Nifflas‘ classic freeware game, “Knytt Stories,” has been ported to the DS by RRC2Soft.  LINK HERE…

“Knytt Stories” is one of the best freeware games out there and I’m right now playing through this DS homebrew of the game, and it is a great port.  So if you have an r4 or some other flashcart this is one game definitely worth getting on it.  If not, then you can still always play the original.

“depict1″ is a freeware title made by Alec Holowka and Kyle Pulver for the Global Game Jam, and it does pretty much what every game does (keep reading).  It’s a platformer which starts you off by having a(n essentially) disembodied voice instructing you by simply telling you the basic mechanics of the game (arrow keys are for movement, hit space to jump, etc).  Which sounds very standard until you actually play the game.  The game is best described as a “total mindfuck.”  And I’m trying really hard not to give it away, but it is brilliant.  Aside from the “total mindfuck” the massive depth of the game’s abstract story will made me replay it, five seconds afterwords in order to re-experience everything it did right, which was EVERYTHING!  I’m having a very hard time describing the game without giving away any amazing, so I’ll just finish by saying that only a moron wouldn’t love “depict1,” and you should all play it. Go-!
LINK HERE

I’ve never recommended an iPhone App for The People’s Games before… but I hadn’t seen a free iPhone App worth playing before.  But now I can say there’s a good one for everybody out there!  “Trundle.”  Go, download it off of the iTunes shop.  In the game you play a black ball against beautiful sunset-like backgrounds.  Each screen is it’s own little puzzle, sometimes frustratingly hard (or just too vague), but the gameplay is solid.  The controls are tilt to move and tap to jump, that simple.  It has a really neat style, and if you have the ability (i.e. an iPod Touch or iPhone) there’s no reason not to grab it.

Kabloom is a very pretty 3D action game by The Death of Gaming starring an anthropomorphic elephant that plants and waters seeds in order to grow trees on floating land masses in the sky.  And by now you should in the process of downloading this title based on its premise alone.  While I really wanted to love this game there was a camera glitch that happened both with the mouse and xbox controller that kept me from being able to finish the game every time I played it.  I’m sure they’ll eventually fix this problem, if they haven’t already.  But my recommendation for the game lies solely in its potential.  But, there’s no harm in giving it a try.

LINK to website.

I’m not exactly one for these newfangled RTSs, and I’m not really one for multiplayer anything, but I am one for freeware, especially when it’s this charming.  So I’ve taken the opportunity to play a few rounds of Riot Games’ League of Legends and I can’t say I was disappointed.  For anyone expecting a hardcore hero-based RTS with colorful characters and solid gameplay, look no further, and it might even have what it takes to convert a few non-RTS people into the flock with heavy RPG elements.  With an asking price of 0 dollars, this is a game that anyone can try without regret.

I don’t usually care for the hero-based style of RTS.  In my younger years I was addicted to Warcraft/II and Starcraft, but Warcraft III was a bit of a snag for me.  Aside from a ridiculously melodramatic single player that removed me as a character from the gaming experience, the heroes were too essential for gameplay for my army-based, tactical mind of the past.  But it was a popular idea, and a lot of games within the RTS genre have tried to imitate the success.  League of Legends seems largely successful at it’s attempt.  While WC3 and most of it’s successors have tried to force a balance between unit management and hero building, LoL focuses entirely on an RPG style hero system and let’s the AI control units, charging them in a linear strings of recklessness at enemy turrets.  This might seem like less of an RTS because of the lack of player controlled masses, but it requires plenty of strategy.  Without the cannon-fodder, every enemy unit is targeting your hero, and without the support you won’t last very long.

As a hero you will be doing a some micromanaging.  You pick abilities and buy equipment, and with a swarm of heroes to choose from there’s a lot of early description reading you have to do before you can figure “the best” choices.  But there’s a lot of room to experiment, and if you’re a veteran of the hero-based RTS genre, or Diablo style RPGs than you’ll have an edge jumping in.

Tactically, the game moves like this: wait for troops, rush turret with troops, pull back, wait for troops, repeat.  It’s a surprisingly addictive pattern, but the repetition is obvious within moments of play.  If you’re not there for a long game than this is probably not for you.  It’s a lot to handle at first, but luckily there’s a tutorial and bots to play against, though they can be a little dim and very ineffective at getting you ready for the “real” thing – PvP multiplayer.  A lot of people will probably enjoy the vs. experience, though I prefer anything single player.  But in LoL there’s no campaign mode, and I’m well aware that it wasn’t designed for a person like me.  The replay value relies completely on your love for competition.

The real charm behind LoL is in the heroes themselves.  You can pick from a massive array of characters to control, and the majority are surprisingly quirky.  Why you would choose the generic archer above the weeping adolescent mummy or a disturbing Ice Climber on yeti-back is beyond me, but there really is something for everyone.  A massive selection of heroes makes the game much more interesting, and battles a little less predictable.  Plus they may have created the single cutest death machine with Teemo.

League of Legends is a great game for the RTS and RPG crowds, and with a price that can’t be matched it would be silly to not give it a test run.  By focusing on the hero-side of the hero led RTS genre, LoL manages to make it something more than a Warcraft 3 clone.  It’s not strictly an RTS.  There’s a heavy emphasis on RPG and even a tad of tower defense, but it’s roots are firmly planted in the soils of tactical warfare.  Try it out, you might like it.

LINK HERE

I’m sure that everyone has at one point considered all the perks of being shoved away by their uncaring children into a nursing home.  For example, you get to go to the bathroom anywhere and can’t be blamed for it.  You also get a nice window to stare out of and all the day-time TV you can handle.  On the other hand there’s Home, a sim game developed by increpare to give the player a glimpse of the horrible reality that is life thrown away in an old folks home.  You play as a slow moving old man that has to maintain his levels of happiness, hunger, waste, and sleep.  This will involve slow treks from one spot to another, like from a table to the bathroom and as one stat slowly increases the others slowly decrease.  It’s an interesting and well done concept, and the ancient PC graphics remind me of my younger years…and now I feel old…and useless…

You can download Home at this link.

RunMan: Race Around the World is a freeware game Matt Thorson and Tom Sennett about running really fast, bouncing off stuff, being chased by robot snowplows, and everything else that is good about anything ever, yes it is that good.  With fast paced gameplay, a child-like art style, and the bluegrass and blues music playing you through each level the game is all around fantastic.  The levels you run through are all fairly short but exciting and manages to be both forgiving and challenging.  But I really am not here to give a “review,” just spreading the word!  So I want everyone who ever lived to try it out.

Link: ENJOY!

RunMan: Race Around the World Release Trailer from Tom Sennett on Vimeo.

Solar Plexis is an unfinished freeware game by Joakim Sandburg creator of Noitu Love.  It’s a physics-based platformer, that primarily focuses on using the mouse to move blocks around (sounds like less fun than it is) and stars a female character I can only describe as Black Samus.  The highlight of the game is probably music though, which is absolutely beautiful to the point that it could possibly make your ears cry with joy.

Give it a whirl if you’d like to play a pretty good (if unpolished) platformer.

HERE‘s the Link.

“When the Bomb Goes Off” by Tom Sennett is a black comedy collection of microgames and maybe the darkest interpretation of WarioWare-like gameplay I’ve ever seen.

Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t really care for WarioWare, it’s gimmicky game play was not enough to get me into it, but When the Bomb Goes Off essentially uses the incredibly simple and fast paced microgames that WarioWare is known for and adds in a horrifyingly, bitterly hilarious element.  No matter what, if you succeed or fail, the bomb goes off, and where do you want to be when the bomb goes off?  Well, I want to win a game of hop scotch before I die and that’s exactly what this game wants me to do as well.

It’s not only the bomb that creates an entertainingly anarchic design to the game.  It’s simple, stick figure art style and Scott Joplin instrumental enhance the brutally comical experience to no end.  Since it’s short and fast paced replay becomes addictive.

There’s one particular game I can think of that is impossible to beat, let’s just say that it has a spikey ceiling and very mean turtles.  So I have no idea how to pull off 100% on that game, but that doesn’t stop me from trying…over…and over…*sigh*…

Great Game!

…Anyways, Zeno Clash has also been released and because of my low end PC’s inability to run anything beyond DOS…and I don’t have a mouse…I probably won’t be playing it for a little while.  Also in non-indie related news there’s a debut trailer for Katamari Forever out (Katamari being one of those games that is so unique I can’t stand not spreading the word), look into it, it’s Japanese!

If you could spend 4 minutes as a jelly fish, what would you do?

…I’ll give you time to think…

That’s stupid.

I’ll tell  you what I’d do!  I would spin around in circles beating up other sea creatures and collecting eggs…that is the premise of fun…at least in Flashbang Studios’ game, Blush.  And if it doesn’t sound fun to you, maybe you oughtta TRY IT.

Blush limits you to the aforementioned four minutes of underwater exploration as a jellyfish.  The goal is to swim around fighting other translucent sea critters, and after killing them, collecting the eggs they leave behind, then using those at the nearest glowing light ball to beef yourself up.  Four minutes isn’t enough time to fully appreciate this game,  each play through you’ll see different kinds of creatures to harvest eggs from.

The combat in Blush is exceptionally different from most any game you’ll play.  It’s all handled through the mouse.  Just hold down the left button and guide your jellyfish around.  Attacking is done through a spinning motion, hitting enemies with tentacles.  A sloppy attempt leads to the loss of a limb.  And in the aftermath of battle you collect the eggs on your tentacles with the same spin.

Scenery, beautiful.  Controls, smooth.  Ya da, ya da.  Give it a whirl.