OP
OP
Gorogoa is fantastic. Made #3 on my GOTY list this year
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Puzzle Games Thread 2018 | A new ERA of head-scratching and mind-bending
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
OP
OP
My big puzzle game disappointment right now is the fate of SCALE. It was this promising cool Kickstarted project, that hasn't seen an update in six months - before that, no updates for a year - and the dev has been silent since then. Hasn't even posted on Twitter since 2016. But the game had been so promising, and it seems legit too, since he had worked alongside the devs of games like Manifold Garden and Museum of Simulation Technology. I hope it really wasn't a scam
Here was the latest update
Here was the latest update
That's a terrific and terrifying thread. I'm not sure whether I should thank you or curse you.
In Sokobond-style, another game by the guy of A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, and art by the guy of Sokobond (or the other way around? I'm not sure): Cosmic Express.
Very basic, you need to draw a line that your cosmic train will follow to take passengers and bring them to their home. The line cannot intersect, like in Fidel or Dandy Dungeon, and you cannot go back, meaning you need to find a path that first gets the passenger, then their home.
The game gets progressively more difficult with multiple paths, multiple aliens, including some who foul the car they've been in so no other species will want to go in after them. Relaxing, pretty, and devilishly hard.
Warning: the difficulty is not linear. All worlds 1 of each constellation are of similar difficulties, as are all worlds 2, worlds 3... So don't try to finish the first constellation before tackling the second one, you should move around as you unlock them.
I haven't played Yankai's Peak yet, but the same guy created another game based around triangles and psychedelic colours called Yankai's Triangle (last year on Steam I think). It was about matching the colours at the angles of the triangles to make them form bigger triangles whose angles would match so you could form bigger triangles. Quite nice and relaxing too.
EDIT: Also, has anyone tried Dandy Dungon on mobile? Ridiculously good and challenging (though more on the RPG-lite side). Much better than Fidel in my opinion.
In Sokobond-style, another game by the guy of A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, and art by the guy of Sokobond (or the other way around? I'm not sure): Cosmic Express.
Very basic, you need to draw a line that your cosmic train will follow to take passengers and bring them to their home. The line cannot intersect, like in Fidel or Dandy Dungeon, and you cannot go back, meaning you need to find a path that first gets the passenger, then their home.
The game gets progressively more difficult with multiple paths, multiple aliens, including some who foul the car they've been in so no other species will want to go in after them. Relaxing, pretty, and devilishly hard.
Warning: the difficulty is not linear. All worlds 1 of each constellation are of similar difficulties, as are all worlds 2, worlds 3... So don't try to finish the first constellation before tackling the second one, you should move around as you unlock them.
I haven't played Yankai's Peak yet, but the same guy created another game based around triangles and psychedelic colours called Yankai's Triangle (last year on Steam I think). It was about matching the colours at the angles of the triangles to make them form bigger triangles whose angles would match so you could form bigger triangles. Quite nice and relaxing too.
EDIT: Also, has anyone tried Dandy Dungon on mobile? Ridiculously good and challenging (though more on the RPG-lite side). Much better than Fidel in my opinion.
It's downloading now, I'm scared if I start it Ill not sleep now. Have to hold off til tomorrow :) Sounds great and the perfect palette cleanser to the Great War.
OP
OP
Yeah, I had the game in my Steam library but I only got around to Epic Blunder recently, and it's great. Very clever use of predictable AI and systems for complex challenges
God of all genres and subgenres, the puzzle. Watched. Thanks for this - makes my life a little more easy sale time. I tend to manually go through the puzzle tag like a maniac on a quarterly basis and see what sticks out to me, so this is a big help. Thanks, More_Badass.Solid thread. Pretty much got all my favourites on those lists.
I've got some additions for this, so I'll just throw them under the categories you already have listed to the best of my ability. I dunno what platforms they're all on, but unless otherwise stated, it's all available on Steam, at least.
Logic/Logic-Minimalist:
Hade
KAMI
KAMI 2 (iOS only)
KNIGHTS
MinSweeper
Sudoku Universe
Unium
WayOut
Point & Click/Text Adventure:
The Dream Machine
Rusty Lake Hotel + Rusty Lake Roots
Tengami
Puzzle-Platformer:
OVIVO
Monochroma
Nova-111
Physics Based:
Art of Gravity
The Bridge
Radium 2/Ra^2
Zen:
LOOP
Strata
Zenge
Misc (I dunno, okay):
The Fall
Gunpoint
OneShot
The Sexy Brutale
I've got some additions for this, so I'll just throw them under the categories you already have listed to the best of my ability. I dunno what platforms they're all on, but unless otherwise stated, it's all available on Steam, at least.
Logic/Logic-Minimalist:
Hade
KAMI
KAMI 2 (iOS only)
KNIGHTS
MinSweeper
Sudoku Universe
Unium
WayOut
Point & Click/Text Adventure:
The Dream Machine
Rusty Lake Hotel + Rusty Lake Roots
Tengami
Puzzle-Platformer:
OVIVO
Monochroma
Nova-111
Physics Based:
Art of Gravity
The Bridge
Radium 2/Ra^2
Zen:
LOOP
Strata
Zenge
Misc (I dunno, okay):
The Fall
Gunpoint
OneShot
The Sexy Brutale
OP
OP
My hidden gem favorites from the listed games would be Four Sided Fantasy, Mushroom 11, Recursed, Bokida, Circles, Frost, Corrypt, Hadean Lands, Hydra Slayer, Induction, Blackbar, Grayout, Blackbox, Eucledia, and Good Fences
Love this thread, nicely done. Always enjoy puzzle games, Picross being the top. I see Pushmo and Crashmo are missing, fantastic puzzle games. I'll also vouch for the very very high quality of Puyo Puyo Tetris which just came out last year for most platforms. As a Tetris nut it was a very well done iteration and it found a way to pull me into Puyo Puyo as well.
Is Gorogoa's mechanic the same as the Android and iOS game Framed? Just started that recently and I really enjoy it.
Is Gorogoa's mechanic the same as the Android and iOS game Framed? Just started that recently and I really enjoy it.
Got a few during the sale
Pull the circles into the holes using the hooks. A simple premise but the complexity ramps up very fast by the third group of puzzles. You can swap circles between hooks, pull hooks with other hooks and more.
Manipulate the environment to force the protagonist through the levels. His natural state is to warm his hands by a fire but ring a bell and he comes running. Beautiful artwork and good puzzles so far.
Not an easy one to explain this, a Victorian spirit world research puzzle game? You are presented with clues, pictures etc... and have to find the answer. There is also some sort of outside game ARG going on as well with websites seeded in the real world with more clues.
Pull the circles into the holes using the hooks. A simple premise but the complexity ramps up very fast by the third group of puzzles. You can swap circles between hooks, pull hooks with other hooks and more.
Manipulate the environment to force the protagonist through the levels. His natural state is to warm his hands by a fire but ring a bell and he comes running. Beautiful artwork and good puzzles so far.
Not an easy one to explain this, a Victorian spirit world research puzzle game? You are presented with clues, pictures etc... and have to find the answer. There is also some sort of outside game ARG going on as well with websites seeded in the real world with more clues.
Could anyone recommend good eShop puzzle games for the Switch? Preferably games that can be played at a deliberate pace and don't have any action- or reflex-oriented elements at all. I have already played through Gorogoa and really loved it. I am playing Picross S now and really enjoying it too.
OP
OP
It's similar but not a clone. I was thinking the same when I started up SiNKR having completed prior. It has a similar idea that revolves around hitting a select few buttons to determine the correct order of action. But SiNKR is really about hook manipulation to move filled in shapes to hollow spots. There's some tricky interactions that mix things up, such as if two hooks in opposite directions "hook" one another you can then pull one hook away from the ending point when you retract the other hook connecting to it. SiNKR is definitely tougher than HOOK due to the wider variety of interactions and how easy it is to make a wrong move.
What a goddamn good thread, cheersMore_Badass. I'll have to have a good look at all this tomorrow when my blood alcohol level is more consistent with actually being alive on this planet.
Great compilation, thanks for taking the effort.
But is the selection of mentioned platforms intentional? Some of the titles are also available on PS3 (e.g. Portal 2) or Vita (e.g. Papers Please).
And like Ryo Hazuki I would like to chip in for Chromagun. The game is available on PC (Windows, Linux, Mac OS), Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS. Though I didn't play it yet I am looking forward to it because it will soon support PSVR (including Aim controller, which will be a very good use for it besides killing baddies). :)
But is the selection of mentioned platforms intentional? Some of the titles are also available on PS3 (e.g. Portal 2) or Vita (e.g. Papers Please).
And like Ryo Hazuki I would like to chip in for Chromagun. The game is available on PC (Windows, Linux, Mac OS), Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS. Though I didn't play it yet I am looking forward to it because it will soon support PSVR (including Aim controller, which will be a very good use for it besides killing baddies). :)
Played through Gorogoa last night; it's utterly beautiful, although I do feel it perhaps took a little while to get going with the *really* interesting stuff. I'm now wondering if I'm meant to try to isolate a meaning in amongst all that, or just leave it as a flight of fancy!
Puzzle games is my favourite genre, together with platformers. Looking at the various lists, it seems i'm missing out on a lot of good puzzle games due to being limited to console gaming.
From the best puzzle games list, the ones that stood out to me (and that i played ofcourse, see note above): Braid, Escape Goat 2 (never played the first one), Fez, Portal 2, Shadow Tactics (not sure i'd consider this a puzzle game though), The Talos Principle, The Witness and Toki Tori 2. It's a shame Linelight never made it to EU PSN, despite several promises from the developer, because that looked like a really nice puzzle game.
From the best puzzle games list, the ones that stood out to me (and that i played ofcourse, see note above): Braid, Escape Goat 2 (never played the first one), Fez, Portal 2, Shadow Tactics (not sure i'd consider this a puzzle game though), The Talos Principle, The Witness and Toki Tori 2. It's a shame Linelight never made it to EU PSN, despite several promises from the developer, because that looked like a really nice puzzle game.
I too think my favourite genre is the puzzle ones. I'm especially fond of the likes of Tetris, Puyo Puyo, etc.
My most missed puzzle game is Droplitz and I am gutted that I can no longer get it, well not without picking up a 360 again. Would be a perfect fit for ths Switch.
I am currently in love with Battle Chef Brigade, which is one of the freshest takes on Match-3 and evokes fine memories of vs Puzzle games.
Some there that even I haven't tried so will rectify that.
I can highly recommend Heroes Never Lose: Professor Puzzler's Perplexing Ploy, which wear its influences on its sleeve (Super Puzzle Fighter HD)
My most missed puzzle game is Droplitz and I am gutted that I can no longer get it, well not without picking up a 360 again. Would be a perfect fit for ths Switch.
I am currently in love with Battle Chef Brigade, which is one of the freshest takes on Match-3 and evokes fine memories of vs Puzzle games.
Some there that even I haven't tried so will rectify that.
I can highly recommend Heroes Never Lose: Professor Puzzler's Perplexing Ploy, which wear its influences on its sleeve (Super Puzzle Fighter HD)
Y'know what, I looked there a few months back and they didn't have it. Thanks!
Linelight is playable on mobile, as well as being light enough to run on nearly all modern PC's. I personally don't like the mobile controls on it that much, but it's a really great game and if you have even a standard laptop around somewhere I fully recommend picking it up if you have any way of playing it. You don't need any dedicated gaming machines for it.
Massive thanks to More_Badass and also to anyone else involved in the content in the thread.
Really enjoy reading others thoughts on games and what they really enjoy - sometimes probably too much more than playing the games themselves.
Another goldmine thread - awesome
Really enjoy reading others thoughts on games and what they really enjoy - sometimes probably too much more than playing the games themselves.
Another goldmine thread - awesome
The game was actually released for PS4 (non EU) and the developer kept saying that the EU version was being worked on so i waited (i prefer tv+couch for gaming). Since then every other platform version has been released but still no sign of the EU version so i have pretty much given up on that one. Seemed like a neat puzzle game though.
Aren't PS4s region free though? What's stopping you from making a 2nd, US account?
OP
OP
Added a bunch of the suggestions, will get working on all the links and platforms this weekend for the big list
The level designer and one of the main devs of Perspective went on to make The Fourth Wall and its Kickstarted successor Four Sided Fantasy. He's currently joined the team making Museum of Simulation Technology
Got to second Perspective. It's one of the my favorite indie puzzle games, I have fond memories of it since it was one of the most memorable games I played before I got into the wider world of PC indies. Before getting into paid indie games/PC games, I only really played freeware games, browser games, and student projects. Perspective is still one of the coolest uses of perspective in gaming I've ever seen. I might even argue it's the best use.
The level designer and one of the main devs of Perspective went on to make The Fourth Wall and its Kickstarted successor Four Sided Fantasy. He's currently joined the team making Museum of Simulation Technology
Does Raining Blobs apply on the list?
It's a neat Puyo/Puzzle Fighter inspired competitive stacking game.
It's a neat Puyo/Puzzle Fighter inspired competitive stacking game.
Has anyone here tried Glass Masquerade? Seems to be really underrated. http://store.steampowered.com/app/511470/Glass_Masquerade/
Basically a jigsaw puzzle where you repair intricately designed stained glass windows.
Basically a jigsaw puzzle where you repair intricately designed stained glass windows.
It's a beautiful game, highly recommended. Can't wait for the sequel!
I enjoy it the same way I do things like hidden object games. It just fits my need to play something simple and I can shut my brain off and get into a zone. I had a pretty good time with it. I just wish there was more to it.
Hadn't realized there was a sequel coming. Be kind of great if there was a harder mode where you had to rotate pieces as well just so things took a little longer.
Finished it a few days ago, beautiful game. Some of the 5-star puzzles aren't easy as the pieces you haven't placed are blacked out, at a set rotation and have some pretty wild shapes! You have to constantly pick them up to remember what's what.
Finished Pavilion, beautiful artwork, the animation is very reminiscent of old-school Japanese animation especially the way his coattails swirl in the wind. Sadly, the game sort of suddenly just ends with a chapter two to come line of text.
Also played and finished Access Denied. It's a cut down version of The Room, 36 short puzzles, not super hard. Standard stuff, look for patterns, hidden information etc...
OP
OP
I really assumed this would be by the Klocki/PUSH devs. It really looks exactly like something they would make. Even the blue buttons look right.
Looks pretty good. Kind of like a 3D Minesweeper.
Looks pretty good. Kind of like a 3D Minesweeper.
OP
OP
Cross posting from the indie thread...
Picked up Shenzhen I/O from the recent humble bundle and started playing it last night - really enjoying the early stages and just wondered if anyone else had spent much time playing it and how they thought it compared to the Zachtronics other games.
Picked up Shenzhen I/O from the recent humble bundle and started playing it last night - really enjoying the early stages and just wondered if anyone else had spent much time playing it and how they thought it compared to the Zachtronics other games.
OP
OP
I couldn't get into it. Shenzhen and TIS were too complex for me; I prefer when he makes the programming mechanics more abstract like in his other games
OP
OP
Personally, I care less about the projected delivery of a KS as I do about how often updates are posted and the content of those updates. I actually think Kickstarters shouldn't even have projected delivery dates, because it's all just a guessing game, and especially if a game gets tons of funding or reaches a bunch of stretch goals, that estimate goes out the window. It's like writing the first draft of a chapter and then having to predict the month and year your completed book will be published.
Unfortunately, unlike Rain World or Catacomb Kids or many others who did regular detailed updates, the SCALE devs have been much too quiet to the point that backers were assuming the game was a scam.
I haven't played as much of it as some of his other games, but really enjoyed it. It's closest to TIS-100 in a lot of ways which I was a massive fan of, but feels significantly more polished. The added story also helps flesh it out and make it more... human? I guess.
OP
OP
Seconded. Got addicted to it like a decade ago. So much fun and colourful and funny!A great block-style puzzle game I don't see mentioned enough is Critter Crunch (I played it on PS3)
OP
OP
Just learned about this neat new release, it's Six Match from Aaron Steed, who you might remember from the puzzle roguelike Ending
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/six-match/id1327790148
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.robotacid.sixmatch
This is his take on the match-3 puzzler
This article does a good job at talking about what makes it unique
www.electrondance.com/alone-and-beyond-help/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/six-match/id1327790148
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.robotacid.sixmatch
This is his take on the match-3 puzzler
This article does a good job at talking about what makes it unique
www.electrondance.com/alone-and-beyond-help/
Last edited:
I decided to try Akin which I picked up in the recent sale thanks to a recommendation from these parts. Fun little game so far and a nice break from Crosscells which is hurting my brain [but in a good way] and so something I like to dip in and out of. I'm most of the way through it however so will then try Squarecells again. For some reason I just couldn't grok the rules in that despite re-starting it multiple times. I've not had that trouble with any of the other games in the series so clearly it's the fault of the game rather than the player.
¬_¬
¬_¬
Sad at the Switch puzzle game library right now, looking for a good bed time game and I'm not sure I want to drop $8 on what looks like a poor phoned in Picross game. Might have to wait on some Pic a Pix reviews. Any eShop puzzlers recommended for Switch, this thread only has one in Gorogoa?