What is a puzzle game? Is Myst a puzzle game? Is The Talos principle a puzzle game? Is The Witness a puzzle game? It would help to have a reference for your definition of āpuzzle game.ā
I like the focus on story and on slow-paced, more thought-based rather than twitch-based gameplay.
I donāt know. Maybe illogical puzzles.
I only play games with significant story content, so thatās my main criteria. The Witness passes. The Talos Principle passes. But many little puzzle games like HexCells do not pass.
Very rarely, because there arenāt many which fill the above criteria.
I donāt play FTP games.
This probably depends on your definition of puzzle game. Is Waking Mars a puzzle game? Is a Sherlock Holmes game a puzzle game? Probably every 6 months or so. I have 30 games in my Puzzle/Adventure category on Steam but that includes stuff like LIfe is Strange, Firewatch, Dear Esther, Myst, and Papers, Please.
Different games hit me different ways. Something like Myst or The Talos Principle, games with a heavy narrative bent yet also a blank slate āprotagonist,ā tend to draw me into the experience where Iām responding as though Iām in the tale. So Iām thinking about all of the story (and the puzzles) in a personal context (this is one reason the story and (tower) ending of The Talos Principle had such a powerful effect on me).
On the other hand, stuff like the Sherlock Holmes games or Waking Mars see me take a more detached view where Iām observing the story. In this case I suspect I depend more on the puzzles to be interesting rather than merely the story.
I really like the idea of developing a theory or concept and putting it into practice (as an automated process), and then refining the process.
And Iām pretty sure, Iām not the only one, the games that has pushed this agenda has done very well.
In general I think puzzle games are great in any form as long as they can be solved logically, or with good clues.
<edit: apparently answering the questions in the quote doesnāt work>
<edit #2: Apparently it does, just need to click the gray area to expand.>
What do you like about puzzle games? What made this genre stand out for you?
I have always enjoyed puzzles - jigsaw, crossword, logic whatever, so it is only natural for that to extend into computer games
What do you HATE about puzzle games? Is there any trend or mechanic you wish that came to an end?
I donāt like timed puzzles. Just because I like doing them doesnāt mean Iām fast.
When purchasing new puzzle games, what do you look in them? What are your criteria or how do you look for something to meet your standards?
I like clear visuals / graphics. My eyes arenāt as good as they used to be.
How often do you buy or play puzzle games? Or what sets the mood for you to go look for something new to play? Most of the games I play on mobile are puzzle games. Usually I look for another when I finish one or get tired of it.
Do you prefer premium (paid in advance) or freemium (micro-transaction based) titles?
Typically free games because I have been burned to many times in the past buying games to find they are either complete junk or donāt run on my system. I only buy games if they have a good playable demo.
How often does a new title that meets your standards appear? Why do you think that is the case?
Probably about every 3 or 4 months I find something I might try.
And finally, is there any mood or feeling you think that you look to get into while playing a puzzle game?
You might also enjoy other zachtronic games like Infinifactory, TIS-100 or Shenzen I/O
My favorite puzzle games are the ones that have many many solutions to any given problem, because they consist of complex systems that need to be used to create solutions for specific problems. Jagged Alliance 2 is probably my favorite āpuzzle gameā. Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire with save-scumming was also fun, because it removed a lot of randomness and if you wanted something different to happen after reloading, you had to do something different. People were very vocal in reviews about hating that feature. I liked it because it changed the gameplay. Iād retrace my steps after reloading for as long as I knew the RNG is on my side with the current seeded sequence and then Iād try something different, till I could basically play my turn like in the movie āEdge of Tomorrowā, and at the beginning of each new turn Iād save again, making sure I have full AP so that I have a chance to find a way to get my squad not killed in that one turn.
I met a local developer a couple years ago who made this a central mechanic of his platformer. You could, at any point, press a button to save state; and then as soon as you die, you pop right back to that save state. The levels were designed such that this was absolutely necessary, and the game play was frenetic and fun ā basically āreloadingā every few seconds in difficult spots.
His thinking was: OK, players sometimes save-scum anyway; letās embrace it! I thought it was a pretty cool idea.
Iāve never seen an Edge of Tomorrow style squad combat game, though. Again, if you really embraced it (made up a plot reason and mechanics for it), then it turns it into more of a puzzle game, and could be quite interesting.
What do you like about puzzle games? What made this genre stand out for you
ā That they challenge the mind/intellect, perceptions and assumptions. They get you engaged finding a solution, and then when you do, you have this sort of āa-haā moment (eureka?) and then you feel proud.
What do you HATE about puzzle games? Is there any trend or mechanic you wish that came to an end.
ā I was playing Tomas Was Alone, which is a puzzle platformer, and was enjoying it, and then got to this level where all of a sudden it seemed not so obvious what to do next. I think it was one where there were two platforms going around and dipping down underneath another platform and scooping things up and stuff, and then at that point there were like 4 characters to control, and the difficult of getting certain characters of certain sizes and abilities to all work together in concert with this contraption to overcome a pretty big expanse, for some reason it just was too difficult. I mean, ok, I sucked at it, but that level alone caused me to instantly want to quit the game instead of continuing to flow along like the previous 20+ levels. In other words, the difficulty curve suddenly had a spike and whereas in previous puzzles you could figure things out pretty logically one step at a time, this level seemed to call for you handling multiple things all at once and that made it hard to organize your thoughts. So thatās where I quit. Game fail.
When purchasing new puzzle games, what do you look in them? What are your criteria or how do you look for something to meet your standards?
ā Good varitey, but also something unique, an interesting mechanic, some emergent gameplay is good (world of goo, lemmings, etc). User interface/usability needs to be good too.
How often do you buy or play puzzle games? Or what sets the mood for you to go look for something new to play?
ā Dunno, once a week?
Do you prefer premium (paid in advance) or freemium (micro-transaction based) titles?
ā Free has obvious benefits so long as the freemium aspects arenāt stupid āshut you outā stuff, or where they deliberately make the levels progressively harder to the point where you basically are squeezed out of the game and have no real way to move forward without spending some money. But of course, youāre getting free gameplay, so. Overall I prefer premium provided itās a game I really think is worth buying.
How often does a new title that meets your standards appear? Why do you think that is the case?
ā Every few months maybe. Because thereās a lot of copy-cat and not a lot of originality. You can only solve the same puzzles onceā¦ although saying that, a game like Portal (FPS puzzle) itās still somewhat enjoyable figuring out what to do again.
And finally, is there any mood or feeling you think that you look to get into while playing a puzzle game?
ā Since there are a lot of puzzles to solve, the game has to be very carefully balanced and a smooth progression of what you learn and how you use what you learn. That allows you to feel like youāre making progress and itās not too hard. If the difficulty spikes too much or its too repetitive then you fall off. But when you constantly are moving forward, you just want to keep going.
Certain puzzle games I do not like so much are like a graphic adventure sort of thing where you have to hunt around for things to click, or there are puzzles in amongst the scenery that isnāt very obvious and you have to sort of just ātryā stuff on the off-chance that it might do something. This is sort of where the puzzles become a bit tooā¦ worldlyā¦ and not so much based in simple logic. Like, you gotta get the tree branch to lodge into the junction box so that a certain combination of cogs moves in a certain way to open a gate to let the bird out or whateverā¦ itās not stuff you can very easily think about logically itās more like being a mechanic or something. I do not enjoy those real-world kind of puzzles so much, itās a different kind of thinking and often too obscure.
What do you like about puzzle games? What made this genre stand out for you?
I consider Puzzle Quest and God of War as puzzle games - though God of War is much more hack/slash and puzzle. I like strong narrative driven games - so before Puzzle Quest I had briefly played a handful of āpuzzleā games that didnāt appeal to me.
What do you HATE about puzzle games? Is there any trend or mechanic you wish that came to an end?
Pretty much anything that is related to candy whatever. Boring! - moving along. Match 3 games are great when designed to have RPG-like-lite, fantasy elements and faux adventure. Cutsie candy and fruits and jewels - pass. I donāt really like 3D wander around placing blocks in spots - type puzzle games. I prefer 2D based puzzle designs or arena areas where the puzzle isnāt scattered around half the 3D world.
When purchasing new puzzle games, what do you look in them? What are your criteria or how do you look for something to meet your standards?
Narrative driven story progression.
How often do you buy or play puzzle games? Or what sets the mood for you to go look for something new to play?
Hardly ever - because there are few āgoodā story driven puzzle games.
Do you prefer premium (paid in advance) or freemium (micro-transaction based) titles?
Premium is my choice, but I like to try before I buy. I pretty much hate ads so any games that are free, molested with ads are avoided.
How often does a new title that meets your standards appear? Why do you think that is the case?
Every 2-3 years, because I have high standards and adding story elements to puzzle games doubles the complexity of the game, so there are few developers that choose to put in the time/effort to meet the standards I have for puzzle games.
And finally, is there any mood or feeling you think that you look to get into while playing a puzzle game? Nah - puzzle games are casual and can be played at any time. If they arenāt - I usually donāt play them, I prefer to play other games when Iām in a mood for action adventure.
What do you like about puzzle games? What made this genre stand out for you?
ā Based on the responses, your question is too vagueā¦ I suspect you probably have a specific genre in mind when you say puzzle game, but everyone here has their own interpretation, from squad based tactics, to God of War. I personally would not consider some of those puzzle games as the puzzles are not the main feature of the game itself (although you could treat and play it as a puzzle game). I personally like adventure games, such as Syberia, Gobliins, Monkey Island, Sam and Max etc and would consider those puzzle games. Games like Silent Hill which have a strong emphasis on puzzle and changing the difficulty changes the puzzle I would also consider to have a slightly stronger puzzle emphasis, but probably not a puzzle game per se. I also like Phoenix Wright similar Visual Novel style games with puzzle elements like Hotel Dusk, Avian Attorney, Danganronpa etc
What do you HATE about puzzle games? Is there any trend or mechanic you wish that came to an end?
ā pixel hunting, illogical pure trial and error puzzles, reflex based āpuzzlesā
When purchasing new puzzle games, what do you look in them? What are your criteria or how do you look for something to meet your standards?
ā I personally like narrative heavy with more story and background. Undoubtly stuff like Myst or The Room are puzzle games and I did play them, but mainly for the hype. If a new unknown game comes out I would probably be more interested in the story, art style etc. (yes, i am superficial)
How often do you buy or play puzzle games? Or what sets the mood for you to go look for something new to play?
ā I mainly only play RPGs, Card/Board and Adventure Games. There are sites for each of these genres which i follow.
Do you prefer premium (paid in advance) or freemium (micro-transaction based) titles?
ā I prefer premium titles. Unless you are doing an adventure game, then episodic seems to be the trend. But i still normally wait to purchase an entire season at once rather then individual episodes.
How often does a new title that meets your standards appear? Why do you think that is the case?
ā Quality adventure games seem pretty rare these days. A lot of games look very mediocre at first glance, not having have any distinctive style. Making a good 3D assets/style requires significant effort and know how. I prefer a well made 2D game to a mediocre 3D game. If you donāt have any distinctive style but just use a generic 3D style, with generic 3D assetsā¦ its just one of the dozens being released. Once again, I may be superficial, but if i see a new game, the first thing i do is look at the screen shots and watch the trailer/gameplay videos. If it looks suck/mediocre i probably wouldnāt even consider trying it, unless it gets hype for its awesome puzzles etc, but i definitely wouldnāt be a first mover.
And finally, is there any mood or feeling you think that you look to get into while playing a puzzle game?
ā It really depends on the contextā¦ Adventure games are generally slower paced, where you can walk around, view the environment etc in between puzzles. Visual Novels i would consider medium paced, depending on how the story is written and how it keeps you on your seat. Horror type games like Silent Hill already have you highly strung so you could play with that as part of the puzzle like a time limit etc. Game like The Room are purely puzzle based so your puzzles have to entice, as in it needs to look doable and thereās some room to play around with the puzzle (trial and error), there canāt be too many all or nothing puzzles like have an open ended (no char limit) word input as the answer.