Support NeoGAF

[Bragr]

With modern, I mean games after 2010. In my opinion, these are the top puzzles games right now:

- The Talos Principle
- The Witness
- Opus Magnum

I find that The Witness leans too heavily on the sort of puzzles where you have to struggle to find the answer. Jonathan Blow is all about that sort of design, but it can get tedious when most of the puzzles follow the same principle and you always end up feeling that you are staring into the void until you figure it out. You end up trying many different combinations until you get a "eureka moment". That said, the game is generally fantastic, but it's built for a very particular type of puzzle fan.

Opus Magnum is the opposite, it's all about building solutions towards the answer.

I find that The Talos Principle is the best of both worlds, it also manages to structure an interesting story within all the puzzling.

Regarding Obra Dinn, I find the art style is painful to look at. I think Lucas Pope went too far in developing a unique look. It also took me a good 2 hours before it hooked me in. But it's a creative game that stands out and perhaps it should be switched out with Opus Magnum.

 

[kiphalfton]

Talos Principle had too much reading.

 

[Kuranghi]

The Witness and The Talos Principle are two of my favourite games of all time, not just the best puzzle games of the last 10 years, although I've never played Mist or Riven or <let me know other classic puzzle games you recommend> so maybe I'm not comparing to the best.

I haven't played Opus Magnum yet so will give it a shot soon. I tried Obra Dinn for an hour or two and after that time I still wasn't exactly sure what I was doing in a way that made it frustrating so I stopped. I didnt mind the art style but I had to change it to one of the alternate filters to make it look decent on the telly, but that a tech issue.

Thinking back I want to say TW has the best holy shit moments, although TTP maybe has more consistently great moments that weren't quite as "holy shit" as discovering that one overarching secret element in TW (Don't want to spoil that so being vague, its one of my best gaming moments of all time, shared with a friend as well) but on their own still add up to the same level of greatness for me. The "working outside the box" element of TTP is more spread across the game rather than in one or two moments that then lead to the Eureka moment in TW, as you call it.

I think though, if I had to choose one for someone to play based on them wanting the most full and thought provoking experience (with more general logic solutions than "new logic" solutions) I'd say play The Talos Principle, because the story is actually there and the philosophical side of it isn't in large part lectures, speeches and video clips (mostly extremely interesting and enjoyable for me personally mind, I'm not knocking them) that you could've seen on youtube without the game. Its a cleverly constructed narrative that secretly makes you learn about philsophical concepts and has you engage in some sort of agency rather than just going everywhere you can until everything is done in TW.

Talos Principle had too much reading.

 

[DragoonKain]

The Talos Principle is one of my all-time favorites. I need part 2 in the worst way. I can't express how much fun I had with that game. I love puzzle games.

Try Manifold Garden, it was great. Came out last year.

 

[ButchCat]

I love puzzle games but every time I tried playing The Talos Principle I felt sick.

I don't remember the exact year Braid was released but that was another brilliant game.

People need to try Gorogoa, heavily underrated.

 

[Kuranghi]

I love puzzle games but every time I tried playing The Talos Principle I felt sick.

I don't remember the exact year Braid was released but that was another brilliant game.

People need to try Gorogoa, heavily underrated.

Braid was excellent, 100%'d it with a friend in an afternoon, took so long to do the hardest part but we couldn't stop til it was done. Gorogoa was great too yeah, nice and succint as well, they could've easily drawn it out too much.

For the bolded part, do you mean you get sick because of the first person perspective? On PC you can hit "H" to change to 3rd person view, not sure if thats a feature in the console versions though.

I really want someone to play through The Talos Principle with, a lot of the solutions and secrets are still too fresh for me so replaying it myself won't be nearly as fun.

Anyone who wants to play it fancy live streaming it, I love to join in and watch someone else solve the puzzles, even can provide hints when stuck if they want.

 

[Bragr]

<let me know other classic puzzle games you recommend>

Baba Is You is one of the best of recent times, but you probably knew that. The Swapper is also excellent, a little older but it was a media darling.

If you have a 3DS or DS, the Mario and the Minis games are really good puzzle games. Crashmo and Pushmo are also really good, although I don't remember if they came out after 2010.

Of course, on the PC, there is a massive amount of solid puzzle games, my favorites of recent times are the 2 Train Valley games.

 

[Anki]

I vote for portal 2.

 

[ManaByte]

Hexic

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Played both The Witness and The Talos Principle (the former a top 10 of the last generation) and both crossed over into narrative pretentiousness toward their respective endings. The quality of the puzzles were superb in both.

Portal series deserves a spot, IMO. It’s not just the puzzles but all the dressage it employs (to superb effect).

EDIT: Btw, if you enjoy puzzle games, try out Maquette. I was pretty taken with it, to my own surprise.

 

[Kuranghi]

Baba Is You is one of the best of recent times, but you probably knew that. The Swapper is also excellent, a little older but it was a media darling.

If you have a 3DS or DS, the Mario and the Minis games are really good puzzle games. Crashmo and Pushmo are also really good, although I don't remember if they came out after 2010.

Of course, on the PC, there is a massive amount of solid puzzle games, my favorites of recent times are the 2 Train Valley games.

Played The Swapper yeah, that was great, really interesting thought provoking questions with respect to the "rocks". I have been meaning to get Baba Is You for a while, ta for reminding me. I'm kind of a bored with trad games right now, just wanting to relax with a puzzle game, I should probably just get Baba in that case.

I'm going to try an convince my flatmate to play Talos with me first though. I told him it was as good as The Witness or even better, in a different way, but he doesn't believe me from having watched me play some of it.

 

[Kuranghi]

Played both The Witness and The Talos Principle (the former a top 10 of the last generation) and both crossed over into narrative pretentiousness toward their respective endings. The quality of the puzzles were superb in both.

Portal series deserves a spot, IMO. It’s not just the puzzles but all the dressage it employs (to superb effect).

EDIT: Btw, if you enjoy puzzle games, try out Maquette. I was pretty taken with it, to my own surprise.

I have Maquette installed on the PS5 right now but I put it down because I wasn't really finding it that fun to play tbh, it doesn't help that the narrative is told in this cutscene form and I'm not really that into it so far, I just want to do the puzzles really. I'll give it another shot tonight, ta for reminder.

Off Topic: I think I must not being feeling too good because I can't remember anything right now, short term memory is effed.

 

[nkarafo]

Portal 2 for sure.

But i don't know what the hell is wrong with Nvidia and this game. There is an artifacting bug on some surfaces that plagues the game since, dunno, 6-7 years now? Could be more.




It's distracting and makes me not want to replay the game anymore, even though i would want to. There are plenty of reports about it but they never bothered to fix it.

 

[nkarafo]

Played both The Witness and The Talos Principle (the former a top 10 of the last generation) and both crossed over into narrative pretentiousness toward their respective endings. The quality of the puzzles were superb in both.

I absolutely agree about The Witness. Some of the audio logs were pure cringe material. Felt like the creator was trying too hard. The whole thing took itself way too seriously.

Talos Principle was OK though. It has a bit more humor in it so it didn't feel like it takes itself too seriously all the time. Most of the story is also computer text, which helps.

 

[MetalRain]

Opus Magnum is great, but I think SpaceChem is better, there is that extra layer of abstraction (and optimization) to do. Opus Magnum might be more modern and more pure puzzle game, but I think SpaceChem is the best Zachtronics game.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

I absolutely agree about The Witness. Some of the audio logs were pure cringe material. Felt like the creator was trying too hard. The whole thing took itself way too seriously.

Talos Principle was OK though. It has a bit more humor in it so it didn't feel like it takes itself too seriously all the time. Most of the story is also computer text, which helps.

I’m of similar mind. Talos was less offensive, but when unwinding the narrative is a puzzle on its own, it is irritating when the designer feels the need to be continuously obtuse (which is why I like Maquette - the narrative is more a metaphor and a straightforward one, thankfully).

I have Maquette installed on the PS5 right now but I put it down because I wasn't really finding it that fun to play tbh, it doesn't help that the narrative is told in this cutscene form and I'm not really that into it so far, I just want to do the puzzles really. I'll give it another shot tonight, ta for reminder.

Off Topic: I think I must not being feeling too good because I can't remember anything right now, short term memory is effed.

I had a similar feeling with The Witness when I started (primarily because the game doesn’t do anything to tell you where to begin, so naturally I went counter-clockwise on the island and tackled the hardest areas first with no guidance).

Sometimes I cheat with puzzle games to get me going so I at least can get my bearings. Other times I’m not in a mental space to be continuously frustrated, so I just Google the answers and live with the internal shame

 

[rofif]

The Witness got a bit too crazy with tons of really hard to understand puzzles for me.
Talos Principle I've not played.
Just gave a try return of the obra dinn - holy shit it's quite amazing but it seems extremely difficult to ID the victims.

Puzzle Agent 1 and 2 all the way if it counts. It's a very charming and funny adventure game but totally plastered with puzzles.

 

[ButchCat]

Braid was excellent, 100%'d it with a friend in an afternoon, took so long to do the hardest part but we couldn't stop til it was done. Gorogoa was great too yeah, nice and succint as well, they could've easily drawn it out too much.

For the bolded part, do you mean you get sick because of the first person perspective? On PC you can hit "H" to change to 3rd person view, not sure if thats a feature in the console versions though.

Yes something to do the camera movement and the FOV that really doesn't like me. Either I was too stupid not to notice that, or that option was not always available. I might fire it up soon and give it a second try in 3rd person. Cheers.

The Witness got a bit too crazy with tons of really hard to understand puzzles for me.
Talos Principle I've not played.
Just gave a try return of the obra dinn - holy shit it's quite amazing but it seems extremely difficult to ID the victims.

Puzzle Agent 1 and 2 all the way if it counts. It's a very charming and funny adventure game but totally plastered with puzzles.

The Witness just needs patience otherwise the puzzles are mostly medium difficulty to mildly hard.

 

[R6Rider]

I recently beat The Witness, it got really bad at the end with puzzles that took way too long or were more trial and error.

 

[Sygma]

Trine 4 is wonderful too op

 

[Moonjt9]

The Witness was a top 5 game last gen for me. And like OP had one of the best gaming moments I’ve ever experienced. What a special game. Getting that platinum trophy was so rewarding. I wish I could play that game again with my memories erased.

 

[elliot5]

The Witness
Baba is You
Talos Principle

Baba is just wonderful and a real modern classic. Fantastic little game.

 

[rofif]

Yes something to do the camera movement and the FOV that really doesn't like me. Either I was too stupid not to notice that, or that option was not always available. I might fire it up soon and give it a second try in 3rd person. Cheers.

The Witness just needs patience otherwise the puzzles are mostly medium difficulty to mildly hard.

I could not understand rules of some puzzles... The weird signs meant nothing? White, black star? And it's a shame as I solved A lot of them and liked the game until it got too weird

 

[Twinguistics]

I'm playing through Talos now in vr. It's ok, doesn't seem amazing yet but it's fun enough I suppose.

Guess I'll plod along with it.

 

[Little Chicken]

FEZ

 

[TommyCronin6969]

Talos Principle barely interrupted the process of my cerebral cortex.

 

[yurinka]

For me The Witness, Tetris Effect and the Lumines series.

 

[dcx4610]

Portal
Catherine
Fez

 

[ecentre]

l really miss the old safe cracker.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Three I've probably played most recently that stand out to me. Not really big on puzzle games in general, but all 3 of those are really really fun.


-------------------------------


Actually now that I think about it the one I've played the most recently with my Grandma,

R.I.P Iwata.

 

[ZeMMiK]

I like 90's puzzle games..I did some game testing last weekend..<<Link

Luckily we have enough retro options,,,