Dead Ascend

I believe I have mentioned Dead Ascend a long time ago, but it has got several updates since then so I thought it deserved another post. It's a hand-drawn adventure game where zombies have got you stuck in an old radio tower which you'll have to climb in order to get rescued. Played like a classic point and click adventure you'll have to brave various puzzles on your way through the games environments. The game has got several fixes and new translations since last time, so if you missed it then here is a new chance.

Brave mind-boggling puzzles in Dead Ascend.

Dead Ascend

Dead Ascend is a hand-drawn point & click adventure game. It's also finished and looks really nice! Chased by zombies into an old radio tower, your only hope is to keep climbing and solving puzzles along the way. An action ending is also promised. :) This is another genre I can really appreciate, so it's nice to see new Free projects like this. The game is available for Android and iOS, but can also be compiled for desktop PC with the code and instructions on github.

Here the inventory can be seen, along with the nice hand-drawn graphics.

Intricacy - 0.7.0.1

I am not certain how many releases ago I mentioned the cool lock-picking game Intricacy. But this unique puzzler is now on version 0.7.0.1 and among the news is various UI improvements along with some smaller fixes.

A screen from Intricacy looking complicated.

AdaVenture

AdaVenture is a retro-styled point and click game, described as kid-friendly and inspired by a classic Atari game called simply Adventure. There is a story, set in ancient Persia, with two different campaigns. The latest release is 1.0.7 and development seems rather rapid with several releases over the last months. There is even gamepad support!

Exploring a temple and finding a key in AdaVenture.

HyperRogue

HyperRogue certainly fits in the "unique" category. This roguelike has a very special premise: it is set in a non-euclidian world; specifically it takes place on a hyperbolic plane. But if that sounds like techno-babble to you, just think of it as a game set in a world where the normal notions 2 or 3 dimensions work a bit differently and everything is very trippy. HyperRogue is not only a mathematical experiment, it's also a full roguelike consisting of 44 worlds with various gameplay mechanics and an adaptive difficulty and scoring system.
It also looks very cool!

It takes a while to get your head around HyperRogue, but it is surprisingly simple to play.

HoDoKu

How about a bit of puzzle this sunday afternoon? HoDoKu will have you covered. It's a Sudoku generator/solver/trainer/analyzer, so it can both generate puzzles for you, let you solve them, give hints, solve them for you and let you highlight various solving techniques so you can learn from them. It has loads of functions and the various analyzation tools, like the ability to see how far a certain "move" takes you toward the solution, sounds really cool. I had no idea a Sudoku game could be so complex, so this was a cool find.

HoDoKu in the middle of a game, complete with hints and a solution summary.

Force: Leashed

Force: Leashed is described as a first person gravity fiddler. You have to use gravitational fields to affect the paths of rockets to advance through the 3D world. it's certainly a unique concept, and looks rather nice too. Something for those looking for a different and innovative puzzle game!

Crazy gravity shenanigans in Force: Leashed.

Nikki and the Robots

Nikki and the Robots is a retro-classic 2D-platformer inspired by the greats of the genre from the 80:s and 90:s. Besides cute and nice graphics it has a unique and interesting gameplay element: various robots in the game can be taken control of through hacking, and can then be used to solve puzzles or in other ways help the protagonist advance thorugh the stages. The game is at 1.0, so it should be finished and fully playable.

Very nice looking pixels in Nikki and the Robots.

Intricacy

Intricacy is another great example of FOSS-games innovating and creating new and interesting experiences. Described as a mechanistic turn-based puzzle game, Intricacy tasks players with picking locks - and should they manage to find the solution - to devise a lock of their own to send to other players. Not only is the tool coordination mechanics cool, the game assures you won't run out of puzzles anytime soon. Download can be found here if you are feeling up to it!

Intricacy has a minimalistic buy clear and modern design.

Neverball Clockwork

Neverball Clockwork is a new version, or rather a modification, of the classic Neverball. It incorporates a new system where collectible clock tokens give more time to complete each level. Two sets of levels have been modified to work with this system and the game includes a bunch of other fixes made since the last release of Neverball. Neverball was really fun, so I believe this could be too.

Here the new Time-tokens can be seen. Graphics are polished and clear, levels look challenging.

The Butterfly Effect - Milestone B

The next big milestone towards The Butterfly Effect 1.0 has been released. This version, dubbed Milestone B, fixes the level editor, adds some new objects and a whole lot of levels, among other things. It improves many of the existing levels as well. For the next version, Milestone C, a big UI overhaul is planned. This game is really fun, so if you don't try it now, at least do so once 1.0 is out. :)

Small Penguins that walk around is one of the new objects.

Grid Runners

Grid Runners is a time and resource management game set in a hacking environment. Everything you do takes time, like hacking doors and disabling security systems. More time can also be gained from hacking, but you have to watch out for enemies and make sure to do things in an optimal order. The game was apparently made in just one week, which is impressive.

Minimalistic but nice graphics. Here, a door is being unlocked.

Mystic Mine

Mystic Mine could be described as an arcade puzzler. Using only one key you have to guide your minecart through the various tracks, picking up diamonds and bumping into other players. It's frantic, fun and best of all: it has multiplayer support for up to six players! A great party game, in other words. Just get all your friends and gather up in front of a big screen. Pretty pixel graphics are included too!

You need python to run the game, so running the source release can be a bit complicated. But if it sounds like your thing, it might be worth the extra work.

The M.C Escher-inspired level layout is really cool.

Simsu

A quick one for the evening. Simsu is a nice and polished game of Sudoku. It has a nice, clear interface, the option to fill in notes, highlighting of numbers and a few other useful features. It stores the current game automatically, so you can take a paus and come back later with your game intact. A nice little way to take a few minutes and relax from work.

There is both a widescreen-mode, seen here, and a more traditional portrait mode.

The Butterfly Effect

A long time ago, one of my favorite games was The Incredible Machine. It's innovative and creative way of puzzling was so engaging I even played some levels over and over again to see if I could find new solutions. Since that game, nothing similar has quite managed to catch my attention. Until now. The Butterfly Effect is such a game. It's a physics simulator where players are tasked with solving puzzles using everyday objects and a bit of creative thinking.
Graphics could use a bit of polish (this is being worked on in the latest versions), but there is a large amount of levels to play and lots of fun items to play around with. Well worth a try.

Can you figure out what will happen here once you press play?

Clonepoint

Clonepoint is a Free clone of Gunpoint, a puzzle-platformer involving spies, hacking and punching. It looks rather cool, and it's possible to make your own levels using the Tiled map editor. Various levels and a tutorial is included, so it's just to dive in if it sounds like your thing!

Hack stuff and don't get caught.

Irrlamb 0.2.1

Irrlamb is a physics-based platform/puzzler where you roll a sphere through various levels filled with traps and obstacles. For some reason I've liked this type of game since playing Marble Madness when I was very small, so this game was a fun suprise! A big bonus is that the game supports gamepads - my prefered way of playing pretty much anything that isn't RTS. :)

Version 0.2.1 brings among other things new tutorial levels, nicer GUI and a redesigned replay screen. Get it here.

Duck Marines

This project just came to my attention through another nice blog, and I found it so interesting I just had to mention it here, despite being so early in development. (I usually only post games that have some sort of "official" release ready to download.)

Anyway, Duck Marines is a remake of the Dreamcast classic Chu Chu Rocket; a fantastic party game I can recommend everyone who happens upon a Sega Dreamcast somewhere. The goal is to lead as many Ducks into your base as possible by placing arrows on the playing field. Sounds simple, but each of up to four players does this at the same time, so the playing field is constantly changing. There are moments of perfect strategy as well as total chaos and trying to keep up with all the crazy is pretty much what made the original Chu Chu Rocket so fun. Hopefully Duck Marines will manage to capture that feeling. Judging from the simple but very well drawn artwork, that could very well be the case.

There are no binaries to run yet, but if you dare you can check out the source-code here. Otherwise, just bookmark that page and hope for a release soon! :)

Flobopuyo

Puzzle battling time! Todays game is FloboPuyo. Though the name is a bit odd, this classic "connect three or more and they dissappear"-puzzle really is an enjoyable game. While the concept is simple, FloboPuyo comes to life when battling another human opponent. Success for one player means hardships for the other, as the battling aspect of the game results in matches where the rush of success when removing a big bunch of blobs from your own screen also results in mirth as those blobs fill up your opponents screen instead. The same goes for battling a computer opponent of course, but a human player is decidedly more fun.
Cute blobs, nice graphical effects and a very high degree of polish rounds up this classic puzzle experience, which is very much worth a try. Get it here, or from your favorite package manager. :)

It might not look it, but a fierce battle is taking place here.

Pingus

One of my favorite games when I was little was Lemmings. I could play it for hours, every time from the start, hoping to be able to reach a little bit further. The concept is simple, but still ingenious: guide a bunch of single-minded creatures safely through a level filled with bottomless pits and deadly traps by commanding them to dig, build bridges, climb walls, etc. Only a set amount of actions of each type is available, and the game requires both strategic planning as well as quickness if you are to be able to carry out your well laid plans before all your little creatures are dead. Of course, I was not very good at this when I was little. But what made the game so fun to play again and again anyway was that you could be creative, and come up with different plans for how to get through each level. No two games were the same, and experimenting with different strategies gave the game a bit of a sandbox-like feel. I had almost forgot how fun this was, when I found Pingus. Being a modern free Lemmings-like game, it does all that made the original so good with nicer graphics and a few new cool touches. I especially like that each world has a world map, where you can track your progress through the various levels. Lemmings also had a nice sense of exploration, since there were so many levels and each had something unique and interesting to it. Pingus does this too, even though a few more level-sets would be nice. It's not perfect, but is does have some polish put into it and feels well put-together through and through. If you're curious, give it a try! Download here.

Oh, and if you want something more classic, there seems to be another open game of this type called Lix as well. Will give it a try in the future!

Oh, this will get tricky eventually. Trust me.