Candy Box 2 (2013)

This was an interesting and surprisingly challenging game to try out. It's totally free, just check out http://candybox2.net/ and just work your way through the game. This is an ASCII art- and candy-themed game created by a French designer (whom also made Candy Box [1]). The first game can be accessed here: http://candies.aniwey.net/

Pros: It is intuitive, despite looking rather jarbled, and actually pretty challenging to get through some of the section. You get to experiment with different items to see what works and what doesn't. It's definitely very creative; while I've played games with similar concepts, it stands-alone with its own unique show.

Cons: This depends on how a person feels, but it's not a "pretty" game. It's all down with basic keyboard symbols to create images, so sometimes it's hard to see what you might be looking at or looking for. There are parts where, depending how you approach the challenge, you may just have to sit and wait for candies to accumulate or for your character to battle (the battles are auto-generated, so you just watch what happens). Despite being a "quick" game, it takes a long time for the candies to build (unless you cheat).

There isn't a lot to say without spoiling the "story," but there were a few times where I had to look up the answers (e.g., the puzzle that the Ogre at the lighthouse is kind of insane). The hardest battle, in my opinion, was the battle against yourself. I would love to hear what anyone else who has played this game thinks!