Free games of the week

Do you know how many different ways you can move a string and some pegs? Let me show you, because you will certainly find out if you play the next game listed. Bending a string around a bunch of pegs leaves so much open space to wrap your string around and so many pictures to create. If you aren’t interested in the simplicity of string based puzzles, you can attempt to connect planets together to trade, frantically try to clean your room before your mother comes home, take on a bunch of monsters by blowing them off your platform, and flee from a cat in a world of hazards. Check out this week’s free games and read on...

Looking for more free games? Check out our round up of the best free PC games that you can download and play right now.

Constellations by Ian Snyder

Such a simplistic screen - just some pins and a few bits of string. Constellations takes these pins and string, and challenges you to figure out how to loop the string around the pins. You must loop the string correctly to match the symbols on the key at the top of the screen. Each time the strings cross over, an X forms on the line below the key. When the string is connected to a pin, a circle appears. You can grab points on the line to stretch it out and connect it to new areas. The various lengths of string between each point or crossover will also show up at the top, on a line right below the key. You need to get these exact lengths to match to solve each puzzle. There are a couple of skips that you can use, if the specific puzzle is too hard. With so much freedom in where you can placet the string, sometimes you will just have to keep trying until you find some shapes that match.

Slipways by Jakub Wasilewski

On the complex end of the spectrum, Slipways has you discovering and connecting planets so that they are able to trade. You start off as a black hole with a fixed amount of money to use to take over this system. You can use the money you have to discover new planets, buy floating machines that help you manufacture various objects, and to build bridges that connect planets so they can trade. Trading is the goal of the game - everything works through trading. Once you discover a planet, you can choose what you do on them. There are different options for different types of planets, but each option has a requirement in order to produce what you want them to produce. Planets are not happy when they are unable to produce something, which in turn will cost you money. If you are able to get a bunch of planets producing items and trading with each other, you can start to research more and grow! See if you can make this solar system function - in each of the different challenging modes.

Good Impressions by Ellian

Ever needed to clear your room quickly before a guest comes over? Well, what if that room is your studio apartment, which you’ve totally trashed, and that person is your mom? You’d want to make a good impression on her, especially since you just moved out. In Good Impressions, you have exactly 3 minutes to clean up your entire room. Each object has a place it needs to go into; trash cans, your desk, your closet, the washing machine, and more. There is specific places they belong, but items can be placed almost anywhere. Pizza in your bed? Sure. Half-cooked chicken in the washing machine? It fits. But your mother will find these misplaced items and judge you. There are also dishes to be done and spills to be cleaned up if you want her to have the best impression. Good Impressions was originally a game created for the Ludum Dare 37, however it has been updated and finished off recently, for you to check out once again. Will you take the time to make a good impression?

Bowler by PizWiz

You are a contestant on some strange TV show where players face off by trying to stay on a platform. Falling off results in death, and losing the game. There are loads of contestants attempting to win the massive prize for this TV game show, however you are more determined than any. Your only power is to blow air out of your huge mouth, which has the side-effect of pushing you back slightly. You can continue forward, pushing your enemy back more than yourself, but you will need to get them all the way to the edge and let them fall. After the first round, your enemy will be upgraded and use a new challenging tactic to try and get you to fall. You will need to keep this up and take on 100 wacky monsters in order to figure out what that prize is.

Smintheus by Neutonmouse

In this adventure game, you play Gerald the mouse, a young craftsman who is being run out of town by a mad cat. This cat has nothing better to do than follow you to the ends of Earth, just for a tasty treat. You need to escape this danger, so you must travel through various parts of the world just looking to get away. Every area on the map has a different puzzle for you to solve - from pushing blocks to avoiding traps and collecting keys. Some even have various other characters who need something for you.

Darting around and avoiding dangers is a challenge. There are cheeses that help by healing you, but as the old saying goes, a mouse can only have so much healing cheese. There are many doors along the way, with keys you need to get to open them. Acquiring these keys does force you to put yourself in danger. Things like spikes and water are clear dangers, but even being near the fire while trying to open the doors or get to new places can cause you to burn. Other characters also sometimes steal your keys or force you to go different ways, in order to help them out, before you can continue further away from the cat.

Disclosure: Jupiter Hadley is an apprentice games wizard at Armor Games, helping them to find released free games to sign.