Best of Indie Games: From All Against One to Waking Mars

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 delights in this edition include a tale about two treasure hunters, a new browser pick from VVVVVV developer Terry Cavanagh, a procedural-generated exploration game, plus a 2D platformer created by IGF Award-winning developer Tiger Style Games. Here's some recent highlights from IndieGames.com: Game Pick: 'Wyv and Keep' (a jolly corpse, commercial indie) "Wyv and Keep tells the story of two treasure hunters on an expedition to a long lost temple, but like any good ancient video game temple, this one is filled with danger and box pushing puzzles." Game Pick: 'Proteus' (Ed Key and David Kanaga, commercial indie) "You start Proteus plonked on a beautiful island, each time slightly remixed by clever procedural generation, and then you wander around looking at bizarre blocky environments and taking in the pseudo-interactive soundscape." Game Pick: 'Hexagon' (Terry Cavanagh, browser) "VVVVVV and At A Distance developer Terry Cavanagh has made one hell of a palm-sweating, vertigo-inducing experience in Hexagon, one of hundreds of games made for the GDC-bound Pirate Kart." Game Pick: 'Swindler' (Nitrome, browser) "Swinging from a rope made of his own stretchy mass, Swindler's starring pile of green goop must carefully avoid enemies and obstacles in order to reach the treasure chest at the end of each level." Game Pick: 'Lemma' (Evan Todd, freeware) "The lazy description of this game would be something along the lines of Mirror's Edge meets Minecraft, although it's also got sweet physicsy kicking, and a neat bit of storytelling by way of mysterious text messages." Game Pick: 'All Against One' (Leon Arnott, browser) "All Against One differs from other boss rush-styled shooters in that the boss remains the same in each level. The player's equipment changes after each boss is defeated, with later levels challenging players to win using cumbersome and unconventional weaponry." Game Pick: 'EvilQuest' (Chaosoft Games, commercial indie) "In EvilQuest, the monstrously evil dark knight Galvis seeks world domination after being betrayed by his once-loyal followers. Gameplay is largely inspired by SNK's underappreciated NES action-RPG Crystalis, and players have access to a variety of magic spells in addition to an arsenal of melee weaponry." Game Pick: 'Zombies, Inc.' (Aethos Games, browser) "Zombies, Inc. is yet another title that features the cannibalistic undead but this time around, things are a little different. Instead of shambling mindlessly into human cities, these zombies have offices to plot in." Game Pick: 'Russian Subway Dogs' (Miguel Sternberg, freeware) "Created by Miguel Sternberg, Russian Subway Dogs is an arcade-y little title that works on a very simple premise. You're a dog. You're hungry. You're totally okay with scaring people into dropping their food - they don't need it as much as you, after all." Game Pick: 'Waking Mars' (Tiger Style Games, commercial indie) "Waking Mars is an exploration-based platformer in which a lone astronaut navigates a vast network of caverns beneath Mars's surface. Equipped with a jetpack, players must carefully observe the planet's ecosystem in order to sustain helpful lifeforms, eliminate infestations, and eventually escape." Game Pick: 'Orbitron: Revolution' (Firebase, commercial indie) "Originally published for the Xbox Live Indie Games service late last year, Orbitron: Revolution offers wave-based gameplay in a looping playfield -- a style similar to Williams' arcade classic Defender."