Just Puzzling

Good puzzle games are hard to come by. In AAA games, puzzles have mostly been folded into big budget action adventure experiences alongside RPG mechanics and crafting - which tends to make them less interesting due to their secondary focus. But! As you may be shocked to guess, given the entire point of every post in this GOTY collection… indies are where it’s at! The great puzzle games, I mean.

Zeitgeist

A gorgeous short and inexpensive puzzle game with a cool time hopping mechanic. Think that cool level from Titanfall 2, except instead of shooting bad guys in the present and the future, you’re in a world that looks like Sable and you’re solving 3D platforming based puzzles.

Magnus Imago and Magnus Positive Phototaxis

I have very strong feelings about Sons of Welder’s Magnus Failure, and the vibes of Imago and Positive Phototaxis absolutely do not disappoint. Sadly forgoing the isometric top down viewpoint in favour of a more traditional interface driven point and click adventure, the Magnus series is an absolute must play for the vibes alone, not to mention the excellent logic puzzle gameplay. Seriously, go get all of these games like, right now.

Please Fix The Road

A more casual, minimalistic puzzle game where you must take the environmental tiles at your disposal and… you guessed it, fix the road. It’s chill and fun!

Taiji

To land the moniker of “2D The Witness” sounds derivative, but that not only points to what this game is, but also how fantastic it’s open world puzzle design actually is. Puzzle panels focused around an on/off switch system uses a simple mechanic and expands it out in incredible ways. Absolutely deserving of it’s incredibly high Steam review score.

How To Say Goodbye

A wonderful picturesque puzzle game about helping a group of ghosts accept their lot and move forward. The definition of bittersweet, in a good way.

TERRACOTTA

Where a lot of action adventure games usually have the action first and the puzzles second, TERRACOTTA is the opposite. With a beautiful art style and unique setting, this is an easy winner.