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.

Escape from the Room with Three Keys 8 is less of a full room escape and more of a serial, one of those five to ten minute "to be continued" shorts shown before the main event. Here's a perfect way to take a short yet entertaining break that will leave you wanting more.

Opposites attract. And, you know, it ain't fiction, just a natural fact that Char Studio integrates into their puzzle game, Electric Joint. Click through the charged particles of each level to create a loop of alternating charges. Remember not to cross the streams while dealing with the challenge of moving particles, electric barriers and whatever else the game feels like throwing at you. It's a simple and easy-to-learn game that any puzzling enthusiast can enjoy (even without being a Paula Abdul fan).

Nitrome serves up a frosty sequel in this gorgeous, quirky game of arcade avoidance. Chow down on all the fruit to complete a stage while avoiding enemies by building or busting ice. But with smarter, faster baddies, tiles that can impact your own cone avatar, and even fruit that will flee, it's even harder than you thought to be a sentient cone of ice cream.

Mateusz Skutnik's dreamily surreal point-and-click treat will help you play your way into the new year. Feeling much like a mash-up of Garden Door, 10 Gnomes and Submachine, you're tasked with finding and replacing all the necessary objects to correct an electrical malfunction after a world-shattering crisis. It is up to you to restore the energy: are you up to the task?

This fourth installment of the alternative reality-bending series continues a milieu of pictorial parables set inside minutely detailed spot-the-difference scenes. Each level has two almost identical scenes side-by-side: your objective is to study both, looking for the subtle differences—such as a person's stance, a ruffle on a dress or the shape of a cloud—and clicking on them. As you search for differences, you're treated to entertaining and thought-inspiring artwork, making Music Box of Life 4 bound to please on multiple levels.

In this short text adventure from Hyptosis, lead a party of mercenaries from the esteemed guild, the Children of Brinn, on a job to solve the supernatural problems plaguing a tiny town. The choices you make determine who lives and dies and gets a face full of acid, and provides a brief but solid little diversion brimming with potential for future installments.

Created by Danny Yaroslavski, Cube Cube Cube is an entertaining 3D variation of Nurikabe that presents sets of mental blocks for you to quite satisfyingly smash. Though a way to access interior blocks would be appreciated, puzzle fans should be quite pleased to find this new Flash implementation of the popular logic brainteaser.

if you're still interested in taking out a little rage by using a cricket bat to launch a facsimile of a fellow internet user into the ionosphere, then Berzerk Studios has you covered: Berzerk Ball 2 is the latest in the series of action games which proves hitting-stuff-with-other-stuff will never get old. Packed with content, making for a bit of a crowded presentation, but, overall, a very addictive little game.

It's a good thing that TomaTea isn't changing because it's so nice to find all the characteristics you love a fine escape game: a welcoming, richly-decorated room in which clues are presented in a logical order, asking you to draw only a few lateral conclusions to be as free as a bird. No matter how easy or tricky, though, TomaTea always makes escaping feel as pleasant as an afternoon cup of tea and biscuits.

In this twisted, gleefully weird little action game, take on the role of a crushing spike trap in a video game. You love your job, mainly because you love crushing things, but also because it gives you a chance to see your beloved game mascot... right before you crush him. Can you reach your quota and maintain job security as the fireballs start flying?

Once in a blue moon Tesshi-e gets mischevious and builds an escape around finding not one, not two, but whole lot of lucky coins in a room. These escapes make Tesshi-e fans very happy, thus the title, The Happy Escape. The Fourth time's the charm in this escape where the only objective, besides finding Santa Claus' sack of presents is finding the ten Happy Coins hidden in the room. Another Holiday treat from the mind of Tesshi-e!

Nekonote's diminutive cherubs are extremely shy and they're hidden about this winter landscape for you to find. Search around, solving puzzles and performing certain actions needed to gain a key, a helping hand or otherwise uncover the hiding spots of each of the ten dwarfs. Like the chirpy pip-squeaks you're after, this point-and-click game is short and simple but big on cheerful cuteness.

Help Santa save Christmas, one present at a time. In this launch sequel from Berserk Studios, once again blast the jolly fellow to great heights. Collect coins to upgrade your rockets. Grab power-ups and maybe you'll be able to save the presents that were blasted into the sky.

Enjoy the anticipation of Christmas Eve year-round with this amusing room escape packed with an astonishing number of puzzles for such a small room. The basic premise of the game is simple: it is Christmas Eve, your boyfriend is on his way over, the tree is not decorated, and you can't remember where you stored the ornaments. Can you decorate before your date arrives? Better hope so!

'Tis the season for pixels in this holly jolly twisted simple hidden-object game starring roughly every character ever from all of pop culture. From video game heroes to 80s cartoon stars, they're all here participating in some winter wonderland carnage, and it's up to you to track them down in the chaotic scene... all 173 of them.

Hottategoya presents a math lover's dream escape: a room full of ten safes, nine of which remain locked until you arrange the proper algebraic equation to get them open. One by one, you'll gain the buttons needed to solve each numbers puzzle until, likely in a matter of mere minutes, you've earned the key to the exit door. Whatever your attitude toward algebra, you should feel happily liberated once you succeed.

Short but sweet, this point-and-click puzzle departs from the original Monkey GO Happy formula by providing a brief diversion as you scour the countryside for all the decorations our sad simian needs to make his Christmas complete. Don't expect much of a challenge, but DO expect some Christmas cheer!

A platform game that presents a world where the Yeti spends his days outrunning an angry anthropomorphic snowball. One of the few platform games where action and puzzle elements are split right down the middle, Oh Snow can be occasionally frustrating, but always fun.

Get ready for a gruesome discovery or two in the latest freaky escape game from horror master Psionic. Waking up in a basement cell is bad enough, but when you find out you've become imprisoned by one seriously twisted killer, all you have to escape are the clues left behind by the victims who came before you.

Tumble Towers 2 is a fun and engaging physics puzzle by Team Omni, in which you must keep totems from tumbling and dropping from wobbly towers of blocks. It doesn't really try to hide the elements it swipes from the Totem Destroyer games, but, even if a clone, it's made with a lot of love for the concept.

If lil' SkullFace is going to make it through the Greg Sergeant-developed action platform game that bears his name, he's going to have to run, jump and duck like a mad-skull, since spikes, enemies and magic portals abound! SkullFace is an engaging, if unforgiving platform with tight controls and that parkour-perfect sense of flow.

This sleepless young prince is a puckish, mischievous sort who wants to play pranks on everyone in the castle. You can join in by exploring every room using keyboard commands, to find and use objects until you've racked up every trophy and achievement to be had in this point-and-click puzzle adventure from Black Square. What to do and where can be arbitrary at times, but for those who love the artwork and the searching about, The Prince Edwards proves to be charming and handsome indeed.

In this adorable little multidirectional shooter, Alone in the Park, you play John the Cook, who after a long day at work, closes down his restaurant and decides to take a shortcut through the park. Big mistake. Because, as we all know, walking alone at night in the park is just asking for a purple multidimensional portal to open up and suck you into a parallel universe controlled by evil mushrooms. In more conventional shooters, you'd have your pick of shotguns, ninja stars, or BFGs. But you're just a cook afterall, so you'll have to make due with thrown cigarettes and pizza cutters, at least until you've earned enough points to upgrade your weapons

It's a snowy December evening and these landlocked pirates need your help! In as few moves as possible, remove blocks to send them a flood of water so they can be happily at sea—yet don't drown the village elves while you're at it! Earn extra points by figuring out how to get ice to Christmas trees without turning people into frozen chunks, in this eighteen-level holiday-themed expansion pack of Staal Media's original puzzle game.

Take a break to enjoy Tesshi-e's very unseasonal Christmas present to all room escape fans! Featuring some familiar things (it just wouldn't be Tesshi-e without Mr. Birdy and a wobbly picture puzzle, would it?) and some new, Tesshi-e is in fine form with a host of amusing and challenging puzzles dealing with logic, math, color, and a little intuition. With its lush tropical backgrounds (time for a beach vacation!), zippy music, and thought-provoking puzzles, Santa in the Southern Islands is a welcome room escape any time of the year.

October 25, 1888. The Wyoming Territories. The scientist has returned from his first excursion through the Worldgate, and brought with him a strange hexagonal component. But there are still worlds to explore and answers to be found. Worldgate 2: Contact continues the story of William Buchanan's well-received point-and-click adventure. Its puzzles are satisfying and its twists are proving ever more intriguing.

When an evil businessman wants to take possession of a forest that's beloved by the town, it's up to you to stop him... by training up a horrifying beast of mass destruction in this bizarre but addictive training/combat simulation with a fantastic visual style and a surreal premise.

Bart Bonte delivers a deliciously swank yet simple sliding block puzzle with a holiday spin. Push, pull, stack, and stick using the incredible powers granted to you as a magnetic star in order to assemble the shape in each stage. A stylish exercise in clever, clean design and gameplay no matter what time of year it is.

It's hide-and-puzzle time with Ubooly and Friends! All twelve of Ubooly's friends are hiding somewhere on the nine-screen map, and the only way to reveal them is to point and click around and solve puzzles relating the the clues they give. If this premise sounds familiar, it should— its author, BenRadish of BeardShaker Games, was also the one behind Tanooky Tracks, which is very similar both in art style and in gameplay, and there's no reason to complain about that. The puzzles are logical and well-designed, the tropical environment is well implemented, and the graphics and audio have a charm all their own.

Neutral's latest holiday gift is a charming and challenging mini escape set in a child's room full of toys, decorations and presents. Explore everywhere and make connections between the clues you find to solve puzzles and make your way out. Either because of or despite a cute platform style minigame obstacle, Christmas Escape Toy presents a rewarding experience for your escaping merriment—and it's all wrapped up with that special Neutral touch.

It's important to realize that aliens doesn't necessarily equal a creature that will be faced down by Will Smith. It's also important to know that Will Smith may not be the one who can fight off an alien invasion, even if he is looking sharp in a nice suit. In Symbiosis this possibility has come real and the defenders of the world are none other than plants that need you to properly position them so they can attack crystal aliens bent on the destruction of our world. Peppered with plenty of upgrades to take advantage of those aliens will be poorly prepared for the fight the plants are going to bring.

Santa Claus is stuck in a precarious position. Fortunately, he has some pointy-toed shoe-wearing back-up to assist him, as Santa's Rescue Elf is comes to the rescue. A point-and-click puzzle game by The Gamer Stop, Santa's Rescue Elf is a holly-jolly bit of Christmas fun, albeit with a few obtuse solutions.

Some might call this Haretoki creation one of the best escape games this year in terms of brain busting scenarios and enjoyable gameplay but that's up to you to decide. It isn't the prettiest room we've spent time in nor is it the friendliest, if you can stick it out through some head-desk-thump moments, it will reverse those escaping tummy growls into a plump full feeling of satisfaction.

Chain-reactions and arcade action get seasonal in this latest addictive title from SilenGames! Help break Santa from his icy underwater prison by dropping bombs (oh, he's Santa, he'll be fine), and grab coins and presents for upgrades. Simple, flashy, colourful fun that's just the right size for midday gaming!

Somehow our slimy friend Bob has landed himself in another predicament, this time in ancient Egypt with its sun glare, caravans of camels and oodles of sand. Trust me, you don't want to be a gastropod in conditions like this. Bob is a trooper and is going to just keep head held high, inching his way forward toward his goal. So it's on your shoulders to clear the path and keep him safe.

Game Balance's series of sliding-puzzles is back with a shiny new coat of sparkles in Orbox C! This installment may be a little heavy on the glitz and techno music, but the intelligent challenges should appeal to fans both new and old.

Gracing the Weekday Escape stage this week is a touch of color therapy in a mellowly studious room from 10 Color Dots. Although the way may be bumpy in spots for those who do not read Japanese, this pleasant little escape utilizes its environment well to present clues and puzzles needing just the right amount of inference and deductive reasoning to solve. It's as enjoyable to spend time here as to earn your way out.

Available in action-RPG or classic turn-based flavour, this moody roguelike from Aaron Steed and music maestro Nathan Gallardo is deliberately mysterious. Descend into a dungeon searching for an amulet with your undead minion, figuring everything from the backstory to the deeper gameplay mechanics as you go. Oh, and tearing off the faces of your enemies and wearing them for bonuses and enchantments. Hooray!

Smart Code Games is back with another puzzling brainteaser that will test your plumbing mettle. You can leave the overalls and the wrenches at home, however, because your tools here as you seek to fill up pots with just enough water are everything from magical mathematical multipliers to teleporters to freakin' bombs. Plumbers lead a much more interesting career than we ever imagined!

It's been a rough day for CP6, the pixelly titular star of Gametron Studios' new platform game. His game has been deleted, so he needs to travel through the innards of the computer to the land of back-up, and, worse yet, he has no knees for jumping! A tough but fair retro game with interesting art, and gobs of addictiveness to balance out its frustrations.

Ahoy there! Pirate Pat wants to loot Atlantis! Guide his pirate submarine beneath the waves. Avoid jellyfish, collect treasures, and find the Crown of Atlantis in this enjoyable action game. Explore a wonderful undersea world while solving the mysteries of Atlantis!

James Newcombe's massive sliding-block puzzle game makes a return in this huge sequel. Your goal is to get your four Cyads to the exit in each stage, but with lasers, bombs, glue, switches, and much, much more in the way the farther you progress, it quickly becomes clear this deceptively simple looking puzzle game is playing for keeps. With no timer or turn limit, it's just you, your brain, and some of the most cleverly designed and fiendishly huge levels around that will keep you busy for a long, long time.

In the land of Paint World the paint blobs live a carefree life. Unfortunately their world is being attacked and the blobs are being torn apart. It's up to you to help reunite the blobs with their similarly colored brethren. Make good use of your brains and show those paint blobs the proper way to tuck and roll.

Detarou, Detarou, what can I make of you? There's no sense in trying to analyze the entirely inappropriate weirdness involved in a Detarou escape-the-room game. All that's needed to be known are the puzzles are cunning, the interface is well-designed, it has three endings and there are scenes that only Detarou could pull off to such surreal hilarity. Be forewarned: you may never be able to look at the color green again!

The forces of darkness are at it again in this tower defense game. They'll send wave after wave against you as you use your soldiers, mages, and archers to hold them back. Place towers in the designated spots to start training your troops. Upgrade your units in multiple ways to find the best strategy for each level. Evil won't know what hit it.

Ever wondered where baby bunnies come from? The cuddly protagonist in La Ventanita's Bunny Cannon does, too, but since everyone tells him a different story, he need to straighten things out. Luckily this involves nothing more playing a game of pachinko where bunnies fired from cannons multiply as soon as they come in contact with the opposite gender. It's a lot like Peggle or Coin Drop!, only so much cuter and with so many more rabbits.

And if you're looking for some colorful pixelated picross art as paraphernalia for your personal party celebrating a new Conceptis puzzle game? Then look no further than Color Pic-A-Pix Light Volume 2. There's only ten new puzzles to solve, but they're high-quality stumpers with polished presentations.

The world has gone insane, but Pencil Kids is here to set it right with another installment of primate point-and-click puzzling with Monkey Go Happy Mini Monkeys 3. This time, the adventure is on a boat, on a boat, on a monkey-loving boat, and tracking down all 15 of those mischievous mini-monkeys is going to be no cup of grog. The series may be starting to get a little formulaic, but no less charming for it.

Alma Games presents another chapter of the great struggle of Sleeping Parent Vs. Energetic Child in Monsterland 2: Junior's Revenge, a tumble-drop physics puzzler. A bit derivative of other Box2D engine-based games, but still a colorful medium-challenge mental work out.

With a room full of clock-centric puzzles, SuzumeDr's characteristic style of themed escape-the-room games works exceedingly well. Although some of the clues have the potential to stump players, keeping in mind the motif should help you out. The clever contraptions and cunning creatively add up to a peppy and fun escape that's well worth your time.

MoonMana's chilled-out physics puzzler gets another massive installment of zen-like goodness. Direct glowing streams of particles to the proper containers by altering the flow and gravity with various objects in each level, from reflective mirrors to teleporters and more. Gorgeously designed, if not colour-blind friendly, it's the perfect way to remind yourself to relax once in a while.

Three determined monsters are doing what they can to make a break for it from the laboratory they reside in. Help these adorable little terrors out of the lab by making use of their special abilities when confronted by the chaos of science! With the option to use either your mouse or keyboard to control the mechanics this entertaining game is waiting for you to liberate poor creatures that are tested on against their will.

Harness the power of your particle gun in Tesla Defense. Place electricity zapping towers to rid yourself of the enemy army that is quickly approaching. Use your gun if enemies breach your defenses. Earn cash to upgrade your weapons and towers until you are tough enough to take down the boss!

Protobotic offers 18 levels of photonic goodness for your laser-blasting pleasure. These range from block-pushing fare to an interesting experiment in traffic control using switches. There's a nice mental workout here without much risk of banging your head against a desk, so dive in!

In this fifth single-scene escape-the-room game, Robamimi knows how to turn a single wall into a place so House Beautiful gorgeous it probably makes all those bare-walled, minimalist games envious. Yet the puzzles are enticing, requiring thought and careful observation (even a bit of diligent hunting for a required tool), so you can't help but want to solve them all. You'll leave there satisfied from the enjoyment of a well-tuned escape even if a bit disappointed to go.

Being trapped inside Nekonote's basement isn't as scary as it sounds; it's actually a pleasant experience in a cleanly designed, brightly lit room full of cleverly-construed puzzles. The challenge is just enough to exercise your cranial parts without keeping you locked up longer than you'd care to be. This escape-the-room game proves that Nekonote has some happy tricks up the sleeve and may leave you wondering if we'll get to explore the rest of house someday.

It's a little town with a big secret, and you've been called in to investigate a disappearance. Except when you get there, you discover the place doesn't exactly have a great track record for its citizens not vanishing under suspicious circumstances. Don your fedora and hunt for clues in this creepy and gorgeously atmospheric point-and-click adventure from Pastel Games.

Our true loves over at The Podge have given one heck of a gift to us: Dibbles 4: A Christmas Crisis. When a Christmas version of an established series is released, it often turns out to be a level-pack except there with more bells on the soundtrack and sprites modified to include floppy red hats. But with new levels, new commands, and new animated ways to kill off your squad of helpers, Dibbles 4 is slightly-sadistic holiday fun for the whole family.

Doors: Out of Office is a puzzle platformer by Arctic Arcade, where every threshold promises to turn reality upside-down. Help Dave get out of his office's forbidden door of mystery and home for a well-earned weekend. While it could use a better sense of perspective, the game has intelligence and quirkiness to spare.

It's just you, your hair, your sunglasses, and legions of monsters looking to take a bite out of you in Firebeast's quirky, action-packed arcade shooter. Blast your way through waves of baddies in each area to take down the boss, earning coins and experience for upgrades on the go. A vibrant design and simple gameplay makes this the perfect choice for some light, casual, locking and loading.

Von Wanst has shiny teeth, shiny hair, and an even shinier sword. You'd think that would be enough, but our dim-witted, greedy hero wants even more. What starts as a simple journey to escort the King's friend safely to the castle turns disastrous, but might prove an opportunity for even more adventure and treasure in this silly, quirky, and toothy action-adventure from Exotworking.

Santa may be delayed this year in dropping off presents for everyone. The North Pole is being attacked by a giant worm that is determined to destroy Mr. Claus and his holly jolly Christmas helpers. And this time, that giant worm is you! Here's your chance to get payback on Santa for never bringing you that Red Ryder BB gun because you might shoot your eye out.

When it comes to Tesshi-e, some things never change—because "he" is rearranging his room and has taken out all the furniture, he's found the perfect opportunity to revamp it for a new escape-the-room. And, of course, you can't resist the challenge. Although there is no furniture, there's no shortage of puzzles and fun, even without the fancy get ups.

The evergreen bandit is back! Swindler 2 picks up right where the Nitrome original left off with another batch of treasure chests to be stolen. As before, you always fall with gravity, so the trick to this physics puzzle is to rotate the world around you as you dangle. However, Swindler's not satisfied sticking to his power cord, so you're going to have to cut loose to make it past the traps and enemies to reach the loot!

Notebook Wars 3: Unleashed, the latest in Francisco Ferreres' series of sketchy shooters, features twenty brand new levels of arcade action, and kicks the speed and challenge up considerably. More an expansion pack than a new work, but one that should keep players quite happy.

Earn To Die 2012 is an update to Toffee Games arcade-style hit, and has all the post-apocalyptic racing action you could hope for, without the danger of infected bites! Customize your car and plow through waves of the undead. A zombie-smushing good time, though undoubtedly constructed as a teaser for the enhanced mobile version.

Presumably, when TurboNuke was developing its recently released physics puzzle sequel, Soccer Balls 2, they tried to determine what would appeal to non-association football fans. Things like cannons on the turf and bopping refs in the head being an encouraged, nay, required part of gameplay. And it worked, since the game is a lot of fun, even if the "soccer" bits seems occasionally tacked on.

The third installment of the popular Humbug series is out and ready for you to take control of that loot obsessed criminal Ziggy. This time he's trying to snag a shiny crown and he'll cheat death itself in order to obtain it. Guide Ziggy through treacherous levels with foes, cannonballs, and confusing puzzles to get that most glorious of prizes. Pixelcontinuous doesn't disappoint in the third puzzle platform game of the series.

Engage is a first-person action horror rail-shooter from FlyAnvil, where it's certain things are going to get more than a bit buggy as you fight off waves of insects on what was supposed to be a deserted island. The entomophobic should stay away, but Engage is a polished experience that will keep adrenaline-junkies engaged to the end

Yellow Bouncy Ball knows how badly you need something to release all that pent up stress that, if you were to hold it all in, might turn you into the Hulk. Or get you a nice white jacket along with a soothing white padded cell. Regardless, they're back with Pinata Hunter 2! With upgrades abound your only job is to beat the candied goodness out of some poor pinata who doesn't seem to be concerned with its ultimate demise. Take a break from the world and try your hand at a bat or a samurai sword while proving to your parents that you could have handled a pinata on your seventh birthday, if they had only listened!

Fight as a team or create a free-for-all where everyone is the enemy; play for points or compete in a deathmatch; or have everyone shooting at once as opposed to individually, the choices are endless. Live chat allows you to talk trash to your fellow players as you try to annihilate each other across the changing landscape. ShellShock Live is back and better than ever with more weapons, more landscapes, more modes, and more explodey fun with ShellShock Live 2 (ShellShockaggeddon?)

DuoTasking looks like a simple platform game, but takes on a puzzling twist when you've got to move the robot and the laser at the same time to collect coins and avoid enemies, especially when the levels are designed so well to trick you into putting one into the line of fire to defend the other.

How could Roman Squall and Yuriy Kurenkov possibly top the shameless clonage of Shame Clone, their awesome melting pot of bullet-hell and internet culture? Why, by making a sequel of course! In retrospect, the answer seems obvious. It's Shameless Clone 2, the arcade space shooter that rips off ALL the things! More a remake or expansion, Shameless Clone 2 is undeniably a quality work, though may leave fans of the original wanting more.

Thanks For Playing, an interesting little platform adventure developed by Alkemi Games at the Utopialis 2012 Game Jam. In it, time is running backwards, and so you must undo every step of your infiltration and bring your score to 0. A short, clever bit of fun that platform fans should enjoy backing through.

Escape from the Room with Three Keys 7 is the usual minimal three puzzles, three keys, and out escape that we've come to expect from Hottategoya. The room is sparse and minimal, the puzzles are fun and amusing, the navigation is pretty easy as is the inventory control, and the whole thing can be fit into whatever time can be spared from a too busy schedule. It's a satisfying little room escape, something that can take your mind off of whatever is bothering you this week, and giving your brain a nice break.

In a desperate race to hold off the end of his kind a little dinosaur is going to square off against spikes, lasers, and bad guys (oh my!). In this one-button action platform game it's your job to act as the savior of dinosaur kind. With multiple items to collect and a single ability to be used for each level you need to navigate your way to safety and an interesting hidden message at the end of the game.

The Papa's series of time-management restaurant sims is back for more, and this time you can be the star! When season tickets for your favourite baseball team don't seem like an option, taking a job at the in-park hotdog stand seems like a great way to catch all the games... right up until you realise you're running the show solo! The core gameplay hasn't changed much, but fans of the series will welcome yet another chance to sling the best fast food around.

A murder has happened. Yours. who would want to kill you? No one is going to tell a ghost... but your sure your guests won't mind if you borrow their bodies to gather a little information. After all, you'll be happy to move on when you're finished. Why Am I Dead? is a retro-style mystery adventure game where intricate plotting and characters more than make up for unpolished programming.

Help the nightflies retrieve their lanterns in this physics puzzler. Use ladybugs to pull obstacles out of the way. You've got to clear a path in a limited number of moves without breaking any of the fragile lanterns along the way. Can you help light up the night sky?

You know what to expect from Escape from Mr. Y's Room 1+ if you've played Tesshi-e's past games: click around the room, solve puzzles, pick up items and use them to ultimately escape. If anyone knows how to follow a tried-and-true formula, Tesshi-e does; they've gotten a lot right in the past, and they don't change any of it. As usual, the graphics are nicely photorealistic yet never distracting, and the puzzles are logical and just challenging enough.

Forgoing the superfluous, Hottategoya gets out of the way and lets your brain be the star of this show. You are behind a door with three locks and need to earn three keys by opening three boxes by using three clues in...well, you get the point. Sorting out jumbled picture tiles, interpreting an abstract design, and applying a bit of maths skill is all it takes to succeed in this fine-tuned escape game you're sure to enjoy.

Much like the little penguin from the Three Caballeros, the polar bear in Polar Tale is not a fan of the cold. With your help, however, he may just yet be able to find a comfy winter getaway with lots of sun to heat up that fur. It's up to you to lead him through the winter wonderland and to the promised land of sun and dry ground.

Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president, was one awesome dude. Now he needs your assistance getting out of the dark, mechanical city in this point-and-click puzzle adventure. Move ramps, spin gears and make good use of steam power to guide him through this obstacle course, which is more an amusing afternoon romp rather than the arduous decades long journey the name implies. Still, it's enjoyable to interact with the stylistically appealing, tactile artwork and who can say no to helping Abe?

Usually the worst you have to worry about in the forest is walking face-first into a spider-web, or maybe getting some really awesome poison ivy... not getting cursed and transformed into a twisted monstrosity, then melded with your malformed brother and forced to puzzle-platform your way out of the dark woods while beset by bone beasts from all sides. Somehow, I can't help but feel the park rangers have been holding out that little tidbit of information on us.

This week's featured escape game is a new installment of finding those elusive green guys that point the way out in Find the Escape Men 43: EM-taro, No1Game's epic serial about escaping ...whatever room they happen to be in this time around. Think of Find the Escape-Men 43: EM-taro not as a feature film but as a lovely animated short, something to hold your attention for ten minutes or so and provide a lovely mid-week break.

If you feel your day hasn't had enough silly to fulfill you then look no further! The Proposal is silly, if you ignore the possibility that a man might lose the love of his life if you don't help him. Point and click your way through a rather bizarre town in a desperate search to find the beloved of your character. Did she up and leave or is there something more sinister afoot?

Get the rabbit to the mushroom by only moving along the coloured path that matches it. Easy, right? Except this quirky little puzzler piles on new elements, like locks, moving platforms, freezing tiles, and much more, for a simple concept that still manages to remain challenging as you play.

When the eeny teeny monkey babies are missing, it's tears all around, so it's time again to start reversing some frowns. Solve a few puzzles while searching through these wintry scenes, looking over, under and behind any place a miniature simian can go into hiding, until you've found, picked-up and returned the adorable darlings to the basket.

It's hard to resist the siren call when walking by the obligatory sit-down racing game at your average movie theater arcade. American Racing, by TurboNuke, seeks to capture that sense of action, and by and large, it succeeds. The trade-off for fast-paced fun is loose handling and limited customization options, but this is definitely a game that'll get your adrenaline pumping.

When a country is thrown into chaos and criminals roam the land harassing innocent people, the last person you would think to call for help is an even worse criminal. However, Hardadjust has decided he's ready to shed his lawless life and take on a grander mantle. With your help he plans to take the crown for himself and bring forth a glorious age of prosperity. With your battle trained mind he actually has a chance in Hordes and Lords.

Undefined delivers another engrossing, addictive installment in the casual turn-based RPG series full of new races, treasure, streamlined battling, and more. Search for four fragments of a key throughout dungeons that are never the same twice in your quest to become a hero and enter the fortress of a legendary archmage.

The moon? We're over it. Nowadays everyone wants to go to Mars, and if you're handy with a rocket, you can take us there. Barbarian Games adds a surprising amount of depth to this launch title by packing on the upgrades, adding a realistic feel to the controls, and even a whole bunch of extra missions that will keep you busy for a long time.

What do you do when adorable little birds are frozen into ice cubes? You unfreeze them, of course! Shoot a water cannon in this fun physics puzzler to save the birdies. Manipulate your surroundings to control the flow, and fill up the vases for bonus points.

All Shaun wanted was to get out of the pasture... not UNDER it. But he and his two wooly friends, Shirley and Timmy, suddenly find themselves trapped underground and stymied by a series of physics puzzles involving water, explosions, switches, and more. It's another gorgeous adventure staring your three favourite sheep and packed with the character and cleverness you expect.

Foresteg has found it prudent to get you locked away in a room and leave you to figure a way out. It's important to mention that they haven't made it easy. Several varying puzzles await to test your mettle. Here's your chance to prove that you can outsmart even the most obtuse of puzzles.

For those of us who just can't get enough monster battling, there's Pocket Creatures PVP, a strategy game from NTFusion that expands on the original Pocket Creature. Pocket Creatures PVP is practically overflowing with content. Tweaking your monster team is a lot of fun, especially when you take them into battle against other players. The game is well-presented, accessible and addictive.

Come one last time to Hyptosis' fairy tale world of magic and arcane science for the final installment of the atmospheric point-and-click adventure saga as you search for the girl with the read cloak in Hood: Episode 4. Solid plotting and programming uphold a equally eerie and humorous finale, albeit one with some obtuse puzzles.