Best Of Indie Games: Life is Difficult, Deal With It

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. rounds up the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features 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 delights in this edition include two difficult shooters, a platformer about descending into the depths of hell, a block-based sandbox building application, a horror adventure game, a new release from Execution-er Jesse Venbrux, a card game that could possibly put you to sleep, and a Zelda-like action game from the developers of La-Mulana. Game Pick: 'SYNSO2: Squid Harder' (Oddbob, freeware) "An arena shooter created by Robert D. Fearon, featuring glowy graphics and eye candy that (at maximum setting) is guaranteed to push the limits of any computer setup you may have. A host of configuration options are included, allowing players to change screen size, toggle autofire, activate motion blur, or even enable the practice mode where novices could take the game for a spin without worrying about dodging bullets or colliding with enemies." Game Pick: 'Underworld Trip' (Yoshio Ishii and Yossa, browser) "Nekogames' Underworld Trip is a platformer created in a style that is similar to Terry Cavanagh's Don't Look Back, where players will attempt to figure out what has happened to them by journeying deeper into the realm of the dead. There are a total of eight stages to play and six single screen endings to discover." Game Pick: 'Minecraft' (Markus Persson, browser) "Markus Persson's Minecraft is a block-based sandbox building game originally inspired by Infiniminer, but one that requires no installation of any software to play. A Java-enabled browser is all that is needed, and though the current alpha version does not have multiplayer features yet the developer has promised that new single and multiplayer game modes will be added very soon." Game Pick: 'Downfall' (Harvester Games, commercial indie - demo available) "A horror adventure game created with Chris Jones' AGS engine, featuring hand-drawn background art and original soundtrack by Remigiusz and Michal Michalski. The story is about a couple who decides to stay the night in an old hotel before resuming their journey home the next day, although things start to turn spooky when you wake up the next morning to discover your partner missing without a clue of her current whereabouts." Game Pick: 'Super Karoshi' (Jesse Venbrux, browser) "Jesse Venbrux is back with the fifth chapter in the popular Karoshi series, and his second Flash browser game to feature everyone's favorite protagonist with the trademark blue suit. In Super Karoshi you not only have to figure out ways to commit suicide but occasionally assist other similarly-looking characters to do the same as well." Game Pick: 'Storm Assault' (Storm Project, freeware) "A horizontal shooter created by the Storm Project development team as a tribute to Konami's early Gradius series. Everything from the classic power meter, upgrade capsules, and boss ships with specific weak points have been transferred and updated with slight changes for this loose remake." Game Pick: 'SHEEP!' (Alexander Shen, freeware) "A simple yet addictive card game which is great for wasting a few spare minutes. Sheep cards are placed down three at a time with three fence cards underneath. The objective is to uses the fence cards to box in the sheep as efficiently as possible." Game Pick: 'Miracle Witch' (Nigoro, browser) "In Miracle Witch you assume the role of an apprentice magic caster named Polfe, chosen by her peers for a quest to defeat the evil king Yeah Walusa and his invading party of monsters. This involves going around the island dispatching creatures, acquiring new spell books and searching for treasures to loot."