Blog Posts, Game Info, PC Games, PS4 Games, Puzzle Games, Xbox One Games
Fun Ways To Energize Your Mind: Portable Puzzle Games
Thank God for video games! Games have kept us occupied, providing fun, relaxation and helping to socialize, de-stress…and stay connected. They have been a blessing and a great escape for many of us during the last few months. It’s no surprise that the number of people playing games have been on the rise, casual games, puzzle games, online games – so many choices!
During the current lockdown and work-from-home scenarios, we’ve noticed an increased demand from our customers for the best puzzle games in the market. We understand the need and also the desire to stay sharp and find fun ways to work those gray cells.
With so many platforms for gaming these days though, it isn’t always easy to know what games are available. More importantly, not everyone has the time to research and determine what games are right for them and their families.
We have been able to provide recommendations over the phone, FB/ IG messenger and Whatsapp, given our experience and affinity toward puzzle games. But while doing so, we also felt that it would be helpful to share this information with others through our blog. We then began to create blog posts a few weeks ago, by curating some of the best puzzle games in the market today, including classics that are many years old but are still a must-play.
In follow-up to our previous post on the Top 12 Puzzle games for PC/ Console Platforms, here is our list of the Top 10 Puzzle games (in no particular order) for portable/ handheld and mobile devices.
1. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
- Format: Nintendo 3DS
- Release year: 2011
The Professor Layton video games form a part of a popular puzzle adventure series developed by Level-5, a Japanese Game developer. Gamers play as Hershel Layton, a detective not unlike Sherlock Holmes. commissioned by people to have mysteries solved.
In the Miracle Mask, the fifth installment of the series, his childhood friend Angela Ledore requests his assistance to rid her town of an illusionist named The Masked Gentleman who is threatening the safety of the residents with his dark ‘miracles.’
As always, you Payton are up for the challenge and with your assistant Emmy Altava and apprentice Luke Triton by your side, you have to apply logic, reasoning and hone your skills of deduction! Travel to various locations and talk to people to learn more and find clues to solve the many riddles and puzzles in the game! Discover the identity of the masked villain terrorising the town of Monte d’Or.
Every solved puzzle and the gamer earns Picarats to access bonus content. This game also offers many unique mini games like Rabbit show, Toy Robot, One stop Shop. If 150 main puzzle aren’t enough for you, you can always download many more from the Nintendo Store.
Check out the trailer:
2. Lara Croft Go
- Format: Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
- Release year: 2015
Play as Lara croft in an engaging puzzle game filled with enemies like snakes, lizards, and giant spiders… and of course, no Tomb Raider game could be complete without some classic obstacles like boulders, saw blades, and traps.
The game received great reviews and was named Apple’s 2015 best iPhone game of the year, for “its beauty and clever design”. A version for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita was unveiled in November 2016. It was released on Steam on 4 December 2016. This action-filled game will appeal to gamers, Lara fans or otherwise, have a blast, who love the challenge of thinking, planning and executing their in-game moves and exercise their gray cells.
Check out the trailer:
3. The Room
- Format: Android, iOS, PC
- Release year: 2012
The Room was initially developed for the IOS and then Android. The PC version came out much later and now we have a fantastic VR version as well. This award-winning game from Firehouse Games will compel you to think laterally and really test your skills. There’s a good chance that even those dormant brain cells will get a good work-out.
The Room has physical puzzles, mysteries to solve and creepy rooms/ environments to get out of. Like many other escape room games, this one too has a series of strange puzzles involving physical mechanisms like levers , switches, timed geared mechanisms with realistic physics and stunning 3D visuals.
As the game progresses, the enchanting world draws you in and the puzzles get increasingly challenging, with a high probability that gamers end up re-working your neural connections.
This will keep you twisting and turning and coming back for more, long after you finish each session! Good news for those who finish. There are multiple sequels like Room 2 and Room 3 and The Room: Old Sins to indulge in.
Check out the trailer:
4. The Talos Principle
- Format: Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Release year: 2014
The gamer takes the role of an android with a strangely humane consciousness. The android is instructed to explore different worlds filled with obstacles. As the android progresses, it becomes evident that these worlds exist only in virtual reality.
The puzzles require the player to collect tetromino-shaped “sigils”. Keeping with its futuristic theme involves obstacles and resistance in the form of drones and turrets, all of which are computer-controlled. Sigils are used to assemble a tiling puzzle to unlock a door or some mechanism.
With over 120 puzzles, the game will keep you engaged in a whole variety of environments with curious, logical and strategic riddles and problem-solving scenarios to explore.
Check out the trailer:
5. Fez
- Format: iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Xbox 360
- Release year: 2012
A multiplatform puzzle game, Fez is about a character called Gomez,who lives peacefully on a 2D plane until he receives a red fez and witnesses the breakup of a giant, golden hexahedron that tears the fabric of spacetime and reveals a third dimension.
The puzzles in this award-winning game involve floating platforms, discontinuous ladders, a literal 2D to 3D morphing, switches to activate, platforms that launch Gomez into the air. Gomez has to make sense of various codes and ciphers , treasure maps, loots, secret rooms and hidden treasures.
Check out the trailer:
6. The Witness
- Format: Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Release year: 2016
This game involves the exploration of an open world island filled with natural and man-made structures and has over 500 puzzles to solve.
The game provides no direct instructions for how these puzzles are to be solved, requiring the player to identify the meaning of symbols in the puzzles. The art and symbols make the player use his neurons to figure out through trial and error and gain and solve the mysteries. The solutions of most puzzles may involve symmetry.
The Witness was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in January 2016, with later versions released for the Xbox One, Nvidia Shield, macOS, and iOS.
Check out the trailer:
7. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
- Format: Nintendo 3DS
- Release year: 2013
Mario And Donkey Kong is simply a very good puzzle game. the player must place blocks on a grid with the goal of making a path for a Mini Mario like character to reach a goal All this while avoiding obstacles and also collect some coins for max points.
The Gameplay includes a small walking robot resembling Mario or another Mario series character—to travel from a warp pipe to a star goal, while avoiding obstacles such as spike pits and Shy Guys along the way. Players can tap the mini, which gives it a burst of speed. If the mini falls off the pathway, gets blocked, stays in the pipe after about 30 seconds, if too many pieces fill the pipe, or if the timer reaches zero, the player fails the level. Collecting all three coins for a level earns the player a star token, which unlock additional gameplay modes, levels, and toys .
8. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies
- Format: Nintendo 3DS
- Release year: 2013
As close as the series has come to the greatness of the original trilogy. The player takes the roles of three defense attorneys. The gameplay is split into investigation sections, where the player searches for evidence and talks to witnesses, and trials, where they search for inconsistencies between witness testimonies and the evidence.
The player can use some character-specific gameplay mechanics: Phoenix can see “psyche-locks” over witnesses who are hiding something; Apollo can spot visual cues in witnesses that indicate lying; and Athena can detect conflicting emotions in witnesses’ voices.
The game was generally well received by critics, who praised the visuals and character art. The game was awarded 2013’s Best 3DS Adventure Game by IGN.
This game involves a lot of investigations, interviews, and if your dream is to be a defender of the wronged and serving justice on a plate, this game is for you.
Check out the trailer:
9. Limbo
- Format: PS4, PS3, PS Vita, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Xbox One
- Release year: 2010
Limbo is a puzzle game that is scattered with clever ideas and puzzles and an eye for a minimalistic art. The story itself is extremely touching with your heart going out to the boy character seeking his apparently doomed sister.
The graphics will remind you of a dark nightmare where you struggle to put one foot ahead of the other. The eerie environments that the gamer has to traverse and the haunting music that lingers in the background adds to the angst and urgency of the game.
The obstacle and deathly traps seem cruel but it adds to the fact that the boy is the hero willing to put himself through impossible dangers to find his sibling. The pathos and frustration is tangible at every level. The only controls you have are simply the arrow keys to move and jump , and a control key for interactions with the environment.
This puzzle game features realistic physics and will ensure you use your understanding of motion and mechanics to get ahead …. and survive!
Check out the trailer:
10. Scribblenauts Unlimited
- Format: PC, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, Android, 3DS, Switch
- Release year: 2012
In this game the regular protagonist of scribblenauts Maxwell’s parents were travellers who later semi-retired and had 42 children. They gave Maxwell and his sister Lily a magical notebook that can create any object by writing its respective word in it. A prank on an angry old man brings a curse on his sister Lily causing her to slowly turn to stone. Their brother teaches Maxwell about collecting “Starites” which are gained by helping other people and which will ultimately help Lily get rid of her curse. The player as Maxwell must solve multiple puzzles before being awarded with a Starite.
Check out the trailer: