racketboy.com

The puzzles in most games are aimed at demographics with limited patience and puzzle-solving ability. Accordingly, I generally find them dull and tedious. I enjoy the challenge of a good puzzle, however; so, I started this thread to discuss games with genuinely challenging puzzles.

In a game with genuinely challenging puzzles, you can ponder the solutions to a puzzle for days - perhaps even weeks - without arriving at a solution. I know that I am not the only fan of this genre on the forum, and I would like this thread to serve as a resource for anyone seeking to challenge his or her mind. To that end, I will list each of the puzzle games discussed in this thread in this post:

3DS
Professor Layton & The Miracle Mask

Dreamcast
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

DS
Professor Layton & The Curious Village
Professor Layton & The Diabolical Box
Professor Layton & The Last Specter
Puzzle Expedition

Gameboy / Gameboy Color
Boxxle
Boxxle II
Kwirk
Toki Tori

Nintendo 64
Charlie Blast's Territory
Lode Runner 3D

PC
Jelly No Puzzle

Playstation
Alundra
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Myst
Riven: The Sequel to Myst

Playstation 2
Ico
Shadow of the Collossus

Playstation Network
Denki Blocks

Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Brain Lord

Wii
Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie's Evil Under The Sun
Back to the Future
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident
Safecracker
Sam & Max: Season 1
Sam & Max: Season 2
Secret Files: Tunguska
Zak & Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros Treasure

Are you only counting puzzles that are in puzzle games?

I mentioned it in the other thread, but Alundra had some really challenging puzzles, at least for me.

Brain Lord on SNES has some pretty tough puzzles.

I have a similar thread, but more geared to family oriented (or group oriented puzzle games). You may find some titles yr looking for there: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=32891&hilit=+wii+family

Some cliff's notes, puzzles needing deep though / multiple clues:
Safecracker - Wii
Malgrave Incident - Wii
Shadow of the Templars: Broken Sword - Wii
Titanic Hidden Mystery - Wii / DS (not very difficult)
Tunguska - Wii
Agatha Christie Mysteries (both of 'em) - Wii

Puzzle / Point n' click, not very difficult:
Back to the Future - Wii
Sam and Max (both of 'em) - Wii
Zack and Wiki - Wii

If you like more "on the spot, move this here, move that there, puzzling":
Charlie Blast's Territroy - N64
Lode Runner 3D - N64
Boxxle - GB
Qwirk - GB
Denki Blocks - PSN

Everyone is aware of the Professor Layton (3DS/DS) series, and I have listed each of those games in the OP. Two "hidden" gems that I also listed are:

Toki Tori (GB)



This is a very challenging puzzle game that will put your resource management and sequential reasoning skills to the test. After introducing the basic mechanics, the difficulty ramps up sharply, and the final few stages are exceptionally difficult.

Puzzle Expedition (DS)



This is a basic "block pushing" puzzle game that starts out difficult and never lets up. (At least as far as I can tell...I'm currently stuck in the second half of the game!) I have been picking it up between games and solving a few puzzles before putting it back down again. Hopefully, I will probably have it completed before the end of the year, but I will always remember it as one of the most difficult/unforgiving puzzle games in my collection.

dunpeal2064 wrote:Are you only counting puzzles that are in puzzle games?

I mentioned it in the other thread, but Alundra had some really challenging puzzles, at least for me.

Not at all. Any games with great, genuinely challenging puzzles count.

I will certainly add Alundra to the list.

mjmjr25 wrote:I have a similar thread, but more geared to family oriented (or group oriented puzzle games). You may find some titles yr looking for there: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=32891&hilit=+wii+family

Some cliff's notes, puzzles needing deep though / multiple clues:
Safecracker - Wii
Malgrave Incident - Wii
Shadow of the Templars: Broken Sword - Wii
Titanic Hidden Mystery - Wii / DS (not very difficult)
Tunguska - Wii
Agatha Christie Mysteries (both of 'em) - Wii

Puzzle / Point n' click, not very difficult:
Back to the Future - Wii
Sam and Max (both of 'em) - Wii
Zack and Wiki - Wii

If you like more "on the spot, move this here, move that there, puzzling":
Charlie Blast's Territroy - N64
Lode Runner 3D - N64
Boxxle - GB
Qwirk - GB
Denki Blocks - PSN

Awesome! Thank you for the recommendations. I have played through some of these games and can vouch for their challenge, and I will certainly add all of them to the list.

All games are added, and I added a few more of my own choices.

I am particularly interested in games outside of the traditional "puzzle" genre that have difficult puzzles.; so, please post your recommendations here!

(I have read that the Lufia games have some truly challenging puzzles, but I have never played any of them. Is this true?)

This one I've been playing lately:

Jelly No Puzzle

It's free and it is only on the PC. I'm on level 18 out of 40. Some of the puzzles are easy but many are difficult and some are HARD. This game would be perfect for the iPad.




The purpose of the game is to merge all of the blocks of the same color.

Jelly No Puzzle is a very challenging, free, puzzle game. One of those easy to learn, hard to master, type games.

I would say that Soul Reaver 2 had some really challenging platform/puzzling.

Also, I've heard The Room on iOS is challenging, but I can't confirm yet, so you can leave that off until someone (possibly me) can confirm the challenge.

Solomon's Key on NES, I think might fit your criteria. Gets tough pretty early. Always loved that game.
The Lost Vikings on SNES & Genesis, I thought was pretty challenging too.