As video games try harder to make players sweat over the controls, it's important that they never lose the ability to challenge a gamer's mind. Solving a puzzle, especially one with a time limit, can be even more intense than a health-sponge boss in a Soulsborne game.
There's a balance to crafting a good puzzle game. If it's too difficult and players will be spending more time with the online guides than in the game. At that point, it's just a typing simulator. But if it gets too easy, it becomes boring. Those who make great puzzle games have mastered a balance that eludes many of the best development studios, making them worthy of recognition and praise.
5 Roki
Roki is a deceptively simple point-and-click game. It's accessible for most people who decide to play, even non-gamers. The story is the hook, full of intrigue that gives gamers an incentive to tackle the puzzles that stand in their way.
Great co-op puzzle games usually have to sacrifice the plot for gameplay. Roki, being single-player, makes no such sacrifices. Interacting with the beautiful artwork in the environment to progress forces immersion for eyes as they try to find solutions.
4 Unpacking
Click and drag is more associated with jigsaw puzzles than gaming puzzles, but Unpacking challenges this standard with a new spin. Gamers take control of a household that has just moved and open up boxes only to put those items away.
Aside from the fun music and hidden details, there is not much to dislike about Unpacking. For a puzzle game, there is a shocking amount of personal opinion permitted. Items like soccer balls and magazines have multiple right answers in real life and Unpacking takes account of this opinion within the game.
3 Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon
Puzzle games can be the perfect way to relax or they can be a fever dream. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon tends strongly toward the latter. As the screen fills up, gamers will have their hands full trying to keep the gem meter topped off and digging that the most important block at that time.
Even outside of the immediate game, there are characters to unlock and moves to consider. The game's title character once made a big splash in the platforming world, but the jump to puzzle gaming has been buttery smooth.
2 Tetris Effect: Connected
Tetris Effect: Connected is listed as an expansion, but this is, in essence, its own game. In fact, the game contains the original game, for those who want to keep it simple and challenge only their own minds. The journey is satisfying and replayable.
But the online play is the source of why Tetris Effect: Connected is listed as the third-best game of the year on Metacritic. The co-op modes will create good friendships while going head-to-head will make lasting enemies. When it comes to intense gameplay, there is no competition for getting pieces down with very little room to go.
1 It Takes Two
The Game Awards this year delivered an absolute shocker when It Takes Two took home the coveted Game of the Year award. That is, it was a shocker for those who didn't play it. Everybody else had a hard time convincing themselves anything else deserved to be on the stage.
Besides being one of the best split-screen games on the PlayStation 5, It Takes Two forced players to work together and solve puzzles. The result was a thrilling ride that combined the best aspects of Portal with multiplayer Mario.