Zeux's World is a VERGE game created by Zarathustra Productions. It was one of the first VERGE 2.0 games and, in many respects, the only truly completed VERGE game. The game can be freely downloaded at zara.verge-rpg.com.
Although it isn't open source, its completeness shows that, with patience (the game took fourteen months to make), freeware games that aren't simply modifications of commercial games can be successful.
The game features over sixty levels of platform-style gaming in fourteen worlds that comprise the game's "Imagiworld." The level design is similar to Super Mario World. However, the entire game is a throwback to MegaZeux - in particular, the original world, Caverns of Zeux. Many of the subtle and not-so-subtle parts of the game allude to MegaZeux. (There are other allusions, as well - Metroid, Pac-Man, Pokemon, et al.)
The graphics are simplistic, but they work reasonably well to create the game's cartoony atmosphere. The music is taken from various sources in the demoscene, which is fairly common among VERGE games. (Sully Chronicles was infamous for the practice.)
The worlds consist of Grasslands, Mountainview, Aquaria, Beachwalk, Rainforest, Desertheat, I.C. Cap, Graveyard, Treehouses, Metropolis, Earthgrotto, Deathcliff, Pinnacle, and, of course, Dystopia.
Dystopia in particular is an occasionally fun but more often frustrating world. The levels of Dystopia include:
Invisible in Seattle - The player is invisible! Jumping accurately becomes a difficult task, to say the least.
Topsy Turvy - The screen flips upside-down. Pressing the jump button causes the player to jump down, and falling into the ceiling is fatal.
Mirror Morons - The controls are flipped. Pressing the left arrow key causes the player to move right, and vice versa.
Dark Dorks - The playfield vanishes, with the exception of a circle in the center of the screen. This one isn't too bad, although navigating the level can be tricky.
High-G Gag - The name says it all. The level designer taunts the player from the start, with the exit sign just one tile away from his grasp.
Disco Ditzy - The screen flashes constantly into various pastel colors that Michael Jackson would have liked. Unfortunately, in Zeux's World it only serves to induce epileptic seizures and make the level notoriously difficult to concentrate on.
Reduced Rumble - The entire level is shrunk, with the exception of the enemies.
Unseen Underground - Blocks within the level don't appear until the player touches them. Finding the holes becomes a frustrating matter of trial and error.
Yog-Sothoth - The player's worst nightmare. The player is invisible, the controls are flipped, the screen is upside-down, the level is dark, the disco lamp flashes constantly, and the level can't be seen until the player touches each block. To make matters worse, two fiendishly difficult-to-collect yellow "Z"s exist within the level, both of which are needed to complete the game.
Zeux's World is a highly addictive game, surpassing E2 and Everquest in some cases. Downloaders beware: Be prepared to lock yourself in your room with nothing but a bag of Doritos and Mountain Dew for a few days. It's that good.