Best Of Indie Games: The Fable of Eden

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of 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 goodies in this edition include a 2D platformer and a tower defense game created by two former IGF finalists, an impressive Java remake of Q Games' PixelJunk Eden, a new vertical shooter from the legendary creator of Dungeon Crawl, a Flash game from the co-developer of Aether, and an action game which pays tribute to last year's indie darling Braid. Game Pick: 'The Legend of Princess' (Joakim Sandberg, freeware) "If you're going to play only one game this week, then it might as well be Konjak's new 2D platformer. Created as a tribute to one of Nintendo's flagship series, the action comes thick and fast as you do battle against loathsome creatures and evil-doers with the life of an abducted princess at stake." Game Pick: '4bidden Fruit' (Simon Hayles, browser) "A stripped-down remake of Q Games' Pixeljunk Eden, coded with Java and measuring only a measly 4K in size. No music or sound effects are included, but you can play any track from your mp3 collection in the background as a substitute." Game Pick: 'White Butterfly' (Linley Henzell, freeware) "A new abstract vertical shooter created by the developer of Dungeon Crawl and Garden of Coloured Lights. There are three levels to play here, as you once again put on your space helmet and board one of the five available ships to drive back another alien invasion bent on capturing Earth and enslaving humanity." Game Pick: 'Closure' (Tyler Glaiel and Jon Schubbe, browser) "A unique 2D platformer created by the co-developer of Edmund McMillen's Aether, with sprite and background art contributed by Jon Schubbe. The game involves using orbs to light up your surroundings, as the entire area is shrouded in complete darkness with each step outside the light most likely to be a fatal one." Game Pick: 'Assassin Blue' (Banov, freeware) "A 2D platformer with combat elements, where players assume control over a sword-wielding hitman who must carry out a series of missions for his superior. This naturally translates to a lot of jumping, climbing and fighting as you make your way past hordes of henchmen leading up to the commander of each resistance group." Game Pick: 'NUD' (Sean Chan, freeware) "A tower defense game created by the developer of Battleships Forever, one of the 2008 IGF finalists in the Design Innovation Award category. Still a work in progress, but NUD is already showing a lot of promise with the gameplay balance so finely tuned that it puts most of the other Flash variations in its genre to shame."