Howdy! Welcome to my weekly column on being the most budgeted of gamers. I am glad you stopped by, as I have some great stuff for you today and want to help you game as the lowly peasants do and have since the great Peasant Gaming Act of 1983 and 1/2. In this wonderful act all gamers of the nature of peasants were given $5 to game on each week.

The law was debunked with the release of Macintosh 1995, and in protest I began gaming on $5 per week. Some would say I am a sort of civil rights activist, but, in my second-to-none humility, I would rather call myself an extremist and revolutionary mind. Such is the difficulty of  being the most humble human being on the planet. So, without further ado, let us game in commemoration of our fallen peasant brothers. Here is a list of how you can game for $5 next week:

Recommendation for Monday

Dwarf Fortress from Bay 12 Games (Price: $FREE on Desura and Bay 12 Games’ Official Website)- First of all, I apologize for the worst Youtube video I have ever ashamedly posted. Secondly, I am recommending you quite the steep and difficult game for your Monday. I contemplated and concluded I was too nice last week, and made a subsequent decision to start putting games on the list for Monday that gamers can spend a week playing.

Dwarf Fortress has a steep learning curve, but can be extremely rewarding in depth and replayability. Players control a pack of dwarves bent on exploration and digging deep down into the mountain for wealth and sustenance.  In this process Dwarves will die, your tribe will be attacked, and magma will make an appearance. The game became such a success, despite still being a work in progress to this day, that it even has spawned two updated near-clones in Gnomoria and Towns. It is a hefty offering, but Dwarf Fortress will keep your mind working and possibly create obsession for an entire week, month, or year, for free.

Recommendation for Tuesday

Puzzled Rabbit from Pixel Elephant (Price: $.99 from Pixel Elephant’s Official Website)- For Tuesday I will give you a relaxing break from the treachery of the daunting Dwarf Fortress interface and give you an elegant but challenging puzzler. Puzzled Rabbit is built around a basic puzzle idea, use a rabbit to get red boxes into green squares. The elegance of Puzzled Rabbit comes from the ridiculous simplicity of the prior presented concept.

It reminds me of Dedale in that it seems so very simple, but can be frustrating to the point of madness. The rabbit can easily get the boxes stuck and immovable, creating the need to restart levels, but luckily each level ends with a reward; a beautiful quote from fantastic minds, such as Albert Einstein and Norman Vincent Peale. Puzzled Rabbit is a fantastic value and contains over 200 levels which the little rabbit needs to solve. Also, it is available for PC, Xbox, and iOS. That is right! Versatility is being shown in this column! Screw you Reddit!

Recommendation for Wednesday

Spelunky from MossMouth- (Price: $FREE on Spelunky’s Official Website)- It sometimes seems like people forget that Spelunky is available for free for Windows and that there is no freaking reasonable explanation for why you are not playing it every moment you possibly can. Sure, it is not quite the polished version you will find on XBLA with the fancy visuals and updated music for $15, but it is a version for PC users that is 100% free.

We are talking about a puzzle platformer which could win game of the year on multiple indie game sites, but is relatively unappreciated for it beginning a free indie offering online. I do not feel the need to explain Spelunky any further, as it is a critically acclaimed piece, an indie classic, and an all-around gem. It is so good I feel that I am copping out by choosing it. Quiet down and play the thing, you will not regret doing so. Oh, also, it is good for Wednesday because… JUST PLAY SPELUNKY!

Recommendation for Thursday

Cardinal Quest from TameTick (Price: $1 or Pay What You Want on IndieGameStand.com)- I suppose this was bound to happen. Petey AM has gone with the ultimate cop out and used the Pay What You Want site as his way of getting a game for a low price. No, that is not the point of me doing this. Moreover, I spent the week looking at $1 games that were not worth my money and then found Cardinal Quest on IndieGameStand nearly at the last minute.

My ultimate point is that I would rather use the last dollar I had this week on a great game from a company which fell short in an attempt to fund a sequel, than I would use that dollar elsewhere. We could argue this point all night long, and feel free to comment below, but in the end it comes down to the fact that Cardinal Quest is an outstanding roguelike with incredible replayability. Which will be available for the price you deem fit for the next 3 days.

I had $1 to spend and gave 100% of my remaining gaming budget to these guys because they have made an outstanding game in which you delve deep into a dungeon using one of three distinctive character classes. Cardinal Quest, like the other games presented is far more valuable than the price you may pay, and offers incredible entertainment for your hard-earned dollar.

Recommendation for Friday

Dinner Date from Stout Games (Price: 2.99 on Steam)- I do not know what I am doing Friday night, but there is a 10% chance I go on a date. In that 10% chance there is a 30% chance I get stood up. What a joyful thought, but I ran the numbers so it is quite close to factual.

Dinner Date is an experimental game, and therefore comes from a genre I adore, which peers into the psyche of a man who has just been stood up on a date. You play as Julian Luxemburg’s subconsciousness and navigate a fully voiced 25 minute story. It is part puzzler, part interactive narrative and absolutely warrants multiple playthroughs. It is one of those games which can be fully digested in one sitting, but leaves the user thinking for a while.

I for one am not hoping to experience the fate of Julian Luxemburg anytime soon, except for trading for his divine British accent. So… go get stood up and get Dinner Date for a wonderful Friday night alone.

On that depressing note I will leave you alone. Stop whining, you knew this had to end eventually. But, before we part ways I wanted to say that I need more games ranging from the price of $FREE too $5 and am willing to try anything and everything out. Also, I am planning on holding a weekly Twitch.tv cast on my channel in which I will be trying out a variety of free games live and taking recommendations in the Twitch chat.

It is a good chance to get free publicity for your game as well as make sure I do not screw up playing it. Those will be held weekly at 8pm EST on Sundays, including tomorrow, so come check it out. Otherwise, if you miss that cast, just send me a tweet @indiepeteyigm, although likely will not be as high a priority as those who catch my cast.

As always, it was wonderful writing for you lovely folks and I cannot wait to do it again next week. Thanks for reading, and for all things Indie gaming, keep your search bar tuned to indiegamemag.com.

You may be interested in:

1. 

   The Budget Gamer: How to Game on $5 Next Week (2nd Edition)
2. 

   The Budget Gamer: How to Game on $5 Next Week (1st Edition)
3. 

   ‘Cardinal Quest 2′ On Indiegogo, Offers Free Demo
4. 

   IGM Limelight: Week Two
5. 

   GamersGate Announces The ‘IndieFort Bundle’