The PlayStation 4 was so much more than a stepping stone in the vast history of Sony home consoles. It was and continues to be the home of excellent puzzle games that blast down the doors of the genre with wit and bold decisions. The PS4 enabled a wider range of games to be added to the PlayStation Store, in addition to what the PS3 already offered, inviting more developers to publish their games there than ever before. For just a taste of all the incredible games the PS4 has to offer, I made up alist of the top 10 PS4 puzzle games and even added a bonus one for your gaming pleasure. It’s important to note that the list is in no particular order!
The Talos Principle
The Talos Principle really bends the puzzle genre and combines it with the eerie and ethereal to create an unparalleled experience. The gameplay involves you, an android, going from puzzle to puzzle, trying to solve them in a fashion similar to the Portal games. A typical puzzle would involve laser beams that need to be directed at sensors and machines that can deactivate walls and turrets. Of course, you aren’t just solving puzzles for the sake of it. Alongside every new area you discover and puzzle you solve, there is an underlying story to be told about the overworld and its android god, Elohim. I would really recommend The Talos Principle to those who are tired of traditional puzzle games and looking for something a lot more thought-provoking both gameplay-wise and in its narrative.
Cocoon
From the same developer that brought you Limbo and Inside comes Cocoon. As its name suggests, you play as a small insect that navigates a series of levels that act as dimensions within one another. As an insect, you can use abilities such as rolling around, pulling objects toward you, and more to resolve situations and get to the next area. It’s an incredibly calm experience, and relies heavily on its artistic expression and emotional storytelling. Cocoon is also incredibly short, and so I would recommend it on a nice weekend afternoon when you are looking for a puzzle game that’s more relaxing than anything.
Return of the Obra Dinn
While I love Return of the Obra Dinn, I can acknowledge that it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The game involves you discover the tragedy that went on with the sixty passengers aboard the Obra Dunn, which is insured by the East India Company. All of the game is basically one massive puzzle, asking you to resolve the names of victims, how they died, and if anyone else happened to be present at the same time. Every death slowly fills out a logbook that further clarifies what exactly went on before your investigation began. It has an interesting, monochromatic design that makes it seem as though it’s replicating an old Game Boy game.
Fez
Fez became incredibly popular when the 2012 movie Indie Game: The Movie came out, showcasing Polytron Corporation founder Phil Fish’s opinions on the industry in that moment. It is a 2D puzzle game that allows you to rotate parts of the 3D world to uncover new areas and secrets that weren’t available previously. I also very much enjoy the fact that the platforming elements change with the level you’re currently playing. It’s also very low stakes, meaning that there really aren’t any punishable things you can do, and dying is just met with an immediate respawn. I’d really recommend this for fans of games like Braid or Super Meat Boy.
Tricky Towers
Tricky Towers is a lot like if someone thought about the game of Tetris, and then made the exact opposite. Players battle one another to create the tallest and most stable tower usingthe different pieces provided to you. It is entirely physics-based, and so you can expect some really funny toppling mechanics. You can have up to three other players join you in matches that require you to build up to ridiculous heights and prove to every other wizard that your powers really are the best. I’d really recommend this game to those who appreciate wackier, more cartoon-like games that focus on the fun.
The Witness
Remember Myst? Well, The Witness very much carries that same type of puzzle-solving eerieness throughout a massive, walkable world, though with gameplay that I think is akin to that found in the Talos Principle. While The Talos Principle asks you to solve puzzle in order to create a path to the next shape, The Witness asks you to draw paths based on the set of rules that particular puzzle places on you. For example, you might find a puzzle that requires you to draw a line that separates black dots from white dots. I would really recommend The Witness to those that like to feel as though there is something much more profound lying underneath every puzzle they solve.
Gorogoa
Gorogoa is an incredible puzzle game that is a pretty massive departure from most of the other games on this list. Once 2012 made games like Braid incredibly popular, there was a large resurgence or games that combined simple gameplay and art. From that, Gorgoa began making its way into the mainstream until it was finally released in 2017. The story follows a boy who needs to solve puzzles in order to encounter a monster he is searching for. The puzzles themselves revolve around four squares with images that can be manipulated to create one, large image. It’s an incredibly beautiful game, and has a major focus on its art.
Tunic
At first, I thought that Tunic was more of a platformer than a puzzle game. However, the longer you play, the more you realize just what the gameplay actually wants you to do. As you, a small fox soldier, discover more about the world around you, you find that you cannot understand any of the text on any of the signs and are basically left to discover what to do next all on your own. Fortunately, you can collect pieces of an in-game manual that will slowly reveal to you more and more about what to do. I absolutely loved the idea of not being directed toward what I needed to do next and, in a lot of ways, felt so much more like an N64 action-adventure game rather than a puzzle.
Humanity
Humanity is one of the strangest puzzle games I have ever played. Instead of solving a puzzle as a single entity, you are basically playing as a Shiba Inu whose goal is to get all of humanity to follow him as one. Of course, humans are able to do much more than just follow a dog around. The Shiba Inu us able to place various commands on the human to complete in-level objectives. What I really enjoy about Humanity is how genuinely difficult each puzzle becomes as you journey through each one. It’s both very difficult but surprisingly fun and creates an almost endless replay value just because of the various decisions you can make.
Chants of Sennaar
Chants of Sennaar takes the puzzle genre and flips it on its head a bit, asking players to solve the secrets of language rather than simple puzzles. In the game, the player character explores a massive tower that houses different people who speak in fictional languages. It is your job to uncover these languages and resolve what is trying to be said in order to discover what is happening in the background of the game. What’s really interesting is that besides being a puzzle game, there are also elements of stealth gameplay that elevate the stakes a bit. I’d consider Chants of Sennaar to be great for those who are already fans of titles like Tunic.
Bonus: No One Lives Under the Lighthouse
As a bonus, I wanted to add No One Lives Under the Lighthouse to this list. Players take on the role of a lighthouse keeper and experience the entirety of the game with no dialogue and no real music going on in the background. Playing this game, I felt a real sense of loneliness that added to the horror of trying to discover exactly what it was that happened to the lighthouse keeper before me. As you progres and resolve more tasks concerning the lighthouse, the true story unfolds, trapping you in a series of supernatural events that quickly changes the gameplay into one that is far more sinister.
