I'm only interested in puzzle video games

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone relate? I don't like characters, fighting, plots, fantasy worlds, or any of that stuff that makes video games more complex, just solving puzzles. I just finished Portal a few days ago; it started off great because every level was a puzzle to solve, then the shooting robots appeared and a few levels later it became more of a typical adventure video game. All that stuff is overwhelming

I recommend several titles. If you liked Portal, there's also the sequel Portal 2 and a fanmade spinoff Portal Stories: Mel. I also recommend The Talos Principle, Puzzle Agent 1 & 2, Q.U.B.E., Rexaura (A Portal mod involving those energy pellets), Aperture Tag (A Portal 2 Mod involving a gun that shoots the blue and orange gel), Thinking With Time Machine (Another Portal 2 Mod), and The Witness. Edit: Q.U.B.E. 2 was just released.

I would recommend Picross. Those are fun to play. Pokemon Shuffle is also a puzzle game.

Well, I mean, it depends.

I dont mind things like shooters and whatnot... I like action games to a point, and I tend to be very good at them (well, okay, I'm not so good at the shooters, but other types of action games, sure).

But what I definitely want is games that really make me think. However, I dont play many straight-up puzzle games. There's zero replay value (because the challenge of each level is completely gone once you've figured it out) and only ever one "correct" solution. Instead, I tend to play alot of games that arent necessarily labeled as such, but tend to have a ton of "gotta think it through" elements.

Example:



This is a turn-based strategy game called Into The Breach. The core mechanic is that enemies attack at the START of their turns, and then move. So the game telegraphs every single attack they're going to make, showing exactly what they're going to do, what they're going to hit, and how much damage they will do to it (damage is static, there's no RNG to it). Each individual enemy has a very specific method of attack and specific stats. And you have, on your side, three mechs with various moves of their own. Each battle isnt about defeating all the bugs, but instead about surviving the required number of turns. While doing that, you are required to protect the buildings from the bugs; if a mech gets wrecked, it'll be knocked out for that fight but they get fully healed for the next fight, so "not dying" isnt the core goal. If buildings get wrecked, your grid meter at the top goes down; run out, and it's game over, and the meter is persistent from one battle to the next. Since the game doesnt require that all enemies be defeated, it means that there are all sorts of options to you. A non-damaging move that simply shoves an enemy into a new position where their attack will whiff can be equally valuable to moves that are about dealing damage.

So, each battle is a complex, ever changing puzzle to it, yet you have many options in terms of how you go about it. What's more, each run through of the game is different. You dont know what kinds of missions you'll get, on what kinds of maps, or what enemies will spawn, or where they'll spawn. It creates a puzzle game, combined with turn-based battles, that is endlessly replayable. Yet it does all of this without ever forcing you to use lots of twitch skills. You can play it at your own pace.

And while the game has lore to it, it's not obsessed with story. There's no long-winded cutscenes to deal with or a bazillion stupid NPCs to talk to. I've never been fond of story aspects in games.... I just want to get to the bloody gameplay.


Another example:



This is 868-HACK. A rather strange name, but it's a very unique game. A fairly simple premise: Hacking into a computer system of some sort just.... because, your goal is to get through each of the 8 floors, collecting as many resources as you can, while avoiding the various hazards that come your way.

It's very simple on the surface. Each floor is only one-screen in size, the game is turn-based, and you "hack" into the walls to pull things out of them, including programs you can use. But the computer you're in will constantly spawn various things to defend itself, and spawn even more each time you hack a wall. You have a super-simple beam you can hit these defenses with to delete them, but one way or another there are far more of them than you. So that's where the programs come into play: Each has a unique function, which could be anything, there's lots of super creative effects here. And you'll use various combinations of these to get you through each situation. So again, there's the puzzle element. You have to actually think through every move you make to figure out the solution to whatever problem it creates for you, and again, this will be different each time you run through it, so the game never stops offering a challenge. And it doesnt bother with story or any of that crap at all. Just "you're a hacker, here's a computer-y place fulla stuff, puzzle through the dangers, good luck". The mechanics are very simple and easy to understand yet there's loads of depth here.




So, yeah, that's some of the things I like when it comes to this. I mean, I'll play "pure" puzzle games every now and then, but.... much of the time they dont really give me what I want. I want something both creative and open-ended (where there are many possible solutions), and something that is endlessly replayable, generating new "puzzles" every time I play it.

Honestly there's LOADS of stuff like this out there. I have so many such games at this point.

If you're looking for something more multiplayer focused then Puyo Puyo Tetris is an excellent puzzle game, a combination of Puyo Puyo and Tetris. It has a substantial single player component and online league play.

I like first person shooters and roll playing games. I do not have the manual dexterity to be good at FPS games. RPGs are often too slow. So, I naturally gravitate towards puzzle games. I hate levels that require timing your actions.