One of the very few gaming genres that may simultaneously be least popular on certain platforms and most popular on others is the puzzle genre. Puzzle games are well-liked in general on smartphones, whether they run on Android or iOS. On consoles and computers, the narrative is entirely different.
However, a lot of puzzle video games played on computers or gaming consoles have succeeded in stealing the focus from other well-known genres throughout time. We’ve compiled a thorough list of the top puzzle games you should play this year down below.
10. Catherine
Sub-category: Platformer
Developer: Atlus
Platform: Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and 4
The one aspect about Catherine that I appreciated was its sincerity. It offers something fresh. Your character, Vincent Brooks, a middle-aged guy who spends much of his time hanging out with his buddies at a nearby pub, is the focus of the gameplay. When Katherine, his longtime lover, asks Vincent to marry her, Vincent’s world is abruptly turned upside down.
Vincent, perplexed and disturbed by Katherine’s persistence, nonetheless manages to have a relationship with a stunning young lady called Catherine with a C that he meets at the bar. Now, Vincent’s situation starts to deteriorate.
The game is split into two sections that alternate between day and night. Your character may engage in different activities throughout the day, such as conversing with his pals and placing drink orders. The puzzle portion of the game takes place at night, or more precisely, during “nightmare moments.”
To safely ascend massive stairs that are gradually falling is your goal. Recall that everything is taking place in Vincent’s dream. You need to fast push and pull bricks while avoiding several traps in order to ascend the stairway.
9. Lara Croft Go
Developer: Square Enix Montreal
Platform: Multiplatform
Lara Croft Go, which was released in 2015, is tragically the last installment in Square Enix’s Go series and the second game overall. The basic components of the Tomb Raider brand have also been retained in Lara Croft Go, a turn-based puzzle game like its predecessor.
You must use a turn-based strategy to lead Lara through a number of opponents and obstacles in order to reach the final destination. You must dodge traps, deep holes, and boulders that are part of puzzles. Enemies appear in a wide variety of sizes and forms, including lizards and enormous spiders.
Puzzles will become tougher and more opponents will appear as the levels progress. Many people laud Lara Croft Go for its clever, tidy design and fun pace of growth. I thought the game to be sufficiently tough, despite some of its levels being comparatively easier.
8. Limbo
Developer: Playdead
Platform: Multi-platform
You are a little child who finds himself in the midst of a dark woodland by accident. You travel through the woods full with traps and creatures hidden in the shadows ready to pounce in, torn between the terror and the need to locate your lost sister. It’s quite unsettling to learn how straightforward viewpoints may render anything horrible.
You will encounter a variety of monsters throughout the first half of Limbo that are either dead or trying to hurt you. All of the mechanical riddles that you must solve to complete the game are presented in the second half.
Before finding the right answer, players can prepare to fail or die several times. However, the game’s “trial-and-death” mechanic, in which you resume the game just before where you die repeatedly until you solve the riddle, keeps it from being frustrating.
7. Threes
Developer: Sirvo
Platform: Android, iOS, Xbox One, Browser-based
A four by four grid with numbered tiles serves as the backdrop for the sliding puzzle game Threes. It functions by adding two succeeding integers and three-digit multiples. For instance, adding ones and twos together results in the number “three.” In the alternative scenario, two “three” numbered tiles combined will result in a single “six,” two “sixes” would result in “twelve,” and so on.
The objective is to get the highest possible final score, which will be determined at the conclusion of each game. When there is no more space for any move, the game is over. Threes was first made accessible in 2014 for iOS devices, but it was quickly made available for Android and Xbox One as well. The greatest iPhone game of 2014 was given to it.
6. Monument Valley
Developer: Ustwo Games
Platform: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
In the well-designed puzzle game Monument Valley, the player plays princess Ida. In order to complete the task, you must lead the princess through a series of improbable obstacles or deceptions. You may do this by bending and moving the items’ original architectural settings.
The mysterious “crow people” will obstruct your path at irregular intervals, adding to the difficulty. With an expansion pack, the main game’s 10 levels may be increased to eighteen.
5. The Witness
Sub-category: Adventure
Developer: Thekla, Inc.
Platform: Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS, macOS
In the intriguing but sometimes frustrating puzzle adventure game The Witness, the player must solve a number of difficult riddles while exploring an island with an open environment. To reach the endgame, it follows that the goal is to solve each one of them. Eleven separate sections make up the whole island and surround a mountain.
All of the maze-like problems in the game may be solved by mapping a route from the start point to the objective or terminus. As you go, you must abide by a set of rules that may vary from problem to puzzle.
While many of these are rather simple to solve, the majority are a tough nut to crack. Yellow boxes, which contain riddles that must be completed in order to activate them and ultimately finish a zone, are a crucial part of the game.
4. The Talos Principle
Developer: Croteam
Platform: Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Linux, Android
The Croatian game studio Croteam created The Talos Principle after being inspired by Talos, a mechanism from Greek mythology that guarded Europa from pirates and invaders. Assuming the role of a robot with human-level cognition, you will solve more than a hundred puzzles that are spread across several locations.
You must gather “sigils” while navigating obstacles and mazes in order to reach the final level. You will experience “philosophical conundrums” concerning your own life as the game develops.
3. Hexcells Infinite
Developer: Matthew Brown
Platform: Windows, iOS, Steam
Hexcells Infinite is the game to choose if you like logic-based puzzle games like Sudoku or Slitherlink and want something similar for your PC. The game may first seem to be a direct amalgamation of minesweeper and griddlers, but trust me when I say it has much more to offer.
Hexcells does not need guessing and each problem has a logical solution, unlike Microsoft’s venerable freeware. In the game, there are a few scatted numbered cells around the orange hexagon cells that offer you an indication as to how many of the neighboring cells are a part of the pattern and need to be marked.
After a few levels, the game not only becomes more difficult but also changes as numbers begin to emerge outside of the grid. Hexcells Infinite, like other games of this genre, permits certain errors, such as marking the incorrect cell, which won’t harm your game until you hit a dead end.
2. World of Goo
Developer: 2D Boy
Platform: Switch, Windows, Linux, macOS, Android
In the multi-award-winning puzzle game World of Goo, you design and construct different constructions out of goo balls. Well, to be honest, initially defining this puzzle games just by its mechanics may be misleading.
As noted earlier, your goal is to weave goo balls into bridges, buildings, and other improvised constructions to help the remaining goo balls scramble over obstacles like hills, spikes, and cliffs to reach the “other side.”
There are five chapters in all, and each one presents a new kind of goo balls. Each level has a distinct mood thanks to its own visual and audio themes. The game is renowned for its creativity, visual appeal, and player control.
1. Portal 1 and 2
Sub-category: Platformer
Developer: Valve Corporation
Platform: Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, macOS
Without Valve’s Portal Series, no list of the top puzzle games is complete, and I can say that with absolute certainty. Their genius cannot be disregarded outright. The original Portal was more of an experiment with less dialog and condensed gameplay when it was first published as a part of a five-game compilation titled “The Orange Box.” It makes up for it, however, with intensity and thrill.
In response to the original popularity of Portal, Valve released Portal 2 with improved gameplay and mechanics. Players in both games use portals to solve puzzles, which is a straightforward notion.
The puzzle games listed above are some of our favorites, and you can play them for free right now on your PC. You may also try your hand at some other types of puzzle games here: Railbound, Red Matter 2, Coreball, Stray,…
