Designed by Dan Dixon over the course of a 15 year period, Universe Sandbox is exactly what the title implies: a sandbox allowing you to play with the universe. Not so much a computer game as an education tool, Universe Sandbox is a gravity simulator. While it simulates our universe, you can pretty much adjust and test anything within the game, from the size of the planets, position of bodies, to collisions of stars and planets. There are several simulations included with the game, and you can edit them as you wish. So if you want a look at how our solar system looks, or bring about the apocalypse, then you’ll want to download this game. Makes for a good science project too.

Borderlands is a synthesis of first person shooting action and RPG-style level grinding and looting. Playing as one of four survivors in a post-apocalyptic landscape, you search for what is called “The Vault”. According to legend, the Vault contains vast amounts of treasure. Since no one has ever made it there, you’re going to trek through miles of desert, battling enemies, and collecting weapons. You’ll complete several quests and meet several NPCs. The guns are a huge part of the experience. You’ll collect certain guns, fall in love with them, using them every chance you get, only to discard them when you find something even cooler and you’re nowhere near a shop where you can sell it. Each of their four characters have their own upgradable abilities, and you can team up with another player for online co-op. The sequel is on its way, so now is a good time to check out the original. If you got a little extra, you can buy the complete edition which contains all the downloadable content released for the game.

Developed by Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya over a period of 5 years, Cave Story is a throwback to classic 8-bit platformers like Metroid and Castlevania. Taking control of your typical silent hero, you explore a cave. By collecting weapons and powerups, you become stronger. The game’s storyline centers around a race of creatures that are apparently being subjugated. Although the game has been available as freeware since 2004, there are WiiWare and Steam versions of the game that add new gameplay features. A 3DS version is also available, but its $40 price tag is hard to justify with cheaper versions of the game available. However you get to play this game, please do so, as it is an excellent reminder of gaming’s glory age.

Anyone who has visited this site within the past few months knows that I am a huge proponent of the Independent Gaming scene. Heck, I listed it as one of the 5 reasons that it’s cool to be a gamer this past weekend, and four out of my last five $20 GOTWS have centered around independent games. This week’s $20 GOTW isn’t a game per se, but it’s a downloading client. Tiggit can best be described as Steam, but exclusively for freeware independent games. Installing games is as easy as a click, and you can try out demos of games that are available as retail such as Crayon Physics Deluxe and Darwinia. Currently there are close to 300 games including favorites such as Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden and Cave Story, and the database is updated frequently. Download it from tiggit.net.

In case the title didn’t clue you in, this independently developed game is a throwback to RogueLike RPGs of the past. Taking control of one of several classes (many of which are unlockable), you take on several quests through randomly generated dungeons. As the title implies, you’ll hack and slash monsters while looting goods. The controls are simple, as mouse clicks pretty much control everything. The game however, is not. You’ll die often. It’s fair to warn you upfront. If you think those games that Adam listed in this week’s Top 5 were hard, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Even so, this is an addictive kind of fun that only makes you want to press on even more with each defeat. It’s available for cheap on Steam, so check it out.

Payday, like Left 4 Dead, is a 4-player online co-op FPS that stresses teamwork. Except this time, you aren’t working together to survive the zombie apocalypse, you are teaming up in order to pull heists. You’ll run in, take and restrain hostages, shoot it out with law enforcement, and (provided everything goes well), escape with the money. Taking control of one of four criminals, you pull off a number of different heists. Although there are a small number of maps, the heists are generated randomly. If you die, your teammates have the option of exchanging a hostage in order to get you back. There are three skill trees you can upgrade, and several skills that you can unlock. The game has been supplemented with free content. There is a single player mode, but your computer controlled teammates are horrible, so online co-op is the way to go. The game doesn’t have a storyline, and at times the game seems rather unpolished. However, for a $20 downloadable title, you can do worse. This game is fun, and easy to get wrapped up in. In fact, I had to stop myself from screaming “GET THE @#$% DOWN NOW!!!!” while dealing with some hostages.

Raventhorne is another indie Xbox game, which brings back memories of games like Actraiser and Castlevania. This 2D side scroller cast players in the role of Raventhorne, a recently slain Viking cast who finds himself in the underworld. How was he killed and why is he not in Valhalla? This is for you to find out. Along with your fighting stances, you’ll make use of several magic spells, and you’ll level up as you go along. While there isn’t a lot of variety in the game’s enemies, the game’s combat mechanics and art style make it a must buy for indie gaming fans, especially since the game is only $1. With more independent games of this caliber, we might be seeing developer Milkstone Studios’s games on Xbox Live Arcade pretty soon.

These past few weeks have seen ‘gamers’ exhibit some of the worst and most embarrassing behavior seen in the fandom. Weather it’s sexual harassment of female fighting game players, angry fanboys spamming metacritic over Mass Effect 3′s dlc, or those same fanboys making the charity Child’s Play an unwitting endorser of their campaign to have Mass Effect 3′s ending changed (and spoiling it for everyone else who didn’t play through the whole game in a week in the process of doing so), it seems that the behavior of certain subsets of the gaming community are hellbent on reaffirming the stereotype of gamers being losers. With that said, I thought I might use this week’s $20 Free Game of the week to showcase gamers doing good. In fact, how about showing gamers assisting with the cure of diseases?
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