Adam "Atomic" Saltsman -- whose previous works include the addictive Gravity Hook and the Dr. Dobbs platformer/level editor, and who is also now working on the high-res graphics for Cave Story's WiiWare port -- announced his newest Flash game, Fathom (unrelated to the Atari 2600 game).

Fathom's visual style is in keeping with the games mentioned above, which is to say it looks superb, with detailed 2D backgrounds and a tiny protagonist inviting comparisons to Cave Story's Quote. Also, the soundtrack, composed by Danny Baranowsky (Blush, Grey Matter) is, as Saltsman puts it, "bangin".

You can play Fathom on the developer's site. If you get lost in the short game -- which was the case with my playthrough, and I embarrassingly instant messaged friends to figure out what to do -- pay attention to the creatures around you, they'll steer you in the right direction.

Saltsman also notes that the Flash framework powering Fathom will see a public, open source release in the next few weeks.