Puzzle Games Megathread - Feel brilliant and dumb at the same time

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Puzzle Games Megathread - Feel brilliant and dumb at the same time

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

WhiteHowler posted:

Hexcells / Hexceed - Do you like Minesweeper? Well, this is MUCH better Minesweeper. I'd recommend picking up Hexceed for free on Steam, then dropping a few bucks on a huge pack of new levels if you enjoy it.

I really liked Hexcells and its sequels, but there were often chains of boring/easy steps you have to click through. I found that to be the case even more so with Hexceed (though I'm not too far into it). A game in the same sort of style that doesn't have that problem and has tons of pretty and expertly hand-crafted levels is Tametsi. Note: Tametsi is not easy, so you should probably have some prior experience with something that builds upon the Minesweeper idea (e.g. Hexcells sequels or Hexceed or Globesweeper or Hexologic or Patterna etc.)

WhiteHowler posted:

Superliminal - Another non-linear environment game along the lines of Antichamber. I haven't played this one yet, but I've seen good feedback on it.

It does some unique things, and I'm glad I experienced it, but I don't think it's well designed as a puzzle game or a narrative game. It's more like a bunch of disconnected weird puzzle-esque experiences that seem to be mimicking Portal in some ways, but without building upon any one mechanic significantly, nor the strength of narrative or humor of something like the Portal games.

dirby fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jun 6, 2021

# ¿ Jun 6, 2021 03:44

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# ¿ May 23, 2024 17:48

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

OCTOPTICOM is another good one under spatial manipulation. It involves manipulating beams of colored light to produce various output images. I think the steam preview image is pretty illustrative:

Thanks for sharing this! The look of OCTOPTICOM reminds me a bit of the old Chromatron, which it seems was far from the first game with colored lasers, according to the article Reflections on a Design.

dirby fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Jun 7, 2021

# ¿ Jun 6, 2021 13:06

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Superrodan posted:

This year we're going to tackle Manifold Garden

I enjoyed Manifold Garden, though I got lost once or twice and it's not the longest of games.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2021 23:14

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Venuz Patrol posted:

another game that doesn't ever hold back is Snakebird, which has a cutesy mobile game aesthetic that does not at all prepare you for how brutally difficult it is.

Because of that they went back and made the more-approachable Snakebird Primer later.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2021 03:55

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

WhiteHowler posted:

Are you looking for a classic Mahjong game (four-handed with multiplayer or AI) or the "make the tiles go away" solitaire games that use Mahjong tiles?

If the former, see the Mahjong thread. If the latter, someone her may know.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2021 19:04

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

ultrafilter posted:

I just played through Krystopia: A Puzzle Journey and I would definitely recommend it.

It looks kind of like a micro version of The Witness. I'm intrigued.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2022 18:54

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Discendo Vox posted:

Witness parody The Looker is now out:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985690/The_Looker/

It's not great. But it's also free. v :shobon:

# ¿ Jun 22, 2022 16:51

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

KNR posted:

Zachlike Supaplex may or may not end up being an accurate shorthand.

Supaplex as a shorthand for "Boulder Dash clone"? (My first was Heartlight PC.) Or does Supaplex have a specific take that CHR$(143) matches?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2022 12:32

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Pigbuster posted:

Tandis is out! It rules! Actually playing it feels as cool as I was hoping, it feels really natural to squoosh these simple shapes into the solution. Or into geometric nightmares.

Goon Boots posted:

If you like mathy puzzle games, check out Tandis (and its predecessor Engare, available as a bundle right now)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297210/Tandis/

Your goal is to take a simple 2D surface and use a series of coordinate transforms to turn it into a more complex 3D object

You don't need to know any complex math for this, you are just dragging shapes around and seeing the results of the transformations, which is pretty pleasing to watch

As a math person, I didn't expect Tandis to become challenging for me as early on as it did. It's a weird game and I need to give it real effort, but it's so unique and beautiful I feel this thread should know about it.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2022 04:37

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

I just discovered "Bombe", which I almost want to call "Mathematician's Minesweeper".

Basically, you make a claim like "If a region with 2 bombs intersects a region with 1 bomb, leaving only one cell left over, that one cell contains a bomb", the computer checks if that's always true, and either gives you a counterexample or adds it to your list of rules that are automatically applied to all puzzles going forward. So you're programming a minesweeper solver one deduction rule at a time.

It's a great idea, and the auto-checking of your proposed rules is lovely to have. The one unfortunate thing is that the interface is unintuitive, and looks real bad. Once you figure out how to do things, making rules like the one above isn't hard. But you'll always have unneeded stuff on screen and not every quality of life feature and the initial learning curve was rough.

Maybe watch a video like this over reading instructions in-game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ShHxPg3UY

# ¿ Jun 19, 2023 05:19

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Discendo Vox posted:

edit: yeah, the rule system can't contain the power of my five-step deductions, I've got to be able to have a way to compress these somehow.

Not certain if you figured that out, but you can absolutely define a region as soon as you solve 20 puzzles. Just click a number (or number like thing, like 0/2 or 2+) and put it in one or more action spots (where broom or bomb icons would go in a rule).

dirby fucked around with this message at 11:10 on Jun 19, 2023

# ¿ Jun 19, 2023 09:41

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Argue posted:

edit: what's the full version get me? I've been playing 6 hours and am still on the demo

Aside from a ton more levels and interesting types of levels and game modes and such, the big thing you'll get if you buy the full game and just let your rules run on the expanded level packs is variables. Playing through even the whole demo without them is kind of not the intended way to play.

Solving most of the demo is likely to buy you two variables in the full game. And even one variable is a game-changer where you'll want to back up and then refresh your rules (and why not the levels, too) to start over with a streamlined variable-using ruleset.

Resetting levels or rules does not remove any of your unlocks.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2023 14:21

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Hastily made a Bombe thread. Suggestions very welcome.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2023 19:12

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

StrixNebulosa posted:

Are there any good logic-based puzzlers on sale

Some non-Zachtronic highlights among those tagged "Logic":

14 Minesweeper Variants
Dorfromantik
Colorful Colore
Hexcells Infinite (and the preceding games - the trio is a steal at $2.69 in the US)
Linelith
Tandis
The Pedestrian
Voxelgram
Delete
Puddle Knights
Tametsi
A=B
Stuffo the Puzzle Bot
Bean and Nothingness

dirby fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Jul 5, 2023

# ¿ Jul 5, 2023 02:27

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

VictualSquid posted:

Does anybody have a recommendation for the most Bombe like game available on Android?

Nothing is really like Bombe, but maybe you want Sixcells or Hexologic?

# ¿ Jul 5, 2023 13:39

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

StrixNebulosa posted:

Hello! Does anyone know how to find more logic puzzle grids like the type found here? https://logic.puzzlebaron.com/

These are sometimes known as Einstein (style) puzzles, which at least finds an Android app (don't know about its quality).

# ¿ Aug 7, 2023 03:12

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

It sounds like it deserves a thread.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2023 21:07

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

VictualSquid posted:

スイカゲーム and it looks like fun. Does anybody know of a similar game on PC or Android?

Never heard of it before, but searching the name pulls up what appears to be the official Android version.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2023 14:28

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

WhiteHowler posted:

I've been playing through the Rusty Lake games the past couple of weeks. It's an excellent puzzle/adventure series with a creepy backstory.

Rusty Lake Hotel - Explore the rooms of the hotel's eccentric guests; each one feels a bit like a small escape room. The developer's first "real" game, so it's a little bit janky. The narrative doesn't tie directly into the subsequent games, but it sets a proper tone.

Rusty Lake Roots - The best of the series by far, you navigate the hosed-up family tree of the Vanderboom family. Scenes tend to be very short, each with a few environmental puzzles. But there are a lot of them, and the game is well-paced.

Rusty Lake Paradise - The Vanderbooms have a private island, which is exactly as bizarre (and puzzle-filled) as you might think. More refined than the previous two games, but the chapters sometimes feel too long, and there's a lot of backtracking through certain areas. This feels slightly more like an adventure game than a puzzle game, but there are still some great puzzles.
...
Anyway, definitely check these out for a fun narrative puzzle experience. The entire franchise is on Steam, and the games cost between $2-6.

Those three games are 40% off for Steam's Halloween sale.
(Also some other puzzle games that I think no one has spoken about in this thread like Line Path, Slap The Rocks, and Colorgrid. I have no idea how any of those are, though.)

dirby fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Oct 30, 2023

# ¿ Oct 30, 2023 19:43

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

As someone who never got around to finishing Talos 1, it seems like there's enough discussion of Talos 2 to warrant its own thread.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2023 15:42

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

Incidentally, here is the Outer Wilds thread.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2023 05:33

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# ¿ May 23, 2024 17:48

dirby: Sep 21, 2004; Helping goons with math

I haven't gotten to try it yet, but Epigraph sounds like an excellent language-dechiphering puzzle at around 10 hours. It's also $3 US.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2024 04:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Puzzle Games Megathread - Feel brilliant and dumb at the same time