Strange Adventure in Infinite Space
 

I just stumbled across this fun little game yesterday. Available in both PC and Mac versions.

The description is pretty well complete, so I'll just summarise by saying that you have to travel around and investigate star systems in search of goodies to bring back to your home planet. Along the way you may find aliens to trade with, ally with, or do combat with.

The unique selling point of this game is that each full game takes no more than 30 minutes to play, and usually less. And the setup is generated randomly every time.

The demo version can be downloaded here. The demo is cut-down and doesn't randomise much, but it's still loads of fun and very replayable in its own right. I played it several times last night and enjoyed it immensely.

Why play the first version if there's a superior sequel? Try Weird Worlds. It also has a large demo which is a very good representation for the full game.

I thought I'd have a look at Weird Worlds too, but I hate messing with sequels until I've gone through the first one. Just a natural-born completist.

Really, it's less of a sequel and more of a replacement. I honestly don't think there is any reason to ever play the first one after playing the second.

But a true completist will want to play both versions if for no other reason than to see what they changed.

Yep, that's me all right!

It's two-week-old news, but I just found out: the game was made freeware by the devs, so there isn't any reason not to play it now. Grab it at the same url as in the original post. I've already downloaded - seems pretty addicitve indeed.