The Submachine Series by Mateusz Skutnik

The Submachine games are a series of point-and-click esacpe flash games. I was introduced to them by Josh B., and now I'm hooked - these are probably some of the best flash games I have ever played. I know most flash games are pretty mindless, but I encourage everyone to give these a try. I'd call them "thinking-man's flash games." Anyway, thsese are all created by Mateusz Skutnik and his website can be found here.

	Submachine: The Basement This is the first game in the series. It's short and fairly easy, but it sets the stage for the story. Definitely start with this game if you plan on playing through the series, as it gives the player a good feel of what is to come. I rank this one fourth out of the five main games, but only because the others are more developed and longer.
	Submachine 2: The Lighthouse The second game, and also one of the best. This game is a huge step up from the first one in all ways - it is longer, harder, and more interesting. The atmosphere of the lighthouse is excellent, and there are lots of different places to go. In addition, the idea of the diary was greatly expanded upon, which continues into the later games as well. I rank this game second out of five because it think it's very innovative, and it has such a foreboding feel to it.
	Submachine 3: The Loop This is the only Submachine game I didn't really enjoy. It almost feels like a step backward, as there are no items, no diaries, and there is no collecting. Instead the game is straight number puzzles within a single environment. Some of the puzzles really make you think, but I feel like this game dropped a lot of what I really enjoyed from previous ones. Thus, I rank it fifth out of five.
	Submachine 4: The Lab In my opinion, this is the pinnacle of the Submachine series. This game has the largest number of areas out of all the games by far. It also has the most items and the most secrets as well - all of which I enjoy. This game also introduced in-game note taking, instead of having to write junk down on paper IRL. This game had me stumped for a while, but I enjoyed it the most out of all of the games by far. I rank this game first out of five because of its huge and varied environment and its plethora of items.
	Submachine 5: The Root Submachine 5 is the latest in the series and takes place near "the Root," which the player is trying to reach. This game, while good, didn't seem to do much different from the previous games to me. It still has a decent amount of puzzles, but I feel that overall, the game is shorter than Submachine 4. Still a very good game, I rank this third out of five.
	Submachine 0: Ancient Adventure This game is really more of an "extra" in the series - I didn't rank it because it's not really designed to be compared to the other ones. It only takes a few minutes to finish, but it sort of builds on the origins of the wisdom gem. The author said that he created this for a contest and had to abide by the guidelines, so it shouldn't be compared to previous games.
	Submachine: Future Loop Foundation This game is another "bonus" game created for the band "Future Loop Foundation." This game uses the idea of memories as a major theme, and starts out very promising, but only lasts a few minutes. I hope the next Submachine uses some of these ideas in a more developed game.