If you like old school Zelda games, then you really need to give this one a shot. Seedling has a very similar vibe to a traditional Zelda game, but the gameplay is a bit looser. It's a really well done little flash game.
So I did a little bit of catching up (not nearly up to date though).
I know I already mentioned it, but I want to once again give props on RPG Shooter: Starwish. It really resonated with me, not entirely sure why (the music was brilliant and a big part of it). I played it back in the end of March.
Anyway...
Arcadey types:
Super Puzzle Platformer: Loved it! Great concept and great implementation.
Missile Break Outvaders: Really liked it! Very good concept implemented well.
Ms Particle Man: I liked it, but it can be quite frustrating. The Higgs boson is particularly nasty to catch (I think that was the idea, but still). The game-particle jokes are mostly groaners (in another collider, indeed... I'm almost surprised there wasn't some kind of "Collider? I hardly know her" variation put in there).
Poto & Cabenga is fun but hard and a bit disconcerting with the dual control thing. I played it a few times and then moved on. Worth trying though, I think it is the type of thing some people will really enjoy the challenge.
Adventurey types:
KOLM 2: pretty decent but I found that KOLM was better. If you liked KOLM you should definitely play KOLM 2.
William and Sly 1 and 2: I played the 1st and the 2nd. Both have very good graphics and music. The 2nd one I think is better thought out in terms of details and polish. If you like the type of game you will probably want to play both regardless.
Oiche Mhaith - touching but almost not a game. I'd like to know JT's opinion on it. I much preferred stuff like the IMO brilliant Don't look back, or Passage.
The End: very good effort for what it was. The best is the level design, when the puzzles actually reflect the philosophical question being posed - they don't always pull it off, but when they do it it makes me associate the level design with Braid-level brilliance (incidentally I only played Braid after The End, but as I'm writing this now the comparison holds).
The platforming is ok (although the controls were not 100% spot on, they were decent), I enjoyed the shadow mechanic and the puzzles, and I liked the weird death card hexagonal battle - although it is a poor fit here I think. They should have put that on a different game.
On the other hand, the worst is that they often failed in wording the questions - I got the feeling that my answer to some was putting me in the opposite side of what would be closer to my actual "belief" on the particular issue because of wording that I guess tried to be informal rather than worrying about being specific. A philosophy fail there, IMO.
Fancy Pants Adventure (there are three browser games so far): really enjoyed the handling of the first two, still haven't had time to explore the third one which shares the same controls and similar level design.
Other stuff:
Sugar Sugar: neat idea, decent implementation. Worth trying to see if you like it.
Rubble Trouble Tokyo: neat ideas and puzzle game, but not spectacular I would say.
Snapshot Adventures: not bad but too easy. It is just a demo I guess. Anyway, could use a timer to combine with the limited number of photos or something.
Ivo wrote:
Oiche Mhaith - touching but almost not a game. I'd like to know JT's opinion on it. I much preferred stuff like the IMO brilliant Don't look back, or Passage.
If I were to rank the games you mentioned, I would say I like Don't Look Back the best, but I like Oiche Mhaith better than Passage, though I never really did like Passage.
I agree that Oiche Mhaith is not really a game, but it does use old school graphics to convey a childish innocence to the main character who is a pitiful girl unfortunately thrown into a terrible family. While I would normally criticize a game for being so linear and having so few options for interactivity, I felt that in Oiche Mhaith that these restrictions gave you a hands-on sense for how restricted her life is with such controlling parents and it gave a sense of the hopelessness of her situation. From the very first time I encountered the mom, I tried to run away from home, but was unable to leave the front yard. Everywhere I went in the house offered no solace and felt closed in. In that regard, I think it achieved what it set out to do.
And about the ending...
Wow, she gets completely snubbed even in their death. After the apology their spirits gave her, I thought they had changed, but then they happily leave her to reunite with the dead brother. Ouch. She just can't win.
Spelunky is one of the greats in the world of indie games, and if you haven't downloaded it yet (for whatever bizarre and nonsensical reason you must have), then you can now play it in your web browser. All of the adventure that these randomly generated caves and tombs and can provide is all there in your browser now.
CLOP is the latest hilariously cruel game by Bennett Foddy, the maker of QWOP and GIRP. In CLOP you are a unicorn who, as you might suspect from a Foddy game, has an incredibly difficult time coordinating his legs. He is told by a human acquaintance that there is a virgin awaiting him on the other side of the hill if he can only get over it. So far, with me in the controls, he can't. Maybe you'll have better luck. And if not, it's still good for a laugh.
This is a really cool online FMV game written by Kieron Gillen. It takes place in London, a few years into the future. The world has gone mad with paranoia about terrorists and nuclear weapons. You now have to earn your citizenship by maintaining citizenship points. There is a curfew imposed. Life has become exceedingly oppressive. You are now part of an underground resistance that is trying to break free of the shackles of "security" without getting yourself killed by Big Brother and his crew along the way.