As November - also known as Movember, or Nanowrimovember - rolls around, it's time to eat pumpkin "pie", wrap up in as many blankets as your body will allow, and kiss goodbye to the sun for about three months. If you can still move your fingers from under your snuggie, why not use them to play a browser game or two? As usual, we've rounded up the week's best for your perusal. Read on for war, WAR, stories and puzzles, in precisely that order.
Hordes and Lords by yarg and TimofeyS
The AI's a bit iffy and the humour falls flat more often than Frank Spencer, but if you're looking for a quick dose of real-time skirmishing, Hordes and Lords should suffice. Its defining feature is the sheer number of troops it can fit on-screen at any one time; they might be too small for you to actually make out the details, but at least it looks like a proper, messy Medieval battle is going on (albeit one with goblins and other fantasy creatures).
Lord of Vandaria by Toge Productions
Another tactical battler, this time in the shape of a tower offense game. And a tower defence game. (There's probably a bit of tower maintenance going on in there too.) There's quite a bit to sink your teeth into here, with upgradeable units, spells and even collectible card-based shenanigans, if you can put up with a bit of Facebook and Twitter nagging.
Atticus and Boy Electronic by Bloomengine
A charming storybook adventure about a not-quite-boy and his actual dog. Not only is the writing fantastic, it's backed up by some beautifully chunky illustration and an assortment of memorable characters. A good one to play with your kid, if you're sick of reading the same picture books over and over again.
SAIcoron by Dango Itimi
The wonderful SAIcoron combines the card game Pairs, match-3 mechanics and dice, and the result is an impeccably designed puzzle game with one horribly catchy soundtrack. The best puzzle games feel like they've been around for years, and SAIcoron is no exception. In it, you match dice - vertically, horizontally or diagonally - by flipping them and seeing what number lies beneath. It's simple, it's brilliant, and if you need to get any work done then you probably shouldn't click on the above link.
Organicraft by Stew Hogarth
I'm including Organicraft not because it's a good game - it really is rather clever - but because I need to share my elation at finally, finally getting past level 3. Conceived for the Experimental Gameplay project, Organicraft tasks you with growing one plant to match another plant, by picking through a series of growth patterns. It doesn't look like much, but once you start you'll have doomed yourself to an evening of mathematical cultivation, and a night filled with dreams about weirdly mutated trees. I just took a peek at level 4 and my head exploded; hopefully you'll do a little better.
