Myst is an adventure video game designed by Rand and Robyn Miller. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and first released in 1993 for the Macintosh. In the game, the player travels via a special book to a mysterious island called Myst. The player interacts with objects and traverses the environment by clicking on pre-rendered imagery. Solving puzzles allows the player to travel to other worlds ("Ages"), which reveal the backstory of the game's characters and help the player make the choice of whom to aid.
Dizzy is a series of video games, created by the Oliver Twins and published by Codemasters. It was one of the most successful British video game franchises of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Originally created for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, the series appeared on multiple home computer and video game console formats, with over a dozen games being published between 1987 and 1992.
Hitman is a stealth game franchise created by Danish developer IO Interactive. The player controls the contract killer Agent 47, who travels the world to assassinate various targets who are assigned to him.
X-Men: Children of the Atom is an arcade game developed and published by Capcom and released on the CP System II arcade hardware in 1994 in Japan and in 1995 in North America and Europe.
Lumines: Puzzle Fusion is a 2004 puzzle game developed by Q Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). During the game, players must strategically arrange falling 2×2 blocks comprising two colors to form single-color 2×2 squares. A vertical "time line" sweeps across the field, erases completed squares, and awards points. Each stage features a unique skin that influences the background, block colors, accompanying music, and the time line's speed.
Aqua Aqua is a puzzle video game developed by Zed Two, the studio of Ste and John Pickford, for the PlayStation 2. It was published late 2000 by Imagineer in Japan, and by The 3DO Company in North America and SCi Games in Europe. It is the sequel to Wetrix (1998) and has very similar gameplay; the player, on a landscape, uses Uppers to create walls for enclosures that hold flying water bubbles, contending with hazards like rainstorms, bombs, and ice cubes in the process.
Sneakers, released in Japan as Nezmix: Have A Mice Day!, is a video game developed by Media.Vision and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox in 2002. Sneakers is an action-puzzle game in which the player leads a group of mice to explore a house and its surroundings to detect enemy rats and protect their group in beat 'em up fights. Marketed as making use of 'fur shading' graphics, the design of the mice in Sneakers was intended to showcase the technical capabilities of the Xbox. The game was developed as one of two Japan-exclusive launch titles for the Xbox, and was later released in North America in an exclusive distribution with Toys R Us retail stores. Upon release in Japan, Nezmix sold poorly, with critics attributing the release to contributing to the poor launch of the console in the country. The North American version of Sneakers received generally unfavorable reviews, with criticism directed at the game's linear and repetitive gameplay.
Kwirk, known in Japan as Puzzle Boy, is a puzzle video game developed and published by Atlus in Japan on November 24, 1989, for the Game Boy. The game was later published in North America in March 1990 by Acclaim Entertainment.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a 2010 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was first announced at E3 2009 and is the sequel to 2007's Super Mario Galaxy. Much like the first game, the story follows Mario as he pursues the Koopa King, Bowser, into outer space, where he has imprisoned Princess Peach and taken control of the universe using Power Stars and Grand Stars. Mario must travel across various galaxies to recover the Power Stars in order to travel to the center of the universe and rescue Princess Peach.
SpaceChem is a puzzle and indie game by Zachtronics Industries, based on principles of automation and chemical bonding. In the game, the player is tasked to produce one or more specific chemical molecules via an assembly line by programming two remote manipulators that interact with atoms and molecules through a visual programming language. SpaceChem was the developer's first foray into a commercial title after a number of free Flash-based browser games that feature similar puzzle-based assembly problems.
Lego City Undercover is an action-adventure video game developed by TT Fusion and published by Nintendo for the Wii U in 2013. It was re-released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows via Steam, and Xbox One by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2017. Based on the City themed toyline by Lego, the narrative follows police officer Chase McCain as he returns to Lego City and pursues escaped crime boss Rex Fury. Gameplay features McCain both exploring the open world hub of Lego City, and completing self-contained levels featuring puzzles and combat.
Threes is a puzzle video game by Sirvo, an independent development team consisting of game designer Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson. The game was released on February 6, 2014, for iOS devices and later ported to Android, Xbox One, Windows Phone, and Windows. In Threes, the player slides numbered tiles on a grid to combine addends and multiples of three. The game ends when there are no moves left on the grid and the tiles are counted for a final score.
Action Button Entertainment is a video game development studio consisting of Tim Rogers, Brent Porter, Michael Kerwin, and Nicholas Wasilewski that has produced five games: Ziggurat (2012), TNNS (2013), Ten by Eight (2013), Tuffy the Corgi (2014), and Videoball (2016). The group convened in 2010 as Rogers worked on Ziggurat based on an idea he had while playing Angry Birds that he could not complete on his own. Porter joined Action Button after responding to a call for artists Rogers made via Twitter, and Kerwin joined based on a connection he had with Rogers from producing a mockup of a game concept Rogers outlined in his Kotaku column.
Five Nights at Freddy's (FNaF) is a video game series and media franchise created by indie game developer Scott Cawthon. The franchise features ten main video games, several spin-off games, a novel trilogy, and a film adaptation.
A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build is a 2015 puzzle video game developed by Alan Hazelden and Benjamin Davis and published by Draknek. The game was released in 2015 for Linux, OS X, Windows, Android, and iOS.
Sokobond is a puzzle video game created by Alan Hazelden and Harry Lee. Gameplay involves moving atoms around 2D grids to form chemical compounds. The game was released on Linux, OS X, and Windows in August 2013. It was later released for Nintendo Switch in September 2021, and iOS and Android in May 2022. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Picross S is a series of nonogram puzzle game developed and published by Jupiter for the Nintendo Switch game console. As with all past entries in the series, the game involves the player completing nonograms in the shortest time possible. Picross S is the successor to Jupiter's Picross e series on Nintendo 3DS.
Strange Horticulture is a 2022 video game by British independent developer Bad Viking, published by Iceberg Interactive for Windows, Nintendo Switch, macOS and Xbox One. Described as an "occult puzzle game", Strange Horticulture involves the discovery and identification of a fictitious herbarium of plants for sale to a range of mysterious and unscrupulous customers. Gameplay involves the completion of puzzles by matching the details of customer requests of plants to their descriptions, opening up access to more plants and identifying information.
Bonfire Peaks is a 2021 puzzle video game by Canadian indie developer Corey Martin. Gameplay involves moving boxes to traverse a 3D grid and burn the player character's belongings. Created as a prototype for 2018 game jam Ludum Dare 43, it was published by Draknek & Friends for Linux, macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in September 2021. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics and was nominated for "Best Indie Game" at the 2021 Golden Joystick Awards.
A Monster's Expedition (Through Puzzling Exhibitions) is a 2020 puzzle video game developed and published by Draknek & Friends. Gameplay involves exploring a series of islands by solving Sokoban-based puzzles. The player navigates a two-dimensional grid, rolling logs to create bridges and rafts to traverse between islands. The islands comprise a museum of human civilization, featuring exhibits of everyday objects, accompanied by humorous descriptions written from the perspective of an outsider. The game incorporates open world elements, having a nonlinear, branching path of levels, but is primarily a puzzle game. Developed over more than three years, the game was first released in September 2020 for iOS and macOS through Apple Arcade and Windows, and later for Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
