Want to challenge your mind?
Puzzle games are a great way to keep those gears in your brain turning while still having fun. Often, these games don’t just come with head-scratching puzzles, but with a unique, interesting storyline as well. While they can be difficult at times, they always bring you back for more, pushing you to get the satisfaction of completion. Puzzle over these games yourself and give the games on this list a try.
15. The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian may look like your standard, run-of-the-mill puzzle game at first, but it gets more complex as you dive in. The character you play is the standard outline of a person you might find on bathroom or construction site signs. With this person, experience a side-scrolling puzzle around the streets of a crowded city, running between different public signs as the world around you goes about their day. With a dynamic background and new puzzles alongside each set of street signs, it’s a game that captivates the mind and eye.
With a truly original concept and story, it’s almost impossible to not get sucked into the gameplay. The developers introduce new elements to the puzzles over time to prevent a feeling of repetition. These range from new items to interact with to changing the puzzle layout yourself. You can enjoy at your leisure, and the atmosphere it brings will help you relax, unwind, and keep bringing you back for more.
14. Limbo
In Limbo, play a puzzle-filled 2D side scroller in black and white. As the title suggests, the game is set in limbo, or the world between life and death. You play as a young boy stuck in this world. Traverse through dangerous environments and puzzling traps as you help the boy try and find his sister. The location and choice of color give the game an ominous, spooky feeling—consider leaving the lights on when you play this one.
When the developers designed this game, they created a unique style of puzzle-solving. They named it “trial and death,” which is exactly what it sounds like. As you play, they expect you to fail on your first try or even the first few tries. This means you keep dying and respawning to find the solution. So don’t sweat it if you keep dying. You’ll get there eventually.
13. Kindergarten 2
Kindergarten 2 gameplay
Though it might sound childish, Kindergarten 2 is anything but. In fact, you shouldn’t play it around children. Your character is a kindergartener starting at a new school in the aftermath of the first Kindergarten. Go about your day solving puzzles by picking the right choices. These could be as simple as entering the building early by escorting the handicapped kid in, or as hard as finding a way to sneak in contraband.
Even though you keep replaying the same day over and over again, each choice you pick has a different set of consequences that often end in someone’s death. Keep playing to unlock all the storylines and even find a hidden one along the way. There’s lots to do in Kindergarten, so interact with everything you can.
The storylines may be the main goal of the game, but there are collection features as well. Customize your Kindergartener with different heads and bodies you find around the school quite literally—they usually appear once someone is dead. . You can also enjoy a fun little card game, collecting cards and playing against other characters. Though the graphics may be simple, don’t doubt that you’ll have a blast trying to solve these puzzles.
12. Kindergarten
The original Kindergarten is rated better than its sequel, featuring similar gruesome puzzles. Set in the first school the children go to, you play as the same Kindergartener solving puzzles as you make your way through the school day. Since the schools are different in each game, there are entirely different puzzles to solve here. And, just like the other, every choice you make has a consequence that can entirely alter the way you go about your day. Sometimes it’s a necessary choice to solve a hard problem, while others will only lead to your unfortunate death.
Meet lovable characters like the other children and help them along in their shenanigans. Though not all of them may make it through to the end of the current puzzle, you can always count on them making a reappearance the next day. So, you don’t have to worry about messing something up if you accidentally (or purposefully) kill one of them. It’s all a part of the game and story—and the principal has a special secret you might want to look into.
11. Little Nightmares
Little Nightmares is another side scroller puzzle game. It’s also labeled as horror. You play as a young girl named Six in a strange world that is full of corrupted souls looking for their next meal—you! The game was inspired by typical childhood fears and it forces you to face them head-on to escape. Discover the mysteries of the world you’re in as you play, and uncover even more as you progress.
The gameplay is described as “hide-and-seek” by the developers. There are many instances throughout the game where you might find yourself having to hide from another character. Then, you have to sneak around them when they aren’t looking to survive. There are other objects you can interact with too, like moving boxes to climb on or giving you something that allows you to fight back. Tread carefully, and keep an eye out for danger as you solve puzzles.
10. Trine 2: Complete Story
As the sequel to Trine, Trine 2: Complete Story comes packed with even more adventure. Set in a fairy tale world, join the heroes on their quest and solve puzzles as you go along. Their goal is to rescue a kingdom that was invaded by goblins and restore it to its former glory. You can play as one of three characters in the party—a knight, a wizard, or a thief. It doesn’t matter who you choose at the beginning, as at any point during a level you can change between them. You will often have to use this feature as each character brings their own skills to the table that are required to solve the puzzles.
The visuals are breathtaking in this game. There are many level designs in different fantasy settings, and they hold so much it’s almost impossible to see every detail. They range from overgrown forests to large stone castles. The game is multiplayer, too, so play with your friends! You can join them online and pick a character to play as together instead of switching between them. No matter how you like to play, there’s something here for everyone.
9. Little Nightmares II
Little Nightmares II, the sequel to the first Little Nightmares, has similar gameplay but with a brand new story and characters. This time, you play as a young boy named Mono who is trapped in a distorted world. Help him figure out the mystery of the strange tower and run into a familiar face as you play through this horror-filled game. There are many new puzzles to solve with a new collection of nightmares and a puzzling overarching storyline to draw you in.
With updated controls and better graphics, many players say it’s better than the first. Continuous puzzles and twists keep you engaged throughout the game, and even more of the horror aspect is implemented than it was in the first game. While it still focuses on that hide-and-seek gameplay, the risks of someone finding you or catching you as you run make for some intense moments that will leave your heart racing. If you enjoy the first, definitely check this game out too.
8. The Witness
It’s not very often that you see an open-world puzzle game. It’s even less often that those puzzles aren’t just trying to climb up somewhere, or searching for that one item you need to proceed. The Witness challenges both—it’s an open-world puzzle game with out-of-the-ordinary puzzles. You wake up alone with no memory and have to explore the world around you. As you go, solve puzzles to figure out what has happened. Each puzzle is unique, and each area introduces a new way to solve them that increases in difficulty as you proceed.
The graphics and scenery are beautiful, with each area of the island carefully crafted to look like an entirely different place altogether. And yet, they blend together seamlessly. A lot of the environment helps you solve puzzles too, making you look around and examine every angle. The puzzles also force you to go out and explore, as some places might combine different techniques you haven’t discovered yet. With over 500 puzzles and no filler, there is a lot this game has to offer you.
7. OneShot
OneShot is a story-rich puzzle game with pixel graphics. Delve into a mysterious world and lead a child through it to try and revive the long-dead sun. There’s one catch—the world knows you, the player, exist. This top-down game uses unique game mechanics and puzzles to guide you through the world as you try and save it. Not everyone is interested in saving it, however, so keep an eye open.
The game often utilizes and breaks the fourth wall. It will force the game to close at times and at others require you to look into the system’s coding for an answer to the puzzle. This kind of gameplay is rarely seen, showing that there’s more to it than meets the eye when you play. The choices you make have real consequences that there’s no going back from. This requires quick thinking and redefines what the meaning of a puzzle is. You only have one shot to save the world and revive the sun.
6. Supraland
Supraland isn’t a game you might expect. The game is a literal sandbox—your character is a small children’s toy exploring the child’s sandbox and the world set up in it. Solve puzzles and explore the story as you progress through the game from start to finish. The background is made of common household objects with an air of magic that only comes from the mind of a child.
The game claims to be a cross between Portal, Zelda, and Metroid, a fact many players agree with. The puzzles are similar to Portal, the exploring is similar to Zelda, and the level designs are similar to Metroid. There are several different components and upgrades you can find to help you solve puzzles, whether you’ve seen them before or have yet to encounter them, meaning it’s worth going back to places you’ve already visited. Though it sounds like a tall order, it achieves everything it claims, making it worth the purchase.
5. Outer Wilds
In Outer Wilds, expect the unexpected. This space-faring game follows you, a new recruit for the Outer Wilds Venture space program, as you study a newly discovered, constantly evolving, solar system. This solar system brings mysteries along with it, as well as a never-ending time loop it seems to be stuck in. Solve the mystery of an extinct alien race and their advanced technology as you try and end the loop.
This game requires careful strategies. Every 22 minutes, the time loop resets. Most times, you need to have an exact goal to aim for, otherwise, you won’t accomplish anything before time is reset. Slowly you’ll start to piece the mystery together over each loop. Many say it’s a must-play game and that you have to experience it to understand how great it is. If you’re looking for a new game, you should try this one out.
4. Human: Fall Flat
Human: Fall Flat is a lighthearted game about solving puzzles with funky physics. The character you play as is basically a ragdoll, making simple tasks more difficult than they should be, like climbing up a rock. This platformer puzzle game has several different levels the developers call dreamscapes. Each level is a new dreamscape and each one has multiple routes to take to complete them
Play this game by yourself or with friends up to eight players. Depending on who your friends are, this could make solving the puzzles easier or much, much harder. It’s up to you to decide how you play, so mess around and have fun solving puzzles or sabotaging them.
Though the graphics are simple, it gives the game a unique, quirky style. Steam also offers a level builder, so when you’ve completed the base game levels, branch out and download another player’s creation. Or, you could build one of your own for others to enjoy. If you just need a laugh or to play something silly, this is the game for you.
3. The Room
Though The Room looks like it's only about unlocking puzzle boxes, there’s more to it than that. A strange invitation leads you to an abandoned house and its attic. There, you find a letter from a companion of yours claiming something old and interesting lay within the box. As you puzzle your way through the locks, the series of boxes it takes you through hold a mystery of their own, one you’ll have to play to find out.
Interestingly, The Room started as a mobile game, but it’s grown popular enough that it keeps getting remastered for different platforms. The 3D puzzle game requires you to think outside of the box—quite literally. From rotating the box in different angles to using items from your inventory to even combining the two, the puzzles only grow increasingly more difficult as you progress. It makes you wonder, what is locked inside the final box?
2. Portal
Portal is an old classic with an interesting storyline and fun puzzles. You wake up in a strange testing lab that seems to be run by robots, with no other humans in sight. Armed with only a portal gun, you must solve puzzles that get increasingly harder. Try and figure out what is really going on in the testing lab and why it slowly starts to try and kill you.
The puzzles are all in the portals. You can make two portals at a time with your gun—an entrance and an exit. Manipulate items through the portals and enter them yourself to escape each room. There’s a small story to the game too, though it might not seem like it at first. Just keep an eye out on the robots and an ear out on what they’re saying. For physics-defying puzzles and cute robots, you should check this game out.
1. Portal 2
In Portal 2, experience the same lab as the first now falling apart in its disuse. Meet new and familiar bots as well as other characters as you try and escape the lab. With your trusty portal gun in hand, experience the puzzles like never before. The testing rooms are longer, reaching the limits of your sight range to solve them. Explore the behind the scenes of the lab too as you get lost in the building, learning more about the abandoned lab and the experiments in the process.
There are several new mechanics added to the puzzles to make them different from the last game. Different liquids are introduced that each have a unique purpose, including increasing your speed, making everything bounce, or creating new surfaces to place portals. There’s a multiplayer element to the game too that’s best played after the solo storyline. Play as one of two robots with a friend and solve the puzzles together as the game tries to pit you against one another. No matter which route you do take, this sequel is definitely worth your time.
