Best Of Indie Games: Caves, Gardens and Sandboxes

[IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor Tim W. rounds up the week's top free-to-download and commercial indie games from his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The goodies in this edition include a Cave Story-inspired platform game, an expanded Ludum Dare competition entry, a short interactive fiction adventure about the act of procrastinating, and a sandbox-style exploration game set in a harsh winter environment. Here's the highlights from the last seven days: Game Pick: 'Momodora' (Guilherme Martins, freeware) "Momodora (pictured) is a 2D platformer that tells the story of an orphan girl named Isadora who went looking for a rare item in a secluded labyrinth. This network of caves harbour bug-eyed enemies of different shapes and sizes, but all of them bear the intention of hurting you in some way or another." Game Pick: 'To Hell with Johnny' (Michi, freeware) "Originally created as a Ludum Dare competition entry, To Hell with Johnny is a 2D action game that tells the story of a football player who has to rescue his girlfriend Brianne from a group of demonic creatures. This requires descending from the top of a tall tower one platform at a time, and being very careful about where you land on." Game Pick: 'Tales of Unspoken World' (Santa Ragione, browser) "Tales of Unspoken World is a first person run and jump action game that features objects depicted as white lines on a black background, giving it a unique look and feel reminiscent of a Vib Ribbon game. There are three different worlds to sprint in, not counting the short tutorial section that provides a training ground for players to familiarize themselves with the controls." Game Pick: 'Hummingbird Mind' (Jake Elliott, browser) "Hummingbird Mind is an interactive story from the developer behind I Can Hold My Breath Forever. It follows a day in the life of a man who suffers from attention-deficit disorder, as he tries to do anything else besides work. It starts off a little slowly, but it's worth sticking at it, as the dialogue proves to be quite charming and occasionally rather witty." Game Pick: 'depict1' (Kyle Pulver and Miroslav Malešević, browser) "depict1 is a puzzle platformer created by Kyle Pulver during the Global Game Jam 2010 event earlier this year, and was just recently ported to Flash with all of the updates made to the Windows version now in one place. You play as a hooded character trapped in a cage, set free by a mysterious figure who provides advice and feed instructions to you behind the shadows." Game Pick: 'Under the Garden' (Paul Greasley, freeware) "Under the Garden is a sandbox-style exploration game set in a harsh winter environment, where supplies are limited and resources such as food and lumber for your fireplace have to be gathered from the land. Here you'll learn how to hunt, mine for valuable items, cut down trees for wood, and construct buildings or bridges out of bricks and boxes."