This is the article that would be going up on Thursday, but Knytt Stories was released early, so I put it up now.

Nifflas. Who is Nifflas? Nifflas is the nickname of Nicklas Nygren, a 24 year old independent game developer and musician from Sweden who is responsible for a few of my favorite games of this decade. Today, he released his latest work, Knytt Stories, the sequel the critically acclaimed freeware game, Knytt, released last year. Like its predecessor, Knytt Stories is a 2D platformer with a focus on simple gameplay, atmosphere and exploration rather than having a large amount of enemies and very complex gameplay. Your goal is to roam this large world in search for a few items.



However, instead of simply recommending Knytt Stories, I want to dig a little deeper into his games. So, I am going to give an overview of all ten games he has released, along with links for you to download them. So, hit the jump for more on the games of Nicklas Nygren.





Here's a listing of all the games Nifflas has made:

The Turtle Philosopher:
Nifflas' first game. In the game you play a "round chap" (as in many of his games), and all you have to do is grab all the rings in the level and make it to the end of the level before the background music is done playing. If you do that, you'll get one of six words of wisdom from The Turtle Philosopher. Extremely simple concept, however, it's very tough to actually reach the end of the level in the alotted time because of all the obstacles that get in your way, and the fact that The Turtle Philosopher demands nothing less than "the perfect score".




Pteranodon:
This is a simple 2D shoot em up game along the lines of Galaga. However, there are two very unique features to this game. First, just like in The Turtle Philosopher, the length of your game is determined by how long the background music plays for. Second, the animations and the types of enemy ships that come on screen are all determined by the cues in the background music. Those two elements make this game a very worthwhile play.





#ModArchive Story:
Nifflas' third game is arguably his first truly great game. In it, you play a purple ball who has no musical skill, and has just composed his first song in ModPlug Tracker. The ball sets out on a quest to be accepted as a member of the #ModArchive IRC channel, and in order to do so, he must defeat the four "regulars of doom". These regulars are d_fast, Zepsi, Doragon and Nifflas the evil coffee pot.




Riddle:
A puzzle game unlike any other you've ever played. It's got many levels, all having different styles of gameplay. However, what makes this game difficult is not what you must do to get to the next level, but figuring out what the hell you have to do! Heck, I still can’t figure out how to get past the first level. If any of you figure it out, please let me know!





 
Operator Status (#ModArchive Story 2):
This game starts right where #ModArchive story ends. is now an accepted member of the channel, and is now seeking to get operator status in the IRC channel. However, this time the ball does not have to beat bosses, it has to solve puzzles and locate the 4 admins that vanished due to a netsplit on espernet. This game sets the foundation for his next major game, Within A Deep Forest, in that both take place in a very large forest, which creates a very ambient and lonely atmosphere. This one is not as desolate as his later games, but you can definitely see where he's headed off towards. Also available is a version that's "just a tiny lil bit harder", called the XH Version.



Geoffery The Fly:
A very simple game in which you play a fly named Geoffrey. The only goal is to fly him to the end of the level.







Roll:
Another simple game. All you need to do is roll the ball to the end of the level. That's all there is to it. Just roll left and right to get the ball to the end of the level.





Within A Deep Forest:
This is Nifflas' first masterpiece, and one of the best games of 2006. It makes his seven previous game look like nothing. It plays very similar to Operator Status, but this time your ball is now the result of a failed experiment by the evil Dr. Cliché to build a bomb capable of freezing the entire Earth. However, Dr. Cliché tried once again to make this bomb, and he succeeded. Now it is up to you, as the blue ball to save the world from total destruction. While on your journey though this forest, you will encounter many creatures, power ups, ball upgrades and loads of secrets (Notice the Secrets Levels.exe file in the game directory? That’s there for a purpose…). The game is very cute in appearance, but don’t let that fool you, it is EVIL! Some of the jumping puzzles in this game are the toughest I’ve ever encountered in any game. If you need help, there’s a walkthrough from Jay Is Games. If you are very skilled at the game, be sure to download version 1.1.2 of the game, which includes a speed run mode.

Knytt:
This is my favorite game of last year. In it, you play Knytt, a cute little guy who was abducted by an alien, who takes him for a ride in his UFO. However, this UFO collides with a meteor and crashes on a nearby planet. Knytt survives the crash, but the UFO is totally destroyed. You must locate the parts of the UFO scattered throughout the world in order to bring the little guy back home. This game is very much like Ico for PlayStation 2 (and Nifflas even admits being inspired by it) in that it has a very desolate and lonely atmosphere and a hero very limited abilities. The only things Knytt can do is move left and right, jump, climb walls, glow red when he’s in danger, and shine a white light towards the nearest item. The rest is up to you. You must explore the world and find all of the items to bring yourself back home. The game was a huge hit when it was released last December, and made a huge splash across the internet. It was mentioned on websites like Joystiq, GameSpot, VH1 The Independent Gaming Source, Destructoid, and many others. Like Operator Status, there is an XH (extra hard) mod of the game available on Nifflas’ site. Knytt is an experience that any gamer should experience, and it will prove that even free games made by one person can be just as good as the latest blockbuster on Xbox 360.

Knytt Stories:
Nifflas’ latest is very similar to its predecessor, but this time around, you play as Juni, Knytt’s sister (don’t quote me there, I’m not sure). The game plays pretty much like the last one, but Juni has many abilities that Knytt did not, including a double jump, the ability to make a decoy (HoloDuke anyone?), and an umbrella to safely float to the ground. However, the major difference between this game and the last one is that it is a collection of shorter adventures instead of one larger one like Knytt was. What’s nice about this is the ability to download new adventures created both by Nifflas and players by using the included level editor. As of today’s release, there are two expansion packs available for the game: one that Nifflas made and another crafted by the beta testers of the game. Be sure to keep a look out for more expansions on both his official site, on his message board, and here at RF Generation, as I might revisit Knytt Stories in a few months with a roundup of all the expansions available for it. If you want to try your hand at editing some levels for the game, I found a very good guide by GSR. Already, this game is making a splash across the internet, with coverage on Destructoid, Joystiq, Independent Gaming, Jay Is Games and many others.

So that wraps up my feature on Nifflas in celebration of Knytt Stories. I urge each and every one of you, no matter what you may think of freeware PC games, to at least download Within A Deep Forest, Knytt, or Knytt Stories and give them an honest shot. There is a whole lot to like in all of them.

One other thing I forgot to mention. To extract these games, make sure you have the lateast version of WinRAR, as most of these games are compressed using RAR format. Some use 7zip, but WinRAR can handle that too. So just download WinRAR and you'll be fine.

For more information, visit either nifflas.ni2.se (the offical site) or the unofficial site.

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