What are the most effective puzzle video games on PC? Puzzle video games can include quite a lot of brainteasers, from basic head-scratchers to frustration-fueled issues. Whether or not you’re in search of intelligent dialogue, transferring narratives from wealthy tales, or a wholesome dose of laughter together with your conundrums, puzzle video games are versatile sufficient to discover a technique to do all of it.
This huge style covers all the pieces from point-and-clicks to tetromino trickery and quantum physics capers, and people we’ve listed under are so good they had been even thought of for our listing of the most effective PC video games. Our complete listing outlines the most effective puzzle video games, together with enjoyable video games, co-op video games, and even pirate video games — and some very acquainted faces.
Right here are the finest puzzle video games on PC in 2024:
Animal Nicely
In case you’re a fan of puzzle video games that provide you with little or no course, Animal Nicely could also be what you’re trying to find. Alone within the dimly-lit world, you play as a yellow blob trapped inside an interconnected labyrinth. As you make your method all through the world, you quickly uncover there are 4 zones to discover and uncover, every containing distinctive gadgets to seek out and puzzles to unravel. One of many zones has an space that includes each collectible, so give our Animal Nicely egg places information a learn if you wish to unlock all of those laborious to seek out gadgets.
A part of Animal Nicely’s attraction is with the ability to remedy the thriller of the world by yourself, however we don’t blame you if it is advisable use guides to seek out out all the pieces the sport has to supply. Take a look at our Animal Nicely candles information to seek out all 9 of the gadgets dotted across the map, and we even have an Animal Nicely quick journey information if you wish to zoom across the map. Lastly, don’t neglect to learn our Animal Nicely overview to see what makes this solo-developed sport so particular.
Teardown
We will forgive you for making the idea that the majority puzzle video games are for glasses-wearing nerds, however Teardown proves you don’t have to be a pencil-pushing dweeb to take pleasure in puzzle video games. On this totally destructible voxel world, Teardown places you in conditions the place it is advisable discover the answer to carry out the proper heist. Locked and loaded with an arsenal of damaging instruments, you possibly can create customized options utilizing sticks of dynamite to tear down buildings in seconds.
That includes a totally fledged marketing campaign the place it’s essential to discover a technique to repay your mountain quantity of debt, Teardown places you within the footwear of an individual pressured into prison acts. You’re going to must study to steal automobiles, rob banks, and kill robots that guard large stacks of money. When you end the 40-mission lengthy marketing campaign, there’s a big sandbox to discover if you wish to loosen up and discover new methods to destroy buildings.
Peggle Deluxe
This delightfully easy puzzle sport is enjoyable it doesn’t matter what age you’re. Your purpose is to hit all of the pink pegs, and to make issues thrilling, each degree options pegs overlaid on a enjoyable picture, revealing a cute image once you’re completed. All it is advisable do is consider the physics of every of your pictures, permitting you to fastidiously pick the proper shot and have it ricochet alongside the pink pegs on the board. In fact, you solely have a restricted variety of pictures to perform this job.
There are ten magical powers in Peggle Deluxe which activate once you hit a inexperienced peg, every that includes a capability that helps you clear some pink pegs on the board. For instance, the Flower Energy routinely blooms a number of close by pink pegs with out you needing to hit them. As you make progress within the marketing campaign, you possibly can unlock some wacky powers, together with a magical owl that picks out probably the most optimum shot to earn probably the most quantity of factors. In case you haven’t given this basic puzzle sport a attempt, you want to take action immediately.
Tough Towers
Developer Bizarre Beard takes the basic constructing blocks of the basic puzzle sport, Tetris, and provides physics to the equation. In case you haven’t seen any gameplay, simply think about your Tetris items must take physics into consideration, which means you possibly can’t create skinny stacks of blocks with out worrying about your tower tipping over. You play as a wizard in Tough Towers, offering you with entry to spells that provide help to construct your tower, or cease your opponent from establishing theirs. The result’s a messy, but hilarious expertise that may be performed with a number of folks each on-line.
Islands of Perception
Islands of Perception is a shocking and distinctive puzzle sport set in an enormous, fantasy, open-world setting. As you set out on a peaceable journey the world over’s floating islands, you’ll encounter a few of over 10,000 puzzles, in addition to another gamers sharing the large on-line world with you.
Poppy Playtime
If horror is extra up your avenue, there are tons of nice puzzle video games to select from – together with classics like Resident Evil, the survival horror style simply fits puzzle fixing mechanics.
Poppy Playtime takes inspiration from horror video games earlier than it, reminiscent of 5 Nights at Freddy’s, utilizing the kids’s play space horror trope for an ongoing collection of ‘chapters’ we’re but to see the top of. At present, we’ve reached the third installment within the collection, with every episode happening in a distinct setting, however every using more and more complicated puzzle mechanics whilst you attempt to escape the horrors created by Playtime Inc.
Learn our Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 overview for a spoiler-free run-down of what to anticipate from the collection as a complete, and dive into Chapter 1 to grasp the mechanics of the GrabPack, and the puzzles it’s essential to remedy with it.
Baba is You
Baba is You is a gateway puzzle sport for anybody with a obscure curiosity in studying programming languages. Each object has a selected rule it obeys someplace on the extent. The trick right here is which you can change these guidelines by pushing new objects of their place. For instance, if you wish to grow to be a block, you possibly can push a block instead of the Baba icon in order that the code reads “Block Is You”. It begins easy, however this deceptively lovable puzzle sport will quickly put your logic expertise to the check.
Sizeable
Sizeable is likely to be the lighthearted puzzle sport for many who love a little bit of terraforming. Fixing every puzzle requires altering the scale of objects on the map, reminiscent of making canvas tents larger to bounce a cannonball onto the goal. You may as well have an effect on sea ranges by altering the moon’s dimension or the season by clicking on the solar. It’s a comparatively brief sport in comparison with others on the listing, nevertheless it has loads of secrets and techniques to uncover. In case you want a bit extra convincing, a demo is obtainable on the Sizeable Steam web page so that you can attempt.
Opus Magnum
It could have a extra mechanical look than others on this listing, however Opus Magnum has a lot of the identical programming enchantment as Baba is You. Nevertheless, Opus Magnum is extra targeted on utilizing hexagonal shapes, gears, and droppers to mix components, and it’s immensely satisfying when all the pieces comes collectively. If you ultimately run out of ranges, there’s a Steam Workshop group crafting new puzzles with ever-increasing ranges of complexity. It could be just a few years outdated now, nevertheless it earned excessive reward throughout our greatest video games of 2017 season, and it nonetheless holds as much as this present day.
Unpacking
Take the stress of transferring and switch it on its head with Unpacking. This emotionally charged however enjoyable puzzler tells a significant story whereas reminding its gamers that not everybody inhabits areas the identical method.
Gamers are tasked with discovering houses for all home items, from rest room paper to books and even diplomas. Paying consideration pays off, as acquainted objects and altering places reveal extra concerning the sport’s protagonist and their life’s journey as they transfer from place to put throughout their life. You begin as an voyeur and depart with intimate data of their journey.
With BAFTA award-winning music from Jeff Van Dyck and meticulously detailed pixel artwork, Wren Brier and the crew at Witch Beam ship a home made world. This world doesn’t demand your consideration, however asks for it kindly whereas providing a cup of tea.
Escape Academy
In Escape Academy, preserving your coronary heart charge down is troublesome, as that is one high-pressure puzzle sport. The place typical escape rooms could finish after fixing just a few difficult checks, this intelligent indie is ready in a college of the escape arts, with a curriculum stuffed with intrigue, lacking individuals, and mind-boggling exams to be accomplished.
After a seemingly easy introduction, you’re welcomed into the hallowed halls of the Escape Academy and tasked with battling in opposition to the clock with different college students and your mind. A seasonal campus serves as a becoming backdrop to every set of challenges, with chunky cel-shaded property and totally realized characters inviting gamers down the rabbit gap – no pocket watch wanted.
And, should you wrap up the primary marketing campaign, there’s a season move of DLC stuffed with headache-inducing trickery for these in search of extra scrumptious morsels of thriller.
Return to Monkey Island
Ron Gilbert’s pivotal pirate has returned, taking over enemies outdated and new. On this hotly anticipated follow-up, the Horrible Toybox crew asks vital questions like, ‘What’s nostalgia’, ‘Are you able to preserve a legacy’, and… ‘Is scurvy contagious?’
Be part of Guybrush Threepwood as he searches for objective and eventually seeks the true secret of Monkey Island, with the load of his previous adventures in tow. Threepwood’s charms will not be as efficient in navigating this new, extra trendy pirate world. Nevertheless, a legacy of kindness and intelligent wordplay retains the lovable pirate on the middle of his standard hijinx, quirky quizzes (our information to the Return to Monkey Island trivia playing cards will assist right here), and intriguing point-and-click puzzles.
A vibrant cartoonish artwork type from Rex Crowle places a sensational spin on Monkey Island’s iconic pixelated previous, complemented by scene-stealing characters with massive personalities.
Portal 2
No listing of the most effective puzzle video games can be full with out Portal 2, a legendary journey that may proceed reliving within the highlight lengthy past this listing. Recognized for being a head-tickling story stuffed with sarcasm, turrets, and ground-breaking teleportation tech, the maestros at Valve made certain Portal’s youthful sibling can be one for the historical past books.
After attaining nice success with the unique sport, Portal 2 provides extra bold and strong mysteries to unravel, ones that gamers can strategy in varied methods. All you want is your trusty portal gun, a dose of lateral pondering, and an excellent chunk of luck, and Aperture Science is your oyster. Gamers are tasked with navigating by way of the attractive remnants of a once-futuristic facility to seek out their freedom, in addition to the pockets of lore hidden fastidiously in its partitions. Simply be ready for the game-changing goops and cubes that come to complicate its later puzzles. It’s so good, in reality, that it’s additionally on our listing of the most effective co-op video games.
Tetris Impact
Do your self a favor and play Tetris Impact with headphones on. This intelligent synaesthetic spin-off of the ‘80s basic brings beats and bliss, making stacking blocks really feel emotionally charged. Every degree is tied to dynamic dioramic environments that work together with every transfer, your each determination pulling you deeper right into a cleverly crafted internet from the thoughts of Rez and Lumines’ Tetsuya Mizuguchi.
Outdated-school Tetris ways are nonetheless very welcome right here, however beware, Tetris Impact’s disarmingly stunning imagery could search to distract you from the duty at hand. Discovering a technique to steadiness your consideration between its stunning vistas and the necessity for the best tetromino can prevent from some painful losses as you play by way of its epic marketing campaign, which is aptly named Journey Mode.
The Pedestrian
Discover a new love for industrial imagery with The Pedestrian, a platforming side-scroller providing intelligent sign-based storytelling from a singular perspective. You play as a plucky stick determine who flips, switches, overcomes obstacles, and jumps between literal signage within the 2D house because the bustling 3D world continues round them.
As you piece collectively The Pedestrian’s broader narrative puzzle, you’ll assist your determine pal construct confidence and rearrange highway indicators to maneuver round a large concrete jungle, with all of its anxiety-inducing options entrance and middle, impeding your pathways by way of the sweetly-soundtracked city sprawl.
Return of the Obra Dinn
Strap in your investigative boots and put together to look at what’s left of a once-missing service provider ship in The Return of the Obra Dinn. 5 years since its voyage, this as soon as nice vessel is now a hole shell, stuffed with ghosts and thriller aching to be uncovered.
As an insurance coverage appraiser, gamers should deduce how a ship stuffed with sea people and high quality items may go tragically lacking. Your proverbial magnifying glass is the Memento Mortem, a pocket watch that, when used on a corpse, transports you into the moments proper earlier than their demise. On this death-filled diorama, quick-witted exploration gives clues and details about what occurred on this fateful enterprise. Let’s hope you will have your sea legs, it will likely be a bumpy trip.
The Witness
Waking up on a mysterious island together with your reminiscence lacking will not be probably the most welcoming premise. Nonetheless, by wading into the mysterious waters of The Witness, you could discover a significant message hidden inside this enigmatic indie that makes it effectively definitely worth the puzzling playtime.
On this lonely berg stuffed with luscious biomes, there’s solely ahead movement: Interacting with grid puzzles of various difficulties. The Witness consistently teaches gamers new guidelines and instruments, enabling additional exploration, whereas elective video and audio logs found all through the journey present slivers of knowledge crucial to know the participant’s objective on the island. Look inward as you methodically unlock all of its areas, and should you really feel misplaced, keep in mind to maintain going, as The Witness is just as complicated as your subsequent puzzle.
In case you’ve exhausted this listing of the most effective puzzle video games, why not take a look at our picks for the most effective journey video games on PC? Quite a lot of them share related traits to the titles on this listing, or our listing of the most effective story video games could assist should you’re in search of one thing a bit extra narrative-driven.