The holiday season has come and gone, and if you’re like me, you’re dying for your next gaming fix before you fall to the dark side and reactivate your WoW account. My first inclination was to relive some of the earlier glory days of gaming by playing around with emulation, but instead I settled on scouring the web for some freeware action. Since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll share my results with you.

Gesundheit!

Gesundheit! is a great puzzle game akin to Chip's Challenge that was recently nominated for an award at the upcoming Independent Games Festival. The quirky art style and fun music come together to create a simple, but extremely appealing game.

Download here.

UFO: Alien Invasion

Do you like X-Com? Do you wish you were playing X-Com right now but with an updated graphics engine? Do you have no idea what X-Com is and are thus deserving of being shot into the sun? If you answered yes to any of those questions, please proceed directly to the download link below and check out UFO: Alien Invasion. Borrowing heavily from X-Com, UFO uses the Quake 2 engine to give the gameplay a more modern facelift, though it’s still no looker by modern standards.

Download here.

Thinking Machine 4

Even if you’re not a chess fan, you’ve got to check this game out. When you play a game of chess against the computer, the AI is spending time thinking about the hundreds of moves that are possible after each turn, and Thinking Machine 4 provides a stunning visual representation of this process. Part art and part video game, this is one link you’ll pass along to friends so you can make them think that you’re smarter than you really are.

Download here.

F.E.A.R. COMBAT

If your high-end PC is laughing at all of the simplistic games I've recommended so far and is dying for a real challenge, then snag F.E.A.R. COMBAT and enjoy a more modern experience. COMBAT is essentially the full multiplayer component of F.E.A.R. released for free, and it's a great way to stress a new PC and have some fun at the same time.

Download here.