PPG Game Of The Year 2024 - 05 - Positively Puzzling
Another year with a wide variety of puzzle games for the thinkers out there. If you're after brain bending stare-at-the-screen-for-ages games, quick repeatable fun, unfolding environmental puzzles or just are a fan of the classic sokoban, 2024 has you covered.
Mobile Suit Baba (itch)
Tactical Pixel Puzzling
Baba is You fell into the Into The Breach universe and needs your help to solve a bunch of tactical puzzles. Get in the mech, Baba.
Islands of Insight
Open World Puzzles
It's a bit of a bummer to see the multiplayer part of this open world puzzle game shut down so quickly, but at least the silver lining remains of the game being fully playable offline. The puzzle game part is still very cool!
Epigraph
Language Deciphering Puzzle
A short, challenging game that drills down on a singular large puzzle to solve around deciphering an unknown language. Very much a notebook game.
Mimic Logic
Logic Deduction Puzzles
A clever use of both the top down RPG aesthetic as well as the classic RPG enemy the treasure chest mimic to create fun and interesting logic puzzles in a procgen roguelike fashion.
Boxes: Lost Fragments
Magical Puzzle Box
It's kind of stunning how long it's taken for someone to properly riff on the The Room games. Great tactile feel with great interlocking puzzles.
Tents and Trees
Strategic Tent Placement
Place your tents among the trees on a grid based on the numbers at the edges of each row/column. Kind of a bit Picross.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Handcrafted Mystery
A "non-linear mystery with an immense amount of handcrafted puzzles" Set within an enigmatic mansion. Easily one of the best puzzle games to come out in years.
Paper Trail
Papercraft Ideas
Not only is the art style papercraft, but the puzzles presented use the unique physicality of paper in clever and fun ways.
The Court of Wanderers
Abstract Open Area
Sokoban puzzle game with abstract shapes where you never know what's going to be behind the next door. Solve puzzles in each world in any order you like.
Isle of Sea and Sky
Open World Sokoban
One of the top puzzle games of the year with a great aesthetic and fun open world puzzle design. A bit of a metroidvania style ability unlock path helps keep the game fresh throughout.
Hauntii
Isometric 2D Bullet Hell Adventure
More meaty experience than first expected, possess enemies as you journey through the afterlife in search of fragmented memories.
Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom
Perspective Environmental
Guide your little king through a fantastical world, repairing a kingdom in perspective puzzles in Monument Valley style discreet levels.
You Have To Climb Out
Bite Sized Narrative Platforming
2D sidescrolling puzzle game that's nice and short and cheap. Move blocks to create paths and continue to dig your way out of the hole you are in.
Towerheart (EA)
Narrative Sokoban Puzzler
Feels like it takes inspiration from the fantastic Void Strangers. Has a narrative throughline, a ton of puzzles and a cool tile swap mechanic that feels ripe for secret hunting.
The Rise of the Golden Idol
Logic Deduction, Fascinating Lore
Full sequel follow up to one of the best puzzle games out there. More of the same piece-it-together puzzling, but even better than before. I think the brilliance behind this type of game is that you can look up solutions if you want to, sure, but to actually make progress you have to be thinking about not just the logic of the puzzles, but the narrative, the background lore, the characters and their motivations, all of it. Everything ties together to draw you in to the story being told, so there’s no way you can’t not fall for it’s fascinating world.
And The Best Puzzle Game Of 2024 Is…
Animal Well
Puzzle Focused Metroidvania
One of the best puzzle games of recent memory. Several layers of puzzles in a brilliantly designed interconnected world. Learning the world is key to advancing. The sense of discovery is rarely matched here. To say more would be to spoil it - it’s a must play, don’t look up more, just go do it.