An Independent Games Festival nomination is no guarantee of commercial success, or even a proper release. In the past, dozens of promising games have been celebrated and rewarded by the IGF only to disappear without trace, but thanks to download services like Steam the situation is steadily changing. In the last few months, Zeno Clash and Blueberry Garden have surprised and delighted, while Machinarium is a tantalising prospect just beyond the horizon. For now, though, you can pass the time with Osmos, and time tends to pass quickly when you’re in its grip.

You take control of a ball of mass called a ‘mote’. The fundamental aim of every level is to absorb other, less voluminous motes by bumping into them – blue motes are smaller than you, red ones are larger. Movement is controlled by ejecting mass behind you, so there’s a constant trade-off between growing bigger and getting smaller, which makes the simple objective far more difficult to execute.

As you make progress, new motes are introduced that have special attributes: Repulsors, for example are propelled away as you draw near, so you have to be vast in order to absorb them; Attractors, on the other hand, have a gravitational pull that slowly draws other motes towards them. Each mote-type requires a subtly different strategic approach, and initial urges to zip around each level will quickly be met with disaster.