In no particular order, here are the best-made games that I’ve played from Ludum Dare 36 so far…

Anachroma by Zillix

Anachroma is a delightful puzzle platformer where the puzzles are defined by the topology of the level and the rewards are color-based, and unlock more new puzzles. I really got into this one.

Cognizance by Managore

Daniel Linnsen’s done it again, with a fantastic platformer mechanic involving a rotating gear wheel that can climb walls and interact with its environment to power treadmills and other cog wheels in order to move platforms and solve puzzles.

Canoe and Spear by BluShine

This is a fantastic single-screen death match, basically a tiny Towerfall: Ascention with a unique canoe paddling mechanic. Toggle left/right arrows to paddle/steer, and fire a spear with the Z or X button. Up to 4 players can play head to head, or you can play vs. AI. Built in PICO-8.

Invent the Wheel by Delicious Code

This simple game is surprisingly fun and addictive. All you have to do is draw a circle, and the resulting shape will roll down a hill. The faster it rolls down the course, the better your time. The more round the shape is that you draw, the better it will roll. It also seems to help to draw as large as you can.

Supercontinent LTD

A point and click mystery that you solve with a little hacking and social engineering via telephone. Great atmosphere and mood created by the graphics and sound, and the dialog system is fantastic as well.

The Leak by cabbage_

A little adventure/RPG that you can play on a real Game Boy(!!)

Old Man’s Sky by Geared Games

A parody of No Man’s Sky, or a de-make in the style of the Atari 2600, Old Man’s Sky pretty well skewers No Man’s Sky for being a pointless game about infinite sameness, as you go from world to pointless world, exploring and finding only differently colored versions of the same old stuff, over and over again. Never do you encounter anything truly interesting, nor does anything really happen. Still, it’s oddly beautiful, in its own way.

Kites by VitasaMode

A beautiful homage to Missile Command, set in ancient China. Fire rockets to stop a never ending flock of kites. The kites don’t seem to do any harm, other than if you let the blue ones fly over your city, you lose points. And if you accidentally hit a red one, you also lose points. The art direction is very nicely done.