S-01 · NICKY CASE
The Evolution of Trust
A short interactive guide, half game and half explainer, to why people trust each other and when it breaks down.
- ~30 min
- Free
- 10/10
sublayer.lyr · beneath the layers
The Sublayer: other people's browser games, reviewed
Under the six layers sits a shelf of games we did not make and like a lot: an interactive essay on trust, a dungeon you can lose a winter to, a daily colour puzzle, a screenshot quiz, a racer, a block-stacker, an island-trading board game and a tool for making puzzles. Each one has a review, a way in, a place to stop, and a link to its own site.
Facts were checked on each game's official site on 11 November 2026. Details move on, so where we disagree with the maker's page, believe theirs.
On the shelf
8 of 8 layers visible.
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S-02 · THE DUNGEON CRAWL STONE SOUP TEAM
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
A deep, fair, open-source roguelike: one character, one dungeon, a quest for the Orb of Zot, and no second chances.
- ~40 min
- Free and open source
- 9/10
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S-03 · THE GUESSTHE.GAME TEAM
GuessThe.Game
A daily video game puzzle: name the game from its screenshots in six guesses or fewer.
- ~10 min
- Free daily puzzle
- 8/10
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S-04 · HANNAH AND EKIM
Hexcodle
A daily guessing game for colour: work out today's six-character hex colour code from a target swatch.
- ~5 min
- Free
- 8/10
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S-05 · OSK AND THE TETR.IO TEAM
TETR.IO
A modern, fast block-stacker you can play alone or against people around the world.
- ~15 min
- Free to play
- 8/10
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S-06 · COLONIST, LLC
Colonist
A free online take on the island-settling board game: trade, build roads and race to ten points.
- ~45 min
- Free to play
- 8/10
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S-07 · THIBAUT DESPOULAIN (BKCORE)
HexGL
A slick little futuristic racer that runs in the browser: one track, a hover-ship and a time to beat.
- ~10 min
- Free
- 7/10
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S-08 · INCREPARE
PuzzleScript
An open-source engine for making small block-pushing puzzle games, with a gallery of games other people made.
- ~30 min
- Free and open source
- 9/10
Build a short session
Choose when you start, how long you want, and when you go to bed. The builder picks up to three games from the shelf, in order, with a ten-minute break away from the screen between them, and finishes at least an hour before bed. It all happens on this page: nothing is saved and nothing is sent.
Your session
- Choose your times and the session appears here.
How the shelf is chosen
- No game pays to be here and no link carries an affiliate code or tracking tag. Each link goes to the game's own site.
- Nothing is embedded: each game opens on its maker's site in a new tab, under their own terms and privacy notice.
- We lean towards games that end on their own, games you can play with people you know, and games that teach you something.
- The pictures are our own photographs of little felt models. They are not the games' artwork, logos or screenshots.
Before you click through
- Some of these sites show adverts or offer paid extras; each review says what we found.
- Leaderboards, ranks and daily counts are there to bring you back. Ignoring them costs nothing.
- Online play and chat can put you in touch with strangers. Keep personal details to yourself.
- Each site sets its own age terms. Check them before passing the keyboard to someone younger.