When I want to just sit back and watch things go boom, Jets 'n Guns is where I go to do it. Fast paced side scrilling shooter action is what JnG is all about, and it doesn't make any excuses for it. Big, bad-ass weapons, swarms of enemies, and interesting terrain make this one of my favorite indie games ever.

Adventure Quest is fantastic for so many reasons. First it is easy to pick up and play, and you can log in and fight a couple monsters any time. Secondly it shows how an indie game can grow and evolve over time. When I first played this game there wasn't much to it, but they have added new classes, spells, monsters, and quests consistently over the years.

Dark and clever, this game needs to be played by anyone who wants to know how to do a horror game without having to put a shotgun in the lead character's hands.

Ever since I first saw Wik I have had a soft spot for it. Wik, as a character, is more than a little bizarre. He swings around by his tongue, eating insects and collecting worms. Not the most appealing premise for a game, but it works, and works brilliantly. The art direction in this game is amazing, and the gameplay is fun and addictive.

I put Flash Element TD in this list for one reason, simplicity. This is a perfect example of how a simple concept can be made fun for longer than one would expect. Although I would say that Desktop TD is technically a superior game, this one had a terrific balance.

X-Com was one of my favorite games ever. Laser Squad Nemesis took that formula and made it multiplayer. While I was playing I was always surprised by the depth of strategy they had achieved. Everything felt finely tuned and fair, and no matter how bad a battle went for me I always felt as if the game had been at least an interesting one.

Fate may seem, at first glance, to be nothing more than a 3D Diablo clone. But don't let appearances fool you, it is in fact a FIRST RATE 3D Diablo clone. =) The joy of games like this is killing monsters to find new and better things to kill monsters with, and Fate has that in spades. Add to that the ability to transform your in-game pet into all sorts of other badass creatures like giant spiders, wolves, and unicorns... Well, lets just say it's a lot of fun. (Oh, and I think Unicorns are kick-ass!)

Roboforge was a terrific experiment in its day that never got as much attention as it warranted. I have always loved robot games and especially ones that allowed for a lot of customization. Roboforge was very nearly the pinnacle of this. You created a robot from component parts and then spent some time animating it's attack moves by hand. Once you were done with that you actually had to create your own artificial intelligence module for it. While the game was still live they had regular tournaments with cash prizes and some excellent and vicious robots were born into the Roboforge universe. Though the official tournaments have now shut down, the game is now community owned and 100% free to play. I encourage anyone to head over to the site and download it!