Well, I might as well jump on the bandwagon and shine a light on the games sprinkled throughout the list I really enjoy. There are definitely some goodies, some so-so's and some bad ones, but I won't waste any time with the latter two categories.
Chime is sort of what I wanted Lumines to be - a Rez-like puzzle game. The gameplay is very similar but the interaction with the music makes for a more unique and satisfying experience.
Hinterland is the last game by the great (and basically shuttered) Tilted Mill, the studio formed by the Impressions guys when that studio was shut down. As with all of Tilted Mill's games, it could have benefited from a bit more time in the oven, but the ideas on display are compelling enough on their own to compensate for any faults in the gameplay. Managing the development of a town while hack-and-slashing my way through some fairly generic monsters was fun enough to keep me going through several games (there's no campaign to speak of, only a skirmish mode). It's sort of like the town-building sections of Actraiser but with a more Diablo-like combat system.
Shatter is one of my all-time favorite Steam sale finds, and it will probably end up being one of yours, too. I'm not a huge fan of Breakout-style games but damn, this is a good one. Very addicting, fantastic soundtrack.
Eets is best described as Lemmings meets the Incredible Machine. Your goal is to passively guide the adorable little Eet...creature...thing...through a series of levels by designing a path with a few preset objects. The puzzles, for the most, are very decent, if a little on the easy side, and the overall design is pleasant and relaxing.
AaAaAA!!! I don't get dejobaan's poor reputation as a studio, but whatever. Their games aren't the most polished but one of the cool things about the super-cheap games you can pick up on the last day is stumbling upon something that presents something completely original, and that's certainly the case with AaAaAA!!! The game has a bizarre sense of humor...if you enjoy off-beat games you might like extreme base-jumping, you never know. The game really picks up once you unlock a couple of additional components.
Swords and Soldiers surprised me. I wasn't expecting much out of it, but I ended up glued to my laptop for hours. Very simple gameplay but still challenging enough, this is a great pick for the "strategy-lite" fan. Another game that actually manages to be genuinely amusing.
Zombie Driver is fun for brief spurts over a week or two. There isn't much original or interesting about it...it's pretty much what it sounds like. You drive around killing zombies. But the gameplay is tight and satisfying, and the unlocks will keep you going, at least for a little while.
Everyday Genius: SquareLogic is essential gaming for the puzzle gamer, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a sudoku fan at all - can't stand 'em - but a grid game in which each grid is basically a long, numbers-based logic puzzle turns out to be a great deal more interesting. Yeah, I know...I just described sudoku, but this is different. It's much more involved, and there are layers of depth as you advance. Starts out easy, but it has a good built-in mechanic to keep you at the proper challenge level (each time the grid gets more complicated, all you have to do is complete a test puzzle to ensure you're ready to move on, but there are loads of puzzles at every stage in case it starts to get too hard).
World of Goo is much closer to the Lemmings formula than the aforementioned Eets - the goo balls you manage here are very reminiscent of the green-haired ones. The twist is that instead of giving them jobs to perform, you combine them in acts of improvised architecture. After the first few levels you start finding goo balls with different abilities, giving the game a lot of variety between worlds.
SuperLurker said:
Culdcept! That's the one. Thank you, that was driving me batty. I can't believe I forgot.