/arcade/ - vidya gaems and other gaems too

Separating out my own initial post for a cleaner OP.
Finally tried The Talos Principle recently. I´m more fond of The Witness, but it´s not bad. Just has a bit of a problem with the puzzle complexity, in that either I can run through them without really thinking, or they´re so hard you have to really scratch your head quite a bit. Not many medium ones inbetween.
Also started on Exapunks, it´s nice. Already really liked TIS-100 and it´s kinda similar but with a fresh take on it, though I´m not really into that faux hacker aesthetic.
Got the Hexcells complete pack on the steam sale, played infinite before and loved it. Playing them in order is much more of an easing into it slow dive. Such calm games. That smooth soundtrack.
Picked up Cypher by the same dev too. Cryptography based puzzles. Some solutions made me laugh. It´s very barebones, you have to solve them on paper or using whatever other method you come up with, the game just gives you the cypher itself and nothing more.

I like Stephen's Sausage Roll, it's low commitment, fast to boot up and solve a couple of puzzles. It has a similar feeling to paper and pen puzzles to me. When you're stuck on a solution it's not really frustrating, it's easy to sleep on and try again later.

Not really a puzzle video game, but I've started playing Go (abstract strategy board game) recently, and doing tsumego problems are essentially puzzles. It might be interesting to look into, but the actual matches could be stressful, as any strategy board game can be.

Otherwise, some good puzzle videogames I've enjoyed are Baba is You and Spacechem. Baba is You is a cute Sokoban-type game with the gimmick of being able to change objects. Spacechem is a pretty difficult game about making a machine to automatically make chemicals.
A lesser-known puzzle game I found interesting is Starseed Pilgrim, a pretty cryptic game about planting seeds and exploring the area around you with little to no guidance. It seems like it garnered some mild controversy for the pretentiousness of some reviewers, but it was pretty enjoyable when I played it.

Not sure if it's puzzle exactly, it's to niche to make it's own thread too, but I like "hidden object games". Most of them are point and click games with half the objects found after you go thought a hidden object mini game. The games also have a lot more mini puzzle segments then a normal point and click. Depending on the game the hidden object parts could have nice intricate backgrounds or shitty photobashed art barely holding it together.
The main buyers of these games seem to be bored moms/grandams who don't buy into the whole "I just beat this hard level" shtick, so the games are dirt easy. If they're hard the game has a "skip minigame?/Skip object search?/Show next step?" button with the only downside being a 30 sec cooldown period or a not giving all the rewards and "true ending",
which the average audience does not care about. The easiness makes it pretty comfy.
Kind of hope the genre gets more mainstream attention because I think it's features could be toyed around with into something interesting. I wanna see a game that plays around with regional dialects or esl. Would be nice to make a game were the user has to guess what dialect a word with multiple meanings is, Coke as in soda or Cola? Pitcher picture or drink holder?

>>1224
SSR has a really unique feel to it. Though I gotta admit that when I tried it out sometime last year, I couldn´t actually solve a single puzzle…
Gave it another go now though, already solved three. Maybe I was just in a bad brainspace last time around.
>>1225
Baba is def. one of the puzzle game GOAT.
For some reason Zachtronics other games than TIS-100/Exapunks never clicked for me.
>>1226
I have some nice memories of being sick home from school playing some Agatha Christie hidden-object game since I didn´t have the energy to do anything more involved. They often have a really nice atmosphere.
It´s quite simple mechanically, so if you feel inspired to try your hand at amateur gamedev you should go for it. It´s a niche genre, so if you feel inclined to take it in a new direction chances are it´s up to you.

Tried out Snakebird a bit. Tile movement based puzzles. Pretty decent. Doesn´t spend too much time on the easy intro stuff, gets right into it after you´ve been showed how stuff works.

>>1236
It gets so hard so fast. Somehow I think it's even harder than Baba Is You, which is saying something.

Tried out another puzzler, minimalistic thing called Hook from 2015. (pics related, unsolved states no spoilers)
Gave it a shot because of how aesthetically pleasing it looked from screenshots, didn´t like it that much sadly. You are to pull all pins, but they can intersect or be blocked by hooked pins. Got ~30 puzzles deep and it never felt like you were really figuring anything out, just doing a bunch of busywork to manipulate it into endstate. Mental manual labour.
>>1237
I´d say it has to do with it being both more strict and freeform at the same time. In Baba you always have some pointers as to what you should/could do, from the available pieces, whereas Snakebird there´s a very narrow possible space of how you could wiggle through but all you have to go by is logical hunches and trial & error.
I kinda miss a solution replay feature actually, because in the last two puzzles I spent a lil while trying to actively figure out the solution, then solved them when I let my mind drift without paying attention so I had no idea what I actually did.

>>1238
It's one reason I'm not a huge fan of Snakebird in the first place- I never really feel like there's much logical problem solving going on when I go through a level. It just feels like I'm going through all possible permutations until the level is over.

Just so I contribute something here, let's see.

I tentatively offer this one as a 'puzzle' game, but YMMV: Nauticrawl is one of those games where you're faced with an alien interface and you're tasked to figure out how it works, and then some. Very interesting and unique experience, highly recommended.

I like this series of games. They are point and click games centred around puzzle boxes. Maybe not quite comfy with the lovecraft theme though.

>>1239
I feel there is less just permutation crawling and more thinky as you get further on, not sure if it´s the level design that changes or just from digesting how the system works. At least that´s how the gameplay has evolved the sessions I´ve done, more time spent pondering and actively figuring it out than blind wiggling.
Current progress attached, only looked up hints for one of the early (one of 3-5). Ruined some of the fun in Talos Principle by being too impatient and looking up solutions instead of giving it a rest and trying again next session with a fresh mind.
>>1248
I figure the comfy of the experience is more important than the theme of the media. Reading books in a nice chair bundled up with a blanket and tea is still comfy even if it´s a horror story.
I felt kinda undecided about the games after finishing them, though I definitely enjoyed the playthroughs. The mood is perfect, but felt like the puzzles didn´t have that much oumph. Probably just the right level for the market demographic I´d guess and that´s fine. IIRC the first two games were mostly just find-the-thing and match-the-shape, but the third did some more interesting stuff?

Found another cryptography puzzle game, a free one. Either online at https://manansingh.github.io/The-CryptoGame/thecryptogame_files/index.html or just download it zipped from https://github.com/mananSingh/The-CryptoGame for offline.
Much more hand-holdy than Cypher, longer format explanations of the current method, less to figure out (as far as I've tried it at least, on chapter 3). Tools to solve the cryptograms are included. It kinda feels like if someone had made a game out of mathbook exercise problems. Not a bad thing, just a mood.

>>1222
Besieged and Baba is You. Both very fun games

>>1254
talos principle is so good, i've somehow played through it three times. it drags a bit near the end, but the writing is so great.

oh and before i don't contribute anything again, i occasionally play a few games of this: https://gridentify.com/ fun little distraction. make 3s and 6s, never 4s or 9s EVER, is my hint.

>>1222
Here's a site full of cool short puzzle games (though not all of the are): https://increpare.com/
One game I particularly enjoyed was Make Way!: https://increpare.com/game/make-way.html

>>1291
Nice one. Would give it a go.