Free games of the week

It's Summer, which means bees, wasps, and other buzzy things that will probably hurt you.

It's Summer, which means bees, wasps, and other buzzy things that will probably hurt you. Enjoy!

ASHI WASH by TwoGlassHams

A big gross foot threatens to rock your world in ASHI WASH, and by 'rock your world' I mean smash up your lovely home. To prevent this terrible fate, you have to clean the giant appendage, using hedge clippers, a fly swatter, an ice pick and fungal spray, the same tools you use to clean your own feet every day.

Oh, and you only have three minutes to find and use these various objects. This is a pretty basic game, in terms of visual assets, menus and so on, but there's a winning, weird idea at its core. ( Via Warp Door)

HIGH CLIMB by Trasevol_Dog

I'm tempted to say that most of the best ideas are coming from Pico-8 games at the moment, its harsh restrictions causing developers to make increasingly interesting decisions as they attempt to fit their game ideas inside tiny Pico-sized boxes. HIGH CLIMBis a game about HIGH CLIMBing, and instead of using ropes and so on you rely on your unusual super-power: the ability to turn balls into platforms.

High Climb's world is one of colour, all the colours, and of massive spherical objects roaming the empty land. To ascend to the very heavens you have to tactically transform balls into platforms, while jumping, double-jumping, diving and wall-jumping, all of those many actions mapped to the same button. This is tough and smart, designed to encourage replays and, eventually, mastery.

Sacramento by Dziff

Sacramentois one of the most beautiful walking sims I've played, using sketchily drawn images and splashes of watercolour to create a striking world that feels like an art pad come to life. Spend a few minutes wandering around its environment, taking its size and shape, and delighting at all the nicely drawn things you'll find scattered around. I like that you can hold the right mouse button to look at your watch, the clock face reminding you that you're somewhere blissfully removed from real life.

BuzzKill by morningtoast

Once you're suitably relaxed, reintroduce some tension into your life with superb arcade game BuzzKill, which is pretty much Breakout, mixed with Space Invaders, but with bees. Your job is to eliminate all the honeycombs, bees and bee hives, and you do this by shooting fireballs and blowing big balls of smoke. The smoke temporarily weakens the honeycombs, allowing you to destroy them, while the industrious insects will do their best to reconstruct their colony. Some real thought has gone into this, and it shows.