A Small Talk at the Back of Beyond is an innovative short story game. In this sci-fi puzzler, you awake in the dark to an unfamiliar voice. About the only game mechanic you have available to you is your ability to talk. Start up a conversation and you might just figure out what the heck is going on here.

 

You are a monkey and you work for a horrible boss and you get paid peanuts: Now as true in video games as in real life. In the puzzle platformer Super Stock Take you are a simian stockboy working in the warehouse answering to the whims of a blowhard boss. Jump here, grab that, retrieve this. The key here is your ability to pick up and move large boxes, which you'll need to do a lot of to reach your goals. Move quick, though, you make more peanuts the faster you solve the puzzles. Yeah, peanuts!

 

It's getting a touch chilly outside, don't you think? Winter is definitely in the air. So why not stay inside and play some wintery games? I suggest trying your hand at Ice Beak. This pleasingly 8-bit scroll-and-shoot puts you in the role of an ice-blasting bird navigating a lava-filled maze. There's a bit of puzzle solving to be had as well, since you must use your ice abilities to their best advantage to navigate the trap-filled maze in which you find yourself. Just remember to keep your cool.

 

Cute is good. Mushbits is a cute li'l puzzler that asks you to guide bunnies along a path so they can munch their favorite mushrooms. Bunnies can only hop along paths that are the same color as them. Bunnies change the colors of paths once they step on them. It's all very logical. Bottom line is you've got to figure out how to get each bunny to the proper mushroom in the least number of moves. Hop to it!

 

Broken Robot Love casts you in the role of, well, a broken robot. You're a small, sad toy that has been cast aside. Your goal is to return to your young owner, a better and stronger plaything. The only thing standing in your way is a backyard maze full of of lava, pirates and other deadly obstacles. Sucks to be you. This puzzle platformer will have you placing blocks and jumping quickly (and I do mean quickly) in order to make your way to the next treacherous level. No dawdling! Get moving!

 

What if they held a 48-hour video game programming contest dedicated entirely to Cartoon Network's awesome series "Adventure Time"? Good news! They did! The Adventure Time Game Jam just wrapped up, resulting in dozens of Finn-and-Jake-centric games. As is typical for this kind of thing, most of the games are short and rather unpolished. But there are a few gems mixed in there. A lot of the games require downloads, but there are a handful of Flash-based titles. Among the standouts is Ninja Castle. In this clever puzzle game, Finn and Jake must navigate the castle of the Ninja King and beat him up. You move the heroes by clicking on adjacent rooms. The objective is to maneuver them so they both reach the Ninja King at the same time. The mechanics take a moment or two to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's a colorful little mindbender.