Stranded 2

I Got Lost on a beach twice. The first time I waded out really far along a cliff face in Majorca and stood on a rock and cut my foot and the saltwater stung it, and then the sand on the beach made it sting even more. The second time I was on a cliff again, and I was trying to climb up when I became paralysed with fear and couldn't go any higher. I also couldn't go back down, so I stayed there on the cliff for a while.

So Stranded II struck a chord with me, because in it you're lost on a desert island and must find the bare necessities before you die of exposure. Once you're not immediately about to die, you go about creating a semblance of a lifestyle in the harsh environment. At first it's extremely difficult - punching crabs does nothing, and scratching at trees gives you piles of leaves and bark - but persevere (and combine a rock and a stick to make a hammer) and you'll be building primitive shelters, storage areas, and camp fires.

Combine objects you find to create or improve your tools, use these tools to rapidly gather resources, and go from being a bearded Tom Hanks-type man, dragging logs across the island one at a time, to a master of the wilderness, harnessing nature's power to your own dastardly ends, like an evil Ray Mears. You can train monkeys to collect food for you, once you've sorted out your survival, and you can pluck cotton straight from the tropical sheep littered about the land.

This complex game is one of the best and most addictive freeware titles I've played. Think Harvest Moon - but with the threat of a horrible dehydrated death constantly looming over you - and you'll begin to understand the appeal. I give it five stars, or something.