy 30 levels of gem matching action in Jewelanche. Click and drag your mouse along at least three adjacent gems of the same color to remove them from the board. Buy powerups to help you on your way when the going gets tough.

Who knew that crash test dummies were so...squishy? In Dummy Crusher, a sadistic little physics game from Alexandr Porubov and Ekaterina Saburova, you are a contestant on a Hunger Games-like TV program where you are given all the explosives and projectiles you can ask for and have to make the audience happy by knocking the stuffing out of poor, defenseless crash test dummies. The aim of the game is to cause the most destruction possible and to max out your points bar before moving forward. Take your time and be creative, or the audience won't be happy and you'll need to start again. At 20 levels, Dummy Crusher is a great way to spend a long lunch break.

Who else but Detarou could make a dancing man in a tree costume, an unquestionably evil panda, and curious uses for a pickle seem somehow normal? The king of kooky does not disappoint in this installment of bizarre puzzles and twisted logic with just the right amount of challenge all crammed into a neat escape game package. Now that you know what you're in for, think you can find a way out?

Nature is a cruel mistress in this little gem from Ludum Dare 23. Improve tiles, gather resources, and build cities and shrines to stabilize your world against the next eco disaster. To beat the game you will need to build a level 4 shrine and a level 3 city. Easier said than done, as each disaster will destroy or rearrange tiles, and erase whatever you've built there.

Predicament by Orangepascal is a back to basics escape-the-room game with lovely pixelart and features a story with an unexpected ending. You are a lone survivor who has fallen into a cave and must find their way out if they want to live. But, why are there objects already in this cave? For anyone with a need for a quick escape-the-room fix and a love for stories with ambiguous endings, there is no predicament... just play and enjoy.

The internet loves nostalgia! The internet loves zombies! What do you get when you take these two great tastes that taste great together? The Organ Trail, a parody of a certain edutainment adventure, developed by The Men Who Wear Many Hats, tasks you with the familiar goal of safely leading a party across the US to the west coast. However, this time your Conestoga is replaced by a station wagon, there are no buffalo, and, oh yeah, there are legions of the undead just waiting for a good ol' fashioned brain chomping. The Organ Trail sticks a little too close to its inspiration in the repetitive mid-game, but overall it is an enjoyable mix of shout outs and classic gameplay.

Imagine an entire game built around the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Arc and you'd have Rastatronics' Gem Cave Adventure, a bare-bones platformer that puts you in the role of a jewel seeking adventurer, exploring your way through 50 caves, dodging obstacles and finding treasure along the way. The only problem is that, once you've taken your treasure, ancient traps become activated and you'll have to make it past them all if you want to cash in your find. Gem Cave Adventure is a great little game that, while it doesn't do anything new, it takes an old idea and swings with it.

Tesshi-e introduces us to yet another person who likes to lock their friends into a room and leave them to solve their way out, although with the lush surroundings in this bar you might want to kick back on the comfy furniture and try a cocktail or two before attempting escape.

When someone tries to block, show them that you ROCK! Tempa Labs brings a unique spin to the turn-based RPG genre in this bouncy strategy game where you shoot your heroes around the field, pinball style, dealing damage to monsters and earning levels. Simple but colourful and a lot of fun, it's a creative little title that's well worth a few minutes of your time.

Once again Robamimi brings us a classic four-wall one-room escape that is more than it seems. Explore the sparse area and use the day/night differences to solve your way out of this amusing puzzler. What this charming room lacks in theme or decor it more than makes up for with engaging and amusing challenges, a perfect mid-week break.

With gameplay inspired by the classic Rampage series, take control of a huge, angry dinosaur and smash your way through a fully destructive city. Punch through buildings and swat missiles out of the air as the army tries to stop you reuniting with your lost son in this epic 8bit arcade game.

Long for the halcyon days of point-and-click adventures, with their great stories, rib-tickling humor, and lovely pixel art? Exposed, a new point-and-click puzzle adventure from Procedural Activity is the closest you'll come without a time machine. Made in under 48 hours for the recent Ludum 23 Dare, you play a bored teenager with a Fonzie-esque pompadour who gets himself into a bit of trouble when he runs afoul of the local mad scientist. To make amends, you'll have to aid him in his morally bankrupt experiments and solve plenty of puzzles along the way.

Have you met your orc slaughtering quotient for the day? No? Good, because In Battle Panic, a new strategy defense game by Kaiparasoft, your kingdom has been overrun by the orcish horde and it's up to you to take back what's yours and bring the fight to the enemy's homeland. Nothing new here, of course, but what makes Battle Panic stand out is its controls. To build, heal, destroy, and mine, just place your cursor over the object you want to interact with, no clicking required. Finally a strategy game for the truly casual!

Explore the Tiny Worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom in Johan Peitz's Ludum Dare entry, A Super Mario Summary. A distillation of the original 32 levels of Super Mario Brothers in single screen puzzle-platform format, A Super Mario Summary is a loving tribute, but more than that, a great game.

Feel like a little otherworldly gaming? This week's Vault features sci-fi titles that explore the genre with different gameplay. From a fast and furious shooter, to an eerie underwater escape, and even a professional-looking adventure set on an alien world, these games provide the perfect bit of escapism from your Earthly day.

Did you think you had truly escaped The Dark Room? HA! Commandingly Deep-Voiced Australian John Robertson is back to taunt you a second time, as you try to escape The Dark Room: Round 2, a continuation of his darkly-comedic YouTube puzzle adventure. Things are a little darker and a little angrier this time around, but the concept remains as hilarious as ever.

Just how many times can those darn monkeys of Pencil Kids need cheering up? It's time for the fifth go around, so get your cursors ready. You'll need to solve puzzles and win some mini-games to make a quintet of monkeys, well, go happy, in Monkey GO Happy 5.

PostBeta invites you to a Tron-like slotcar race, where traffic and obstacles are more of a hindrance than the other racers. Across 6 tracks, race to set the best times possible on densely populated courses that only allow lane changes, rather than traditional steering.

Kara returns for the climatic finale of her adventure in Covert Front 4: The Spark of Life, and the conclusion of her search of scientist Karl Von Toten. All the hallmarks of the series are back: gorgeously shady art, twisty plotting, challenging puzzles, and spooky atmosphere. Even if a little heavy on the hot-spot hunting, this is the ending fan of the series have clamored for.

Platformer. Ugh. Does just the mention of the word bring up bad memories of clunky controls, lame physics, and endless falls?. Have no fear! A plucky little boy with a purple baseball cap is here to make you believe again. Little Locations, Nolan Cooney's Ludum 23 entry, is a no-nonsense game with great physics and interesting backdrops that is challenging without being utterly impossible.

Many a bank robber has gotten away because of a superhero's random craving for crust, cheese, and tomato sauce. So you'll need to get those pizzas out quick and hot in Superhero Pizza a time management simulation by Miniclip. An extremely well-polished game, Superhero makes up for its relative lack of depth with a good dose of humor.

Want a solid retro arcade shooter? ASCII and you'll receive Battle for Asciion, by Relevo Video Games. Designed with a lot of love for its textual aesthetic, Battle for Asciion is a solid and challenging shoot-em-up, though hampered by its required button-mashing.

It's finally spring and time for some sunshine! For anyone still stuck indoors watching the rain, Rincom9 has you covered with Spring Marbles a light, cheerful puzzle game that will brighten even the most overcast day.

Help a little boy find adventure and escape danger in this stunning spot-the-difference game by Konstantin Timofeev and Azarkin Pavel. Perfect for sitting with the kids or cuddling with your pets after a long day at work and immersing yourself in another world for a while.

Grab a buddy, turn them into a heavenly body, and then thwak them silly in Matt Thorson's goofy, groovy versus fighting game made for a recent Ludum Dare competition. As planets orbit the sun, hurl them at your opponent for victory and shameless gloating rights in this amusing little diversion.

The riddle of the sphinx has tested many peoples puzzle solving skills for centuries, and now it is testing your platformer skills. Made during the What Would Molydeux game jam, Andrew Brophy and his crew presents Old Man Baby where you jump and crawl as a man who must change in between stages of his life to solve puzzles. You have to take baby steps when starting out, but do not worry because your glory years will set in pretty quickly.

Peanut butter and jelly. Fish and chips. Garbage bags and garbage cans? Sure, they go together, but you probably never considered how they might be romantically entangled. In VillaVanilla's clever action game A Trashy Love Story, you've got to waft the bag to its companion bin while avoiding puncturing spikes and dangerous waterfalls.

Well, would you look at that, another kingdom is in peril and you must defeat the king's power hungry son before it is too late. Nano Kingdoms puts you in charge of His Majesty's forces as you carve a path towards his evil son. Easy-to-figure out click controls make this realtime strategy defense game a nice choice for first time RTS players. The sounds are well-made, the art is wonderfully cartoonish, and the difficulty will leave you satisfied with your micro-managing skills.

Have you ever wanted to wake up mysteriously in some odd cabin in the woods as your next vacation? Of course not! That is just plain freaky and Shawn Tanner continues his escape series by testing your wits to escape this god forsaken lake-side cabin. Scrounge together whatever you can find to solve puzzles so you won't have to spend another second in this shady shack.

In Tiny Wizard, an inventive new arcade shooter by Hannes Rahm, your lovely castle has been invaded by all manner of ghosts and ghouls and if you want to see peace again, you'll need to conjure up all your best magical powers (and your snazziest wizard hats) to beat them back.

In Army of Ages, you must defend your stone age settlement from an alien invasion. But sticks and stones aren't going to cut it. It's adapt or die in this polished strategy game from Luissi and Mapoga.

Step inside the world of Fracuum, a top-down maze shooter where every inward move zooms you in to the next layer of the game. Made in just 48 hours for a Ludum Dare competition themed around Tiny Worlds, Tyler Glaiel may have given you a bigger challenge than you think. Can you finangle your way through the fiery funnel and fight the foes to find freedom?

Over the years, Cogito Ergo Sum's Wan and Nyan have charmed their way into our hearts. So here's an escape-the-room game from an earlier time in the Wan and Nyan chronicles, where we can see Nyan was even then getting herself locked out and Wan to scurrying about the house, solving codes and learning special abilities. It's short but there's a plethora of puzzles to tickle your brain without frustrating you. The two endings and endless good humor will leaving you feeling warm and cheerful all over.

Yo ho! Yo ho! A Pirateers life for me! A top down action adventure by Labu, Pirateers tasks all you rascals, scoundrel, villains and knaves out there with proving the rest of the world that you're the alpha and omega of swashbuckling. Reminiscent of Sid Meier's Pirates, Pirateers delivers fun, if grindy, high seas action.

Are you a "fixer"? Get your kicks from putting gears into motion? Then I know a village that's hiring: just use your scrutiny and a pinch of physics-based ingenuity to make the windless mills function again. Although short and nothing to earn an engineering degree on, there's plenty of appeal in this physics puzzle game from a well-designed interface to serenely appealing graphics, you can get your inner Don Quixote on and be the savior of an entire village. Who could pass on that?

Created for the Ludum Dare 23 Jam, this charming puzzle platformer puts you in the role of Soldier Hinds as he attempts to escape the clutches of the evil Zordak on the small prison of Planet 161. It isn't just a great game for something created in under 48 hours. It's a great game full stop. Using three very different types of guns that allow you to manipulate your environment in different ways, Planet 161 dishes out cramped levels that unfold in complexity, offering up a few pretty compelling exercises for the gray matter while not suffering from being overly difficult.

Eugene Yailenko gets frosty... or at least his new action-packed racing game does! In Turbo Kids, race across snowy landscapes, leaping over hazards and firing freezing projectiles at your opponents, to take top prize on various courses, netting upgradeable power-ups and some sweet achievements along the way.