Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles and...not-puzzles – it's a good week for webgames, particularly if you enjoy, y'know, puzzles. Escape Goat shows what happens when a goat and a mouse (and a magic hat) put their wits (and their stitching) together; Olav & The Lute asks you to solve puzzles with sound rather than by merging stuff; Puzzle Script, meanwhile, lets you create your own puzzle games relatively easily. When your brain's suitably worn out it's time to hike home from Burning Man...something far easier said than done. Enjoy!
Escape Goat by Magical Time Bean
Ian Stocker's excellent Escape Goat is now available in browser form, should you want to play the goat-based puzzle platformer without having to download or pay anything for the privilege. (Of course, you should consider buying the game's recently released Steam version if you like what you see.) Either way, you'll be playing a smart, witty puzzler with one hell of a soundtrack, and the cutest mouse companion you'll ever met.
Olav %26 The Lute by Johann von Appen, Daniel von Appen, Shelly Alon
An enigmatic adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world, with a cracking central mechanic. Rather than combining objects with other objects, you're affecting the world with a (presumably) magic lute, by plucking at its colour-coded strings. It's a bit like Ocarina of Time, and a lot like LOOM; to open a door, for example, you'll pluck a certain combination using the game's moderately fiddly interface. Olav & Lute is a short, stark, striking adventure – it's also one you can download and play offline. (Via Indie Statik )
Puzzle Script by Increpare
Puzzle Script isn't a game so much as an “open-source HTML5 puzzle game engine”, but it's already been used to make a bunch of interesting games , including a Closure demake, a couple of Sokoban titles, a more cerebral version of Pac-Man and loads more. My favourite so far is Dungeon Janitor, which sees you desperately trying (and most likely desperately failing) to mop up a particularly troublesome puddle of slime. (Via IndieGames )
Desert Hike EX by Twinbeard Studios
Desert Hike EX is The Oregon Trail but with much higher stakes: you're trying to return home from Burning Man, making the long and perilous cross-country journey to San Francisco. (Appropriately, the game was made during the wonderfully named San Fran Indie Game Jam .) It's a far more light-hearted, in-jokey affair than the lightly harrowing Oregon Trail – or indeed the grisly Organ Trail – but there's room for one more in the Semi-Automated, Semi-Randomised Survival Adventure Genre, especially when it's one as expertly crafted as this. (Via Indie Statik )
