Army of Numbers
As a math nerd, I love it. I’m happy that there’s finally a quick game I can play to relax that still makes me think instead of just brainlessly push buttons and swipe. This is what this genre should be.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Abstract Games.
Most fun with maths that i have had
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Patterna
An enjoyable puzzle game, Patterna kept my attention for dozens and dozens of hours. You need to determine which cells are or are not marked as part of ‘the pattern’ based on given distribution/adjacency information, somewhat akin to Minesweeper or Hexcells. Like the latter of those, all puzzles are set up in a way that you never strictly need to make a random guess.
The thing that’s really singular about Patterna in my view is the robustness of the random level generator. I was able to find settings that generated interesting random puzzles more often than not. The only issue is that sometimes the chain of reasoning was difficult enough that I needed to break out pen and paper and brute force the next move, which generally felt more like bookkeeping than entertainment. On the whole, though, the game did a good job of hitting a reasonable middle ground of difficulty.
– Real player with 97.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Puzzle Games.
In short: Patterna is a challenging hard-logic puzzle game with a steep learning curve. The mechanics are varied and the replayability infinite, but it is very rough around the edges with poor and sometimes frustrating implementation. If you have a low tolerance for bad UI, stay away. If you can stomach that and are a seasoned veteran of logic games, Patterna is well worth buying at full price.
In long: The developer himself compares Patterna’s mechanics to Hexcells, and one can immediately see the inspiration. But Patterna is far from a knock-off, does its own thing and expands gameplay well beyond the scope of Hexcells. Nodes may be revealed or not, may be part of a pattern or not, may carry information about nodes around them up to a distance of 3, may describe the length of the chain they are part of, may have up to 4 colors, may be unlinked, linked or directionally linked, etc. The complexity is smart and truly awe-inspiring, but comes at a cost:
– Real player with 74.7 hrs in game
TOK HARDCORE
Nice little game, the levels consist of rotating pieces to make up a circuit. With a time limit for each move.
So logically working out the only possible way a piece can go and working backwards from there.
There are 60 levels, its well worth at try and great value even at the full price
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Programming Games.
Simple but elegant puzzle game. The puzzles themselves are very simple to solve, but given the limited number of moves allowed (basically you can make just a couple of mistakes) and the fact that you are on a timer make TOK mildly challenging and therfore suitable for some casual gaming if you have a couple of minutes to spare.
I wonder if this game concept would also work with procedurally generated levels? Would be especially nice if the player could choose the size of the playing field.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Hack Grid
Full disclosure: I was a playtester for this game.
In Hack Grid each level has a different setup of pieces and trails within a 4x4 grid (sometimes it’s smaller).
In order to move a piece, it must have a straight line of trails or empty sockets leading to a differently colored piece. What makes the grids interesting is not only the different setups of pieces, but also the way the trails connect between them; It varies from level to level, and sometimes the lack of a direct trail between two pieces can trip you up, if you are not paying enough attention to the trails.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Do you have some free time during your evening? Do you like puzzle games? Are you nostalgic for DOS aesthetics? Great, then Hack Grid is a game just for you!
This is a well-made game. Sure, it’s relatively short, but I think it has just enough puzzles to explore its simple, yet entertaining gameplay. I didn’t encounter any bugs, it runs smoothly. Graphics are minimalistic, very nice, and you can spice them up a little with CRT filter. Puzzle themselves have a right level of difficulty, and you get some new mechanic once in a while, so you don’t get bored.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Repit
my butt hurts a little, but it’s so cool
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
From what I’ve seen so far, it’s a pretty solid game. I also like a lot the simple art. I don’t know if there were supposed to be music or SFX, because I didn’t hear any. I think working on that would make the game better :)
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
The Steps as we know them
The Steps As We Know Them is a nice restricted-movement path-finding puzzle game using some movements as per usual of chess pieces. While it uses the chess pieces and in some ways imitate the standard moving patterns of the pieces, the actual game has very little to do with chess. The game could be given a completely different skin and would still make perfect sense without the chess pieces.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
all I know about chess is how each piece moves, and it’s more than enough for the steps as we know them. in fact, you can go in completely blind, as the game will tell you all the relevant rules as they come up.
6 worlds are laid out like chess boards connected with colored areas serving as separate puzzles. each world features a different chess piece, though their movement doesn’t immediately or always match the real thing. for example, the bishop moves like a pawn until it steps on a special purple tile that unleashes its signature diagonal move.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
U27RA R3Z0NANC3
One of the most charming games I’ve ever played! It’s teaming with humor, along with a heartfelt “tail” of two brothers! The visuals and animations are soothing and the soundtrack is top notch! (It’s also on bandcamp and Dumivid’s Youtube channel for casual listening!)
And the puzzles are nothing to scoff at! Are you overthinking that one level? Or not thinking it through enough?! (Level 7 comes for us all!) Reaching the end is a commendable feat! The journey is more than worth it to reach it!
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Sokoban puzzle + cats - expensive = 100 levels of retrowave cat resonance. Avoid obstacles, make sure colors match and move yarn around to solve the puzzles. Easy to redo stages.
Follow our curator for similar games
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Voxelgram
Voxelgram is a three dimensional Picross/nonogram puzzle game, where solving puzzles in 3D adds a layer of complexity and difficulty, but also a sense of satisfaction.
Unfortunately, there’s a steep learning curve to figuring out puzzles in 3D, especially if you’re accustomed to solving puzzles in 2D, and the tutorial puzzles do a very poor job of teaching the player. Once you get over that hump, however, the game quickly becomes engrossing and addictive.
PROS:
- Colorful and varied puzzles.
– Real player with 746.0 hrs in game
Achievements: Pretty straightforward and easy. There’s no time limits or penalties for mistakes, you just need to complete puzzles.
Voxelgram is incredibly reminiscent of a game back on the Nintendo DS called “Picross 3D”. I enjoyed that game immensely and I was really excited to see a similar game crop up on Steam. It’s a fun take on the usual picross format wherein the player essentially sculpts objects by removing pieces based on the hints marked on the sides. That is to say, where a normal picross game would have the player reveal 2D images, Voxelgram has the player reveal 3D objects. This makes it even more fun to see the puzzle come together.
– Real player with 237.9 hrs in game
Alpha Particle
Alpha Particle is one of the most innovative, creative games I’ve played in a while, a really fresh take on the genre. If you’re curious and up for a challenge, give it a go. Be prepared to explore and experiment. Check it out!
Like a top-down shooter but you can’t shoot so you have to get creative. A fast-paced thinking man’s game with highly polished graphics and sleek gameplay. Loads of variety. Unique, challenging, fun
For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
What is Alpha Particle?
Your going to have to find out and you’re going to have an awesome time doing so.
Excellent level design,imaginative enemies,rewarding progression all wrapped in an amazing digital blanket sound track.
Rock solid game.
Play it now!
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Bean and Nothingness
Only a couple worlds in and this game has already had a good few fantastic puzzles (and some very tricky ones I’ll need to get back to). The monster types are cool and its interesting to deduce the properties of new ones as you solve the areas simpler puzzles and then really apply what you’ve learned to the later ones. I can’t wait to see more of the monsters and figure out how they work.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
Good puzzles and a lot of them. I can’t describe the game any better than the game description already does. It’s accurate. I’m pleasantly surprised by the ability to watch my old solutions from the demo while replaying puzzles, complete with waffling about wasting turns.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game