There are few puzzles games recently that have been as fun as Big Walk, giving you a large world to explore with friends while solving some brain teasers together. However, the nature in which Big Walk sets up its puzzles is impressive, as they never explain how to reach solutions to move forward, instead leaving it entirely up to players to figure out what to do. Some puzzle games thrive with their ingenuity, never holding your hand and presenting unique, mind-bending obstacles that always feel like one answer away from being solved.
Plenty of puzzle games have been getting great recognition over the last few years, with titles like Blue Prince being nominated for several awards due to how it structured its puzzles around complex roguelike mechanics. On the other hand, some titles have been vastly underrated, gaining extremely favorable reviews on Steam, but not receiving half the accolades as they should be getting. For those who appreciate Big Walk‘s sandbox approach and hands-off design, there are some games you have to try that won’t insult your intelligence.
There are few puzzles games as awe-inspiring as The Talos Principle series, with the second game in particular being one of the best in the genre. In this title, you control an android looking to be the starting blueprint of a new civilization, in a world where humans are long extinct. The story of this game is filled with intrigue and mystery, as each puzzle you solve leads you closer and closer to figuring out your purpose and how it relates to the secrets of the world. Each Talos Principle game is thought-provoking, using philosophical themes in its puzzles to hammer home the themes of each game, which are rooted in real-world issues.
As far as the puzzles themselves go, The Talos Principle 2 has 12 regions filled with 132 different puzzles, which all build upon core mechanics tied to bending physics in strange ways. Similar to the puzzles of Portal 2 in some areas, The Talos Principle 2 gives players laser connectors, force fields, teleporters, and drills to shape environments in order to solve whatever puzzle they’re working on. What makes this game special compared to its predecessor is that there are no arbitrary restraints on the logic behind puzzles, similar to Big Walk. Much like developer House House’s breakout game, The Talos Principle 2 doesn’t put hazards in a player’s way, instead giving them an unlimited framework to come up with answers naturally.
For example, in the first Talos Principle, players had to worry about turrets, mines, and other environmental obstacles that could kill their android character. At the same time, there were time restraints to puzzles, adding a level of stress that led to easy mistakes and frustration, while also impacting the scope of the puzzles themselves. In The Talos Principle 2, players have all the time they need to solve a puzzle, letting them test ideas in controlled spaces without any hazards whatsoever. As areas introduce fresh mechanics that make puzzles more complicated, this freedom allows for a gradual difficulty curve, giving the game an accessibility that is renowned in its genre.
With a rare “Overwhelmingly Positive” set of reviews on Steam, Chants of Sennar is an award-winning puzzle adventure game about deciphering fictional languages. This alone is a fantastic premise for a puzzle game, as the challenge is completely set in reading and learning something new. Much like Big Walk‘s emphasis on communication and cooperation, Chants of Sennar is all about how language impacts our relationship with others. Inspired by the biblical story about the Tower of Babel, Chants of Sennar is about how Peoples of the Tower no longer speak to one another at all, isolated by fear or mistrust.
During this game, you play as the fabled Traveler, a person who is willing to break down the language barriers between people and restore balance between others. Set in a huge labyrinth called the Tower, you’ll have to explore many regions and talk to numerous people to figure out what they’re saying and what they have in common with others. There are five distinct Peoples, meaning five languages to break down and learn from scratch. By observing actions, listening to those you talk to, and putting together clues from what you’ve learned, you can finally bring everyone together after so long apart.
What makes this game so fascinating is how detail-oriented it is. Everything from mini-games to environmental puzzles are tied to language, with them being impossible to solve if you don’t know what their associated symbols mean. You have to keep track of symbols you interact with throughout the game and figure out what they mean on your own, with practically no help from the game itself. As the premise suggests, you are pretty much learning a new language on your own, with each small step getting you closer to full conversations to bring the world back together.
Those who are a fan of movies like Indiana Jones or books written by H.P. Lovecraft will have a strange harmony of those inspirations in Call of the Sea, a narrative-driven puzzle game from 2020. This title follows Norah, a woman whose husband vanished on an island paradise out in the open ocean. With Very Positive reviews on Steam, this game is rich in both its puzzle design and story telling, following Norah’s tale of lost love in deeply moving ways that will stick with you as credits roll. This is one of the few puzzle games out there with multiple endings too, reflecting narrative-driven titles like those from Telltale Games where choices matter.
While the first puzzles for Call of the Sea are on the level of something like Resident Evil in their ease and presentation, the game quickly ramps up its difficulty as you start to investigate the island and find remnants of Norah’s husband’s investigations. This game is almost like embarking on an archaeological adventure, where you have to use equipment from past crews to decipher hidden secrets about the island itself. Throughout this game, you’ll learn about what Norah’s husband discovered, while also figuring out the forbidden knowledge that was uncovered in the process.
The environments of this game are beautiful, but the game never lets its environments be too straight-forward when it comes to the puzzles. There are some truly obtuse puzzles at times, requiring you to experiment with many ideas to get to the right answer. Much like The Talos Principle 2, there are no enemies in this game to fight or hazards that could injure Norah, as Call of the Sea is more interested in your creativity. With shifting environments that turn from tropical to occult, Call of the Sea‘s story mixes well with the intentionally difficult nature of its puzzle crafting for a memorable experience.
Botany Manor is a combination between a puzzle game and a cozier title like Stardew Valley, giving players unlimited tools to grow a forest of unique plants to decorate their home. This game’s promise is simple — you are a retired botanist at a 19th century English manor, who is using that retirement to flesh out the greenery around that settlement. The problem is that every plant in the estate has a specific environment and conditions where it can grow, meaning you have to learn how to grow everything in its ideal setting.
The “puzzle” here is figuring out the recipes for various plants, growing them from seeds into gorgeous additions to your manor depending on certain locations. For example, some plants grow better in brighter environments with a lot of sun, and require a very precise maintenance plan with water amounts, trimming, or other strategies. On the other hand, some plants may require very little work, but still run the risk of withering away. The manor itself holds many clues regarding how to grow various plants, which grow in size and complexity as you learn about new ones little by little.
This game is incredibly relaxing, allowing you to take all the time in the world to learn how to grow a specific plant one step at a time. From gorgeous outdoor courtyards to resplendent libraries, the manor itself is incredibly varied, growing even more visually stunning as you add the right plants to different sections of it. All the rare fauna in this game are inspired by real-world counterparts, with the puzzles behind them driving Botany Manor to be a title with influences you may see every day and not notice.
Much like Chants of Sennaar, Gorogoa is another critically acclaimed puzzle game with Overwhelmingly Positive reviews. In many ways, this title is very simple, asking players to arrange hand-drawn illustrations into pages of a storybook to create a cohesive narrative. The “puzzle” here is never given to you in a straightforward way, as players are required to essentially build the story of Gorogoa themselves rather than having it spelled out for them. You have to take panels and put them together in ways that make sense, which requires you to pay attention to the events taking place on the excellently designed images.
Thousands of panels make Gorogoa‘s story intimate and engaging, with imaginative structures that make the puzzles feel clever and solutions earned. The artistry on display in this game is much easier to understand than the obtuse challenges some puzzle games ask, even in a title as approachable as Big Walk. For players who enjoy an innovation take on the puzzle game genre that is never afraid to ask a lot from its audience, Gorogoa is definitely one worth trying.
What is your favorite “hands-off” puzzle game? Let use know in the comments below!
