Hard puzzle games Pc#

Clones mirror everything you do, regardless of where they’re located. The primary mechanic in The Swapper (on Steam for $15/£12 (opens in new tab)) is the ability to create a few clones of your main character wherever your line of sight and clone-gun reach permits, which then allows you to ‘swap’ to that clone instantly. Kami made this list despite some unnecessary mobile baggage, though, because there's a workaround: if you run out of hints and really want another one, you can just set your system clock to another day.

If a puzzle has us stumped, getting just the first move is really welcome, as it sets us on the right path without removing the sense of accomplishment entirely. So, if you run out of hints for the day, that’s it.

Hard puzzle games Pc#

On mobile, you could pay for extra hints, but on PC (where it’s a reasonable $4/£2.79 on Steam (opens in new tab)), there are no microtransactions. The only problem we have with Kami is the baffling inclusion of a daily hint limit. The colors schemes are gorgeous, too, and the music is sweet and relaxing-it feels to us like an excellent companion for a mid-afternoon cup of coffee. It feels great when it clicks, and the way Kami’s rough sheets of colored paper magically fold themselves away is mesmerizing. The principle is straightforward, but identifying the most efficient path requires seeing several moves ahead, and after the tutorial puzzles it can take a lot of thought. The basic technique is to start by unifying the largest shapes, surrounding any odd colored islands, and then swapping the large area to match those isolated squares. Kami’s rules are simple: click on any pattern of contiguous squares of the same color to change them to another color of your choosing, and try to make the whole sheet the same color in as few moves as possible. We'll add to this list in the future, too, dropping in new games, or older ones if we revisit them and decide the ought to have a place here. We’re looking for more contemplative games here-you know, chin scratchers, brow furrowers, hair puller-outers, games that are going to stump you. And with that as our goal, we haven’t included games like Peggle, which aren't really puzzling, or Tetris, which wouldn’t be quite so challenging if time weren't an issue. We've also narrowed our definition of 'puzzle game.' We hope you’ll find a game on this list that you haven’t played before, that’ll test your problem solving skills and ingenuity, and give you that fuzzy wave of relief and pride every time you have a breakthrough. Of all the classic PC game genres, puzzle games are among the most classic, but for this list of recommendations, we've haven't tried to rank the greatest puzzlers in the history of everything-just great, modern games we think you'll enjoy a lot right now.