I have lots of games to recommend. =D These are all free ones. The first three are downloads but all the rest are playable in your browser.
1. Anything by
Nifflas. I've only played his freeware games, plus a demo of Saira, and this man knows his games.
Within A Deep Forest is a cute little platformer with ball physics and insane difficulty. I always make themistake of going back to it to relax before remembering how hair-tearingly frustrating it is. XD But it is fun. And also, as I mentioned, really cute. There are two unlockable mini games but I haven't been able to unlock them to review.
Knytt is another platformer with the atmosphere of WaDF, but it's actually relaxing. You play a tiny alien creature exploring a vast, beautiful world to collect pieces of your spaceship. It isn't really a hard game. But it's very beautiful, with lovely music, and there are several secret areas to explore.
Knytt Stories is something like a sequel to Knytt, except different. It comes with a couple 'stories' (basically shortish games) and the game's author has made an expansion pack, but most of the fun comes from the community. It has an extensive level editor and an entire website (knyttlevels.com) devoted to stories the community has made. The game is as atmospheric and beautiful as Knytt, and generally fairly simple, but there are even more secrets, and some of the userlevels (as well as one of the expansion pack levels) are extremely difficult.
FiNCK and the #modarchive games are tricky too, but I've barely played them (due to being even trickier than WaDF)
2.
Cave Story. Cave Story is probably my favourite game. Ever. Talking about the plot would probably give away too much, but there is a plot and it's very well-written. The game's a retro Metroidvania kind of thing, with multiple endings and involving rabbit people, humans, robots, and a giant talking toaster thing that likes to crash through roofs. (You can get CS+ on Steam or on the Wii, which has updated graphics/music and an area added, but this one is the original freeware one.) A warning, it gets a little bit creepy. Nothing not forumsafe, just a warning for easily-frightened people like me.
3.
An Untitled Story. An adorable platform game. You are an egg, who can somehow jump and roll around. So you do. It has a neat story to it, too, but most of the focus is on exploration of the huge colossal game world. Also there are no bottomless pits, and lots of secrets. Simple difficulty is fairly average in terms of difficulty, but everything above that is extremely hard. (The highest difficulties have been called equal to and harder than I Wanna Be The Guy by TV Tropes, to compare).
4.
Snailiad This game is another of my favourites. It's very cute, and it doesn't take itself too seriously, which is good.
*casually digs up quote from dead thread*
5.
Colour My Series- A cute, heartwarming little series of adventures. The link leads to Colour My Heart, the first in the series. The others are linked at the bottom of that page. (Warning- Colour My Dreams is a little creepy in bits, but definitely still forum safe)
6.
Orisinal- A collection of small, pretty games. I'm a big fan of the music, which is usually really relaxing and pretty.
7.
Powder Game- A sort of sandbox. Things interact differently with each other, and though it seems simple there's a lot of interactivity.
8.
Take A Walk- A cheerful, simple rhythm-type game. Jump over things in time to the music. It's kind of hard to describe, but very very cute.
9.
Robot Wants Series- Exactly what it sounds like. A robot explores various levels in search of first a kitty, then a puppy, then a fishy, and then ice cream. There's also a banner game. The whole series is a major throwback to retro platformers, silliness and all. (Like the Colour My series, the other games in the series are linked at the bottom.)
10.
You Have To Burn The Rope- Absolutely amazing. You have to see this one for yourself.
11.
The Fancy Pants Adventures- A stick man with fancy pants runs around exploring and collecting swirls and trophies. There's also a sequel. =D
12.
How To Raise A Dragon- No relation to the movie, raise a dragon from a baby to an adult, and then take control of a hero and befriend or slay the dragon! There's quite a bit of interactivity and it's also kind of adorable.
13.
Mardek series- A rich Flash game that manages to both be serious and a slightly ridiculous parody at the same time. The first chapter, linked here, is really short, but the next two chapters are quite a bit longer and more involved. (Also some things might be kind of creepy, but almost certainly nothing that doesn't get played for laughs around here. Also, I'm pretty sure there's some minor cussing in the second and third chapters.)
14.
Caverns- A little game about critters coexisting in an environment. You can interact with the world and experiment to see how different critters interact with each other and the environment. I think the main point of it is to be adorable, frankly.
15.
Seed- A game about growing flowers and making your own breeds of flowers. =D
16.
Grr Game- Okay, so this is a car ad. It's also one of the cutest car ad games ever. Hop around the world collecting carrots and ridding the world of hate.
