hey cohost my brain is exploded rn, do y'all have any favorite cheap puzzle games that don't have an execution barrier (i.e. not platformers or action games)? gimme your favorite hidden gems and nightmares for pc or android

Electronic literature, tool-building, poetry, games, puzzles, &cet. 29.
hey cohost my brain is exploded rn, do y'all have any favorite cheap puzzle games that don't have an execution barrier (i.e. not platformers or action games)? gimme your favorite hidden gems and nightmares for pc or android
This is a fun ine i play at work often. Kinda has 2048 vibes. https://cpcitor.itch.io/just-get-9
Petal Crash
9.99 on steam
This one is directly inspired by that wave of tetris-inspired vs games from the 90s (think puyo puyo, dr mario, etc). The faster you go the better you do, so it's not free of twitch reflexes, but it has a generous easy mode and a very fun (imo) puzzle mode where you're given specific board states to solve in a limited number of moves.
Into the Breach
14.99 on steam
this is like a tactics RPG roguelike? The cool thing about it is that the designers were clearly inspired by Magic The Gathering OTK puzzles or chess puzzles, so it has this feeling like every move is important and that there's always a perfect move, you just gotta find it.
Patrick's Parabox
19.99 on steam
This is sokoban in non-euclidean space. Compared to other games in this genre (looking at you stephen's sausage roll) it actually does a really good job of teaching you mechanics without wasting the moments where you realize something really clever about the mechanics!
Baba is You
14.99 on steam
I don't want to spoil this one too much, but it's sokoban calvinball. you rewrite the rules of the game, as you play it!
oh also brogue
free!
This one's a Roguelike, in that it's literally like Rogue. Unlike a lot of other games in the genre that just throw everything and the kitchen sink at you, it's built around a relatively small number of systems, there are only (!) 20 floors in a run, so it's a great beginner roguelike as well as being fun on its own
oh y'know i love roguelikes but ive never really played Brogue, i should
Oddly enough, my suggestion is an interactive fiction with a parser and a story. It is called, Counterfeit Monkey and in it you removes letters to words to change... pretty much everything, this game could only work as an interactive fiction. It is the first interactive fiction where I managed to solve some of the puzzles by myself, just by using the mechanics.
oh i love Counterfeit Monkey! incredibly special game i need to spend more time with
I learnt about bombe on here. The demo is quite substancial on its own, and it's pretty fun.
mixolumia is pretty cool but i dont know if it's a puzzle game exactly...
aurora hex is one that ive liked in the past, pretty chill to zone out to
into the breach gets a +1 from me too it's also free with netflix?
dream quest / slay the spire / legends of runeterra single player are also good and i kinda think theyre puzzle games?
im getting confused by the taxonomy of puzzle games lol
yeah if theres one thing ive learned from asking this, puzzle game is an extremely vague category lol.
Depending on what you mean by puzzle, I like Two Dots a lot — it’s my go to phone game for when an audiobook alone isn’t enough to keep my brain from providing Bad Thoughts but my wrists are too busted for knitting
ad supported but in a very low-key way, has microtransactions but I’ve never done one
Voxelgram is a favorite of mine for trying to take my mind off things. Something about visualizing what the puzzle might be takes the resources from the Worry part of the brain, I guess?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158470/Voxelgram/
It’s on sale for a few days too, so that’s nice
If you want to just fill out a bunch of logic grids:
If you want to fill out a bunch of logic grids, but you don’t want anyone to tell you the rules first:
If you want to earn your virtual STEM degree:
If you want to make a little guy push some stuff around:
If you want to make a big awkward guy push some stuff around:
If you want to test your spatial reasoning:
If you want to solve a mystery:
If you’re nostalgic for the Nintendo DS (or missed out on that platform entirely):
Filament is a cable-based puzzle game with an interesting mystery to solve along the way. The puzzles range from relatively simple to fiendishly difficult. It's currently on sale for $5.05 at 77% off.
Picross is my go-to commute puzzle. I like the aesthetics of Picross Luna II.
can't believe no one has said I Love Hue Too yet!
mobile puzzle game where geometric shapes are arranged in patterns with increasingly nuanced color gradients, then shuffled, and you put them back together. tiny one-time fee to make ads go away forever. super calming music. like playing with a fidget toy made of crystals.