BRAIN THEATRE EP: a gamejam bundle designed to entertain your grey matter

Indie collective Braingale has compiled a seven track "EP" of rapidly developed free games. Called BRAIN THEATRE , the aim is to provide tiny synaptic bursts of electronic entertainment. It's a handful of ideas, each whipped up in anywhere between 12 hours and a month, focusing on the weird, experimental, or the instantly gratifying.

Which we've covered previously . It remains a short, sharp burst of frantic noise and punching. And swearing. But mostly punching.

PS: I'm pretty sure it's Punks-Not-Dead, not Punk-Snot-Dead. That would be a very different game.

Swap

The most accomplished game in a bundle that's really not about accomplished games. Here you play a ghost (or something?) that can "Swap" with enemies, possessing them to use their attacks against there friends. It's a pretty excellent idea, simply executed and well worth a look.

Squestuid

What the what? Squestuid starts as a weird platformer, rotating the screen as you try to safely make your way to the bottom. Then it gets weird(er), and you become trapped in a nightmarish neon Pacman shmup, where ghosts chase you across a pulsating screen while you collect coins.

Millions

Fact: It doesn't count as a gamejam unless there's an experimental 2D platformer with a weird gimmick. Millions' gimmick is that when you jump, the background turns black, obscuring your view of the platforms and traps. Every jump becomes a leap of faith, punctuated only by the protagonist's red tie.

Variation 6

A tricky and varied puzzle game that starts when a corpse tells you which way their murderer went. Tracking your quarry down involves solving non-euclidean mazes and solving a door puzzle in which a bunch of jerks lie to you.

Snake Fighter '99

I couldn't get this one to work. First, it told me off for not having a controller, then it crashed because I'd plugged in a controller. Is that the game? Is it a blistering critique of our unquestioning acceptance of peripheral preference? Maybe! That, or it's a Tron-esque Snake-based arena battler. I just don't know.

...Oh, wait, it's just got a slightly awkward and temperamental configuration menu. It is a Tron-esque Snake-based arena battler. And a local multiplayer one at that.

HYPER ATTACK SPIN TURMOIL DX

Forget War of the Roses, forget Chivalry: Medieval Warfare - this is the true master swordfighting technique: wildly flailing in a circle, sword at arms reach. While crying. These robots won't know what hit 'em... Well they will. It's a sword.

You can download all the games from the BRAIN THEATRE site . The download all link is currently broken, but you can get at each game by clicking its picture.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.