Puzzles and other thinky stuff
Warning: There may be spoilers in my comments about each puzzle. I believe the comments shouldn't spoil much about the puzzles; for example, I might just mention something that should also be pretty clear when you first open the puzzle. That said, I'm warning in advance, and if you want to avoid spoilers entirely, try your best at not reading the comments.
Logic puzzles
I'll be honest. While I'm sure I like a lot of logic puzzles, with how much I've done them and how quickly a puzzle can pass, I tend to forget a lot of them. If you remember me loving a particular puzzle that's not listed here, feel free to remind me!
When listing my own logic puzzles I like the most above, I mentioned that I could like something because it looks pretty, it has a fun solve path, or it's simply mind-blowing. Likewise, the most memorable puzzles for me are the ones that do multiple of them. Usually if it looks incredibly scary and yet there's a clean solve path for it, it goes straight to my list. This is true for many of the puzzles below!
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Fillomino
Fillomino, the whole genre, is something that captivates me from when I started doing logic puzzles. I'm not entirely sure why, but I feel like it's rich and able to express a lot of ideas. The ruleset is also flexible enough that it allows a lot of variations.
Sometimes I want to make a logic puzzle, but I don't know what I want to make. Usually my mind comes to Fillomino first. I streamed my thought process of writing a puzzle by writing a Fillomino. When I was asked to contribute a puzzle to a logic puzzle issue, I submitted a Fillomino. A hunt puzzle with logic components? Also a Fillomino.
Safe to say it has a place dear to me. I may have tried various other genres and invented some of my own, and some of them have become favorite genres as well, but Fillomino is still a good one I often come back into.
Portals (MIT Mystery Hunt 2013)
Published by Palmer Mebane
Although this is technically a hunt puzzle, it's completely logical except for the extraction step, so you can just solve the big interlinked logic puzzle and ignore the extraction.
One big reason I remember this fondly was because this was also the first time I hunted for real. I practically soloed this puzzle for 8 hours or so; my memory is that I uploaded partial progress every so often but nobody picked it up. It's fair; it's probably because logic puzzles tend to be something you do solo.
Meta Loop (Logic Masters India)
Published by Jonah Ostroff
LMI Fun Contests are often the source of fun things, and this one is no exception. A big matchmaker puzzle with a lot of rules... except the matchmaker grid itself is the puzzle grid. I guess that's spoiling the surprise somewhat, but that's just the beginning of the puzzle, and there's still a lot of logical delight to go through.
14 Minesweeper Variants (Steam: original and sequel)
Published and by Artless Games
Most logic puzzles are presented as static images, but it's very much possible to do a dynamic, interactive logic puzzle. Minesweeper (the game) is close enough to one, but it never guarantees you have a logical way forward without guessing.
This game scratches that itch and more. Every puzzle is made sure to have a purely logical way. In fact, you can enable a mode in which any guessing is penalized (by rearranging the mines so that your guess is wrong), which is incredible.
More than that, though, is that this game is not only vanilla Minesweeper. As the name says, it features 14 Minesweeper variants. I'm lying, there are more than 14 variants, way more if you count the puzzles that are two or more variants at the same time. It's a wealth of puzzles. (And the sequel adds 14+ variants too, plus some combinations of variants with the original.)
One main issue I have for this game is that all the puzzles are computer-generated. I believe they are still curated so that the puzzles are generally interesting, but they are still computer-generated. In fact, you're not even expected to finish everything. In a way, I wouldn't call them puzzles. But it's worth to play through the puzzles and pick up ideas and deductions that each variant teaches. However unfortunate the puzzles are, it's still a good game to spend a few minutes (or hours) on at a time.
Rule discovery puzzles and games
First, a note: Although some of these might be more properly called puzzles, I'm calling them all games. For a good reason, read on.
This kind of games works as follows. A game consists of a collection of puzzles. Every puzzle in the collection follows the same rules, but you're not told what the rules are. You have to discover the rules yourself to make the puzzles work.
There are two flavors of this genre. The first flavor is a game that gives you feedback; upon submitting an answer, you know whether it's correct or not. (Some more generous games give you some cryptic explanation why an answer is wrong.) The second flavor doesn't give you feedback whatsoever, because it can't; the game is static, perhaps printed as a book or something of the sort.
Perhaps the most well-known kind of this game is The Witness, and for that reason, these games are sometimes called "Witness-likes". However, I actually don't like that game for several reasons, one of them being that I have motion sickness and can't play games with first-person view. That's okay, because I'm still glad it spawns a whole genre of games, many of which I can enjoy.
Rule discovery games can very easily go wrong. But when the author knows what they're doing, these games are a delight. That's why I have quite a lot of them listed, even though I haven't finished several of these.
Also, rule discovery games are closely related to "black box" puzzles. In a black box puzzle, you're presented with an interface. You can interact by giving an input, and the interface will reply with an output corresponding to it. However, you can't see how the it works; that's where the "black box" comes from. You have to figure out the inner workings this way.
But a key difference is that you get to decide the input for black box puzzles, and this lets you experiment in a lot of ways. For rule discovery games, often the input is fixed, and all you can do is to find the one solution. They lead to different experiences.
I also like black box puzzles, but I haven't quite found any that truly captivates me. Rule discovery games, on the other hand...
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Taiji (website)
Published by Matthew VanDevander
This is perhaps the game that looks like The Witness the most. Puzzles presented in a mysterious world. Some grids have clues whose meanings you have to deduce; other puzzles involve the environment. Pretty much the same. It's presented as a two-dimensional game, though, which is much, much more accessible for me.
It's a tad expensive for my tastes, but I very much enjoyed my time with it. I believe I 100%-ed it, too; if not, it must have been very close.
LOK (website)
Published by Blaž Urban Gracar
I got through it about halfway before deciding I had to actually print these out, and then I just forgot about it. But from what I did, these puzzles are a delight.
The same author also published Abdec the year after, which I haven't gotten around to try. I should.
Honorable mentions
- Witless (Puzzling StackExchange), by TheGreatEscaper ()
- From Muddled To Clean (Jack Lance Puzzles), by Jack Lance ()
- Insight (Steam), by maou ()
Sokoban-likes
Sokoban is perhaps the most famous puzzle game. Such simple rules lead to a lot of depth. It spawns an entire genre of puzzle games called Sokoban-likes. These games take place on a grid, and there is no timing or reflex involved; everything moves on a turn by turn basis, always waiting for your input. You're moving a particular player character (sometimes several), and you interact with various objects on the board. (Some definitions require the interaction to be pushing. Maybe I'm mis-using this term, but I can't think of a better one.)
Sokoban-likes are perhaps my favorite genre of games; not just puzzle games, but among all games. It's very easy to make something new with just a little change to the rules. Good developers will also plumb the depths of the mechanics, leading to a variety of exciting puzzles. I also don't need aesthetics — if any, I actually dislike games with fancy, realistic graphics — and since Sokoban-likes are puzzle games, they don't need graphics either. Something simple suffices just fine.
I like a lot of these games; if you like them, you'll want to try all of these too. But a few of them climb above and beyond.
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N Step Steve (Part 1 on Itch.io, Part 2 on Itch.io)
Published (Part 1) and (Part 2)
This is, bar none, my favorite Sokoban-like. It's even competing for not only favorite puzzle game, but my favorite game of all-time.
The mechanics are fairly straightforward, but they have a ton of hidden subtleties. Edge cases are not only handled well; they sometimes hold a secret, or even become key features of the game. One notable moment was at the end of Part 1, where you're introduced to a new mechanic just before you finish Part 1, and it makes you think in a totally new way for every single level you've seen.
Speaking of levels, the game presents an incredible puzzle design. Each level has multiple purposes, and it seems to be tuned well. Of course levels are designed to be traversed through, and they present a nice challenge for people that are just starting new. But once you realize how you can get a secret, you suddenly look at the level in a whole new way; it's challenging to get the secret, but you already have the experience and you know what you should do. And sometimes there are even more secrets! The level stays the same, but your perception of it evolves.
It's truly a great game, and I can't do it justice describing it. Do play it; it's completely free. You do want to play Part 1 fully before starting Part 2, though.
Paquerette Down the Bunburrows (Steam)
Published by Bunstack
Months after N Step Steve: Part 2 was released, this game came out and it was incredible. N Step Steve had some incredible moments of ahas and surprises, and this game delivered more. I kept learning new interactions, new techniques, ways to try to "break" the game and get rewarded for doing so.
On release, I said that this could possibly overtake N Step Steve as my favorite game. Sadly it doesn't; I ultimately think N Step Steve is still better. But this does come close, and it's still very much worth it to play the game. For me, it started to feel like it was dragging on at the end of the current content, when it was a lot of grinding for babies. But I still very well got my money's worth even before that point.
Isles of Sea and Sky (website)
Published by Cicada Games
I'm impressed whenever games mix genres. This is a puzzle game that is somehow also a metroidvania.
I forgot how I found the demo, but it was a fascinating game. I don't think I've played anything like that before then. Puzzles scattered around the world, but sometimes you don't yet have the ability or the knowledge to solve them yet, giving that exploration aspect. The demo was big, too; it might conceivably have been the first 3–4 hours of the game.
I wasn't particularly fond of a few of the puzzles, because they relied more on finding hidden objects and such. But ultimately the rest of the game more than made up for it.
The game was later released in , with even more content. It's a lot of interesting stuff and I enjoyed the various wacky interactions. One big issue is that the game used to show a lot of teasers of upcoming content without having them in the game, which makes it really hard to figure out whether a puzzle you're solving actually exists or not. (I believe it has since been updated to remove the teasers.) I will revisit this game later once it's out of Early Access and is a complete game.
Honorable mentions
- Sokobond (website), by Draknek ()
- Snakebird (website), by Noumenon Games ()
- Baba Is You (website), by Hempuli ()
- A Monster's Expedition (website), by Draknek ()
- Puddle Knights (website), by Lockpickle ()
- Bean and Nothingness (website), by RBOR Games ()
- Yugo Puzzle (website), by qrostar ()
- Patrick's Parabox (website), by Patrick Traynor ()
Programming games
I'm hesitant to call programming games "puzzle games". In my essay, I said a puzzle must convey an idea through its solution. But most programming games don't have any such thing; any solution you get is good enough. Often, the author/developer doesn't even have any solution that's "intended"! If any, the closest equivalent to these would be solving math problems or competitive programming tasks.
However, this section is called "puzzles and other thinky stuff", and programming games sure are thinky. (So as math problems and competitive programming tasks.) Besides, people that like puzzle games usually like this too. So, they are here.
Programming games are closely related to esoteric programming languages (esolang). After all, a programming game just gives you a brand new esolang and asks you to program in it! Esolangs interest me due to how quirky they are, which is why I tend to like programming games that offer brand new languages for my head to think about.
Zachtronics are (or were) likely the most well-known developer of programming games, to the point that these games are occasionally called Zach-likes. Not all of these games in my list are Zach-likes, but most sure are.
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Manufactoria 2022 (website)
Published by PleasingFungus
The original was a Flash game in 2010. The graphics were barebones, and at times pretty busy and messy enough to make it hard to tell what's going on. But it was still incredible. I don't think I fully finished it.
Then it was announced there would be a new release of the game. I got it, and then promptly didn't play it for quite some time. When I added this game to this page in May 2023, I believe I still haven't gotten really far. I have since fixed it and reached the end of the story, although I believe I still have several optional puzzles to go.
It is still incredible. The graphics are better and I can actually read my programs now, although the three-dimensional perspective was a bit unnecessary. The puzzles are varied and well-made. Some of them are a bit contrived and part of starting the level is to parse what you actually have to do, but for a thinky game, that actually gives a nice touch.
If you liked the original, or if you like any sort of programming game, this is well worth your time. It certainly was worth my time. I'd say this is possibly the best programming game I've played.
Also, this is equivalent to a queue automaton and hence is Turing-complete.
Bombe (Steam)
Published by Charlie Brej
This is definitely not your usual kind of programming games, but it sure feels like one. You construct new deduction rules for Minesweeper, and the game will happily run them on all the levels, automatically solving ones it can. You end up creating new rules to handle more situations, occasionally refactoring to write your rules better, and so on.
The concept of the game is fantastic. I played it quite a lot back then, although I have since felt stuck and haven't had the urge to get back into the game. I still left a legacy for the game, though; I wrote up a theory for a particular set of rules and posted it on the game's Discord, which helped players understand the reasoning behind them.
For me, I find this game kind of similar to Sudoku solvers, coming up with various rules to be able to solve puzzles. Many Sudoku solvers clearly name their steps and explain why those steps are valid, and my approach for Bombe is the same. I want to be able to explain my rules, so whenever I add a rule, I ask myself whether I know why it's true and what its purpose is. This does make me unable to come up with some really complicated rules (because then I can't explain it, or its purpose is highly limited), but I don't mind that; I enjoy my approach better.
I may one day come back to the game, but even if not, I've had plenty of fun with it.
Honorable mentions
Other puzzles and puzzle games
Puzzle is a very broad term. Although I managed to see a lot of similar games, filed in the above sections, there are plenty that are out of the norm. Perhaps I will categorize some in a new section in the future.
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Retrograde analysis chess problems
Chess problems present you with a chess position and ask you to solve some objective. The main difference between chess problems and chess puzzles is that chess problems are composed by people and intended to have a certain pretty solution; on the other hand, chess puzzles are often taken from actual games and are meant for improving actual chess play.
Chess puzzles may have their purpose, but I definitely prefer chess problems more. But even among chess problems, I usually prefer stipulations that don't require "two-sided thinking" of anticipating every move from the opponent. This means helpmates or, the subject of this, retros.
In a retrograde analysis problem, the question is not about asking forward in time; it's asking backward in time. What was the last move? Where did the captures happen? Sometimes, it does stipulate forward, but you have to use the past; for example, showing that an opponent's pawn must have moved two spaces, so that you can capture en passant.
Retros are fascinating. I admit I usually appreciate them from afar; I don't solve them often, and I barely wrote any. But they look really cool. The Retrograde Analysis Corner, maintained by Joost de Heer and Otto Janko, has a wealth of problems.
Here are two of my favorite problems that are also pretty accessible for new people.
Tibor Orbán, published in Die Schwalbe ()
Find a game that arrives at this position after Black's 4th move, exactly.
It's actually easier to arrive at this position after Black's 3rd or 5th move. The difficulty is doing it in exactly 4 moves.
Eric Angelini, published in Europe Echecs ()
Black to move. What move did White just play?
Note that you have to specify the complete move. If it's a capture move, you have to figure out what unit was captured.
The Lurking Horror II: The Lurkening (Ryan Veeder's website)
Published by Ryan Veeder, for MIT Mystery Hunt
This puzzle originally appeared as part of the MIT Mystery Hunt, and I loved it. It's not really logic, but it's exploration in a nice and compact environment. Although it's a hunt puzzle, it doesn't require any outside research whatsoever. It really is just a piece of interactive fiction, which also happens to extract to an answer for the hunt.
I have fond memories of this game because I basically soloed it. Well, not really. Our team's sheet on this had a complete work, but nobody was around to explain where we were stuck, so I replayed the game entirely from the beginning just to double-check things. And then I got the extraction to solve the puzzle. In a sense, I truly soloed the puzzle.
Speaking of IF games, it's also a genre of games that can easily be puzzly. I once played Counterfeit Monkey, which was also a very puzzly IF game. It was an interesting experience, but I didn't fare well with words. There might be more great puzzly IF games, but I don't play them too much to be able to list more.
Gabbuchi (website)
Published 2019 by h.a.n.d.
Some games are big-name AAA games. Some games are indie but well-known. Some games are indie, even less well-known, but at least the name is occasionally mentioned in specialized interest groups (like a puzzle community). And then there's this.
I have never heard of anyone else talking about this game. It's a shame, because it has such an interesting concept. It's a puzzle platformer where you gobble up blocks of the same color as yourself. However, said blocks will also be a platform you're standing on, so you have to figure out which blocks are safe to gobble and which should be used to stand on.
I think the game is really fun. Despite the platformer aspect, there's not too much reflex needed; I end up learning what moves are "legal". (That said, there are a few unintended moves; I ended up using them to speedrun the game. Well, I got a few worlds in and I should work on more some time, but I did try.)
The game can be improved, mainly with some user interface stuff. But the mechanics are fun and the game is so obscure, that it's still worth to try.
Linelith (Steam)
Published 2022 by Patrick Traynor
This is one of my favorite games. And it's under an hour long! Patrick (of Patrick's Parabox fame) has been making some amazing games.
This game shows how you can pack delightful puzzles and surprises in such a small package. No need for anything big or flashy. No need to draw it out with too much unnecessary content. I don't want to talk too much about this game just because the surprises are so satisfying.
The worst thing about this game is that I can't relive the experience again; it was so great. At least I can console myself in watching people play the game, like in this Aliensrock video (28 minutes, will entirely spoil the game).
This game is part of the CosmOS 9 bundle, a bundle of 9 bite-sized puzzle games. I personally only recommend Linelith out of the whole bundle. Among the rest, some of them are fine, some of them are... not so good. Linelith is by far the best of the bunch.