I played some more free Flash games, specifically most of Nitrome’s catalog. They all have pretty decent production value for Flash games, but my issue with the majority of them is either their physics engine or them being too easy and kinda boring for most of the game, but there are a few I’d recommend (plus, I saw how much you all loved my previous multi-game post and figured you’d all enjoy another one ☺☺☺):

This is a platformer, but the gimmick is that you can tag 2 types of tiles to swap their properties. When the properties of the blocks have been swapped, the tiles get a glitchy filter over them. I kinda wish that they also visually swapped so it’s easier to tell when the formerly safe tile is turned into a harmful spike. For me, the game started to get tricky around level 7, way quicker than the usual threshold of level 20 for most Nitrome games. Then again, it takes until level 12 to have another tricky one, and part of that is realizing there’s a cloud tile in the upper right (after that, it’s obvious what you need to swap it with). While this is technically a puzzle game, there are quite a few times where what you need to do is pretty obvious, but doing it is where the challenge comes in. For example, in level 17, you have to swap the enemy with the solid tiles so you can break through them, but you also need to cancel the swap before the enemy passes through the wall and falls off so you can tag it again and kill the next layer of tiles to reach the flag. I think my biggest complaint is that the number of times you have to swap the goal is so low (only two levels require it) that you’ll likely forget that it’s a possibility when you need to use it.

This is like if the game Snake had gravity and level design: you move one tile at a time (though at your own pace rather than automatically), and touching blue tiles increases your lenght by one tile. One of the first thing’s you’ll notice about this one is that the level indicator is super large and obstructive: you’ll have to wait for it to disappear before you can really start the level. Also, despite requiring you to stop and think more often than the previous game in this list, there are still plenty of times where you need to be quick and move across certain platforms before they disappear (notably level 7; also level 11 if you don’t figure out how to abuse the length-respawners) or before a hazard cuts off the back half of your snake (you still live, you’re just shorter–unless your head gets hurt, then you die). Level 5 is the first one where you can’t just go forward mindlessly and still win, and level 8 had me stumped for quite a bit despite not requiring any new inputs or mechanics, nor was I missing some out-of-the-way item that would suddenly make the level way easier: it’s a proper puzzle–or maybe I’m just dumb; YOU DECIDE! (preferably after playing the game yourself). My biggest issue is the lasers introduced in level 9 stay on for quite a bit longer than they need to, making you sit there and wait for them to turn off. It’s also a little unintuitive when the only way forward is to do something that also results in getting your snake cut (like in level 15) since, for the most part, you’ll need all the length you can get to finish these levels.

This is a sliding block puzzle game, except the blocks are rooms and you need to connect them so a dog can go from one room to another. Some rooms can’t be moved even if they don’t have the dog or an elevator in them, and some can only be moved across one dimension (vertical or horizontal). Sometimes, the blocks are just bricks with wires that you need to connect to open a gate, because even this game has to prioritize introducing new mechanics over maintaining a consistent challenge (something else that isn’t uncommon in Nitrome’s titles). The difficulty curve is all over the place, but only about half of the stages are mind-numbinbly boring compared to the usual 3/4ths for Nitrome games. Plus, the ones that are tricky can have you stumped for quite a bit, which helps make up for all the easy levels. Beyond the difficulty, I think my biggest issue with this one is that the cats are used so infrequently that it may take a bit of trial and error to get past them when they do get used in a tricky level. Beyond that, it can be difficult to see which blocks consist of three tiles since the tile border is just a thin grey line, but that’s not a mistake that will force you to restart since you’ll see the connections when you move them.

This is a horizontal shmup, but the level scrolls with you rather than automatically. The game’s main gimmick is that when you kill an enemy, it falls down and takes out all enemies below it. This one starts getting tricky around level 4 or 5, but there are only 9 levels (10 if you count the laughably-easy final boss). It also has the same level indicator problem as Coil. Unfortunately, waiting returns with the lava falls, and what makes it especially frustrating is that some of them do go away quickly, yet others sit there for upwards of two full seconds (and when there are several in a row, those two seconds add up). They knew how to do disappearing-wall-hazards right, but chose not to this whole time! The game could also have introduced the enemy-spawning cannons better since you need to pass right by them when they first show up, meaning you’ll get killed by them before realizing what they do. However, I think my biggest issue is the fact that you have a limited number of shots and can only refill by going back to a checkpoint; I didn’t run out that often, and when I did, it was more annoying than anything having to go back to the previous checkpoint to get more (there was only one time I ran out and wasn’t allowed back to a checkpoint). If they wanted to encourage the player to avoid shooting all the time, I’m sure they could have done so through level design alone.

In this game, your movement is fixed to the four cardinal directions, but your character connects the tiles you’re moving toward and away from with the titular plungers; if an enemy connects with said plunger, it starts climbing it towards you, so you have to switch between horizontal and vertical movement to get them off your trail. Said plungers also activate the tiles they touch (ice tiles freeze you for a bit, fire tiles send a spark along your plunger, brick tiles spawn a wall towards where your plunger connected with it, etc.), and the goal of each level is to connect each pair of goal blocks with your plungers. There are still some duds, like the levels that have nothing except for the goal tiles and brick tiles (meaning you have to wait at each goal for the bricks to disappear before you can move on to the next pair), and it does take about half the game for the levels to start getting tricky, but the game still manages to offer decent challenge overall. My main complaint is that your character’s hurtbox is slightly larger than one unit, so enemies or projectiles that seem like they’d go right beside you end up killing you instead.

P.S. If you’re familiar with some of Nitrome’s Flash games and think I missed one of their better ones, feel free to mention it in the comments and I’ll give you my thoughts on it.