Best of Indie Games: From Off The Leash to Fortune Summoners

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor-in-chief Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days on 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 time-travelling 2D platformer, a new release from Recettear publisher Carpe Fulgur, an XBLIG title featuring a purple goat and a friendly rat, plus a 2011 Global Game Jam submission that tasks players with controlling all characters within each level simultaneously. Here's some recent highlights from IndieGames.com: Game Pick: 'Off The Leash' (Big Pixel Studios, commercial indie) "Off The Leash is a game where you steer a pack of runaway dogs by tilting your iOS device left and right, dodging obstacles and grabbing collectables on your way." Game Pick: 'Timeslip' (Smudged Cat Games, freeware) "Timeslip by Smudged Cat Games is a time travelling 2D platform game where you are caught in a continual time loop, forever travelling back in time to encounter past echoes of yourself." Game Pick: 'LaserCat' (MonsterJail, commercial indie) "LaserCat is a multi-screen adventure game inspired by classic European computer titles like Jet Set Willy, though MonsterJail assures that it's a more casual experience than its often brutally difficult forebears." Game Pick: 'Fortune Summoners' (Carpe Fulgur, commercial indie) "Fortune Summoners is a side-scrolling action-RPG that cites gameplay inspiration from the 16-bit era. The game boasts a 25-hour main storyline, and includes plenty of post-game content and sidequests for players to explore afterward." Game Pick: 'Loondon' (Flip-And-Tale Games, browser) "Brief, beautiful and poignant, Loondon might be less of a point & click adventure game than it is an interactive story but that doesn't change the fact that it is absolutely gorgeous." Game Pick: 'Somyeol' (Brain Connected, commercial indie) "Created during 2011's Global Game Jam, Somyeol by Brain Connected is an inventive title in which players control all characters within each level simultaneously." Game Pick: 'Escape Goat' (MagicalTimeBean, commercial indie) "In Escape Goat, a purple goat must solve puzzles and navigate tricky single-screen dungeon layouts with the help of a friendly rat, who can climb steep walls and squeeze into tight passages." Game Pick: 'Rainbogeddon' (Nitrome, browser) "Nitrome's latest browser game, Rainbogeddon, is a single or local co-op experience that essentially crosses Pac-Man with Bomberman. The basic goal is to survive long enough to collect all of the pills on the level." Game Pick: 'Brand' (Nine Dots Studio, commercial indie) "In Brand, players are tasked with a simple objective: refining and upgrading a sword until it's 'fit for a king.' Players have multiple upgrade paths to take, and are able to choose among many different combinations of powers and abilities along the way."