TimeWasters is a new column highlighting many of the excellent, free Web-based/lightweight downloadable titles that you can dive into and finish in the space of a lunch break. This week, Chris Gampat explores Gretel and Hansel.

If you’re bored during the lunch hour or at a slow day of work, you may want to give Gretel and Hansel a try on your computer. Based off the famous fairy tale, you find yourself navigating different puzzles that can actually be quite tricky unless you pay attention. While the graphics seem like something synonymous to a fairy tale from hell, they really do work for the overall feel of the game. If anything, the artwork is right up there with the gameplay.

Here’s the plot: Gretal and Hansel are trying to figure out how to survive on the scarce amount of food that they have. Gretal spies her mother trying to convince her father that they should kill the children so that the food can be shared between the two of them. The father doesn’t want to go along with the plan, but is submissive and gives in – - nothing like a good family meal. Gretel then needs to find a way out of the house and needs to find a way to save her brother in “Part One: Stones.”

Your job in this stage is to gather ten stones from around the house in order to execute Gretal’s plan, which isn’t very clearly spelled out. Fortunately, the controls are simple: the W, S, A, D keys control movement, while the mouse fires Gretal’s slingshot. The slingshot can be used for shooting animals, and destroying objects needed to accomplish goals. The puzzles can be a bit frustrating at times and it will require you to use Gretal’s slingshot accurately to work well.  Thankfully, the game is easily played on a laptop, something that can be a problem for some online Flash games. There was no problem playing it on my Macbook.

Most games give you props for staying alive, but Gretel and Hansel tries to influence you to the darkside. Besides the main mission of staying alive, you get awards for dying every single way possible in the game, such as letting a crow pluck Gretel’s eye out. If you have a NewGrounds account, then you can save your dark achievements for bragging rights.

There are also several sidequests. For example, you need to gather up three acorns to set a trap for the squirrels in order to get the stone it stole  and you also need to do other things like drench Hansel’s doll in honey in order to remove the giant spider. Hints are given to you throughout the game in the form of environment interaction (by clickingon various in-game objects)  and simple idea icons that come to Gretel’s head.

It isn’t all totally linear either. You can get the stones in any way or order possible. Additionally, you can sit around interacting with the environment as well instead of tackling the mission at hand. For example, Gretal can profess her undying love for a cute little bunny until she eventually dies.

When you’ve gathered up all the stones, you need to run away from Gretal’s mother who is being pulled in a cart by her husband. This is a little mini-game which requires jumping, clicking, and saving Hansel from crows.

The music and sound scheme work very well for the game. It gives you a greater sense of the environment mixed in with something from a dark fairy tale. In fact, I felt like the music seemed similar to the music from Tim Burton’s Coraline. If it isn’t similar, it could have surely worked with the movie. The graphics also fit the game perfectly as it all seems like a vintage story straight from the books. It’s almost like you just took the book out of your attic, brushed off the cover and started carefully flipping the pages.

I recommend Gretel and Hansel to anyone looking for an alternative to the shooters and tower defense games that seem to dominate the flash game world these days. It is a nice escape from Kitten Canon or Crush the Castle.