best problem solving games pc

The best puzzle games on PC

Stump yourself with the best puzzle games from our list of favorites.

Choosing the best puzzle games from decades of favorites seems like an impossible task, but it's one we've undertaken. Of all the revered PC game genres, puzzle games are among the most classic, but for this list of recommendations, we've haven't tried to rank the greatest puzzlers in the history of everything—just great, modern games we think you'll enjoy a lot right now.

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We've also narrowed our definition of 'puzzle game.' We hope you’ll find a game on this list that you haven’t played before, that’ll test your problem solving skills and ingenuity, and give you that fuzzy wave of relief and pride every time you have a breakthrough. And with that as our goal, we haven’t included games like Peggle, which aren't really puzzling , or Tetris, which wouldn’t be quite so challenging if time weren't an issue. We’re looking for more contemplative games here—you know, chin scratchers, brow furrowers, hair puller-outers, games that are going to stump you. We'll add to this list in the future, too, dropping in new games, or older ones if we revisit them and decide the ought to have a place here.

Release date: 2014 | Developer: State of Play | Steam Kami’s rules are simple: click on any pattern of contiguous squares of the same color to change them to another color of your choosing, and try to make the whole sheet the same color in as few moves as possible. The basic technique is to start by unifying the largest shapes, surrounding any odd colored islands, and then swapping the large area to match those isolated squares. The principle is straightforward, but identifying the most efficient path requires seeing several moves ahead, and after the tutorial puzzles it can take a lot of thought. It feels great when it clicks, and the way Kami’s rough sheets of colored paper magically fold themselves away is mesmerizing. The colors schemes are gorgeous, too, and the music is sweet and relaxing—it feels to us like an excellent companion for a mid-afternoon cup of coffee.

The only problem we have with Kami is the baffling inclusion of a daily hint limit. On mobile, you could pay for extra hints, but on PC, there are no microtransactions. So, if you run out of hints for the day, that’s it. And the hints are important. If a puzzle has us stumped, getting just the first move is really welcome, as it sets us on the right path without removing the sense of accomplishment entirely.

Kami made this list despite some unnecessary mobile baggage, though, because there's a workaround: if you run out of hints and really want another one, you can just set your system clock to another day.

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Thomas Bowker | Steam Lyne is another game we share with mobile, but worth a shout. It’s not the sort of game that stumps you, stopping you cold—it’s one for fiddling with until the solution appears. The basic problem is that you have a few shapes on the board which need to be connected. Your connective lines can’t intersect each other, and you can only connect shapes of the same type. You must connect every shape with its same-shape friends, and fill every ‘hub,’ each of which might need a different number of connections. The solutions are zig-zagging patterns of lines, perfectly avoiding each other and hitting all the notes they’re supposed to. It can be challenging, but never really frustrating, and it's a great way to zone out.

Release date: 2011 | Developer: Zachtronics | Steam SpaceChem is about making molecules, though you don’t need a graduate degree in chemistry to sort out its puzzles. That’s what’s so lovely about Zachtronics Industries’ games— TIS-100 , for instance, is about assembly language programming, but we’ve managed to get through a few puzzles and feel awfully clever without any experience in that area, either.

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Essentially, you’re creating an elemental circuit board, a set of instructions for building molecules. As in Infinifactory, the act of designing a system and then watching it work is the joy here. Eventually, though, SpaceChem does get hard, so approach it with patience and a willingness to learn.

The Swapper

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Facepalm Games | Steam The primary mechanic in The Swapper is the ability to create a few clones of your main character wherever your line of sight and clone-gun reach permits, which then allows you to ‘swap’ to that clone instantly. Clones mirror everything you do, regardless of where they’re located. Shoot one up to a high platform, take a few steps forward, and that clone will fall forty feet and hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Puzzles revolve around environmental obstacles (switches, light variables that prevent cloning or swapping, twitch clone-swapping) but your cloning tools never fundamentally change. What you’re allowed to do is there from the get go, and if you catch on early enough, there are huge sequences of the game you can skip earlier than normal.

Environments and objects themselves are based on actual clay models, so everything carries an uncanny, semi-realistic aesthetic, as if you could reach out and touch any of The Swapper’s decrepit space station environments. As if the gameplay wasn’t enough, the narrative wraps everything up in a mysterious and somewhat horrifying examination of what qualifies as a living person. Puzzle over life and death while you puzzle over puzzles.

Release date: 2009 | Developer: Number None | Steam Every world in Braid opens with a slightly tweaked version of the same ‘tutorial’ level. There’s a pit and no way for your little Mario-esque avatar to jump across. Initially, it feels insulting, a silly commentary on 2D platforming conventions and level design—nothing you typically see in those games is ever impossible. Otherwise, how would you finish the game? But Braid turns one genre into something else entirely by layering abstract rules and mechanics.

Each world operates by its own set of rules based on the passage of time. In one, you can just hold a button to reverse the flow. In another, whatever direction you walk in progresses or reverses the flow of that level’s timeline. They don’t necessarily get more complex, but more unique. Actual difficulty comes from the level designs themselves. Some puzzles will take hours from you, maybe days. They require time away, the solutions coming to you with a slap of the forehead, possibly while you're brushing your teeth or mid-conversation about the last ball game.

So, the pit and gap are no longer an impossibility. A ‘broken’ platforming level transforms into a simple puzzle, and opens up new avenues of thinking in a familiar framework.

The Incredible Machine 2

Release date: 1994 | Developer: Jeff Tunnell Productions | GOG In the opening sequence of Pee-wee Herman’s Big Adventure, the titular weirdo makes breakfast via an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. A sequence of bizarre, otherwise unrelated objects are made one—a candle burns a rope that drops an anvil and sends a ferris wheel spinning which—you get the idea. All this, just to crack an egg.

The Incredible Machine 2 (not to discount the first) harnessed both the absurdity and ingenuity of Goldberg machines, tasking the player with completing a fairly simple objective by very complex means. And there were plenty of means. You might just have to ‘get the tennis ball into the waste bin’ but you’re given a few treadmills, gears, a hamster on a wheel, a trampoline or two, and maybe a boxing glove to do it. There were ideal solutions each puzzle, but as the game opened up and allowed for use of more tools, the solutions became less prescribed and more up to player creativity. And even though the puzzles got hard very quick, failure was usually funny instead frustrating. It’s this, the open-ended and experimental nature of The Incredible Machine that makes it such a timeless puzzle game.

The Talos Principle

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Croteam | Steam Without the narrative dressing, The Talos Principle is still an amazing puzzle game. The majority of what you do is navigate a series of puzzle rooms, picking up and moving objects (boxes on switches, prisms that connect lasers and open doors, fans, and so on) in order to unlock doors or skirt by defenses in order to grab a tetromino piece, aka, the win condition. While the game introduces the varying tools over time, the whole of what you can accomplish with them is there from the start. As more tools are thrown into increasingly complex puzzles, it becomes a matter of experimentation and order of operations. What can a fan lift? When should the fan lift? How do I power the fan? Each puzzle feels impossible at first, but by the end, the machinations you discover and execute as a player feel so robust, complex, and smart that it’s hard not to feel like the last two hours of brickwalling were actually a breeze.

That The Talos Principle shares a writer with another game on the list, The Swapper, isn’t a surprise. They both deal with similar themes–consciousness, humanity, moral ambiguity—and wrap them around the gameplay in a way that doesn’t feel convoluted or forced. The Talos Principle’s plot is also really well written. It carries the same slow sense of growing uncertainty that Portal pulled off so well at first, and takes it to another level with genuinely smart philosophical, human, and breezy narrative tidbits. So, while you solve individual puzzles, you’re also puzzling out the nature of what you’re doing, and whether or not pursuing certain paths will have any effect at all on the game’s ending. It’s as mind-bendy as mind-benders get.

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Polytron Corporation | Steam Fez is a charming and oddly sad puzzle platformer, but at first glance not a particularly challenging one. Tasked with navigating a peaceful 2D world harried by the arrival of 3D, protagonist Gomez (he wears a Fez) must navigate 3D worlds from a 2D perspective. Sounds confusing! It is, but the simple act of playing the main game through to completion never gets too taxing. The real puzzles in Fez aren’t really required to finish the game, but their impenetrable, mysterious nature invites speculation. They’re puzzles of course, but the way they’re presented feels like archeology: deciphering the meaning in obtuse hieroglyphs and mysterious QR codes. It took the community months to understand how to solve some of these puzzles, and I’m fairly certain some remain uncracked. Play Fez for the beautiful world and breezy tone, stay for one of the toughest challenges hidden in a purportedly ‘easy’ game.

Hexcells Infinite

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Matthew Brown | Steam Hexcells is a slow, methodical game, because you’re penalized for wrong moves—sort of like advanced Minesweeper. The board is made up of, as you’d expect, hexagons. Some are part of the pattern you’re trying to create, and turn blue when you left click them. The rest are not, and when you reveal them as imposters by right-clicking, they show you how many adjacent hexes are part of the pattern. Some also give you extra information, such as whether or not the adjacent blue hexes are adjacent to each other or separated.

Hexcells is about considering simple bits of information and determining what hidden information they reveal. For instance, if an uncovered cell is adjacent to one blue cell, and a blue cell is already uncovered next to it, you can safely count out all the other cells touching it. Pretty simple for simple patterns, but it very quickly becomes tricky, like advanced Sudoku. The feeling when you clear a puzzle with no errors is one of relief more than victory, but it is really satisfying to sweep the board without a single misclick. This one isn’t for those who like to fiddle with a problem until they find a solution—Lyne or Infinifactory come to mind—but for those who like to make deliberate moves for a precision puzzling strike.

Antichamber

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Alexander Bruce | Steam Explaining Antichamber to people is difficult. It’s a stone cold first-person puzzle game, no doubt. There are definite rules in its stripped down corridors and cryptic rooms, they just take an entirely different perspective—sometimes literally—to understand. There’s no invasive narrative precedence to speak of, so the gameplay is reduced to exploration that hinges entirely on the player’s curiosity. You spend the majority of the game encountering strange architecture or tools attempting to decipher if they can be used to traverse through an environment or to clue you in on other rules in Antichamber’s world. Most conventions of how we understand physical space through the first-person perspective are twisted in subtle ways or thrown out completely. To explain how is to ruin the game completely.

Most surfaces, including objects, are white with black lines defining their features, but color gradients sway in and out of certain halls and rooms as if to evoke the intimate, troubling psychosis of our dear friend, MS Paint. The thing is, all the color has meaning. It, and nearly every visual, auditory, and tactile component feed into the game’s psychedelic logic. Learning this logic is only half the battle, the remainder is applying that logic to even more mind-bending puzzles. So, for example, once you learn that certain doors can only be opened if they cannot be seen, applying the same line of thinking to an increasingly complex series of puzzles turns from mental exercise to an exercise in integrity. The more you understand in Antichamber, the less you trust yourself.

World of Goo

Release date: 2008 | Developer: 2D BOY | Steam Like all the best puzzle games, World of Goo's core concept is simple: Use elastic, adhesive (and sentient) balls of goo to build structures that will enable them to climb up to a pipe, where they can be sucked up and delivered to the World of Goo corporate headquarters. It's easygoing at the start—build a tower, construct a bridge, nothing too complex—but quickly grows more difficult, and bizarre, in equal measures. Obstacles like whirling blades, spikes, and fire make life nasty and short for many a Goo Ball, and after awhile different species of Balls with unique characteristics will begin to appear. Balloon Goo floats, for instance, while Green Goo can be detached and reused, and Beauty Goo is huge, aggravating, and generally useless. And because everything is made of goo, everything you create is inherently unstable: The trick isn't to build solid structures, but to figure out how to let them sag and sway—because they're going to—without breaking into pieces.

But what elevates World of Goo from a good puzzler to a great game are the detail and flourishes that aren't necessary to the puzzles, but are absolutely indispensable to creating the marvelous world in which they exist. The squealing, bug-eyed Goo Balls are endearingly cute, and the light-hearted, sometimes cryptic messages left by the Sign Painter are entertaining in their own right. There's a story here too, believe it or not, and it actually gets a little dark, although it never entirely lets go of its inherent goofiness. Even the soundtrack, at the risk of overselling it, is sublime, and somehow a perfect match for a game about stretching sticky globs of grease into weird shapes. World of Goo is one of those games that belongs on just about every "games you should play" list, and it’s baffling that, years after its release, there's still no sign of a sequel.

Infinifactory

Release date: 2015 | Developer: Zachtronics | Steam Infinifactory is one of our highest-scored games of 2015, with Chris calling it his favorite puzzle game in years. Like SpaceChem, Infinifactory is a creative factory design game, though a bit more accessible. To please your alien captors, you’ve got to jetpack around a factory dropping blocks—conveyor belt blocks, for instance—to build a machine that will complete a set of goals. The simplest is to transport a component from a dispenser to the correct exit point, but as your tasks get more complicated, logic devices are introduced to increase the complexity of your designs along with them.

Infinifactory is all about satisfaction of building the most beautiful, efficient machine you can and watching it do its work. As Chris put it, “It's the videogame equivalent of those incredibly compulsive looping gifs of factory processes.” There’s also a dark, slapstick story threaded in, and some wonderful environments in later puzzles.

Portal and Portal 2

Release date: 2007, 2011 | Developer: Valve | Steam Portal was a success—a huge one—for a number of reasons. The writing, the humor, and the story that unexpectedly began to drip through the cracks of Aperture Science while we played Valve’s 2007 first-person puzzler. Thing is, it would still be a great game without any of that because the puzzle-solving is so damn great on its own. Escaping a series of test-chambers armed only with a gun that shoots space-warping portals is fun and rewarding. At the time it was also completely different from just about anything we’d seen in an FPS.

The basics are simple to grasp. After placing two portals in two different spots, walking into one portal lets you exit the other, no matter where it is. Each new puzzle chamber is more complex than the last, and soon you’re using portals to avoid turrets, fling yourself over floors of acid, activate buttons and redirect lasers. There are even some reflex and momentum-based puzzles which challenge you to place your portals as you’re sailing through the air. It culminates in an escape of sorts, a fascinating crawl behind the scenes of the facility where we get to put into practice everything we’ve learned. The difficulty increases gradually, getting more complex at just the right pace, so we never feel frustrated and yet it never seems too easy. There’s even a puzzle-based boss fight, and a charming little song when you win. While Portal 2 upped the ante in just about every department, the original is still a wonderful, funny, and rewarding way to spend a few hours. (And, to be clear, we also recommend Portal 2, especially for its co-op puzzles.)

Baba is You

Release date: 2019 | Developer: Hempuli Oy | Steam Baba Is You gets away with being so infuriatingly mind-bending by also being so dang cute. Baba (you) pushes around blocks of words to change the level environment and the conditions of the game itself. 

In one level you start as a rabbit in a walled room. Inside the room with you are three text blocks—“Wall”, “is”, and “stop”. They’re connected in a straight line so the walls currently stop your character from passing through them. If you nudge any of the blocks out of line the walls no longer stop you and you can walk through them. 

The blocks which make a win condition for the level aren’t yet connected in a line. The simplest solution to that is to push the blocks marked “flag”, “is” and “win” into a line. After that, walking to the flag will complete the level.

But there are other solutions which immediately start to show you how many possibilities the system involves. You could mix blocks from the first and second room to write “Wall is win”. That lets you finish the level by touching any of the walls. 

Although the difficulty curve between levels can feel a bit off-kilter depending on how you personally think about each puzzle, Baba Is You is incredibly versatile, allowing for a number of unorthodox solutions to each level.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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Find the best product instantly, what are the best puzzle games on pc, the 2 must play game s why.

My Rec ommendation for Portal 2

My recommendation for portal 2.

Mind bending puzzling

No replay value

Cross-platform co-op

Only available on Steam

Larger in scope than the first title

Main co-op campaign is short

Co-op does not punish when you want to goof off with or troll the other player

It's already on every coop list since 2011

Unique co-op levels with co-op specific tools.

Steep co-op learning curve

Witty and funny character driven story, late game single player can be quite difficult, both online co-op and local co-op, single player mode is annoying, humorous voice acting by stephen merchant, hundreds of hours of user-generated content, well implemented tools that improve teamwork, allows for harmless trolling, huge selection of user-generated content that should appeal to any use-case.

Versatile selection of co-op multiplayer

Entertaining and well delivered voice acting, creates a sense of accomplishment through a high level of teamwork, the talos principle, my rec ommendation for the talos principle, my recommendation for the talos principle.

Difficulty ramp-up

Obtuse puzzles, especially with optional content, lots of side content, bland story.

Great storyline

Ending troubles.

Rewards exploration and out-of-the-box thinking

Working with the level editor is difficult (no documentation).

Great original soundtrack

45 other games considered, my rec ommendation for the room, my recommendation for the room.

A good variety of puzzle types makes sure that the game never repeats or gets tiring

Ends abruptly, great atmosphere is set by the wonderful music and well done design, the control scheme can get slightly frustrating.

Amazing graphics allow for a level of detail not always found on mobile games

Soothing and relaxing

Infinifactory, my rec ommendation for infinifactory, my recommendation for infinifactory, sticks with you, not many convenience mechanics near lategame, gives feeling of accomplishment, puzzles become difficult really soon, incremental puzzle solving that creates lasting gameplay, user created gifs upon finish, my rec ommendation for tis-100, my recommendation for tis-100, teaches actual coding, no in game tutorial makes it difficult to learn.

Competitive score comparing

Style of interface to a certain expense of your comfort, replayability through a never ending sandbox creation mode, my rec ommendation for inside, my recommendation for inside, unparalleled creepy yet intoxicating atmosphere, arcade game, remarkable storytelling via environmental navigation.

Awesome atmospheric graphics

The witness, my rec ommendation for the witness, my recommendation for the witness, thought provoking world, some puzzles might be impossible for the colorblind and hearing impaired, cleverly designed puzzles.

Mysterious world with no tutorial

May cause nausea, vivid graphics make you want to explore, deeply interconnected puzzles, environment and narrative, non-linear gameplay, enchanting graphic design, my rec ommendation for syberia, my recommendation for syberia, antichamber, my rec ommendation for antichamber, my recommendation for antichamber, brilliant puzzles, wise quotes, unique minimalist visuals , good for speed running, lateral thinking, the turing test, my rec ommendation for the turing test, my recommendation for the turing test, hidden puzzles, easy puzzles.

My Rec ommendation for Myst

My recommendation for myst, depth, aesthetics, and worldbuilding, tech of 1993 myst is now 28 years old. there are more modern versions of it though..

My Rec ommendation for Botanicula

My recommendation for botanicula, graphics border on being art, simplistic "puzzles", my rec ommendation for the cave, my recommendation for the cave, cheesy jokes of the best kind, human: fall flat, my rec ommendation for human: fall flat, my recommendation for human: fall flat, levels have multiple paths, encouraging discovery, not much visual appeal, oddly rewarding control scheme, can cause motion sickness due to camera shaking, fantastic physics, you can personalize your avatar with colors and textures, good progression of difficulty, playing co-op with your friends adds a whole new experience to the puzzle solving, hilarious co-op mode, human resource machine, my rec ommendation for human resource machine, my recommendation for human resource machine, can optimize your solutions, short for price (especially for people looking to learn), good graphics and sound, lack of optimization accuracy, levels are unoriginal, frustrating interface at later levels, awful debugging, story is disappointing, my rec ommendation for mini metro, my recommendation for mini metro, soothing gameplay, casual gameplay, deep open ended puzzle mechanic, takes a while to get the hang of, very minimal puzzle sim aspects, my rec ommendation for spacechem, my recommendation for spacechem, light on the system, late game is difficult, endless gameplay through user created solutions, allows for short or long play sessions, easy to learn, hard to master puzzle, could help with real life programming skills, baba is you, my rec ommendation for baba is you, my recommendation for baba is you, innovative and unique.

Over 200 levels

My rec ommendation for gorogoa, my recommendation for gorogoa, beautiful artwork, really short, simple yet effective storytelling, captivating puzzle mechanics, keep talking and nobody explodes, my rec ommendation for keep talking and nobody explodes, my recommendation for keep talking and nobody explodes, bomb defusal manual is easily accessible, morse code section difficult for those with dry or bad eyes, hilarious situations arise as tension increases, puzzles may become stale after repetitive play, great for parties due to its communication-based asymmetrical puzzle gameplay, don't see your favorite option add it..

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The 20 Best Puzzle Games on Steam

Is there anything better than a great puzzle game on PC? These games are perfect for those of us who like to take our time to solve problems and plan out their moves well in advance.

If you love puzzles and games, Steam has plenty of great options to choose from.

These titles require players to work out complex problems in order to progress through the game and often present unique challenges that will keep you entertained for hours.

These games will keep your brain busy with logic and problem-solving in some very creative ways, from block-sliding puzzlers to pipe-solving adventures.

Here are 20 of the best puzzle games on Steam you can play right now.

Trine originally debuted in 2009 and took players to a colorful fantasy world where they could fight monsters, rescue fairies, and solve puzzles. It is a side-scrolling fantasy action platformer starring three characters who offer different skills to solve the problems presented in each stage.

This is a brilliant and beautiful franchise that came up with a single concept, you need teamwork. In Trine, you switch characters as you wish to overcome different challenges by using the unique strengths of each hero.

In Trine, you control one character at a time. So you might play with either Zoya the thief, Pontius knight, or Amadeus wizard as they work together to progress through levels.

For instance, you might need Amadeus to lift objects, Zoya to swing and climb, and Pontius to break stuff and fight.

Trine is a generally well-received franchise by both critics and players. To this day, it remains one of Frozenbyte’s most popular titles.

The Talos Principle

This is one of my favorite puzzle games due to its sci-fi philosophical concept and themes where you explore a rich and captivating setting.

You’ll solve puzzles by manipulating robots and utilizing in-game physics. Although they are fun, the puzzles are just one of the things that make this game good.

This is not a game that is all about its gameplay. If that’s what you are looking for, The Talos Principle might still be fun, but you will only be enjoying half of what it offers. This game dives deeply into existential questions and gets you thinking about what it means to be human.

Although it isn’t as flashy as other puzzle games, it does offer challenges that can keep players engaged for many hours. Still, I was mostly interested to see how the narrative would hit me again with some other mind-bending thought exercise.

I would highly recommend any gamer interested in puzzles or philosophy to pick up The Talos Principle. If that’s the kind of thing you are into, this game is a must-play.

The Swapper

A unique puzzle game, The Swapper, has players exploring a space station using the main character’s ability to clone himself to solve puzzles. This is a stylish, well-designed puzzler that is worth your time. The puzzles are never too challenging, but you will be spending a lot of time with them.

The story is a bit complex, but it is very well written. It is really interesting and engaging, making for one of the most memorable experiences in gaming. There’s a fair amount of questions about humanity, existence, and consciousness for all fans of the usual kind of philosophical discussions seen in sci-fi stories.

I can definitely recommend The Swapper to anyone looking for a fun puzzle game on Steam.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s something everyone should play at least once. The Swapper is a quite unique, well-thought-out puzzle game. Besides, it is fun even without the fascinating story behind it.

The Witness

The Witness is a puzzle game that surprised me. It is by far one of the most pleasant experiences I’ve ever had with the genre.

In this game, filled with beautiful and mysterious but calm scenarios, you must solve the puzzles you find in panels and direct beams of light to the top of the Island.

The colorful, quiet setting emanates a sense of tranquility while you explore the Island. It gives The Witness a lack of urgency that is refreshing and calming when you are surrounded by puzzles to solve.

This game is not easy. It can cause you to roam lost, desperately looking for answers. This can happen to the fact that the Island is large, and the game doesn’t really lock you in any area.

There is a chance you will face puzzles you might not be ready to solve. If you do, you can just go to a different area and try something else. The Witness will introduce new mechanics and symbols that slowly make the puzzles more challenging and engaging.

This is an intelligently designed puzzle game that is easy to recommend to any fan of the genre.

Portal is a mind-bending game that will force you to think outside your comfort zone. The plot is a bit unorthodox in the best of ways, and it might sometimes feel really over the top, but it’s a game that never takes itself seriously.

When it first came out, Portal was mind-blowing. The Portal Gun makes you think about space-time and physics in ways that would not make sense in any other context.

Thanks to Portal, the portal gun became one of the most popular items in pop culture. The game’s puzzles are inventive and original and take the game’s mechanics to the limit.

Considering that the concept of the game itself was original, it was expected to see many unusual puzzles to solve in Portal. However, the mechanic is pretty much the same until the end of the game, and it is never dull, so it says a lot about the level design.

Portal has a great sense of humor, a story with a dark twist, and a primary tool that might require a certain degree of patience and logic to master. It’s good for quick bursts when you have time to kill or for intense gaming sessions that will keep you busy for hours at a time.

Portal 2 feels much more like a reboot than a sequel to the original Portal game. In fact, it does feel like they’re the same game in many ways until it doesn’t.

Although Portal is a funny game, its dark humor and creepy twists are a big part of its identity. However, Portal 2 takes a different road, being unapologetically silly and directing its comedy to something less dark.

There are enough tweaks and changes in gameplay and storytelling to make Portal 2 something else once you pass through the Portal gun and mouse lab intro. Portal 2 has many different mechanics and easier puzzles with several mechanics that are not present in the first game.

It is argued among fans that Portal 2’s puzzles are never fully fleshed out or explored to their limit, as it happens in the first game. Gameplaywise, this is when the games start feeling completely different. The first game extracts all it can from physics puzzles using the Portal Gun. In contrast, the second game introduces many things that change the rules and moves on to an entirely different mechanic right after.

Despite the fact that Portal 2 lacks the heavier tone of its predecessor, it is nonetheless a well-written game, but a different one, which is why both are on the list.

If you like the original Portal, there’s a good chance you’ll like Portal 2 as well. It makes no difference whether you think the first one is better than the second or vice versa. Both games are fantastic, and I’m sure that any PC puzzle games fan will have a blast playing either.

Braid is a puzzle-platformer where you rewind time to solve puzzles. It’s also one of those games that makes you feel really smart when you figure out how to beat it—which is exactly what we want from puzzle games.

There are tons of little details and secrets in Braid, and each level gets increasingly more complex as you progress through its complex, metaphorical story.

Braid is simple enough for almost anyone to play and understand at first but deep enough for hardcore players looking for challenging brain teasers with multiple levels of completion.

As the game progresses, the way your time rewind ability interferes with the world changes as new mechanics appear in the different phases of the game. Each world has a unique characteristic that is differently affected by time, time reward, or even by how you move your main character.

Due to those new concepts constantly being introduced, Braid ends up being an incredible experience that keeps you playing for hours.

When it comes to puzzle games, Limbo’s unique brand of hand-drawn black and white graphics stands out from its rivals. The game has players take control of a boy who must traverse hellish environments in search of his sister.

For a 2D platformer, Limbo’s atmosphere can be a bit dark. Limbo has levels that are filled with puzzles and obstacles for players to overcome, forcing them to use their brains instead of brute force.

It’s not the most challenging puzzle game out there, but it is entertaining enough to be remarkable. Although it was originally released in 2010, Limbo remains one of the top puzzle games on Steam.

Limbo is not a long game, but by playing through its world, you’ll see why so many people have fallen in love with it. Even if you’re not typically into puzzle games, I recommend giving Limbo a try; perhaps you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a puzzle game set during World War I that follows several characters from different sides of the conflict.

The game features puzzles to solve with help from your canine companion and follow narratives based on real-life letters and journals of men and women who lived during that time.

It’s a heartfelt and touching adventure for people looking for a historical setting for their puzzle games or anyone curious about life in France during World War I.

This game is a beautifully crafted artistic expression of a harsh and difficult era of human history. Its story has a few ups and serious downs. It might not be for everyone, and it is a hard story to tell, but it’s told brilliantly.

World of Goo

World of Goo is a charming game with a simple but cute art style and an attractive enough. This award-winning physics-based puzzle game is a favorite among fans.

Players are tasked with creating bridges and towers out of balls of goo, guiding other balls to their goals, and escaping each level before they fall off. As you solve puzzles and make your way through increasingly challenging levels, you’ll be kept entertained by adorable sound effects and a minimalist aesthetic.

World of Goo is a game for kids as well as adults. It is easy to pick up but hard to put down. World of Goo was made by 2D Boy, an indie gaming duo consisting of Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel. Its graphics were designed to resemble beloved construction toys, making the game both familiar and charming.

This is a fun game that can be pretty entertaining to play casually, but it can also be addictive if you’re fond of puzzle games on PC. Give it a shot; you might be surprised at how challenging and addicting it can be.

Baba is You

This game is so much fun! It may not look like it, but Baba Is You actually has some of the most mentally engaging gameplay in any puzzle game I’ve ever played. It’s a game that is constantly forcing you to think outside the box because the puzzles involve changing the fundamental laws of how the game works in the first place.

I know it sounds weird and a bit crazy, but that’s pretty much how the game is. The more you play, the more you want to see what kind of weird things you have to come up with to progress.

Even though Baba is You might be a really unusual game in many ways, you don’t really feel frustrated since every puzzle somehow feels doable. When it comes to unique puzzle gameplay, it’s hard to be as unique as Baba is You.

This is a fantastic game with an unusual concept that managed to work against all odds. I definitely recommend you to try this game out, even if you don’t like puzzle games just for their uniqueness.

That is a game that will easily please fans of the genre. Hoa is a puzzle-platforming game with a lot of personalities due to its emotionally charged music and hand-painted art style.

Hoa is the ideal game for when you want to be entertained by your favorite genre, but you also want to relax and admire a beautiful work of art as opposed to getting disappointed or frustrated after spending an hour on the same puzzle.

The world of the game is diverse and beautifully designed with breathtaking art. Besides, Hoa is relatively simple. The game’s mechanics are not complicated, so you get to enjoy it easily.

There’s no question that Hoa has a lot of charm and identity. This game is so captivating that it is nearly impossible not to give it a shot. That’s how they make people play, by causing them to check a beautiful, hand-drawn game. I checked Hoa out of curiosity, and I was hooked right from the start.

In my honest opinion, Biped is a game that does not receive as much attention as it deserves. This game is a puzzle-platformer with a lot of heart. Its cute design and fun gameplay are more than enough for me to recommend it. 

Biped’s unique gameplay mechanics make it very special. In this game, you must move each leg of the main character independently. That alone completely changes how you navigate the 3D environment and solve issues.

Even walking can be a struggle since you have to move each leg individually, one before the other. It might take you some time to get used to it, but that’s what allows this game to think outside the box and provide some of the greatest and most fun puzzles you’ll see in a cute puzzle game that doesn’t feel intimidating.

The Room is a BAFTA-winning 3D puzzler from Fireproof Games where you immerse yourself in a world of strange contraptions and alchemical machines. This game takes you to a setting where machines meet myth. You will follow a trail of cryptic cards and solve numerous unusual devices in even more extraordinary places.

The Steam version of The Room is a completely updated HD version of the original Mobile Version of The Room, but it still is the same game. I do prefer playing it on the PC anyway.

Fireproof Games is a tiny, independent studio based in Guildford, United Kingdom. The Room is the first game they ever published, but they made an excellent product. The Room has been very well received by puzzle game fans and reviewers, which did a lot for the game’s reputation and the studio.

There’s a reason why this game received so many prizes for best gameplay and best design. The Room has clearly been acknowledged among critics as a magnificent game of its genre.

Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares is surprisingly scary for a game that uses such a cartoon-like art style. You play as a kid in a yellow coat who’s trying to survive and escape from a massive and strange ship populated by corrupted souls vying for the next meal.

This is an unnerving dark tale that will cause nightmares to your inner child! Explore the most unsettling settings to uncover their secrets as you proceed on your trip. 

Mechanically speaking, Little Nightmares takes a lot from games like Limbo and modern survival games that have a hiding mechanic. Still, the way it’s used and the way that the setting is put together make Little Nightmare a quite well-executed game. It might not be the most challenging puzzle game out there, but if you like horror, it is undoubtedly worth your time.

Although this game is a brilliant puzzle platformer, its meaning, plot, and ending are mysteries open to interpretation. The many discussions and fan theories about Inside exist mainly due to the way that the game’s story is told, especially in its endings.

Inside is a puzzle platformer in which the player is a boy who explores a nearly gritty, nearly black-and-white world where there are many threads about to end his life.

The boy can run, jump, and use some objects to overcome certain challenges. Later in the game, the boy gains the ability to control the bodies of the dead. Sometimes, this new power can feel like a weirdly dark and somewhat disturbing idea.

Still, it does allow the game to introduce new and exciting mechanics and puzzles. The main character can die, much like in Limbo, from enemies and from challenges that you did not succeed in completing. Death animations are often brutal, making you feel like a lot is at stake after the first time you see it happening.

When it comes to puzzles, at least in my opinion, it isn’t easy to find anything that is more authentic than klocki. Something about its minimalistic style feels like old-school puzzle games, but there’s enough in its design to make it feel clean and modern.

In this game, you basically have a bunch of tiles or pieces, and you have to switch and match all those pieces in a way that the lines are not broken.

Klocki doesn’t repeat itself too much. However, it will sometimes introduce new ways to move the pieces and add variations that keep things interesting when there aren’t really new ideas to be introduced.

This is the second game from the developers of Hook, and it is pretty well rated on Steam. If you are okay with a minimalistic art style and a more relaxing kind of puzzle game, you should definitely give klocki a shot.

Opus Magnum

This game was very well received by critics and players. It is an open-ended puzzle game from Zachtronics.

In Opus Magnum, you do alchemical engineering by building transmutation machines that you even get to watch running.

I’m not going to lie; this is an odd game. For many people, this might feel like doing homework. On the other hand, once you get the hang of it and see your formula in action, you feel pretty smart for pulling it off.

Honestly, though, watching your design functioning is already super pleasant to see, but making it compact and faster is just as fun — for those who enjoy this sort of open-ended puzzle, of course.

Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise

I seriously love self-aware games, so there was no way I wouldn’t like Agent A: A puzzle in disguise.

As the brilliant title suggests, you play as Agent A in this clever puzzle game. You are given the mission to invade Ruby La Rouge’s secret hideout. Once you succeed, you have to either neutralize or capture the enemy spy.

Once you have the chance or the patience, pay attention to this stylized art style. It allows the game to be functional and have an eye-catching theme. It also makes it much easier for smaller studios to put the game together than making or paying for something with high fidelity graphics.

Explore a maze of mind-blowing puzzles in this quirky cat-and-mouse game that will have you wondering who’s the cat and who’s the mouse! Did you find something strange or out of place? You must think like a good secret agent, so taking notes and mental observations will help you solve the most important puzzles.

In Ruby’s secret hideout, you will be picking up objects and using them in clever ways. Sometimes, you will have to think outside the box to progress through the puzzles that will get you closer to your target!

Superliminal

If you are looking for the most original puzzle game on Steam, I couldn’t find anything that remotely feels like what Superliminal has to offer.

This puzzle game focuses on using optical illusions and depth perspective to make the most unique and clever puzzles I have ever seen in a long time.

When I solve a puzzle in Superliminal, I often catch myself just thinking about how cool that puzzle was. The best thing about this game is that it keeps happening. It never takes too long for the game to surprise me with another fantastic twist on how to use depth perspective in the game’s context.

In the world of Superliminal, what is perceived is what is real. This game’s surreal, strange, dream-like world is like a weird place where things can be both what they are and what they seem to be.

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The best puzzle games on PC

A very puzzling collection

Whether you like to visit space , indulge in an RPGs or a grand adventure , get spooked by horror or get uber techy with hacking , the chances are that there's also a puzzle game for you - hence our list of the best puzzle games on PC . The queen genre straddles many others, so our list of the 25 best puzzle games has all that we just mentioned and more. Take a look to find a new favourite puzzle game today.

We've got everything a puzzle-head might want: sokoban games, murder mysteries, strategy, physics, goo, and that one Jonathan Blow made. Puzzles are a broad church, after all. Best of all is that all of these are playable and ready to go, so there's no mucking about with emulators. We'll keep the list updated with the new best and brightest puzzle games, too, so check back every so often. Scroll down to read them all, or click a name that takes your fancy in the list below.

• How To Say Goodbye
• The Room 4: Old Sins
• The White Door
• Children Of The Sun
• The Case Of The Golden Idol
• Mini Motorways
• Patrick's Parabox
• Dorfromantik
• Baba Is You
• Botany Manor
• Return To Monkey Island
• Opus Magnum
• The Talos Principle
• Ctrl Alt Ego
• World Of Goo
• The Witness
• Outer Wilds
• Return Of The Obra Dinn

25. Unpacking

There may be some among you who object to Unpacking being classified as a puzzle game, and to those people I say: Boo! Boo to you! It's not the kind of headscratcher that'll see you rage-quitting a level until you've calmed down enough to have another go at it, but the challenge - to unpack and put away a person's possessions as they move to different homes throughout their life - is a puzzle. It's possible to get it wrong. As you open the brown boxes and pull things out of the rustling paper, you understand that it would not do to put the tooth paste in the kitchen. That goes in the bathroom, along with your towels and shampoo. If, once you've emptied all the boxes, some things aren't where they're meant to be, their outline will glow until you make room somewhere more appropriate. A ladle does not belong in the bedroom.

Part of the puzzle is fitting your things around the possessions of people you live with. If you move in with housemates, one of whom is making a Sailor Moon cosplay dress, there isn't much space in the living room. One level in particular broke my heart, as you have to find the right place to put your framed art degree once you move in with a new boyfriend. Unpacking isn't a puzzle like doing the cryptic crossword is. Unpacking is a puzzle like real life is.

24. How To Say Goodbye

This is sort of a sokoban, except you move the scenery around, and that allows you to move the characters. As a whole, the game tells the story of a recently-dead ghost, lost and disorientated in a land of the dead populated by simiarly disorientated spirits. The goal is to help these spirits move on, by solving the grid puzzles in levels to let them escape the purgatory world they're in. Each level has a door to escape through, but you might need to press buttons, find keys and avoid desperate Spleen ghosts. Many levels have several steps, and it'll take you a while to get the hang of how you can move things to you, rather than going to them. It's a twist on a familiar formula that will surprise you with how hard it can be.

The art is colourful and streamlined, inspired by children's picture books. It gives everything an appropriately unreal quality as you pull and push ghosts and obstacles around on the conveyor belt floors of the levels. And the levels themselves fit with that vibe. They're downright whimisical, from gardens, to messy kitchens, to the actual moon. But with the whimsy you also get a quiet story about grief and moving on. A lot to pack in one game.

23. The Room 4: Old Sins

The Room series always sees you, the unknown player character, lured to an isolated area full of complex puzzles that you have to solve. The very first Room was a room - an attic, in fact, and The Room 4 goes back to the attic. This time you're confronted with a very detailed dollhouse of a mansion, which turns out to be a model of the mansion you're in. The model is itself partly a puzzle box, with moving cogs and sections that open up as you interact with it, but it also, as you open up access to the different rooms, is a kind of magic portal to full-sized versions of said rooms. Inside these rooms are more puzzles.

The Room 4 is full of so many lovely machines: polished wood with hidden doors, polished cogs, sliding coloured pieces and buttons, and they all feel intricate and tactile, and like they were made by a craftsman. But there's a dark, almost Lovecraftian layer to The Room 4 as well, with many puzzles requiring the use of a magical eyepiece to see runes and symbols instrumental to understanding the solutions. There are tentacles. Old Sins is the most complicated but most satisfying of all the Room games yet.

22. The White Door

Not all puzzle games have to be maxi. The White Door is one of the more recent entries in the Rusty Lake series of 2D puzzle games, and is arguably the most minimalist. You control an amnesiac in what appears to be some kind of hospital room, where each day is planned out to a strict schedule. The game doesn't tell you this, of course, but the schedule is pinned to the wall for you to find. A nurse comes in to ask you questions: what's today's date?; how old are you?; where do you work? And you have to find the answers to these questions around the room. Subtle things change. You can see someone standing in the distance outside the window.

Every night you dream of events in your past, and can use them to untangle the events that brought you to this room in the first place. It's a short, spare game with nothing wasted. A locked room mystery with a twist.

21. Gorogoa

Gorogoa was designed for touchscreens, but you're not losing much at all when you play it on PC. The screen is divided into quarters, and you can zoom in and move them around to create new paths for the boy traversing them, letting him move from one to another by clearing a path in one section. You can even layer them on top of one another, putting a doorway in one frame over the top of the boy in another, so he can step through. At other times the panels becomes a kind of jigsaw that requires you to zoom in and out until you find the right perspective to match things up. You might need to place a fire under a steam cooker, or weight a shelf so it tips the right way.

This all plays out in beautiful 2D animations, and without any actual instructions. Gorogoa is fantastic and letting you experiment, sometimes nudging you the right way with some pictograms, but for the most part just letting you explore its living, moving world. It's both beautiful and innovative, in a way not many games of any genre manage, let alone puzzle games.

PlayDead's creepy, monochrome side-scrolling puzzle-platformer Limbo rightly caused a stir when it was released, because nobody had seen anything quite like it before. PlayDead managed to build on Limbo with Inside. Though Inside has a lot of similarities - a side on puzzle-platformer with a small, vulnerable protagonist, and dark themes - but it takes both it's ambient storytelling and how it plays to new heights. Inside's protagonist is a young boy who you join in the middle of being chased through a forest. The journey progresses through decreasingly rural areas, then through a weird science facility full of what appear to be mind controlled zombies and various human experiments. The ending is famously, er, surprising.

The puzzles themselves are a mix of logic applied to physics (put box a here and activate switch b to precipitate effect c) in surprising ways, and you can die in similar physics based ways that have quite graphic animations. But there are also puzzles that you solve by paying attention to the game world. One of the more memorable moments is having to disguise yourself in a line on shambling zombies by mimicking their movements at the right time. I don't know if that counts as a puzzle, exactly, but it's bloody good.

19. Children Of The Sun

The puzzles in Children Of The Sun are intricate, speed focused tactical puzzles to find the right path through a level, and that path must be through a bunch of dudes' heads. After escaping from an evil cult you, a nameless girl, have taken it upon yourself to exact revenge for the death of your mentor. Luckily you can do this with your natural telekinetic powers, meaning you can take out dozens of cultists with a single bullet. You begin each level skulking on the edges - in the darkness looking at a street, a warehouse, a drunken party in the forest - where you line up your shot. Once you pull the trigger, you play over the shoulder of the bullet.

Each time you hit a target you can reorient and shoot it again, tracing the bullet around the whole level by daisy chaining bloody and spectacular murder. But if you hit a wall or an obstacle, that's it. It's a short game, but it invites repetition as you perfect your kill score for each level, using different powers - like the ability to change direction, or speed up to penetrate armour - in an arms race against the cultists, who start showing up with shields and their own psy-powers as your reign of terror continues. Children Of The Sun is satisfying, intense, and ultraviolent, which isn't something you can say about a lot of puzzle games

18. The Case Of The Golden Idol

The Case Of The Golden Idol is a point and click detective game that strips out all the extraneous bullshit like walking around and talking to characters, so the time you save there can be redistributed to furiously staring at word bubbles. The Case Of The Golden Idol spans many decades in the lives of a couple of posh weirdos and their family and associates, all centering on the titular artifact. Every few years there are some (or several) murders relating to it, and you get to see them in a snapshot moment - either the moment the murder is committed or as the body is discovered - with the characters, scene and items all frozen.

By clicking around the scene you can investigate the contents of rooms, pockets and even brains, sorting through diaries and weapons and piecing together what happened. To solve each leve you'll need to identify who died, whodunnit, and what they dunnit with, but there are also optional tasks. At a dinner party where someone was poisoned you need to work out who was sitting where, but you can also figure out which of the servants' rooms belong to which servant. In one memorable level at a mansion, more than one person is on a different sort of drug. To fill in these answers you're provided with nouns and verbs to slot into sentences with gaps, and you can only move on when you get it right. It's difficult, but it's very worth it.

17. Mini Motorways

Have you ever been stuck in traffic commuting and thought, "what absolute fool designed this?" Now, thanks to Mini Motorways, that absolute fool can be you! The idea is to plan the road system of a city, getting people from their houses to where they need to be and back again, as efficiently as possible. The cities grow as the game goes on, so your roadways get more complicated, and you can put in things like roudabouts, motorways and traffic lights to keep things organised, but you have a limited number of these, as well as limited road tiles.

Houses, the population centres of your city, and workplaces keep mushrooming up across the confined map area, and they're colour-coded. A yellow workplace might appear next to a bunch of blue homes, while the yellow population density is mostly on the other side of the river. Junctions slow down traffic, so if you can put in roundabouts it all flows better, but roundabouts take up a lot of space. Maybe a motorway would help ease the congestion, but it might back up traffic either end. Mini Motorways is a continuous puzzle, in other words, and one that only gets harder the better you are at it.

16. Patrick's Parabox

The ouroboros is the ol' famous endless snake eating it's own tail thing. Patrick's Parabox is a bunch of boxes inside boxes, boxes eating eachother recursively, with puzzles inside. It's technically a sokoban game - you have to push boxes into the right places, and if you push them against a wall you can't pull them out. But you can push boxes (and yourself) into other boxes that have openings. These boxes themselves contain shapes that you can use to traverse and solve the puzzle outside the box. You have to think in boxes.

There are 350 hand-designed puzzles in this mind melter of a game, and Patrick's Parabox does a good job of teaching you the fundamentals of its rules so you can tackle more advanced puzzles. You can transport boxes inside boxes. You can put a box inside itself and start thinking in infinity. Multiple boxes can be stacked inside other boxes, like nesting dolls. Look, this game has a lot of boxes. It's an interesting and thoughtful twist on sokoban constraints that kind of makes you feel like a super-advanced mathematician.

15. Knotwords

This is sort of like doing a quick crossword but without any clues. You're given a small asymmetrical grid of empty squares, and within that grid are tetronimo shapes - maybe a foursquare, maybe a right angle made of three, and so on. You're told what letters go into each of the tetronimos, but not where. So that foursquare could contain the letters OVOW . Your job is to fill in all the letters so that every line accross and down makes an actual word.

This isn't as hard as it sounds, and you get into the swing of it pretty quickly. It can be tough when you realise that the word you were sure was your lynchpin turns out to be wrong, but there's a fair and helpful hint system. You also have a lot of puzzles to choose from, with more generating every month. It's a lot of fun if you like word puzzles, and it'll probably expand your vocabulary, too.

14. Dorfromantik

Dorfromantik is a lovely game. It's perfect for streaming. It's perfect for playing sitting on the sofa. You can get all intense and try and beat your high score and take it all seriously. But if you want, you can just have a lovely time building a pretty town. All these things are contained within Dorfromantik, a puzzle game where you place tiles to build a serene rural landscape.

You're given a stack of procedurally generated hexagonal tiles, each with one or a few different kinds of landscape on them - maybe a load of houses that could form a village or town, a bit of forest bordered by fields, or section of lake. Plopping these down joins them together to form your growing valley. But to get a high score you have to pay attention. Fulfilling quests - like the windmill wanting to be bordered entirely by fields, or a forest being large enough to accommodate deer - will give you more tiles to keep expanding, and if you can grow large enough then you'll find yourself in new biomes, or pre-placed locations that give you long term tasks. It's the right level of chilled out while still requiring some active thought.

13. The Looker

It's not often (read: it has never happened before) that a list contains both a game, and a parody of that game. But here we are. The Looker is a 2022 game that functions both as a very good bit of good-spirited fun-pokery at JoBlow's The Witness, and as a good puzzle game itself. The essential vibe of many areas of the island in The Witness are recreated, with a giant chess set, hedge mazes and a weird castle, but there's also an arcade dungeon and kind of piratical lookout. Scattered around these are a selection of puzzle boards, solved by drawing lines from a START to an END in a red pen.

What constitutes a start or an end can be flexible. The letters S and E both count, and in one puzzle there's no end, and you have to listen as the narrator beeps while you draw your line around a maze - literally, he says "beep". The puzzles are all logical within the established rules, but require thinking outside the box, and are playful to boot. And throughout you'll see little references to The Witness, like a framed picture resembling one of the tree puzzles. The laser beam boxes take an absurdly long time to power up, with so many steps involved. You can find little recording boxes around the place, and one of them is an advert for used cars. This game is free!

12. Baba Is You

Baba Is You isn't exactly a sokoban game. You're pushing stuff around to get to touch an object designated as the winning object, sure, and that pushing is subject to sokoban constraints, so if you push something into a corner it'll be stuck there. But in Baba Is You, you can change what the winning object is. Or, indeed, what the you is. Each level will also have word blocks that form statements: Baba is You, Flag is Win. But you can also push those word blocks around to make Flag is You, so instead you're controlling the little flag sprite. Maybe you can make Baba be You and Win at the same time, creating an instant shortcut for the whole level.

You can make it so you can walk through walls, you can change which items are hazardous, you can make Baba float, you can change the colour of objects. But every level has a solution, and training yourself to think the right way is tough. Luckily the game has llovely, simple, almost childish 2D drawings to represent everything, so it's very clear what everything is. Until you start moving it all around, that is.

11. Botany Manor

In Botany Manor you play a retired Victorian botanist, Arabella Greene, who has been tasked with filling a book with rare and unusual plants, and the specific environmental factors needed to make them bloom. To do this, you have to find the seeds around her large and beautiful manor, and recreate said factors. And to do that you need to gather clues - letters, train tickets, charts showing the amount of sugar produced by juicing specific varietals of apple, times of year that different moth species are out and about. Combining the right information will allow you to, for example, put the right amount of sugar in the soil for an ethereal cluster of white, snow drop-esque flowers to grow, or know the right combination of coloured light to shine to recreate sunset to see another plant spring into life before your eyes.

The setting of the manor is beautiful and quiet, but sunny, and there are no voices - Arabella doesn't talk to herself as she works - so it's an incredibly peaceful game, without being at all easy. The puzzles are surprising and delightful, and a bit magical, but grow in complexity. It's possible to spend five minutes searching the ground floor for a hint of the year that the manor was built, after a hint gleaned from a pious poem, and when you find it you feel proper smart. It's a fantastic puzzle game.

10. Return To Monkey Island

What's old is new again, and Return To Monkey Island gives Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman another spin around the most famous piratical adventure series that video games has ever produced. Set in an unknown period after the events of The Curse Of Monkey Island, Return To Monkey Island recounts Guybrush Threepwood (a mighty pirate) and actually find the secret of Monkey Island, which he tried to do in the first game but was distracted by falling in love with Elaine Marley, and fighting zombie pirate LeChuck over who most wanted to marry her.

Most importantly, this is a robust and interesting point and click puzzle game that uses fun cartoony logic in it's myriad puzzles (and there are two difficulty settings, too). As a beloved video game series, Return has locations, characters and even jokes from the old games, but adds a new spin. It's meta (but not in an annoying way) about Guybrush's status as a famous adventurer, because ultimately things are changing and maybe he doesn't mean as much any more, but it's not alienating if you've never played these games. There's a lot that's new , too, and the quality of life changes, which include getting rid of the nine-verb menu and an extremely reactive hint system, make this a fantastic game for old fans, but also to onboard players who're a bit leery of point and click adventures in general.

9. Opus Magnum

This is probably one of those puzzle games that secretly teaches you principles of computer coding, isn't it? In Opus Magnum you build automated machines whose repetetive movements will construct potions and poisons and what have you weirdnesses for you, an alchemist. There are programmable arms, tracks, pistons, and all manner of weird machines that you have to give meticulous instructions to. You can make arms pivot, pistons retract, control the exact amount they pivot when... It's overwhelming to start with, as you also have to take into account the timing, and how each of these elements move in concert with each other.

When you're faced with the challenged of putting two of a particular reagent together, in time for a third to be transformed and slotted on a rail so that they all come together, just as an arm is read to pick them up and drop them into the finished slot - and program it so the process can repeat without any of the mechanised bits lagging behind - you quickly see whether or not you're cut out for Opus Magnum. And that's a fairly simple puzzle. But there's a lot of open-ended flexibility here. If your machine works, it works. You can concentrate on making a beautiful, elegant machine with no parts wasted, but it still counts if you bodge together an awkward monstrosity. There's Steam Workshop integration, too, so you can struggle against challenges set from all over the world

8. The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle blends the old, as you explore the ancient ruins of different civilisations, and the new. The hazards on your puzzling progress being high tech forcefields, floating robotic explosives, and automatic mounted gatling guns. These you can stall using Jammers on tripods, so much of your puzzling is getting your timing right and figuring out the logic of what will happen if you drop a certian barrier at a certain time. Later on you use light splitting crystals, which you can use to charge up doors in complex trails around the ruins, and weighted cubes on pressure pads The aim is to collect what are, basically, tetronimoes that allow you to open the doors to the next area.

They're good puzzles, but a large part of the reason that people remember The Talos Principle is the story around that - which I won't spoil, but has to do with free will and personhood (as a lot of puzzle games do, for some reason). You're solving these puzzles because you were told to by a voice which calls itself Elohim, and announces that it's your creator. This voice gets, honestly, kind of sinister, and you can find different clues telling you to defy or obey Elohim as you play. Whether you do or not is up to you - The Talos Principle has more than one ending - but the story isn't over either way, it seems, because Croteam say they're still working on a sequel.

7. Ctrl Alt Ego

Ctrl Alt Ego also appears on our best hacking games list, because it's both - although, if we're being honest, it's more straightforwardly a puzzle game than a hacking game. Actually, being super honest, it's not really a straightforward puzzle game. You're a sort of disembodied AI presence, able to flit hack into a flit between different machines. This includes, for example, cameras on data banks, allowing you to scope things out, but also little robits to trundle around, or even littler ones that can sneak into tunnels and have a 'bark like a dog' function.

The aim is, broadly, getting from one end of the 3D level to the next, but there are obstacles a-plenty in your way. Apart from physical obastacles like boxes and barriers, there are enemy robots who can tell if your droids are going where they shouldn't be, and daddy units that can dissolve matter. But fear not, because you can hack into them to dissolve and reposition things. Lateral thinking is encouraged and, indeed, essential, and if you die it's fine, cos you just go back to being disembodied and can have another go at it.

6. World Of Goo

This was our Game Of The Year in 2008, and it's still ruddy bloody good, as confirmed by Ollie when he revisited it in 2022 . In fact "World Of Goo still offers more fun than nearly any puzzle game since" was the lofty praise he gave it, so it's surely worth a punt. In simple terms World Of Good is a physics-based bridge builder, crossed with Lemmings. You have to get your goo balls to the exit in the level, and you do that by building structures out of the goo themselves, building bridges, towers and pendulums out of their sticky, stretchy, non-Newtonian bodies.

The goo isn't (aren't?) that struturally sound, though, and are given to buckle under their own weight. Luckily there are different subspecies of goo, like pink ones that can float like helium and give you some lift, flammable goo, or green velcro goo so you can sort of rebuild structures mid-level. World Of Goo is both chaotic and elegant, and is still a marvellous achievement this many years later.

5. Unavowed

So you got possessed by a demon who murdered a bunch of people over the year they spent in your body. Mondays, am I right? But, freshly de-demoned, you join a group of supernatural cops who solve supernatural crimes in lush, detailed pixelart, and with a cast of amazing voice actors bringing it all to life. An escaped muse is going overboard on the inspiration thing, a baby has been kidnapped by faries - you know, magic cop stuff. These events all tie together in a story of rising darkness and so on, but though that's all good, the really impressive thing about Unavowed is how layered and complex the game is.

You can pick one of three origins (cop, actor or barkeep) which affects the characters you already know in the game, and how you approach problems. Your fellow Unavowed agents are also a varied bunch, including a medium accompanied by a ghost, and a fire mage. You pick two of them to accompany you on each level, and this, to affects what happens and how. Having the medium along means you can see and talk to any ghosts around the place; the fire mage... you know. An ex-cop can shoot a window out where someone else might break it. There are layers and layers of cleverness and complexity to peel back.

4. The Witness

The island of The Witness is very big, with a castle, an orchard, a severe-looking dock, a swamp, a lab, blossom trees, a desert bit, a forest, a mountain, a sort of treehouse - just, loads of weird bits. And each of these bits are full of puzzles - each area having a slightly different flavour of puzzle, though they're basically all getting a line from one side of a little input board to the other - teaching you the rules of how to solve things in The Witness. The orchard has puzzles that mirror the apple trees in front of you. Some maze puzzles need you to look at the shapes of shadows. The swamp has tetronimo shapes on it's puzzle boards, and the treehouse has white and dark stars. I didn't get on with either of those at all. Or the puzzles in the forest where you have to listen out for the tone of birdsong, those can, candidly, go absolutely to hell.

But many of the other puzzle types made complete sense to me. And you might hate the ones that I understood straight away. What makes The Witness so impressive is what makes it hard to describe: it's sort of every kind of puzzle game at once. And, on top of that, you're walking around a weird island, listening to cryptic voice notes and wondering who put all these machines there in the first place. Eventually, if you play it long enough, you can see there are puzzles all around you...

It was one of the best games full stop when it came out, and it still is. Portal is genuinely fantastic, with actual, very good environmental storytelling, one of the best antagonists ever immortalised in pixel form, and - yes - brilliant puzzles. You play a (in classive Valve style) voiceless and almost-nameless protagonist who wakes up in a testing facility, having, at some point, volunteered to be a test subject for Aperture Science and, at some point, going into cryo-sleep. Now, an undisclosed length of time in the future, you're woken by a suspiciously cheery AI and thrown into a series of testing chambers to complete physics based puzzles with a gun that fires portals.

The now-legendary GLaDOS grows more personal as she tests you, progressing through the levels between passive aggressive and homicidal with alarming rapidity. The testing facility is suspiciously empty, and eventually you start to see what's behind the pristine white walls. But the way Portal teaches you the rules of the game, how its physics and portals work, and the puzzles it presents you with, all have you thinking in an entirely different way by the end of the game. It's a classic for a reason.

2. Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds is a unique puzzle game meets ramshackle space exploration. You wake up as the newest member of the Outer Wilds cosmonaut team, about to take your first solo flight (in a spaceship made of bins) away from your tiny home planet. It genuinely is tiny, too - it'd take you about four minutes to walk around it, but that's a precious amount of time to take, given that the sun in the centre of your tiny solar system goes supernova 22 minutes after you open your eyes.

Thank god that a magic statue in your town's museum gets you stuck in a timeloop, resetting the moment you die to start the day all over again. Using this ability, you can zoom around the different planets orbiting the sun and explore them - to within the limits of your oxygen meter, which is refilled either by trees or by returning to your ship. There's a lot to see, which is where the repeating loops come in. There are twins, one spilling sand into the other like an hourglass, revealing ruins on the first as the structures on the second are filled up. One is a puzzle planet. One is an exploded shell turned into a weird poket universe inside a multidimensional bramble. You can follow the sound of instruments to fellow scattered cosmonauts. The solution to Outer Wilds' puzzle is the universe.

1. Return Of The Obra Dinn

I think Return Of The Obra Dinn is this site's current favourite game - it is, after all, at the top of our top 100. It's hard to imagine what could unseat it from the number one spot on best puzzles, either. Return Of The Obra Dinn is a large game of what Eurogamer's Christian Donlan called "nautical murder sudoku" in his review . The titular Obra Dinn is a tall ship that went missing, and now it has reappeared with every living soul on board having died. Your job is a kind of magical insurance auditer armed with a Bernard's watch activated by death, which will show you the still-life moment of a person's death. You can walk freely around the scene, and daisy chain another death into more dioramas, all in a glorious monochromatic style mimicing much earlier games.

The challenge is to match up each body with the ship's manifest and a cause of death. This body belongs to the captain, who was shot by y, that sort of thing. Your choices are only revealed as correct once you've got three compleletely right at once. It's masterfully done, the more so because, as things progress, you notice some decidedly suspicious death options, including crushing and dismemberment... There's a point in Return Of The Obra Din where you open the cabin door, walk onto the deck, and realise the game has shifted gear. Encountering these deaths out of order, you eventually managed to put the whole story together, and it's one accompanied by screams, rending wood, and an absolutely banging soundtrack full of bells.

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Video Game News, Lists & Guides

29 Best PC Puzzle Games of All Time

Can you solve them all?

#29 Portal: Revolution

#28 the talos principle 2, #27 we were here expeditions: the friendship, #26 humanity, #25 human fall flat, #24 helltaker, #23 baba is you, #22 a way out, #21 teardown, #20 besiege, #19 unravel series, #18 the wolf among us, #16 return of the obra dinn, #15 the room series, #14 the talos principle, #13 little nightmares series, #12 celeste, #11 untitled goose game, #10 life is strange, #8 what remains of edith finch, #7 tomb raider series, #6 the walking dead, #4 outer wilds, #3 the witness, #2 it takes two, #1 portal 2.

There are a lot of people who love puzzle games. If you’re one of those gamers and you have a PC, check out these titles.

Platform: PC Release Date: January 6, 2024 Steam

When it comes to a certain Valve franchise, the puzzles are truly the “fun part” that you can’t get enough of. After all, you only get your cake after you beat them all. Or, that’s what a certain computer person told us…

Anyway,  Portal Revolution  is a fan mod of the second title that gives a special prologue story for you to enjoy. But if you’re hoping that the puzzles are just as good, you’re in luck. They’ve brought in all sorts of new challenges, including ones that only work with one of the portal guns.

So, do you think you can take on this special challenge?

Platform: PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One XSX|S Release Date: November 09, 2023

Steam  |  PlayStation  |  Xbox

Nearly a decade after the release of The Talos Principle, developers Croteam brought out a sequel. This puzzle adventure game takes place years after the first installment. It’s hard to offer the premise of this game without spoiling the first installment. So, if you haven’t played the first game, you might want to skip ahead of this point. However, the game takes place after the first game, where we see the first android to be awakened, Athena. You’re stepping into another android who is slowly unraveling the mystery behind a world humanity left behind, and now androids take control. But a large part of this game is all about puzzles. You’ll continue getting harder puzzles, some stumping you for hours until it finally all comes together. If you enjoyed The Talos Principle, then you’re going to get very much the same type of game in its sequel. But will you be able to avoid making the same mistakes that humankind made, or will a new, more prosperous world come from the choices you make?

Platform: PC PS4 Xbox One PS5 XSX|S Release Date: September 14, 2023

If you’re familiar with this franchise, you know that things aren’t going to be as simple as they might want you to think.

We Were Here Expeditions: The Friendship  is a co-op puzzle adventure game with horror elements where you and a partner will need to work together to work your way through a mysterious place that you’ve ended up in.

Your “boat ride” won’t go far if you can’t work as one and get through the puzzling challenges. So, how strong IS your friendship, and can you make it work for you in the long run? Either way, you’re about to find out!

Platform: PC, PS4, PS5 Release Date: May 16, 2023

Steam  |  Playstation

If you were told to lead humanity to safety, how do you think it would be handled? You’d expect it to be a fellow human guiding them to safety. But in  Humanity,  the hope of all now rests within a dog, a dog controlled by you. Furthermore, this dog has to instruct people what to do so they can overcome the puzzles and trials ahead.

The title isn’t just a puzzle game that requires precision. You’ll have to use the people following you to fight against bosses who want to stop the group in its tracks.

When you’re done with the game, you can put your creativity to the test by making your own puzzles and uploading them online!

Let’s start with a simple yet fun puzzle game that many have enjoyed.  Human Fall Flat  is a “light-hearted” puzzle game where you’ll create a clumsy character and then set them out into the world. You’ll have 22 levels to traverse, each with a unique environment and puzzles to solve.

The best part is that the puzzles can be solved on your own or with friends. So call up some buddies and watch as you hilariously try to solve everything in each level. The ragdoll style will throw you off at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a blast.

Plus, you can make levels and puzzles to add to the title!

If you’re in the mood for a more bite-size puzzle title, then  Helltaker  is for you. Of course, it’s also for you if you like the idea of flirting with demon girls. Just saying.

That is the plot of the story. You play a character lusting after demon girls and wants a harem of them. So he opens a portal to the underworld and must fight skeletons, solve puzzles, and woo the demon girls of his dreams. Does this sound insane to you? Good, because it is, and the game rolls with that.

The irony is that you can choose to skip the puzzles and focus on the demon girls.

In most games, the rules of the title are set, and they can’t be changed.  However, Baba Is You  is a game that loves turning that on its head with every level you enter.

The “rules” of each level are written onto blocks, and those blocks can be moved, swapped, manipulated, and so on to help you out. So get clever with how you manipulate the rules and see what outcomes emerge from it.

You can change objects, warp what they do when you touch them, or even rewrite the level’s purpose! The possibilities are nearly endless, so see what you can come up with.

A Way Out  is a clever twist on puzzle gameplay by putting you in a real-world scenario and asking you to get out of it. What’s the scenario? You’re in prison!

You play as either Leo or Vincent, with the other character being controlled by your co-op partner. The two of you are determined to break out of the prison you’re in, and you must work together. Figure out the best ways out of the prison, then work to make your escape.

Once you break out, you’ll have to survive out there too. Can you trust each other long enough to make your escape?

After getting into debt, you decide that the best way to get out is by taking on heist jobs from shady people. Of course, to get in and out safely you’ll need to plan the operation from start to finish perfectly.

Or you can plan on the fly and see if you make it out alive. It’s your call in  Teardown . The joy of this game comes from the fully destructible environments you’re in. You can make a quick and easy plan to get in and out, or you can call an audible to try and bring the building down with you!

Do the campaign mode to test your skills and the sandbox mode to have a blast in!

How good are you at building things? More accurately, how good are you at building things to serve a purpose? Regardless of your answer,  Besiege  is a game that’ll task you with making things to do a specific purpose. That purpose is to bring down fortresses, castles, and other constructions.

What will you need to make to take them out? Weapons of war! You’ll have complete freedom to build a weapon that will crush the walls and show your ingenuity. You can build something basic like a catapult or take to the skies and make a flying machine to rain terror from above!

If you can think it up? You can likely build it here.

The  Unravel Series  is two titles that blend a beautifully rendered world with a clever puzzle aesthetic. In the titles, you’ll play as beings made of yarn. They travel out into the world and must use the yarn that comprises them to solve puzzles and complete challenges.

By that, we mean that you can use your yarn to lower yourself down to a position or pull something to get somewhere else. But your body has a limit on how far it can stretch. So use what you have, and see if it’s enough. In the sequel, you can team up with a friend to help you out!

Telltale Games does a great job of fusing story, puzzles, and characters into an experience that people remember long after they play it.

The Wolf Among Us  is one of many titles they have done over the years. It’s based on the DC Comics line, Fables, and you play the Big Bad Wolf. But don’t worry, Bigby is a good character. In fact, he’s the sheriff of Fabletown!

When a murder sets off a chain of events, it’s up to Bigby to solve them and figure out who’s responsible. But, a dangerous journey awaits him, and you’ll need to “unleash the wolf” at times to save the day.

If you’re looking to play a puzzle game featuring a cat, then we have a game for you!  Stray  was the title that took the video game world by storm, especially with streamers. It even got nominated for Game of the Year by some.

The title features you as a cat who is separated from its feline family and flung into a world where robots have replaced humans. You’ll wonder this mish-mash of a world and attempt to get back to your family.

Wander around and solve puzzles to help yourself and the robot population. Did we mention you press a button to meow all the time? Because the game has that.

Are you up for a mystery? If so, check out  Return of the Obra Dinn , an indie puzzle and mystery title that impressed many when it came out.

The premise of the game is as follows. A ship in 1802 called the Obra Dinn didn’t arrive at its destination with its cargo and was deemed to be lost. However, five years later, the ship arrives in a town with visible damage and no crew.

You play an insurance investigator sent to the ship to figure out what happened to the crew. Board the ship and search for clues to help you piece together what happened, who’s at fault, and why the ship was always doomed.

The Room  Series is puzzle games personified in some metrics. For example, in the first game, you’re put in a room with nothing more than a puzzle box. Simple enough to solve. Right? Except the further you dig into the box, the more you start to wonder what is going on. There is darkness within that box and the puzzles you solve.

That’s just the first of many titles that will put your puzzle skills and sanity to the test. You’ll soon deal with mysterious authors, other dimensions, and puzzles that you’ll have to get clever to solve. So can you overcome the darkness that is approaching?

The Talos Principle  focuses on a robot that awakes to find itself ordered to solve puzzles. Order by who? Its master. Said robot finds itself in a world of clashing visuals. It looks like ancient ruins in parts, yet has technology that wouldn’t fit in the cultures that used to live there.

With over 120 puzzles to solve, your work is cut out for you. But the further you progress in the game, the more you have to ask questions about who you are, what you are, and why you’re doing this. Will you continue to obey your master so that you can complete their will? Or will you try to have a will of your own?

It’s poetic that in the No.13 spot, we have a game about nightmares. The  Little Nightmares Series  is two titles that’ll put unsuspecting characters in creepy worlds that they must escape from. Adding to their woes is that terrifying creatures are looking to take them, and that must be avoided.

You’ll travel the warped levels and solve puzzles to make it past the monsters and onto the next stage. However, there are dark truths hidden everywhere, so be on the look out.

Each title has unique levels, monsters, and characters to meet. So give them a try and see if you can withstand the terror!

While not a puzzle game overall, Celeste is a platformer with puzzle elements and a profound story.

You play  Madeline , a young girl on a mission to climb Celeste Mountain. The challenges she will face reflect her mental struggles and the turmoil she’s in. The higher you climb, the more characters you’ll meet, and the greater the challenges.

Speaking of challenges, the title loves its difficulty. There are 700+ screens of areas you’ll need to get through, and death is almost assured, depending on your skill level. So what will Madeline find when she reaches the top of the mountain? Play and find out.

Yep, it’s time to talk about  Untitled Goose Game . The game where you play a goose that decides to have fun in a little too much fun in a nearby village.

We say that because the point of the game is to have the goose annoy people so much that they chase it. You’ll use the goose to set up pranks, annoy people by honking at them, and steal their stuff. Mayhem is the name of the game here, and the real puzzle is figuring out how to screw with the villagers even more.

Plus, if you want more fun, you can do a co-op adventure and use two geese to annoy the villagers!

Next, we have a series that has grown its popularity throughout many titles. The  Life is Strange  saga is a series of games focusing on young people with extraordinary abilities. But it’s not a superhero title. Instead, it’s a game about life and how our choices affect everyone else.

Your powers are used to further the story and how it progresses. Through the characters, you’ll learn more about all that’s happening and why it’s happening to you.

The games are profound, and they’ve been praised by pretty much everyone who’s played them. So if you have not played them yet, you really should give them a try.

Here’s a game that put a certain game developer on the map, and we’ll talk about another of their games later on.

Limbo  is a title where the team doesn’t tell you much about the game going in. However, if you look up the store pages of their title, you’ll get one line. It tells you about how a boy is trying to find his sister and to get her back; he enters Limbo.

The game’s art style is simplistic yet haunting. You’ll need to be wary of where you go and how to interact with those you meet. There’s something wrong with the place you’re in, so do your best to survive it.

What Remains Of Edith Finch  is another narrative-focused game with puzzle elements. You play Edith Finch, the last of her family, who must explore her family mansion to learn the truth. What is that truth? She’s trying to understand why she’s the last of her line.

The answers will come as you wander the house and find portals into the lives of your loved ones. Through their experiences, you’ll learn about their life, and how they died. With each new experience, you’ll slowly come to understand the truth about who you are and why life can be so cruel.

The game is not for those who can’t handle grim stories, so you’ve been warned.

Many people seem to forget that while there is a lot of action in the  Tomb Raider Series , there’s plenty of puzzle-solving. Lara Croft can’t muscle her way out of every situation. She’s an intelligent woman who has to weave her way through complex challenges and solve puzzles to get where she wants to go.

Throughout her journeys, regardless of whether you play the original games or the reboot trilogy, you’ll be put to the test time and time again. You’ll fight monsters, stop evil organizations, and find treasures never meant for human use.

So rise and take on the challenge these tombs offer and see how far you go.

While not your typical puzzle game,  The Walking Dead  from Telltale Games is one of the best narrative stories you’ll ever partake in, and there are puzzle elements in it.

Set within the world of the comic, you’ll play primarily as Clementine, a young girl who has to learn quickly about how to survive in a world where monsters are everywhere, and they’re not just the undead.

Through her travels, you’ll make difficult decisions that’ll heavily affect the story. Will you be able to survive the world and its horrors?” Or will you become just as much a monster as those you fight? Jump in and find out.

The people at PlayDead know how to make games that subvert expectations.  Inside  is just one of the titles that creepily does that.

You’ll have to play the game yourself to get the full picture of, but here’s the loose synopsis. You play a boy who is being hunted. You’ll have to explore a building with a dark secret that you are inexplicably drawn to.

You’ll have to avoid detection, solve puzzles, evade monsters, and learn the truth about this odd place. But the question is, will you be okay after learning the truth? It’s not a simple answer as you’ll find out.

Are you wanting a grand-scale puzzle game that’ll give you a sense of awe and wonder as you attempt to figure out what’s going on? Well, that’s oddly specific, but we can still help you with that.  Outer Wilds  puts you in a part of space constantly going through a time loop. Your job is to explore and figure out what’s going on and whether you can stop things from rewinding once again.

As you explore planets, you’ll learn more about the history of this part of space and that things aren’t as random as they appear. Fly through the starry sky, solve puzzles to help you delve deeper into planets, survive the creatures that live there, and more!

When you’re a puzzle game with over 500 puzzles for gamers to solve? You get credit for working that hard.

The Witness  puts you on a mysterious island full of puzzles, and you’re tasked with solving them all. Why? Because you have no idea who you are, how you ended up there, and there’s nothing else to do!

As you explore the island, you’ll learn clues about who you are, what the island is, and more. An important thing to note is that you can do these puzzles in any order, each of which is unique. So if you’re struggling with one, jump to another until you’re ready to return.

It may seem strange to have this title so high on the list, but did you forget it won Game of the Year at The Game Awards? You have to be good to win that.

But the other reason it’s so high on our list is that it’s one of the few puzzle games out there that focuses on co-op puzzle solving to the extent that it’s impossible to play the game without a partner. You play two parents who are about to have a divorce. Through some magic from their child, they’re turned into dolls and must work through the puzzles put in front of them to return to their human forms.

There can be no other title on the top of this list.  Portal 2  is hands down one of the greatest video games ever made, and it’s because of its innovative puzzle gameplay. Whether you’re playing the main campaign or the co-op campaign, there’s so much to do and solve.

Glados is back, and she has some new challenges for you. So whip out your portal gun and use it wisely to solve each test you’re put in. You’ll have to think a few steps ahead and in multiple directions to figure them out.

There’s a reason that people have been begging for a third entry in the franchise, and it’s because this one was phenomenal.

About Todd Black

The Best Problem-solving Games

• Math Puzzle Games - Cross Math
• Found It! Hidden Object Game
• Wood Nuts & Bolts, Screw
• DOP 5: Delete One Part
• My Doge: Puzzle Game
• Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle
• Release date: New first
• Review score: Best first
• IOS (iPhone / iPad)
• PS4 (Playstation 4)
• PS5 (Playstation 5)
• Xbox Series X
• Oculus Rift

qomp2 (2024)

An artful reimagining of Pong. Control a Pong ball aching to break free of its life stuck between two paddles. Explore a dangerous, minimalist world, armed with simple two button controls.

• problem-solving
• experimental
• exploration

Math Puzzle Games - Cross Math (2023)

Crossmath is a fun and engaging math puzzle game that tests your problem-solving skills. The game features a variety of levels and difficulty settings, so you can find the perfect challenge for your math skill level. To play, you'll need to solve a series of math problems, using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

• competitive

Found It! Hidden Object Game (2022)

Find all hidden objects by moving around the interactive maps and completing quests to unlock new colorful locations. Use hints to put your target and find it. You can also zoom in, out, and swipe through every corner of the map.

• friends-and-family
• interactive

Wood Nuts & Bolts, Screw (2023)

Get ready to embark on a mechanical journey like no other in Wood Nuts & Bolts, Screw Puzzle. With each level, the puzzles become more intricate and satisfyingly complex. Freely twisted, unscrew and screw pin to solve Bolts.

DOP 5: Delete One Part (2023)

Using your finger as an eraser, pick which part of the picture you want to delete to solve the puzzle and reveal the final image. Progress through levels of varying difficulty as the questions become more complicated.

Syllatiles (2023)

Syllatiles is the ultimate word puzzle game that challenges you to decipher a word, then locate its various parts and assemble them in the correct order. With a multitude of levels and mind-bending riddles to solve, Syllatile promises endless hours of entertainment and mental stimulation.

• mind-bending
• entertainment

My Doge: Puzzle Game (2023)

My dog - dog head swollen is an original puzzle game, which contains a large number of brain-burning levels, each level, there is a dog head waiting for you to open your mind to save him. The abundance of creative and interesting puzzle questions may break common sense and bring you a whole new experience. This is a great tool for friends and family to spend time together, so download it and experience a different kind of puzzle game!

Super Kye (2024)

**Super Kye** is a puzzle adventure with unique challenges and a level editor. Navigate mazes, solve puzzles, and unlock levels in a game where strategy meets creativity.

Piece Link (2024)

Connect the shapes to fit them together!

• visual-novel
• point-and-click
• challenging
• family-friendly

Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle (2023)

Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle is a captivating game designed to challenge your problem-solving skills. Master the art of strategically rotating wooden bolts to fit them into place. Embark on a journey through 100+ levels.

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12 best puzzle games to play on PC & Steam in 2024

Tease your brain with our selection of puzzle games!

Although this genre doesn't enjoy the same widespread popularity as shooters or RPGs, it's unique in its own way and offers a gaming experience that's hard to find anywhere else. Puzzle games allow you to hone your problem-solving skills like no other. Now, it's time to give them the recognition they deserve.

We have tried to make our list as diverse as possible. Whether you prefer classic brainteasers or crave more innovative gameplay, we have something for everyone. So, without further ado, let's take a look at them.

This article was updated on 11th January, 2024. We've added two more games to the lineup.

What are the best puzzle games on PC?

Ready to exercise your cognitive skills? If so, read on because these picks will not only test your wits but also occupy you for hours. Here are the best puzzle games on the market.

The Talos Principle and The Talos Principle 2

When it comes to the best logic games, The Talos Principle should definitely be on your radar. It lets you step into the shoes of an AI entity with a mission to solve over 120 mind-boggling puzzles. Each is different; you'll do everything from manipulating drones to rearranging Tetris-like blocks. The difficulty ramps up as you progress, keeping you engaged and entertained.

But the title offers more than just enjoyable gameplay. It delves into a thought-provoking narrative that explores themes like consciousness, existence, and the very fabric of reality. It's an absolute must-play that will leave a lasting impression on you.

In 2023, the series was expanded with another entry, The Talos Principle 2 . While largely following the formula of its predecessor, it introduces some fresh elements to spice things up, such as gravity manipulation and mind transference abilities. The breathtaking visuals and soothing music further enhance the overall experience. It's worth checking out whether you've played the original or not.

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In Viewfinder , your primary tool is an instant camera. As you play, you take pictures, bring them to life, and use them to overcome obstacles. For example, if you need a bridge to cross a chasm, simply snap a photo of the nearby tower. Then, manipulate its orientation and position it accordingly.

The game does have a story, but it's not its most striking feature. However, the gameplay is so addictive that you can overlook this aspect. Overall, it fully deserves its place among the best puzzle games.

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Chants of Sennaar

What sets Chants of Sennaar apart from other puzzle games on PC is its visual style. In fact, it's heavily inspired by Jean Giraud, a famous French artist. But the language-based puzzles are just as captivating.

In terms of story, it offers a fresh perspective on the myth of Babel. You step into the shoes of a Traveler sent to help the Peoples of the Tower, who have stopped communicating with each other. Throughout the game, you'll explore vast mazes and interpret ancient languages in your quest to restore harmony to the realm.

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Baba is You

Baba is You stands out as one of the most difficult PC games , but don't let that put you off. What distinguishes the game and makes it fun to play is its core gameplay mechanic.

It revolves around bending the rules to your advantage, allowing you to rearrange words, create new victory conditions, manipulate obstacles, and even transform the main character. Every stage requires you to think outside the box and explore various solutions. It's a fantastic choice for those who enjoy a good challenge.

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Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn is undeniably one of the most visually distinctive and arguably the best puzzle games in our lineup. As an insurance investigator, you're assigned to unravel the enigma surrounding the sudden reappearance of a long-lost ship, mysteriously devoid of its crew.

As you play, you'll navigate the boat, painstakingly scouring for clues and piecing together the fragments of evidence to unveil the truth. If you're a fan of detective games , you won't want to miss out on this intriguing journey.

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The Past Within

If you're looking for a fun coop puzzle game, give The Past Within a try. It'll push your teamwork and communication skills to the limit as you work hand-in-hand with your friend to solve the mystery of Albert Vanderboom.

One of the title's highlights is its cross-platform support, allowing you to play together wherever you want, whether it's PC, Mac, iOS, or Android. Moreover, it presents environments in both 2D and 3D dimensions, adding a unique element to the gameplay.

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The Witness

The Witness is widely regarded as one of the best puzzle games, and it's easy to see why. Right from the get-go, it captivates players with its air of mystery. Transported to a secluded island, you'll encounter a multitude of challenges that test your perception and problem-solving skills. 

With no handholding or tutorials, it demands great patience to beat it. It's certainly a game that encourages you to think for yourself, leading to moments of wandering and contemplation. However, the beautiful graphics and immersive atmosphere make the experience all the more rewarding.

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Portal 1 & 2

Our list wouldn't be complete without the good old Portal series. Both installments are outstanding picks, combining dark humor, a compelling story, and groundbreaking gameplay.

Armed with the iconic Portal Gun, you set out to solve mind-bending puzzles by manipulating space and gravity. With each level, the difficulty increases, so there's never a dull moment. While the first entry revolutionized the genre, the second took it to new heights, introducing new features like multiplayer mode. This solidified its reputation as not only one of the most noteworthy online puzzle games but also as one of the best couch co-op titles around.

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Opus Magnum

In Opus Magnum , another incredible game from Zachtronics, you take on the role of a master alchemist. Your task is to construct machines that can efficiently transmute elements and create gemstones, weapons, and more.

However, you have to balance cost and effectiveness when building these contraptions. The less money you spend, the better your rating will be. A high score is not only a testament to your skill but also gives you bragging rights in front of your friends or even the whole world.

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Next in our catalog of the best logic games is Fez , where you play as Gomez, a 2D protagonist who stumbles upon an enchanting 3D world. Equipped with a special hat that gives you the power to manipulate perspective, you'll navigate through complex puzzles and tackle challenging platforming sections.

The title blends ingenious gameplay mechanics with a heartfelt homage to beloved 8-bit classics. Gorgeous pixel-art visuals and a catchy soundtrack further eleveates the charm of this indie masterpiece. Surely, fans of the genre can't overlook it.

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Antichamber

Antichamber is an extraordinary and boundary-pushing game that defies traditional genres. It immerses you in an abstract world and challenges you with complex puzzles. It also constantly manipulates you, even in the tutorial, where seemingly simple actions can lead to unexpected consequences.

It breaks conventions and subverts expectations that players have developed over the years. Therefore, you need to experiment, as conventional methods may prove ineffective. That makes it one of the most intriguing logic puzzle games.

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Unpacking (Included with PC Game Pass)

Our list concludes with Unpacking , a delightful casual game that will captivate you with its slow pace and tranquil atmosphere. It takes you on a one-of-a-kind journey through time with the protagonist. Your task is to unbox and arrange various items in specific locations, ranging from a single bedroom to an entire apartment.

While there is no explicit narration or voiceover, the story is revealed as you unpack the belongings. It beautifully explores how our possessions can reflect our identity and experiences.

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It's worth mentioning that Unpacking is part of Game Pass, a Microsoft subscription service that allows its users to take advantage of an ever-growing library of titles. Below, you can see the best deals for a 1-month membership.

That's all for our lineup of remarkable logic puzzle games. Hopefully, we miss your personal favorites but feel free to suggest them. Do you enjoy this genre, or does it tend to grind your gears? What coop puzzle games do you recommend? Share your thoughts below.

About Author

Natalia has been a member of the GG.deals team since 2022. She writes about everything from sales and bundles to top lists. She enjoys immersing herself in all kinds of RPGs.

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Top 17 Best Puzzle Games for PC

I enjoy a good stretch of my brain sometimes. Different games will get it rolling like clockwork. I get so caught up in everything that as soon as I put my phone down I’m viewing the entire world like Sherlock Holmes does in the movies. I’ll analyze everyone and solve different situations that are going on all around me, except that these situations aren’t really anything to be solved! If you’re searching for a good puzzle to get your mind in shape like the great detective Holmes, I challenge you to try and solve these top 17 best puzzle games for PC!

17. Puzzle Agent

Puzzle Agent Gameplay

As Agent Nelson sleeps at his desk one day, a mysterious figure appears and begins writing notes on his crossword puzzle. When he awakes, he reads the note and soon after receives a call to help with an important case that just so happens to align with the message before him. Join him in this crazy storyline to solve mini puzzles and close the case of the incident at the eraser factory.

Be ready to enjoy several laughs along the way as you try to solve this mystery! The people of Scoggins are a strange crowd who don’t want to help much with your case. Agent Nelson is a whole other story!

Meet the suspicious residents of Scoggins who seem to be hiding something from Agent Nelson.

Some puzzles are trickier than others, so you’ll have to be ready to pay close attention!

16. Super BOO Quest

Super BOO Quest Gameplay

If you’re in the mood for something a bit more Halloween-ish, then you need to play Super BOO Quest ! This game is a throwback to the 16 bit-graphics of Super Nintendo. Maneuver through various levels as a ghost of your choice to solve puzzles and use stealth in order to win!

Having an arcade style look, this game will give anyone nostalgia for the good old days of simple graphics and storylines. The Chubby Ghost kind of reminds me of Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect who calls herself fat so no one else will do it behind her back. Way to put yourself out there Chubby Ghost!

Choose your ghostly character and unlock more as you advance through the levels.

Use your skills of stealth and problem solving to pass through the dangers that await you at every turn.

Ruya Gameplay

Puzzles can be exciting, but sometimes you need something a little more soothing. Ruya is a color matching game that will send you into relaxation you’ve never experienced before. Match the colors in different patterns shown to you on the screen to gain points and advance to the next level.

This game is not timed, so you don’t have to worry about beating the clock. You can enjoy each level casually but still revel in a nice challenge! The deer woman at the top is the one who provides you with these patterns and helps you along the way.

Ruya is the main woman who helps you pass each level.

Match the colors on the blocks to advance to the next level.

14. Escape Games

The Guest Gameplay

For some reason the thought of being trapped in a room and trying to escape is appealing to people everywhere! In escape games, you explore whatever area you are put in depending on the game you choose, and you solve little puzzles in order to, well, escape.

If I really want a challenge, these are my go to games, because you have to check every nook and cranny for random objects that will somehow work together to give you the next clue on your journey. In The Guest escape game, which is the gameplay above, there are even some objects that you can look at but can’t take with you, so be ready to memorize!

Look for clues around your hotel room in The Guest .

Try and figure your way out of this room in the game The Escape .

13. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments Gameplay

Play as the greatest detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes, that people everywhere have come to know and love. Solve cases of murder, prove people’s innocence, and escape into a completely different realm that will have you entranced for hours!

In this game of Sherlock Holmes, you get to control Holmes and explore the very dark world in which he lives in. He is still crazy and joined by his colleague Doctor John Watson as they delve into trouble to bring the truth into the light. When you finish playing the game, you might notice that you, too, have gained the abilities of Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of who left the fridge open while you were gaming...

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson examining a crime scene.

Analyze people in detail to uncover the truth in their stories.

12. The Black Watchmen

The Black Watchmen Gameplay

Step into a world unlike any you have ever known. Become a secret agent and solve bizarre cases that never make it to the news in The Black Watchmen . You will uncover the truth in our world as you investigate paranormal cases that the human mind is incapable of comprehending.

What I like most about this game is that they’ve actually set it up to where it’s like you’re solving these cases in real life. A lot of work has gone into creating this universe just right to really suck you in to the adventure. It’s so realistic that I’m curious as to if anyone has ever come across one of their websites without actually realizing that it’s part of the game...

You’ll join agents around the world to solve cases that are beyond all understanding!

Take care to read your campaign report to check your stats!

11. Escape Legacy: Ancient Scrolls

Escape Legacy: Ancient Scrolls Gameplay

Play from a first person point of view in Escape Legacy: Ancient Scrolls . Explore an abandoned building and find clues in order to find the ancient scrolls and escape with your life still intact.

This game released October 15, 2018 and offers realistic gameplay to anyone who finds these types of games to be the bees knees!  It isn’t easy to make your way out, but surely you of all people know the way! Don’t you?

Here is your main character searching her way through the rooms to escape.

Explore different realistic looking rooms to find clues in order to keep moving forward.

10. Chroma Shift

Chroma Shift Gameplay

If you’d like to try something a little different, look into playing Chroma Shift, a side-scrolling puzzle game. You will use different colors to try and solve complex patterns and advance through each level.

This game is simple to use, but it definitely proves a challenge. You must play two characters at one time who will change colors to solve different patterns. They work together, and you will absolutely need them to get through!

The main title of the game, which gives you an insight to the different scenes you will see throughout gameplay.

These are the two main characters you will be playing to solve the different color patterns.

9. Hiding Spot

Hiding Spot Gameplay

One of the most classic childhood games many have played is hide-and-seek. Hiding Spot brings this classic to the computer! In this game, you will be moving different objects around a small room in order to create the perfect hiding place for your little person.

You’ll be tricked into thinking that this game is much simpler than it actually is! It isn’t overwhelming, and it’s oddly satisfying to find that perfect spot for you to cover up! I wonder if I could use the skills I learn here to improve my hiding techniques in real life...

Control this little man and help him to find the coziest little space to hide in as possible.

Move objects around in the space you’ve been given, so you can scrunch yourself in to a little hiding spot!

Cefore Gameplay

Finally get your chance to play with explosives in Cefore ! Use controlled explosions to complete challenges given to you in each level. You’ll also have a budget that will play a hand in the different ways that you can pass through each part of the game.

The little man with an oversized mustache is probably my favorite part of this game. The puzzles are fun and getting to places bombs around the world and blow things up brings a certain smile to my face, but there’s just something about this guy that makes the game a little humorous to me. He seems so oddly satisfied with his job!

Play with crazy explosions to pass each level of the game!

It seems like this man is just like, “Meh, there’s an explosion behind me.”

7. The Room Three

The Room Three Gameplay

The Room Three is a continuation of The Room series, in which you will solve various puzzles and make your way through a mansion designed by a character called “The Craftsmen.” How well you complete puzzles and the path you choose to take will decide your fate in this marvelously designed PC game.

You will be enchanted by the real-life graphics and details that the production tema put into play here. I also enjoy the fact that you can play this game multiple times and experience a different ending each time! It all depends on how you choose to play the game.

Solve puzzles in one room to advance to the next room.

Solve different puzzles that will present themselves to you at different times like this one with the crystals.

6. We Were Here Too

We Were Here Too Gameplay

Enjoy this puzzle game with friends as you help each other to escape different rooms. You will help each other through, but you will be solving different puzzles at the same time! This game is a continuation of We Were Here.

Games like this bring a new perspective to escape room games online. In real life, you collaborate together to solve everything, but online you will help each other from different rooms and solving different things. Now you can’t cheat off of each other!

You are not alone as you make your way through the game. Or are you?

Each room provides a dark and eerie atmosphere. You won’t know what’s going to happen next!

Quern Gameplay

Rolling in at number five is Quern . Navigate through what seems like a cold and solemn world as you discover the truth about the past of Quern. Pay close attention to the puzzles you solve, as they could help you in the future.

This game is played from a first person point of view. Worlds like this bring me a sense of comfort and peace, which is attributable to my sometimes loner moods. It feels good to take a break from society and just relax in a mysterious place that’s all your own!

Explore a seemingly cold and frozen world to uncover the truth of the past.

Collect different objects to get into different places and solve puzzles.

Braid Gameplay

When your princess has been abducted, you decide that you will go through any length to get her back! Travel through different worlds, solve puzzles, and rescue her from doom!

Using a painting-style for graphics, Braid doesn’t look like any normal puzzle game. It seems to be a mix of Mario and puzzle games, but it does have its own story to follow and is completely worth giving a try! Easy to control, you will not want to put this game down!

Find puzzle pieces and conquer various trials to save the princess!

Make your way through each world, but be careful to avoid the dangers that lurk around every corner!

3. The Incredible Machine

If building insanely clever machines is what you like to do most with your time, then you need to check out The Incredible Machine ! Drag different objects onto the screen to get different objects from one place to another. Maneuver them through various obstacles to get to the end goal and build up a high score.

This is an older game, but it’s still just as fun today as when it came out! Each level provides a bit of variation as you use everyday objects to complete your goals. Who would have thought that you could make getting a ball from point A to point B so insanely difficult?!

Build incredible machines to get different objects from point A to point B.

This machine may look chaotic, but it is actually an organized mess that only you understand!

2. The Witness

The Witness Gameplay

You wake up alone in a strange yet beautiful land that is inviting you into all of its secrets. Explore the island by solving puzzles and figure out what exactly is going on here.

The world is quite charming and peaceful, but you never know what you might run into! You will want to play this entire game through as you overcome different obstacles to figure your way off of the land! And watch out, because someone could be watching...

You awake in a whole new world that is full of mystery and trials that you must get through in order to reach the end.

You never know who is watching as you’re going about your day…

1. The Swapper

The Swapper Gameplay

Grasping and not letting go of the number one spot on our list of best puzzle games for PC is none other than The Swapper . Deep in space, you will use a cloning device to create more versions of yourself that will allow you to move through this bizarre atmosphere much easier. Solve puzzles and figure your way through the maze of the introspective universe.

This new universe is beautiful but strangely suspicious at the same time! I kind of have the feeling that something is about to jump out at me, but that hasn’t happened so far… If you like puzzle games that will intrigue you beyond a shadow of a doubt, then this number one pick of ours is sure to captivate you!

In The Swapper you hold the ability to clone yourself, so you can reach various places that are normally unreachable.

As you clone yourself, you will be able to control all of them at one time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

• 50 Best Puzzle Games for PC
• The 15 Best PC Games for Girls (Games Every Girl Should Play)
• 17 of the Best Casual Games To Play in 2017

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The 10 best mystery games that'll make you feel like a true detective

This collection of the best mystery games and best detective games must be investigated

The best mystery games take you on a true adventure. Whether you're charged with solving a murder or putting a life back together, the best detective games ask you to put on your thinking cap and get to work analyzing the world around you. 

That's what you'll find here. Ten awesome games that'll have you chewing over clues, interrogating witnesses, and using your powers of deduction to help you through a case. Whether you're looking for a game that is narrative-focused or an experience full of puzzles – or maybe something between the both – you'll find something something to pique your interest here. So keep reading to find our ranking of the best mystery games you can play right now. 

10. The Wolf Among Us

Developer: Telltale Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One

Telltale's signature formula of pairing deeply thoughtful stories to consequential decision-making is perfectly suited to the mystery genre, and The Wolf Among Us is ample proof of concept. Here you're tasked with a fairly singular goal: solving a captivating murder case in a fairytale version of New York City, meanwhile keeping fairytale characters and their hidden community a secret from the outside world.

A prequel set in the world of the Fables comics, The Wolf Among might surprise you with its grittiness. This very noir murder mystery kicks off with a decapitated prostitute setting into motion the events of the game. Decision-making and the resulting consequences can be agonizing, as often-times it's nigh impossible to determine the outcomes of your choices. But The Wolf Among us manages to surprise at every turn, making it a worthwhile adventure no matter where your decisions take you.

9. Paradise Killer

Developer: Kaizen Game Works Platform(s): Multi

Paradise Killer is a unique mystery game that's worth your time and attention. You're charged with trying to uncover the culprit behind a murder on Paradise Island, a pocket universe wherein a group of immortal beings – the Syndicate – are trying to create a perfect society. When the entire Syndicate Council is slaughtered, detective Lady Love Dies is brought out of exile to put an end to the carnage. 

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What's great about Paradise Killer is that nearly everyone within the game world has something to hide and could, therefore, be the killer. You can bring any character to trial at any time, but you'll probably want to spend a bit of time properly gathering evidence and following up on any info before dragging somebody in front of a jury. Paradise Killer is a must-play, if you can avoid the temptation to use Google for clues!

8. Heavy Rain

Developer: Quantic Dream Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS3

Heavy Rain is what solidified Quantic Dreams as a pioneer of the narrative-driven, interactive game experience. What would follow from the studio ranges from forgettable (Beyond: Two Souls) to genre-defining (Detroit: Become Human), but the since-remastered Heavy Rain remains a must-play for fans of dramatic storytelling and mystery-solving.

In Heavy Rain, the stakes couldn't be higher for protagonist Ethan Mars, who had just lost a son before having another taken from him by the mysterious "Origami Killer." With a fast-moving clock on his son's life, Ethan is forced to endure exhausting, increasingly horrific "tests" to prove his fatherly determination. Heavy Rain feels very real - one of my playthroughs resulted in an ending about as wretched as I've seen in a game. Needless to say, I've played through Heavy Rain more than a few times, and you likely will too.

7. L.A. Noire

Developer: Team Bondi Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

When you think of mysteries and detective stories specifically, there's almost no better setting than L.A. Noire 's sepia-toned 1940s Los Angeles. A technical marvel for its time (2011), L.A. Noire still looks good today, but more importantly, it's also just as engrossing to investigate murders and climb the ranks of the L.A.P.D. Groundbreaking facial animations considered, L.A. Noire's greatest achievement is making you truly feel like an up-jumped cop in a moody film noir. 

The 2017 remaster on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch features updated textures and a few convenience updates that make L.A. Noire an essential crime-drama mystery for aspiring detectives. Though, it's best to forget the precedent set by Rockstar's mainstay series, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. While it's technically an open-world game, L.A. Noire tells a laser-focused story without a lot of room for distraction. And believe me, that's a good thing, because you'll be too absorbed in rooting out the scum of L.A.'s underbelly to care about anything else.

6. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Developer: Frogwares Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One

How could a list of the best mystery games exist without the man himself, the prolific Dr. Sherlock Holmes? Though, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments earns its spot on this list without relying on the famous name of its titular detective. Like the best detective games, this one will have you second-guessing yourself, as well as everyone you interrogate, as you work through the complex moral bargaining at its center.

Exploring the detailed environments, picking out clues, and piecing together conclusions is surgical in a way you might expect from a Sherlock Holmes game, but Crimes and Punishments adds a challenging ethical question to your choices that elevates it beyond its piers. This is Sherlock Holmes with a conscious, and Crimes and Punishments is a detective game that more than lives up to its legend.

5. Her Story

Developer: Sam Barlow Platform(s): PC, iOS, Android

Her Story is an interactive movie. There is no "gameplay" in the traditional sense, and even the visuals are live-action shots of actual actors through an actual camera. Now that that's out of the way, the reason Her Story qualifies as a game is that it's up to you to sort through various clues and decipher their meaning.

Clues exist in the form of archived clips from a police interview with a woman whose husband has gone missing and is later found murdered. The character and her relationship with her husband are fascinating to learn about, each new revelation a source of multiple new theories about whether Hannah Smith is culpable for her husband's murder.

4. What Remains of Edith Finch

Developer: Giant Sparrow Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

For a stylish, lighthearted mystery or distraction, look elsewhere. But if you're in a mood to reflect, empathize, and become entirely absorbed in a touching, often heart-wrenching dive into loss and mortality, don't sleep on What Remains of Edith Finch. Giant Sparrow unleashed a mystery game that skirts so close to being a masterpiece, which is certainly one of the best games of the last generation . 

The story of a possible curse that leaves only one family member of each generation alive, is exactly that; a story. Some very light puzzling is all that hinders your pursuit of the mystery behind your relatives' deaths, and it'll only take a couple of hours for you to learn the truth of What Remains of Edith Finch. Like it or not, it'll probably take far longer for you escape its emotional grip.

3. Outer Wilds

Developer: Mobius Digital Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One

While most mystery games are content with identifying the culprit in a small town crime, Outer Wilds seeks to solve mysteries on a much larger scale: the universe, or at least the solar system you're tasked with exploring and the infinite time loop in which it lives.

On its surface, Outer Wilds is a space exploration game about looking for clues and solving mysterious phenomena on diverse planets, but just beneath the crust lies an experience unlike anything I've ever played. Learning more about the extinct, intelligent species called Nomai compels your adventure, but the ways in which you uncover their secrets is what makes Outer Wilds so special, and I'd never forgive myself for spoiling anything.

2. Disco Elysium

Developer: ZA/UM Platform(s): Multi

If its numerous accolades, not to mention three BAFTAs, aren't enough to convince you to try out Disco Elysium, hopefully this humble little list of best mystery games will. A murder mystery and black comedy, the story kicks off with the player-character blurrily waking from a drunken stupor, only to be told he's in charge of investigating a grizzly murder. 

From an isometric perspective, you'll guide your detective through his booze-induced amnesia and toward the answer to the game's mystery by leveling up and upgrading his deductive skills and navigating different personality traits that develop based on character choice. It's an immensely complex, innovative ride that never fails to elicit both laughs and suspense.

1. Return of the Obra Dinn

Developer: 3909 LLC Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Return of the Obra Dinn's story of a ship that returns to port five years after having gone missing, now a mass grave for its occupants, is enthralling throughout its fairly brief run-time. Your job as an insurance adjuster is to figure out what happened to the ship's crew and passengers, who all died mysteriously or went missing en route.

The distinct monochromatic art style and wistful score offer the perfect setting to wrack your brain for clues to the Obra Dinn's ill-fated voyage, and you'll want to use every tool in your cerebral shed to find whodunnit. Return of the Obra Dinn never holds your hand, which only makes piecing together its many secrets that much more rewarding. It's undoubtedly one of the best mystery and detective games ever made, but you can really only play through it once – so do yourself a favor and go in blind, as it'll greatly enhance the experience. 

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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• 5 Once Human review: "Like a crawling bus, its more original elements hide dull and generic ones"
• 2 It Ends With Us review: "A serious subject is sensitively handled with this Blake Lively drama"
• 3 Trap review: "M. Night Shyamalan drops the goofy twist for an intense thriller"
• 4 The Instigators review: "Matt Damon and Doug Liman reunite for a tremendously entertaining crime caper"
• 5 Harold and the Purple Crayon review: "Colorful, easy-to-enjoy fun – particularly if you're of crayon-using age"
• 2 House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8 review: "Excellent sequences can’t save a finale that’s all set-up and no conclusion"
• 3 Batman: Caped Crusader review: "A reinvention of a classic"
• 4 House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 review: "Brutal, bloody spectacle and a chills-inducing ending, but a victim of the season's odd pacing"
• 5 House of the Dragon season 2 episode 6 review: "More dragons and great performances bring new energy"

Best Video Games About Problem Solving | TheReviewGeek Recommends

There are a lot of video games out there and in this age of mobile and home-based gaming, the choices have never been greater.

So how do you cut through the noise and find the “Best of” for any chosen topic? Well, we’re here to help celebrate and shine a spotlight on some of the latest, greatest and unforgettable games through the years.

For our ongoing series of articles depicting the best video games, our attention this time turns to games with a focus on problem-solving. From thought-provoking adventures to lighthearted action-puzzle games, there’s a good choice to whet your appetite.

Of course, if we’ve missed any of your favorites, feel free to comment below and we’ll get them added on!

Professor Layton

While many puzzle games aim for a simple formula like Tetris and Puyo Puyo, others lean toward telling a constructive narrative. The Professor Layton franchise does that with its take on the point-and-click adventure genre through its well-written story beats, characters, and glorious setting.

Professor Layton follows the adventures of Professor Hershel Layton and his partner Luke as they help solve many mysteries regarding missing family heirlooms, murder, and time travel. It’s safe to say that these two are always on their toes regarding case requests. Considering Professor Layton’s excellent detective skills, they have nothing to fear.

Phoenix Wright of the Ace Attorney franchise inspired the idea and concept behind Professor Layton’s gameplay and character. The gameplay utilizes the Nintendo DS’s touch screen to a tea, as players must interact with Professor Layton’s setting, characters, and puzzles.

Some puzzles players encounter are logic, math problems, and maze-based. However, the game offers a memo pad that allows players to work out issues that may be too bothersome to complete in one’s head. Puzzles grant players points that help them progress through the story.

The Professor Layton franchise is remarkable for people looking for a brain-teasing challenge and a good time.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a visual novel adventure game held in high regard by many fans. While some may not agree that it fully replicates the life of a real-life lawyer, the trials, interrogation, and puzzle components are what makes this franchise a grand one.

There have been many games in the Ace Attorney franchise, some with new protagonists. However, the protagonist many people attach this franchise to is Phoenix Wright. Starting as novice defense attorneys, players must help Phoenix thoroughly investigate surroundings for clues. Then they find themselves in the courtroom where it’s their job to either defend or go against the person being held accountable for the crime.

This is where the game’s incredible puzzle-solving mechanics come into play. Essentially, players interrogate witnesses and their attorneys for fallacies and contradictions by picking apart their claims in court. They also have to answer specific questions the judge may have about one of the five particular cases.

The gameplay is simple but requires the player to think carefully before making their argument. Thankfully, the game includes ways to scroll through previous statements to help them identify the fallacy in their opponents’ claims. The characters also have great enthusiasm in their reactions to trials, especially the convicted individual in the said case.

If you’re looking for a visual novel experience that’ll make you use your max brainpower, be sure to purchase any of the Ace Attorney games.

Despite creating violent-oriented franchises like Left 4 Dead and Half-Life, Valve aren’t afraid to tackle new territory. Portal and its sequel Portal 2 have a limited campaign which bothered most at first. However, others have looked past its short story duration and uncovered a game filled with originality, distinct gameplay, and a dark plot.

The Portal franchise follows Chell, who must create portals to solve an AI named GLaDOS’s many puzzles. Mastering the game’s physics is important as players must create portals in a specific way to progress through the game. Momentum, preservation, and redirection are the three elements players must know before diving into this game.

Chell’s vulnerability is at an all-time high, making matters difficult. If she lands on a surface from a high enough distance, she’ll receive damage upon impact. The game also includes various machinery to amp up the challenge via turrets, bouncing energy balls and toxic substances. Players don’t have access to a visible health bar either.

Lastly, the game features well-written characters, and slowly drip feeds hints toward its inevitable conclusion as the player progresses. Valve made GLaDOS’ personality shine in the game, even though it’s a robot that taunts players constantly. It surprisingly never gets stale as the jokes only get funnier.

If you’re looking for a puzzle game with enthusiasm, originality, and mystery, Portal is the one for you.

Baba Is You

While some puzzle games have precise and easy-to-follow gameplay, there are rarely any that allow you to bend the rules. Baba is You is an indie puzzle game that wants its players to break the rules of puzzle-solving.

Baba Is You entails players controlling the animal-like being, Baba, who must solve several word puzzles to reach specified checkpoints. Each level presents players with word blocks they can interact with and manipulate to their heart’s content. While some will leave players with fewer roadblocks in their path, others may give them an experience they hadn’t expected.

Some of these experiences include transforming Baba and her world’s organisms into different objects. You can also change your end goal into something completely different. The game spans 200 uniquely designed levels that encourage players to devise critical ways to manipulate the game’s roadblocks to their liking.

While the title doesn’t offer the most jaw-dropping graphics, it does deliver outstanding puzzles designed to help boost your critical thinking skills.

Famicom Detective Club

The old Famicom Detective Club games have been resurrected on Nintendo Switch as a mystery visual novel. While it didn’t sell as well as Nintendo’s blockbuster franchises, it offers worthwhile cases and interactivity.

The Famicom Detective Club games play like every ordinary visual, but the fascinating aspect of the game is that it used to be a Super Nintendo exclusive in Japan. A component that makes the Famicom Detective Club remakes better than the original is the astonishing voice acting, clever overarching mysteries, and beautiful character sprites and CGs.

Only the first two entries were remade and finally brought to the west. Both games center around a young detective protagonist who must solve two cases involving death. The Missing Heir delves into Kiku Ayashiro’s death, a woman who had inherited her family’s plot. The second game, The Girl Who Stands Behind, discusses the demise of a high school student named Yoko Kojima.

While the gameplay isn’t as interactive as Ace Attorney and others that came out after it, the remakes helped revitalize the world for a newer audience. Unlike most visual novels, the Famicom Detective Club remake contains cinematic cutscenes and superb voice acting. There’s also a subtle yet unique dungeon crawling minigame near the end that helps it stand out from others, including Ace Attorney.

Despite Famicom Detective Club being a niche gem, it’s a puzzle-solving adventur1e game that players shouldn’t skip out on.

Unfortunately, some indie games don’t reach mainstream levels of success. When they do, the reception is either overwhelmingly positive or negative, with many praising it or declaring the game is overhyped. While it spawned millions of “suspicious memes,” Among Us delivers in its addictive gameplay and player interactivity.

While it doesn’t have a deep narrative to accompany its world, Among Us’s simply-designed characters and world serve their purpose well. How players participate and interact with Among Us is where its fun aspect kicks into overdrive since the game requires you to think and manipulate your way to victory.

Among Us allows the player to control one of many crewmates who must complete simple tasks while onboard a ship. However, one or two players take on the role of imposters, deadly hybrid beasts that aim to annihilate every crewmate onboard without being ratted out.

To call out these phonies, players must signal a meeting, where all the players unite to discuss discovered dead bodies or to declare who they believe is an imposter. Often, people make statements that are difficult to confirm or deny, which is where the puzzle-solving comes into play.

While it may not sound like it, the game will make players stress over wrong decisions, further encouraging them to keep their eyes peeled. If you’re a fan of the old murder mystery tropes often depicted in a train-ride setting, then Among Us has you covered.

Human Fall Flat

Portal was a platform puzzle game with a dark storyline and intriguing mechanics, but many may prefer something more lighthearted. Human Fall Flat is a puzzle platformer indie game whose goal is to make your whole friend group or family giggle and smile.

Players can take control of this world’s interpretation of humans and must solve quirky and fun-filled puzzles. While the puzzles start simple, the difficulty rises as you progress further into the game. These difficult puzzles will require some brainpower despite appearing heartwarming and cute.

Players manipulate their human arms to carry and place crates in specific locations to solve these puzzles. Other puzzles include pressing switches or needing to walk backward while onboard a fast-moving vehicle. Therefore, it’s best to expect many failures along the way, but at least you’ll end up with a good chuckle out of it.

As for the characters themselves, players can customize them to their heart’s content. You can make your character look like a dog or one of those driving test dummies. The game also allows you to build puzzles yourself to play alongside friends on a comfortable couch and online co-op play.

While the game doesn’t have a highly sophisticated narrative, the gameplay and wacky shenanigans you’ll end up in make Human Fall Flat a worthwhile purchase.

Catherine: Full Body

The multiple branch trope often finds a home in many story-centric video games like visual novels. These branching paths help players immerse themselves in the world and its characters. While it isn’t a visual novel, Catherine: Full Body contains 13 different endings in a game where problem-solving is your goal.

Catherine: Full Body is a re-release of the original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Catherine game. Players take on the role of Vincent, a doubtful protagonist who must overcome his romantic struggles. This concerns two females named Catherine, yet one starts with a K. To do so, players must help Vincent settle his quarrels by completing the game’s dating sim and action-platforming elements.

There’s no definitive answer to the dating sim components since it’s up to the player’s decision regarding Vincent’s choices. The players’ choices in the game will lock them into specific endings, including Vincent’s reactions to said scenarios. This allows the game’s storyline to thrive with different outcomes, thus giving players a reason to revisit the title to witness Vincent’s other chosen fates.

As for its action-platforming components, which play out like Tetris to a degree. These puzzles occur in Vincent’s nightmares he’ll endure after each day. Players must help Vincent swiftly climb a tall tower whose goal is to have him crumble. These towers start slow but get inherently fast in time, and several hazards come into play only to make matters worse.

While the game sounds like a breeze, it’ll have your brain wearing with its incredibly fast puzzles and difficult life-oriented choices.

Puzzle-platformers can come in many shapes, but Braid aimed to change things with its time manipulation game mechanic. A premise similar to Super Mario Bros. Braid requires players to rescue a princess while traversing many worlds, each with its puzzles.

Braid allows players to enact different actions regarding time manipulation, involving rewinding events to move immovable objects and discovering parallel realities. Every time players complete a puzzle, they’ll receive something new and intriguing about Braid’s world.

Braid’s other fascinating aspect is that players cannot die or technically lose. As a result, Braid’s puzzles challenged gamers to use every ounce of their wit to progress. Some worlds will have players searching for puzzle pieces while others require them to manipulate time or create entrances to different realities.

Moreover, the game delivers a unique experience with its fresh gameplay and mechanics that could ultimately improve a gamer’s thinking capabilities. Therefore, Braid wishes to encourage and increase anyone’s thinking capabilities under the presentation of a time manipulating puzzle game.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Although it took many years for the mushroom-headed toddler to get a game series, the wait was well worth it. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is an action platformer that started as a minigame for the Wii U’s Super Mario 3D World game. It later received an enhanced port via the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS.

This game’s story contains three chapters. The first chapter has players controlling Toad to save Toadette from Wingo, a villainous bird. The next chapter goes in the opposite direction while the endgame features a boss fight with Wingo and later Draggadon, a royal dragon. While the story is a bit convoluted, the gameplay and puzzles are imaginative and fun.

You guide Toad or Toadette through various distinct platform puzzles. Some feature conveyor belts, stairs, and the Mario Bros. franchise’s iconic enemies. Players have no access to jumping and will lose if Toad or Toadette receive damage at any point.

Fear not, as Toad regains health by finding mushrooms. Also, he can defend himself with his trusty Super Pickax and turnip pulling abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2. As for level design, each puzzle feels uniquely designed for each world. The extra content in the Nintendo Switch and 3DS versions also make it more worth the money.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a great game to kickstart younger fans’ dive into the puzzle genre of video games.

So, there we have it, our pick for the best games through the years about problem-solving!

What do you think of our picks? Do you agree? Are there any notable omissions? Let us know in the comments below!

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20 Video Games To Play If You Love Solving Mysteries

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7 Video Game Heroes Who Rely On Their Wits

8 mystery games to sleuth to, 6 best isekai anime & manga where the protagonist is a detective.

• The video game mystery genre evolved from early text-based games, offering complex problem-solving experiences.
• Sought-after mystery games often intertwine with different genres such as adventure, action, and horror.
• Crime-solving video games like Disco Elysium and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles offer unique narratives and immersive gameplay.

The mystery, police procedure, or detective genre of video games has an impressive library, and its evolution can be traced to the earliest "walking simulator" games that used only text commands. Players had to explore the area, gather clues, and collect certain important items. Puzzles, mystery solving, and collecting clues were part of the earliest games to exist, right after sports.

15 Twisty Mystery Games On PC

These twisted, nerve-wracking puzzle games are among the best mystery-oriented titles PC gamers should check out.

Many of these kinds of games often use the same concepts of investigating, gathering clues, and the powers of deduction that are similar to the daily activities of a police officer or private investigator. Games that focus on solving mysteries can and often do overlap with other genres including adventure, action, role-playing, and even horror.

Updated April 13, 2024 by Kristy Ambrose: Video games about solving mysteries or crime dramas continue to be popular, so there are a lot of new options to choose from along with vintage titles that have been released or remastered for present-day audiences.

Complex problem-solving can be more rewarding than a big explosion or a dramatic boss fight, and the best mystery games can be role-playing, story-based, or adventure games. This library is so vast that it's easy to find a variety of games for any port or format, and that includes phones, tablets, and consoles, along with conventional desktops.

1 Disco Elysium

Metacritic score: 89.

Disco Elysium

This video game's art style, which mimics a surreal oil painting, is one of the features that sets Disco Elysium apart from other RPGs. It also features an unconventional progression system that includes skill checks and dialogue trees determined by Perception and pain threshold, which experienced RPGers might refer to as Fortitude.

The setting is a city in the aftermath of an apocalypse, and the main character is in the depths of amnesia, so there are a few more mysteries here other than the murder he's trying to solve. Even though he's missing most of his past, every main character still has a set of distinct character traits and a Thought Cabinet, which unlocks more backstory depending on the player's dialogue choices.

2 Her Story

Metacritic score: 86.

An interactive film that's also a video game, and one of the best modern examples of how the genre has evolved from the CD-ROM days. Her Story is independently developed and created by Sam Barlow, who formerly worked at Climax Studios, the same company that made Silent Hill : Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories .

The story is structured around police procedure , using a mix of different kinds of evidence that the protagonist has to examine, sometimes using forensics. The game includes a lot of live-action footage that Barlow created after studying real police interrogation videos.

3 Outer Wilds

Metacritic score: 85.

Outer Wilds

An action-adventure mystery video game that uses deep space as the setting, Outer Wilds is more about exploration and problem-solving than fighting. The premise of the game is that the universe is stuck in a 22-minute time loop that ends in a supernova, which the main character will get caught in several times before they finish the game. Luckily they gain the ability to retain their memories beyond death during the first part of the story.

8 Hidden Secrets Many Still Haven’t Found In Outer Wilds

Although hidden secrets in open-world games are common, these secrets in Outer Wilds haven't been found by "many" players since the game's debut.

The player spends most of the game learning about an ancient race called the Nomai and their ultimate project, planned on a galactic scale, which is the source of the time anomaly. No pressure, but the protagonist has to piece together the clues from various logic puzzles to discover what happened and find a way to save the entire universe.

4 The 7th Guest

Metacritic score: 68.

• Platform(s): macOS, DOS, CD-i, PC, Linux, Mobile
• Released: April 28, 1993
• Developer: Trilobyte
• Genre(s): Puzzle, Adventure

The 7th Guest is a point-and-click mystery video game classic originally from the CD-ROM era that was remastered and re-released as a 25th Anniversary Edition in 2019. It was one of the first "haunted mansion" games, and also one of the first to integrate video graphics into a computer game in a way that contributed to the plot rather than just being silly.

This was also at a time that horror games actually started to emerge as a genre, and The 7th Guest didn't shy away from the sordid or the mysterious. This game looks fun and colorful, and it is, with the graveyard cake puzzles and wacky characters. As the story unfolds into one of the best mystery games ever made, it becomes clear this isn't a game for kids.

5 Paradise Killer

Metacritic score: 81.

Paradise Killer

The more concise summary of this game is that it's a sci-fi adventure with a murder mystery as the focus of the plot. A more detailed description would include that the whole thing is set in a pocket universe called Paradise Island, which has been constructed by aliens to trap and house humans.

It's used to lull them into a false sense of security before sacrificing their souls to construct the next incarnation of the same island. That's a whole lot of lore for a game that's relatively small in comparison, and the detailed narrative of Paradise Killer is what makes it better than average when it comes to mystery-solving games.

A survival horror game that includes solving mysteries, Signalis is designed as a third-person shooter and has a two-dimensional perspective. It was critically acclaimed and players gave it high praise, recognizing that it was inspired by similar resource-collecting and puzzle games like Resident Evil .

The sci-fi setting features a spaceship and a mysterious government known as the Nation of Eusan, at war with an even larger galactic empire. The game features androids called Replikas, which the nation of Eusna uses as soldiers, miners, and other grunt work. A few different endings are possible, depending on the progression of the story, and the Artifact Ending is the secret one that requires the player to collect three hidden keys.

7 The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter

Metacritic score: 82.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Vanishing Of Ethan Carte r relies on stunning artwork and a compelling story to draw in aspiring detectives. This is one of the best mystery video games that combines an open-world environment with little guidance for how the mechanics work, and learning is part of the game.

The player follows a mystery through an impressive collection of artistic settings and immersive locations. It's the atmospheric quality of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter that most people cite as what elevates it from other mystery-solving games.

8 Grim Fandango

Metacritic score: 94.

Grim Fandango

An adventure game first and foremost, because this is LucasArts after all, Grim Fandango is also about solving a mystery. On a technical level, this is one of the first times that a 3D-rendered video game looked good, using an unconventional animation style that mixed film noir with calaca-like characters. The main character is a travel agent, but one who dwells in the afterlife and helps transport souls.

The 7 Most Mysterious NPCs In Gaming

It's hard to ignore the fact that some NPCs will never be fully understood due to their inherently mysterious natures.

Despite the critical acclaim that Grim Fandango received and the fanbase that follows it today, it was a commercial failure in its time. The game was re-released in 2015 with improved graphics, a new orchestral soundtrack, and a director's commentary.

9 Sam And Max Hit The Road

Metacritic score: 91.

• Developer: LucasArts
• Genre: Graphic Adventure
• Platform(s): MS-DOS, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
• Released: 1993

Sam and Max, also known as the Freelance Police, have a lot of wacky adventures solving crimes and this title is still one of their most popular. The plot is set in motion when a Sasquatch goes missing from a carnival. The intrepid heroes have to use their perception and deduction skills as they visit several popular American tourist attractions looking for clues.

Sam And Max Hit The Road is part of the impressive library that LucasArts amassed when point-and-click adventure games were all the rage. It's distinctive for its humor, clever dialogue, and the best voice talent for games at the time.

10 Pentiment

A narrative adventure that's mostly text, the 2D animation fits the medieval aesthetic perfectly. Pentiment is the best mystery game for players who are interested in solving a mystery along with those who appreciate a unique and beautiful art style, which is used seriously here as opposed to a cartoony joke like in some other games.

The main character is Andreas Maler, a journeyman artist who gets mixed up in the murderous drama of 16th-century Upper Bavaria. Players can build this character's skills and backstory through choices they make in the dialogue. Set in the fictional town of Talsing in the Alps, the timeline of the game spans 25 years, and solving these mysteries becomes a lifetime commitment.

11 The Wolf Among Us

Metacritic score: 80.

The Wolf Among Us

Fans of mystery-based video games who also like comic-book adaptations would probably enjoy The Wolf Among Us . It's intended as a prequel to the Fables comic book series, which was created and written by Bill Willingham and has been running since 2002.

This is a graphic adventure game that mostly works on point-and-click mechanics as the player explores a variety of different settings and environments. The player controls the main character, Bigby Wolf, formerly known as the Big Bad Wolf and now the mayor of Fabletown, who is tasked with solving a series of murders. A sequel to the game is scheduled for launch in 2024.

12 Heavy Rain

Metacritic score: 87.

An interactive drama and adventure mystery video game, Heavy Rain received numerous accolades from both players and critics for the play style, story, and overall design. There are four different protagonists involved and the player gets to control all of them at different points, and any number of choices causes the storyline to branch off into another direction.

The story begins with a tragedy and goes downhill from there. It's dark, visceral, and sometimes bloody, so be advised it's not for the faint of heart. Follow the clues left by a serial killer to save the protagonist's son before it's too late. This is a game where the player's actions do matter , so choose wisely as the dark streets of Philadelphia start to close in.

13 Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments

Metacritic score: 73.

• Platform(s): PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
• Released: September 30, 2014
• Developer(s): Frogwares
• Genre(s): Adventure

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's depiction of Sherlock Holmes was partly autobiographical. His use of forensics was new for its time, but the modern age has the same fascination with his skill for finding and interpreting clues. Many of the games in this series could also be likely candidates, but this game also includes moral choices that affect the gameplay.

10 Sherlock Holmes Mysteries You Should Read If You Love The Games

Sherlock Holmes is one of the greatest detectives in literature. With his new game out now, fans of the character should check out these stories.

On a more technical level, this is the first game in Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes series that uses Unreal Engine 3 to create an intense and immersive first-person POV. The written portions are intended to resemble the novels, and each game includes a variety of cases to solve, from murders to thefts to disappearances.

14 L.A. Noire

Noted for some stunning artwork and a realistic storyline , L.A. Noire takes place in Los Angeles in 1947. The protagonist is Detective Cole Phelps, and the story follows his rise through the LAPD. When Phelps takes on a case involving morphine distribution and some of his old World War II buddies, the plot thickens.

Aside from the main plot that is focused on cracking the case, there's a lot to keep the player busy in the form of car chases, gunfights, and hand-to-hand combat. Motion-capture technology was used to capture realistic human expressions for the interrogation sequences.

15 Professor Layton And The Curious Village

• Developer: Level-5
• Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
• Platforms: Nintendo DS, mobile, iOS, Android
• Released: February 10, 2008 (North America)

Solving a mystery doesn't always have to be about sordid crimes and dark alleyways. For those looking for something more lighthearted that's also great for the kids, some of the best mystery games can be found in the Professor Layton franchise. It has a familiar format that includes finding clues and solving puzzles.

Best Professor Layton Games, Ranked

Professor Layton is about to make his grand return, and it's the perfect time to revisit some of the best games in the franchise.

There are a total of seven games in this series, and this is the first. Professor Hershel Layton and his apprentice, Luke Triton, are looking for an artifact called the Golden Apple in a quaint but enigmatic little hamlet called St. Mystere. It's not just for fun and profit either because the holder of this special item will inherit the vast fortune of a local monarch.

16 Until Dawn

Metacritic score: 79.

It's the "teenagers lost in the woods" trope that never seems to get old, and although it's primarily a horror game, the main characters in Until Dawn have to hunt for clues regarding the mystery of the dangerous mountain wilderness and stay alive while they do it.

Until Dawn is a narrative and exploration game with little or no combat that relies on scenes and quick time events to progress. The story is intended to mimic the same suspense and terror as a slasher movie, with every decision affecting the future lives of the group, and everyone can live or die depending on what choices are made.

17 What Remains Of Edith Finch

Metacritic score: 88.

What Remains of Edith Finch

The genre is part of a category of adventure games called "narrative-focused walking simulators," and even though the term is new, the concept is not. Myst was a game like this, and What Remains of Edith Finch has also received critical praise for its artwork and story. The setting is a mansion on an island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest and the time frame is the 1930s, so be prepared for a lot of marine and seaside themes . Although it sounds realistic, even dull, the elements of magical realism in the design keep the game immersive and compelling.

The player is the titular character, Edith, a teenager who is the last surviving member of her family. She is visiting her ancestral home for the first time in years and putting together the clues to reveal what happened in the time that she was gone.

18 The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

A wildly successful franchise that gave the whole storybook design some clout, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is two of the games in the franchise neatly collected under one title. The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve and The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures both use the same courtroom drama and investigative structure as they collect clues and cross-examine witnesses to solve the mystery.

Brute force isn't the only way through, and these video game characters who rely on their smarts know that well.

The game takes place in the late Meiji Period of Japan, which lasted from 1868 to 1912, and the clothing, customs, and environment of the game reflect the overall aesthetic. That gives it a "period piece" charm that adds to the game's overall audience appeal.

19 Return Of The Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn

The year is 1807, and the protagonist is an insurance agent for the East India Company. Their mission is to determine what happened to the passengers and crew of the Obra Dinn, with the aid of a mysterious pocket watch. The ship went missing off the coast of Good Hope, and after no sight or communication for some time, the ship drifted into port with nary a soul aboard.

For the investigative gamer out there, these mystery games are perfect to sleuth in and uncover many secrets that lurk within.

It's not exactly a rollercoaster ride, but for those players who like a story filled with suspense, mystery, and a touch of psychological horror, Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the best mystery games. It's based on investigation, information, and deduction, and Return of the Obra Dinn 's distinctive style has set it apart from other games in the independently-made category.

20 Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Metacritic score: 78.

• Developer(s): Cing
• Genre(s): Adventure, Mystery
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Released: January 22, 2007

It's not a widely-known title because it's only available on one platform, the Nintendo DS , but Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a highly-rated adventure mystery with design and artwork inspired by the film noir genre. Its success prompted a sequel, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West , which was released in 2010.

Kyle Hyde is the main character of the story, and keeping with the usual stereotype he's a cynical private eye with a five o'clock shadow and a chip on his shoulder. The protagonist has to solve puzzles along with searching for clues to solve, and each chapter of the game ends with an intense interrogation instead of a boss fight.

These isekai anime and manga feature detectives at the helm of their narratives, turning fantasy settings into a backdrop for solving mysteries.

• Video Games

The Best Co-Operative Puzzle Games

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Although it's fun gaming solo, sometimes you want to get someone else in on the action with you, whether it be a close friend, partner, or complete stranger. Luckily, cooperative games seem to be on the up, with some amazing new additions finding their way onto shelves and digital libraries in the last few years.

The Best Puzzle Games On Steam

The best puzzle games can hook even the most resilient players, and these puzzlers on Steam are some of the best ones available.

Many of these cooperative adventures contain puzzle-solving elements, requiring you to work together and communicate well to reach your end goal. So whether you're looking to escape a frightening labyrinth, work out a gravity-defying world, or even play as two geese waddling their way to village overlords, here are some of the best cooperative puzzle-solving games out there, all fantastic for an evening on the sofa together.

Updated on January 25, 2024, by Jouanna Bondakji: Gaming by yourself is fun, but being able to share that joy with others makes it all the better. Neither you nor your friend(s) need to be video game experts to enjoy cooperative puzzle games. We've added even more entries for you and your loved ones to enjoy together.

23 Never Alone

Lots of co-op puzzle games focus on the funny hijinks you and your co-op buddy can get into, but Never Alone is a bit different. You play as a young Iñupiaq girl named Nuna and her fox companion as you venture to put an end to an eternal blizzard that threatens her village.

The developers collaborated with members of the Iñupiat to bring the game's story and environment to life, and it shows. Not only is the gameplay itself immersive and challenging, but you'll learn a lot about the Iñupiaq along the way.

22 Boxboy + Boxgirl

Part of the Boxboy series and at least as good as the other games, Boxboy + Boxgirl is a co-op puzzle platformer where you create boxes to overcome obstacles and complete levels. The catch is that you can't make as many boxes as you please; every level has a certain limit on the amount you can create.

You and your co-op partner will have to put your heads together to figure out how to make the best possible use of the boxes you can make. And if you like collecting things, good news: you can collect crowns to purchase power-ups, accessories, and even bonus levels that up the challenge.

21 Heave Ho

If you're looking for something you can play with a group in gatherings, Heave Ho fits the bill. It's a silly platforming game with one goal: don't fall. The puzzle aspect comes from finding out how to best move along the level while being attached to three other people. The platforms you stick to come in all shapes and sizes, from hooks to boulders to see-saws, and some even have spikes you can't touch.

The levels aren't easy, but the humor factor will make you and your friends laugh out loud instead of yelling in frustration. You can customize your characters to more easily differentiate who each person is supposed to be (and to look cool), but that won't totally save you from plummeting to your deaths more times than you can count.

20 Very Very Valet

Very Very Valet is a wacky party puzzle game that is dripping with off-the-wall shenanigans. If you haven't guessed from the game's title, you play as a valet driver. Your chosen cartoony valet driver works diligently to wrangle up as many cars as possible to park them and eventually retrieve them for your patrons.

13 Best Free Co-Op Games On PC

These are the best co-op games to play on PC for free.

While that setup may sound undeniably simple and even mundane, nothing could be farther from the truth, especially when playing this one in zany co-op. Adding two or more players to the mix really makes this game a blast as you work with your chosen co-op partner to drive around the vehicles, which end up basically being puzzles since you have to navigate them through specific stage-based hazards and scenarios.

19 Good Job!

If you haven't played the downright hilarious puzzle adventure game Good Job!, you should be sure to remedy that right away. It's equal parts fun and hilarious, especially in co-op. In this game, you play as the heir to a successful CEO, and it's now up to you to work your way to the top, literally and figuratively.

Good Job! relishes in physics-based mayhem where your goal is to move through different stages of a large office building, solving environmental puzzles, interacting with objects, and, of course, causing tons of destruction. While the game is fun solo, adding a friend to the mix turns this game from a simple puzzle experience to a bonkers one.

18 39 Days To Mars

This Kickstarter-funded project by It's Anecdotal finally came to fruition after years in limbo, flying under the radar as a particularly innovative indie puzzler. The charming co-op game forces two players to work together through a series of creative brain-busters as they embark on a short but memorable trip to Mars by airship.

These 19th-century explorers must scramble to solve problems on board so they can reach their destination in one piece. Whimsical themes and stylized, hand-drawn visuals add a sense of character to the experience, engrossing you as you tinker with clever puzzles to maintain the ship. Tasks range from churning mechanical contraptions to assembling maps—and even the simple act of making tea.

17 Shift Happens

Shift Happens is a puzzle-platformer game. It's really best experienced with two people, but the developers also ensured there was a single-player mode available

The two creatures that the players control (named Bismo and Plom) are made out of jelly, which allows them to do chaotic and creative things! One of the main mechanics is "shifting," which allows you to trade jelly to adjust your size between a big version and a small version of your jelly creature. There are four worlds to explore, each requiring your unique talents.

16 Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together

This delightful puzzler channels that feeling of playing around in elementary school art class. Similar to that experience—just about anything goes in Snipperclips, as two players must use intuition and improvisation on the spot to solve crafty puzzles.

8 Hardest Video Game Puzzles Ever

These puzzles are so difficult that they're more frustrating than fun.

The game's puzzles revolve around rotating and overlapping controllable shapes to snip out new ones, which are used to transport or otherwise interact with other objects. Communication is key here, as both players will be working through a slew of random scenarios on the spot with little to no guidance. This colorful co-op romp makes for a fun little diversion that's good for some laughs.

15 Death Squared

Released by SMG Studio in early 2017, this mechanical game harkens back to the old-school puzzler feel, standing out in an era when bigger and more bombastic seemingly equals better. But while this blocky title seems simple on the surface, Death Squared offers some deceptively tricky tasks that keep folks coming back for more.

Two players will need to be precise and work in synchronicity to progress through the dozens of unique block mazes. This includes clearing obstacles and platforms by triggering contraptions and matching with switches of the same color.

14 Human Fall Flat

Fumbling through these courses may seem counter-productive and silly due to the clumsy ragdoll physics—but in No Brakes Games' co-op journey, this is the point. The aptly named Human Fall Flat drops loads of online players into a set of progressively tricky stages. From there, they'll hop, stumble, and crawl their way through various puzzles while dealing with impeding obstacles, mostly themselves and each other.

One can imagine the laughs this goofy experience brings—with the blend of drunken physics, bustling crowds, and the relative precision the game demands to progress. Something as simple as dropping a plank for a bridge and scurrying across can be a tough, treacherous act.

13 A Way Out

Those seeking a cooperative game with a slightly grittier, cinematic blend should look no further than this 2018 effort from Hazelight Studios and EA. Though more action-adventure than a straight-up puzzle game, A Way Out tasks you with coming up with solutions and working through tasks together in order to progress.

It's a fun and intense experience with much on the line—as you must work together to sneak, fight, and maneuver your way out of prison while steering clear of the authorities. Uniquely, this memorable game stresses local split-screen play , as many of these actions require discussion and knowledge about what your fellow prisoner is currently up to.

12 Labyrinthine

One for horror fans, Labyrinthine is unique. It combines fan-favorite survival horror with some classic puzzle-solving as you seek to escape a creepy children's hedge-maze together and hopefully survive the bloodcurdling horrors calling it home.

The Best Asymmetrical Multiplayer Games

These are the best Asymmetrical multiplayer games, including some recent hits and the classics that are worth revisiting.

Labyrinthine was built for cooperative play between four players and plays like a classic puzzle-solver. Everyone must know what they're doing and work together to uncover the dark secrets lurking around every corner and escape the maze in one piece.

A journey for two players, Dyo has you assume the role of two Minotaurs both trapped on either side of a split-screen who must work together to escape the cursed labyrinth they've been trapped within.

You each need to control your Minotaur and use your ability to hop over the split-screen to mix up and manipulate levels, working together to solve platforming puzzles and carve out a path to your freedom. There are no enemies and no time limits, so sit back, get puzzling, and try not to yell at each other as you both attempt to solve this maze's tricks and traps together.

10 Tick Tock: A Tale For Two

Tick Tock: A Tale For Two is a game where playing solo is not an option, as you'll need both of you working in unison to escape this escape room-style game together.

The story is based on Scandinavian folklore, creating a beautiful, if not slightly eerie, setting. The key to freedom is in cooperation, with you both needing to share information to get the full picture of what's going on and solve the story's mysteries in tandem.

9 We Were Here Series

We Were Here is unique, having you and your partner separated and needing to work on puzzles both independently and together through your communicative walkie-talkies in order to work out your locations and (hopefully) escape.

We Were Here plays as an immersive first-person cooperative adventure, with both of you needing to discover useful items and communicate well in order to solve each other's puzzles and reach the end. It's great for those looking for a short escape room style of adventure game, and with a trilogy and fourth game due to be released, there's no time like the present to be picking this title up.

An older entry in the cooperative puzzle genre, but one still going strong as a two-player co-op adventure for you and a friend to spend hours upon hours puzzling over.

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Puzzle games are for a niche audience, but these are the best Xbox puzzlers to keep veterans and newcomers busy.

Portal 2 's cooperative mode offers an entirely separate campaign mode with a unique story, portal mechanics, and two new characters to play as. The trick to success is teamwork, as in working together, you'll discover new ways to use portals and hopefully create a means of escape from the test chambers before Glados turns you against one another.

7 Ibb and Obb

Ibb and Obb is a delightfully cute and creative cooperative puzzle game using gravity-changing mechanics to have you working together to move past obstacles and have some innovative level-solving fun.

With stylish art and sound, it's great for an easy game to play together on the couch , and will keep you coming back again and again with some tough and challenging puzzles - but nothing your teamwork can't solve.

6 Unravel 2

Unravel 2 is arguably perfection in couch co-op, needing you and another player to solve platforming puzzles in order to progress through the stages and save two children running away from unreliable adults looking to hurt them.

The game is beautiful, with breathtaking scenery and gameplay surrounding a sad but enlightening tale. The puzzles featured in the game vary from needing to escape a crazed pheasant, using objects to get to hard-to-reach places, and most of all, making sure to never leave one another behind.

5 Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies is a wonderful game about space exploration where you play as cosmonauts! (Did you know that a person who travels to space from America or the rest of the western world is known as an astronaut, while one who travels from the Soviet or Russian space programs are known as cosmonauts? If they were launched from China, they're called taikonauts.)

In space, you'll need to help people on the ground by installing and maintaining solar arrays, doing research, and building telescopes, among other things! It's not quite like any other game you've played before; the physics in space are unfamiliar and you're performing fairly precise tasks, so it'll take some practice before you're perfect.

4 Untitled Goose Game

The world's (least) favorite goose is back, and this time he's got company. The incredible open-world cooperative game for two players, Untitled Goose Game co-op allows for two geese to travel through the village's story together; solving problems, chasing villagers and of course, endlessly honking.

Nintendo Switch: The Most Relaxing Games To Play That Aren't Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing isn't the only chill and relaxing game you can play on your Nintendo Switch.

This is a great relaxing game for two, with you able to work together to solve your list of errands without a time limit. So whether it be chasing a boy into a phone box, wearing a fancy bow, or stealing an old man's slipper - why not do it together? Just don't forget to HONK.

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Problem Solving Games, Activities & Exercises for Adults

By: Angela Robinson | Updated: February 13, 2024

Here is our list of the best problem solving games, activities and exercises for adults.

Problem solving games are activities that require players to use critical thinking skills to solve puzzles. Example activities include escape rooms, Sudoku, and murder mysteries. The purpose of these exercises is to sharpen reasoning and decision-making skills in group settings and to do team building with employees.

These activities are a subset of remote team games , found in problem solving books , and are similar to team puzzles , team building brain teasers and team riddles .

This article contains:

• team building problem solving activities for employees
• free problem solving games for adults
• virtual problem solving activities for students
• group problem solving activities
• problem solving team builders

Here we go!

List of problem solving games & activities

From word and number puzzles to role-playing games, here is a list of inexpensive and free problem solving team builders that help groups practice the art of critical thinking and compromise.

1. Espionage! (Team Favorite)

For an exciting game of social deduction, check out Espionage! This thrilling experience will put your team’s wits and instincts to the test.

Espionage! offers the following:

• a 90-minute session led by an experienced host
• undercover teams of agents and spies
• challenging puzzles, tasks, and maneuvers
• team conversations to help uncover secret identities

The best part is we will bring all the necessary game materials to your preferred location. If you are interested in boosting communication and critical-thinking skills within your team, then consider Espionage!

Learn more about Espionage!

2. Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh (Hosted)

You can turn your team into skilled detectives with Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh! In this captivating mystery, participants will locate the stolen artwork, The Bedroom .

Key features of this experience include:

• a 90-minute adventure led by a world-class host
• detailed puzzles, clues, and mysteries to unravel
• trails of evidence and hidden secrets
• group discussions to find the art

Additionally, you can include a cocktail kit to spice up your event. Through Art Heist, you will enhance your team’s ingenuity and problem-solving skills!

Learn more about Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh .

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• icebreaker games
• bingo cards

3. War of the Wizards (Popular)

With War of the Wizards, teams roleplay as minions of powerful wizards to vanquish forces of evil. Participants will play thrilling games and go on a quest to restore harmony to the realm!

War of the Wizards offers the following:

• a 90-minute journey guided by a distinguished host
• immersive storytelling that transports players into a magical realm
• engaging activities like world-building, role-playing games, and storytelling
• opportunities for forming alliances, facing challenges, and going on quests

Through the power of imagination and teamwork, your team can overcome tasks and participate in an epic fantasy battle. To improve communication and bonds, include War of the Wizards in your agenda!

Learn more about War of the Wizards .

Sudoku is one of the most popular free problem solving games for adults. The objective of this game is to fill each box of a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine. The puzzle makes a great team challenge. To play Sudoku on Zoom, screen share the game board. Then, turn on the annotation features. Using the add text functions, participants can fill in the numbers on the grid.

We made a starter puzzle you can use in your next meeting or virtual team bonding session:

Here are more online Sudoku puzzles .

5. Crossword puzzles

Crossword puzzles are word games that ask players to fill in words based on clues. Words interconnect, and players must think critically about the surrounding words to select the right phrase for the space.

You can use an online crossword puzzle maker to create a custom puzzle. Here are a few themes you may want to consider:

• teammates’ tastes and interests
• company knowledge and history
• industry terms and trends

Or, create a miscellaneous puzzle just for fun.

We made a sample puzzle you can use for your game:

To complete puzzles during online meetings, you can use the share screen function and add text through annotations.

Or, subscribers can play the New York Times’ daily crossword puzzle virtually . Dictionary.com also offers a free daily online crossword puzzle .

Check out more vocabulary games .

6. Online Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are timed games that get groups working together to solve puzzles. Traditionally, players enter a locked room and must complete all puzzles in an hour or two to unlock the door. However, groups can also play escape rooms online.

Digital escape rooms typically come in one of two forms: in a Zoom room and led by a host, or in a choose-your-own adventure format via Google Forms or websites. To play escape rooms virtually, enter a video meeting and follow the prompts, or screen share the Google Form and work out the puzzles together.

Check out our full list of online escape rooms .

7. Murder Mysteries

Murder Mysteries are story-based games that ask players to take on the roles of suspects or detectives while trying to identify a killer. These games often involve reading lines from a script, searching for clues, and occasionally solving puzzles to get hints.

These games make participants pay attention to conversations, analyze other characters’ behavior, and search for hidden meaning in the script. Players must use their powers of observation and logic to unravel the mystery.

Check out our list of Zoom murder mystery games .

8. Treasure Hunts

Treasure hunts are scavenger hunts with intention. While virtual scavenger hunts often ask players to collect random items, treasure hunts require participants to locate clues that lead to other prompts and hints. The game typically ends with players finding a treasure or solving a mystery, sometimes both.

The treasure hunt can have a specific theme such as secret agent missions or a hunt for pirate treasure, or you can run a more general hunt. Teammates can either compete simultaneously via Zoom call, or can play the hunt on an app individually and compete to beat each other’s scores.

Check out our list of treasure hunt apps .

9. Poem or story challenge

Most team building problem solving activities for employees revolve around science, math, and logic. Poem/story challenges rely on writing skills and are sure to appeal to the language lovers on your team.

Each player receives a limited word bank to use to create a story or poem. Then, players have a few minutes to craft their pieces. Afterward, everyone reads out or screen shares their creations.

Here are a few word challenge activities you can do remotely:

• Found poems or stories : Participants make poems or stories out of words they find by visiting websites, searching emails, glancing out the window, or taking a walk or drive around the neighborhood.
• Random word generators : Teammates use a random word generator to populate a word bank, and must use each word in the poem or story.
• Poetry magnets : Group members make poems using poetry magnets. You can send poetry magnet sets to employees and assemble the verses on a cookie pan during a Zoom call. Or, teammates can play with poetry magnets online .
• Page poems: Participants receive one page of a book or magazine, and must make a poem or story by blocking out other words so only the chosen text remains visible. This activity is part storytelling, part art, since story crafters can illustrate the pages as part of the design.
• Ransom note stories or poems : Players cut out letters from magazines and must form new words to make poems and stories. Or, players can receive a mix of random letters, form words, and run the text through a ransom note generator .

These activities are suitable for teams and individual players.

10. Moral challenge

Some problems are ethical rather than factual. Moral judgment plays just as important a role in the decision-making process as technical prowess. Players can flex their moral problem-solving skills by tackling ethical dilemmas or social puzzles.

Here are some social problem solving games online:

• Moral machine
• Scruples – the game of moral dilemmas
• Morality play

To play these games, either download the apps, or pull up the website and then screen share the prompts. These games are best played when discussed as a group, because the more belief systems and opinions, the harder an issue is to resolve. These exercises provide practice for real-life conflict resolution.

You can find similar challenges on our list of online personality tests .

11. Frostbite

Frostbite is a group game that hones team leaders’ communication skills while sharpening teammates’ listening and cooperation skills. The premise behind the game is that a group of explorers gets caught in a snowstorm and must build a shelter. Frostbite has paralyzed the leaders’ hands and snow-blinded the rest of the team. The leader must give the team instructions to build a tent that can resist arctic winds.

To play Frostbite, each teammate wears a blindfold. Then, the leader gives directions. Once the structures are complete, players turn on a fan to test whether tents can withstand the wind.

Frostbite is usually an in-person game, however you can also play virtually. In the remote version of the game, teammates construct tents out of cards and tape, while the leader surveys the scene on screen.

This exercise demonstrates the challenges of leading remotely, as teams need to operate with minimal oversight or supervisor observation. Therefore, instructions need to be clear and direct to be effective.

Check out more team building games .

12. Virtual Hackathons

Hackathons are events where participants have a set amount of time to design and pitch a new product or solution. This type of event originated in the programming world and is often used to create new apps, however you can apply the game to any industry or school subject.

Virtual hackathons are online versions of the event. Teams enter the competition, then work with each other via virtual meeting software or remote work communication platforms to design the solution. At the end of the competition, teams pitch ideas to a panel of judges and a winner is decided.

To run a virtual hackathon, first announce the theme of the event and collect sign-ups. So that no teams work ahead, hint at the general idea of the issue, and only explain the precise problem when the event begins. Then, give teams anywhere from a few hours to a few days to complete the project.

Discover more virtual hackathon ideas .

13. Improv games

Improv games are excellent problem solving activities. These exercises force participants to think and respond quickly to keep scenes moving in a logical and entertaining way.

Here are some good problem solving improv games:

Banned words : Performers cannot say certain words. Scene partners will conceive of situations that encourage the actors to use those words, and the actors must find alternatives, such as using synonyms or taking the scene in a new direction.

Scenes from a chat : Audience gives a suggestion for a scene, and players act the scene out. Though it’s a fictional and often ridiculous scenario, actors must react to the situation and solve the problem in order for the scene to end.

Miracle cure : Miracle cure is a quick-moving exercise that follows a simple format. One player declares, “I have a problem.” Another player responds, “I have a….[random object.]” The first player then replies, “great! I can use the [random object] to….” and describes how they will solve the problem.

Check out more problem-solving improv games .

14. Spaghetti Tower

The spaghetti tower is a classic team building game. Participants gather uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows, and must construct the tallest freestanding tower.

During the in-person version, players must construct one tall freestanding tower. However, for the virtual version of the game, players construct individual towers. You can send groups to breakout rooms for the build, then reconvene in the main room for judging. Teams are judged on three main factors: number of towers, height, and uniformity.

This version of the game not only tests the structural integrity of the tower, but also consistency and quality control. This exercise teaches teams to align and collaborate remotely, and produce a consistent product even when far apart.

15. What Would You Do?

What Would You Do? is a simple situational game that challenges participants to react to different circumstances. To play this game, read prompts one by one, and then ask participants to respond with gameplans. You can use the polling or raise hand feature to vote for the best option.

Here are some problem solving scenarios for adults or kids to use in the game:

• Zombies attack and you have to find a place to hide.
• You are at the zoo and the animals escape. Which one do you try to corral back into the pen first?
• After waiting in line for hours, someone cuts in front of you last minute. The person appears to be visually and hearing impaired, and doesn’t notice your protests. An official announces that due to diminishing supply, this individual will be the last in line to be served.
• You are eating a meal with important clients and/or your partner’s parents, and you want to impress. The individuals make you a dish that does not fit within your dietary restrictions, but you do not speak the same language and cannot explain why you do not want to eat.
• An imposter has infiltrated the organization, who looks, speaks, and behaves exactly like you. How do you convince your peers that you are the original?

For similar dilemmas, check out this list of Would You Rather? questions.

16. Desert Island Survival

Desert Island Survival is a game that challenges players to prioritize. The premise is that players have been stranded on an island, and must decide what order to perform survival steps.

Here are the possible actions:

• Set up shelter
• Explore the island
• Try to signal for help
• Make weapons for self-defense
• Build a raft to escape the island
• Start a fire
• Choose a group leader
• Search for other survivors

All group members must agree on the order of the steps. Players should explain the reasoning for the order of each step while ranking the actions.

Another version of the game involves players receiving a list of 15 to 20 items, and selecting five or so to bring to the island. You can also vary the location of the game, substituting remote islands for destinations like outer space or the distant past.

17. Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure stories enable readers to determine the outcome of the story by making decisions. Each action has a consequence that takes the tale in a different direction. Participants can try to guess how the story may unfold by talking through the different choices. When completing the activity in a group setting, the majority of the team must agree on an action before moving forward in the story.

There are a few ways to facilitate these activities online:

• Play an online role playing video game
• Watch an interactive movie like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
• Read from a Choose Your Own Adventure book on Zoom
• Click through a Choose Your Own Adventure platform
• Create your own story using a Google Form

Whichever way you choose to do the exercise, you can use the screen share feature in your virtual meeting software so that listeners can more easily follow along.

18. MacGyver

MacGyver is a show where the hero escapes sticky situations by improvising tools out of unlikely materials. For example, in one episode the hero makes a telescope out of a newspaper, magnifying lens, and a watch crystal.

To play MacGyver, you can either list three to five objects participants can use, or challenge players to use items that are within arms reach.

Simply state a desired end result, such as “a way to open a locked door,” or “a getaway vehicle,” and then ask teams to explain what they will build and how they will build it. To make the activity more collaborative, you can give teams five or ten minutes in breakout rooms to strategize and design a prototype.

19. Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a roleplaying game where players pretend to be magical figures and creatures. One player serves as the dungeon master, who guides the game, while the other players pick characters and make decisions to move the story forward. Upon choosing a course of action, players roll a twenty-sided die to determine whether or not the plan succeeds. The game is story-based, the possibilities are nearly limitless, and truly creative problem solving options arise. Also, since gameplay is mostly verbal, Dungeons & Dragons is an easy activity to do over Zoom.

Here are the basic rules for Dungeons & Dragons .

20. Pandemic

Pandemic is a game that pits players against the forces of nature in a race to contain and control disease outbreaks. At the beginning of the game, each player receives a role such as containment specialist or operations expert. Participants must carry out the duties of their roles by choosing appropriate actions. Pandemic is a great game for groups because each team member has a clear part to play, and players must collaborate and work together instead of competing against each other.

To play the game online, you can use a Pandemic game app , or talk through the exercise while one attendee moves and displays pieces on the board.

Note: The subject of this game might hit too close to home for some players, considering recent history. You can find games with similar mechanics that deal with different subject matter, such as Forbidden Island.

Check out more team building board games .

21. Model UN

Model UN is one of the best virtual problem solving activities for students. This exercise casts participants in the role of international diplomats who must negotiate to solve realistic problems. Each player assumes the role of a country ambassador and must form alliances and propose solutions to solve crises.

Here are some sample Model UN scenarios:

• Human rights violation by powerful country
• Food shortage
• Disease epidemic
• Technology privacy violations
• Civil war branching into surrounding countries
• Natural disasters

Depending on the size of the group, participants either take on the part of an entire government of a country, or play a certain role within the government. To carry out the activity on Zoom, players can take turns giving speeches, message other countries privately via the chat, meet in breakout rooms to form alliances or have more intimate discussions, and use the polling feature to vote on propositions.

If politics does not resonate with your group, then you can alter the exercise by applying the same activity structure to a different theme, such as the Justice League, movie characters, business board members, or reality TV stars.

The main purpose of the exercise is to research, talk through problems, and compromise. As long as these elements are present, then the specifics of the setup do not matter.

There are many types of problem solving activities for adults. You can do online problem solving games, which require a different skill set than in-person problem solving. For instance, communication must be much clearer and more abundant when group members are far apart and unable to demonstrate or pick up physical cues.

Though many problem solving games include props and in-person elements, there are many games you can play together online. These exercises work well as educational tools as well as team bonding accelerators. Upon completion, participants are likely to feel a sense of accomplishment and increased confidence. These games are also great practice for real life conflict resolution, creative thinking and team building.

Next check out this list of connection games , this collection of crime-solving games , and this post with conflict resolution games .

We also have a list of the best decision making books and a list of team building problems for work .

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FAQ: Problem solving activities

Here are common answers to questions about group problem solving activities.

What are problem solving games?

Problem solving games are challenges that ask players to think critically and use logic to overcome issues or answer riddles. Examples include sudoku, murder mysteries, and spaghetti towers. These games are also known as “problem solving exercises”, “problem and solution games” and “group problem solving activities.”

What are the best problem solving games for groups?

The best problem solving games for groups include online escape rooms, moral challenges, and improv games.

What are some good problem solving team building activities for students?

Some good problem solving activities for students include crossword puzzles, choose your own adventure stories, and model UN.

How do you play problem solving games online?

The best way to play problem solving games online is to join a video call meeting to talk through the issue. Using the screen sharing and digital whiteboard features helps participants visualize the problem more clearly. Breakout rooms give teams the chance to discuss the issue more intimately.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com.

Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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How to Watch the Paris 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony Online for Free

From the traditional parade of athletes to a rumored Tom Cruise stunt, here’s a rundown on what you can expect from the Closing Ceremony and how you can stream it for free.

After two weeks of enthralling moments in sports history, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are drawing to a close. 

The Closing Ceremony will take place at the Stade de France, but you don't have to be in the stadium to catch the action live.

Media companies around the globe paid big bucks for the rights to air all the action. In the US, it’s NBC, so streamers will need Peacock or a live TV streaming service with access to NBC. For those who don't need another streaming subscription, a VPN can help tap into some free options from around the globe. Here's all the information you need to watch the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony online for free.

When Is the 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony?

The Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m. ET and is expected to last 2.5 hours.

How to Stream the Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony for Free

In the US, you can watch the Closing Ceremony live on channels like NBC, USA, and MSNBC. If you have cut the cord with cable TV, you can catch the event on NBC's streaming service Peacock , whose subscription starts at $7.99 a month.

But if you wish to stream the ceremony without spending a dime, there's an option for that, too. The BBC iPlayer and several other platforms are streaming the Closing Ceremony for free.

Australia: 9Now - FREE (Whole event)

UK: BBC iPlayer - FREE (more than 250 hours of live coverage)

Canada: CBC Gem - FREE (Whole event on multiple platforms, app only)

The Netherlands: NOS - FREE (more than 200 hours of live coverage)

France: France TV - FREE (200 hours of live coverage)

Germany: ARD / ZDF - FREE (Shared live coverage)

Italy: RAI - FREE (200 hours of live coverage)

Belgium: RTBF (200 hours of live coverage) 

However, these platforms are geo-restricted to their respective countries, and accessing them from any other location would require a virtual private network such as ExpressVPN , which PCMag deemed the best for global location spoofers in our roundup of the best VPN services . VPN services can help you unlock geo-restricted content by hiding your IP address and connecting you to a secure server in a location of your choice.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to watch the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony for free online. We're using 9Now in Australia for demonstration.

Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN.

Download the VPN app on your device (PC or smartphone).

Launch the app and pick a server in the country of your chosen platform (Australia, in this case). 

After establishing a connection, visit your preferred website (9Now) and start streaming the Closing Ceremony.

Note: If the website asks for access to your location, make sure to hit disallow. And if the website requires you to sign up, make sure to enter a local postal code. Also, use the translation services provided by your browser for easier navigation. 

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Of course, not all VPNs for streaming are free . But many of these services offer free trial periods and money-back guarantees, which you can use to watch the Closing Ceremony live.

What to Expect From the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony?

Traditionally, an Olympic Closing Ceremony involves, among other things, a celebratory parade of athletes, some artistic events, and the handing over of the Olympic flag to a representative from the host city of the next Games. In this case, it would be Los Angeles.

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Directed by Thomas Jolly, the ceremony is called " Records " and will feature 100 performers, acrobats, dancers, and circus artists alongside world-renowned singers in various musical performances.

Athletes will walk into the Stade de France with their respective contingents and flag bearers. Team USA's flag bearers would be 14-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky and Paris 2024 gold medalist Nick Mead.

According to TMZ , the ceremony will also feature an aerial stunt by Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise. In a pre-recorded clip, Cruise will reportedly be seen carrying the Olympic flag from Paris to LA and skydiving his way down to the Hollywood sign. 

Officially, Paris 2024 will come to a close with extinguishing the Olympic Flame, but the athletes will party till the wee hours of the morning to celebrate the victories earned and the memories created.

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About Jibin Joseph

Contributor.

Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.

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