game recommendations

* means highly recommended

free:
An Untitled Story http://www.mattmakesgames.com/ - pretty challenging and unique metroidvania. Tips: Play on Simple for save points, even if you like a challenge. Also, try to get hatched quickly so you can talk to people - there's no timer, but it's more fun and convenient.
* Cave Story http://www.cavestory.org/game-info/about-cave-story.php
Digital: A Love Story http://scoutshonour.com/digital/ - a curious visual novel sort of thing in the framework of a 1980s PC connected to the Internet by phone, as one did back then. Good story, but the interface might be too annoying, in which case you can at least enjoy the music.
Elona - a silly casual roguelike-RPG thing. Try not to get too wrapped up in it; it's not remotely balanced.
Eternal Senia http://store.steampowered.com/app/351640/Eternal_Senia/ - easy-to-moderate action RPG, with pretty well balanced and varied game mechanics that make it fun to play. Good music and sound design. Story is strange, beautiful, sad, and kinda poorly translated. You do not actually need to have played RO at all.
* Eversion http://zarat.us/tra/eversion/ - "A cute puzzle platformer with a dark secret." A version with a few extras can be bought on Steam - not really worth the money tbh.
* Iji http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php - An upgrade-based platformer-shooter with an interesting story. Also, all the music is Swedish metal or metal-like and all the voice actors are deep-voiced Swedes, including the titular heroine.
Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt http://www.remar.se/daniel/remedy.php - a cheerful little top-down shooter themed around healing people.
* Interim http://www.badkittygames.net/games/interim/Interim_1.01.zip - A short RPG Maker affair with a fun if short story that pokes fun at other RPGs. ...Minors are warned not to visit the main site, as it contains unsuitable content.
Last Scenario - I hesitated to include Last Scenario in this list, since I haven't actually touched it since I was a teenager. But uh, teenage me says it's a fun RPG, with a good trope-subversive story, if not the best character development.
* Seiklus http://www.autofish.net/clysm/art/video_games/seiklus/ - a cute explorative platformer with good music
The Spirit Engine 2
* A Tale of Two Kingdoms http://crystalshard.net - excellently crafted adventure game with multiple solutions for almost any puzzle - though some are better than others for perfectionists. Set in a Celtic fantasy world. Tip: Try to get the rope in Chapter 1 and not use it at the first opportunity.
* Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok http://crystalshard.net - same dev as ^. Excellently crafted adventure-RPG hybrid with multiple solutions for many puzzles and a tactical realtime combat system. Set in a Norse fantasy world.
Yume Nikki http://www.theneitherworld.com/yumenikki/links.htm - the original weird Japanese atmospheric abstract horror RPG Maker affair. You may want a speedhack, and also a guide once you can't think of any further way to progress. Do be aware that this one has some mature themes, abstracted tho they are.

http://vgperson.com/games/ free games vgperson made or translated. Mostly Japanese horror or adventure. Usually have a walkthrough.:
1bitHeart - Set a little bit into an aesthetic future, this is basically a friend-making simulator. Walk around, talk to people, give them gifts. Also at some point you save the future.
* Blank Dream - a mostly-atmospheric horror game, themes of suicide, bullying, other stuff. very emotional
* Ib - an atmospheric horror adventure from Japan. Possibly the best on this list. Nice pixel art. If you want an introduction to the kind of thing vgperson translates, this is a good place to start.
Libretta
LiEat 1-3 - the RPG combat is trivial, so it's really just a cute story. Good music.
Mad Father
Misao
Midnight Puppeteer - Japanese paranormal horror
Standstill Girl - an ATB RPG with unusual mechanics and an interesting story.
Uri's games (except Paranoiac) - horror games with interesting stories. It may be desirable to follow a walkthrough.
Deep-Sea Prisoner's games - Weird, silly, sometimes a little perverted. Some are RPGs, some are just stories that happen to use an RPG engine.

Free Flash games:
* Level Up! http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/519030 I liked this so much I got all the medals. Progress-themed platformer with an overarching puzzle element to it.
Why Am I Dead? http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/646983 a casual murder mystery. You're a ghost, you possess people and have them talk to other people to gather clues and solve your own murder. has a sequel on Steam.
* http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/askiisoft especially Pause Ahead and Tower of Heaven. puzzle platforming with great music
http://www.kongregate.com/games/scriptwelder this man is famed for his point'n'click adventures, especially Don't Escape and the Sleep trilogy
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Mazapan/you-have-to-burn-the-rope the pinnacle of game design
http://www.kongregate.com/games/glimajr/continuity platforming, but the level is a sliding-tile puzzle you can move around
* http://www.kongregate.com/games/z3lf/five shorter timed Continuity with cool music
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Zillix/endeavor the epic of the dwarf who fell off the mountain
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/dont-look-back a platformer. somewhat easy one way, difficult coming back because you have to... well, see the title.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/nayas-quest perspective puzzles
* http://www.kongregate.com/games/mirosurabu/depict1 a mysterious puzzle platformer with interesting art style
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Bloomengine/the-binary interactive fiction
http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/k-o-l-m a metroidvania
http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/k-o-l-m-2
* http://www.kongregate.com/games/sarahnorthway/rebuild-2 a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, with city building. has a paid successor on Steam.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/GregoryWeir/how-to-raise-a-dragon
http://www.kongregate.com/games/GregoryWeir/looming just exploration
http://www.kongregate.com/games/GregoryWeir/ossuary-the-hodge-podge-transformer a weird
http://www.kongregate.com/games/xraven13/verge a dual-world puzzle platformer where you transition from one world to the other by suicide. Lovecraftian undertones.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Kajenx/william-and-sly cute magic fox, the platformer
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Kajenx/william-and-sly-2 honestly 2 is better
http://www.kongregate.com/games/2DArray/the-company-of-myself co-op with yourself
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Scarybug/chronotron The Company of Myself with robots and without story.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/2DArray/you-find-yourself-in-a-room a short text adventure. contains language.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/SuperFlashBros/haunt-the-house cute for a playthrough, but don't try for perfection.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/JuicyBeast/burrito-bison squash gummy get money
* http://www.kongregate.com/games/innomin/fear-less adorable running game, good music
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Puffballs_United/fleeing-the-complex silly stickman escape game, not challenging at all.

free fan games:
Mother: Cognitive Dissonance
Undertale - Red

technically cost money:
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
American McGee's Alice
Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus
Costume Quest
Fallout 1 in Fallout 2's engine
* Fallout 2 w/ content restoration patch
Fallout 3
* Fallout: New Vegas
* Final Fantasy 9 for PC
* Grim Fandango
Jazzpunk
Minecraft w/ a bunch of mods piled on it, played w/ friends - I like Thaumcraft, Twilight Forest, Biomes o Plenty, Mystcraft, Inventory Tweaks
* Monkey Island series
* Planescape: Torment w/ content restoration patch
* Portal series
* Psychonauts
SimCity 3000 Unlimited
Star Trek Armada 1 and 2
* Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines w/ Plus Patch

cost money:
Antichamber
* Aquaria
Braid
* Deadly Rooms of Death - Whatever is the most recent version of DROD is probably the best value for money a pure puzzle gamer can have, due to the quantity of high-quality official and fan content. Better still, you can play all the fan stuff and even build your own without buying the game; only the official level set and some of the graphics and music cost money (though they're worth it). I spent a lot of time playing these games as a youth.
Edna & Harvey duology
* FTL: Faster Than Light
Gunpoint
Last Word
* Long Live the Queen
Nihilumbra
An Octave Higher
Puzzle Quest
Shantae: Risky's Revenge
Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP
* Terraria
* Thomas Was Alone
To the Moon
* Undertale
* VVVVVV
any WadjetEye-published adventure game

co-op:
* Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
* Towerfall: Ascension
Tales of Symphonia

competitive:
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
* Duck Game
* Towerfall: Ascension

Game Boy Advance:
Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
* Metroid Zero Mission
Metroid Fusion
* Mother 3 - sequel to EarthBound, albeit sort of an unfaithful one. RPG combat, with rhythm elements you don't really have to pay attention to.
* Shantae
* Wario Land 2 - a creative platformer with novel powerups. There's no lives system because the protagonist can't die, so that's refreshing.
Wario Land 3

SNES:
* Donkey Kong Country 2
* EarthBound - strange, funny, heartwarming. Be an American preteen, fight aliens with psychic powers, enjoy trippy music, make cool friends, save the world, never forget it. RPG.
Final Fantasy 4
* Final Fantasy 6
Live A Live
Lufia 2
Super Mario RPG
* Super Metroid
* Terranigma

PSX:
* Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - the "vania" half of "metroidvania", this game is actually not all that hard. I once played it without ever using the free restore points. Really cool music and general atmosphere though.
Final Fantasy 9
Grandia
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Eternia

GameCube:
Tales of Symphonia

I'm not much for massively multiplayer online things, but http://www.kingdomofloathing.com is mostly just rationed-single-player-with-optional-chat, and it's really got a sense of humor. I come back to it every few years or so.