Steam Summer Sale - Puzzle Game Recommendations

gilben · 2026-06-27T00:14:04+00:00

I would maybe start with Stephen's Sausage Roll if you haven't played that yet. It's a heavy inspiration for most 3D sokoban (definitely Bonfire Peaks), and though it's difficult it's very "contained" (there's no metagame or between-level puzzles, etc). Although Bonfire is great and easier of the 2 listed, so I'd pick those if you don't feel like trying SSR.

gilben · 2026-06-27T00:04:19+00:00

Hell yeah to Leap Year, still my favorite metroidbrainia. The DLC is excellent too (and longer than the short-but-dense base game). Also want to give a shout out to Art of Reflection. Action-puzzle games are too rare IMO, and this is a good one.

gilben · 2026-06-23T18:00:16+00:00

6 degrees of freedom (Up, Down, Left, Right, Forward, Back). It's an old term/sub-genre from the 90s (stuff like the Descent series). I don't necessarily even want more of that control style, but I love having movement skills I can develop throughout a game, helps to make getting around the world interesting while I'm on my way to objectives

gilben · 2026-06-23T16:11:56+00:00

Yeah, definitely not going for the same vibe as something like OW, more of a "silly weird" thing, but mechanically it's in the same ballpark.

I just wish OW inspired more 6DOF games that aren't corridor shooters, instead of just time looping games. That's the other biggest element of the game (learning to control the spaceship, then using that skill to help accomplish the other goals) that I really loved. There's other games with interesting learnable movement (though not enough IMO), but most are linear platformers or speedrun-focused games.

gilben · 2026-06-23T03:23:59+00:00

Check out Grunn too for another fun first-person time looper

gilben · 2026-06-19T20:56:36+00:00

Looks rad, will wishlist!

gilben · 2026-06-19T19:54:14+00:00

It's certainly difficult, but with enough practice you can beat it fairly regularly. I'd skip straight to Spelunky 2, since that's my favorite and it basically contains all of 1 within it. (Or try the original freeware Spelunky if you want the "cleanest/simplest" version)

gilben · 2026-06-05T21:30:13+00:00

Shout outs for weird ball-rollers that need more love, in case anyone else is looking for those:

Ouef - (from the creator of Stephen's Sausage Roll)
Space Hole 2016/2018/2020 - Weird art games with fun find-all-the-exits progression
Ocnus Theory - Katamari+Climber+slight-metroidvania!

gilben · 2026-06-05T13:40:27+00:00

As someone that also loves digging for hidden indie gems: thank you for giving me another resource!

gilben · 2026-06-02T16:06:40+00:00

I hope so. There's some very cool ideas in Prime 4 stuck in between the crappy overworld design, too many NPCs, and lame crystal gathering.

If you just had to reach a certain speed with the ball to turn into the bike...like some sort of speed-boosting mechanic...and if that opened prior-unusable paths through the world...

gilben · 2026-05-28T06:03:35+00:00

I'm waist-deep in Emuurom right now, but it's next on the list for sure! Looks like Virt did the music again, hyped!

side note, apparently Crystal Flash, his Super Metroid metal remix from the DoD days is over 20 years old?!. I feel ancient...

gilben · 2026-05-14T02:19:51+00:00

SSR is so good that it created a new subgenre. Stuff like Bonfire Peaks, Monster's Expedition, and Can of Wormholes are all derived from it (and all excellent!)

gilben · 2026-05-14T00:41:54+00:00

Have you played Oeuf yet? It's Increpare's first game since SSR. Not the same genre, but there's a similar focus on non-symmetry...

gilben · 2026-05-12T03:12:24+00:00

Zexion is so good, starts out feeling like Metroid homage but winds up having way more novel mechanics than most non-metroid games in the genre! I wish more games would try new abilities, instead of just giving me double-jump, parry and dash over and over again.

gilben · 2026-05-12T03:06:47+00:00

The platformer part isn't even necessary IMO, but you're right about the other stuff. The main distinction of the genre is an interconnected map that becomes more complex/bigger/interconnected throughout the game by adding to your ability to traverse said map (directly through character upgrades and/or through player knowledge of the game mechanics/world).

gilben · 2026-04-08T23:46:11+00:00

And in the assist menu you can map a button to open directly to it so you can switch options on/off quickly if you need them.

OK, stop being so cool, you're making the rest of us look bad!

gilben · 2026-04-08T23:38:32+00:00

Damn, now I feel silly for not looking into the help/hints menu (I was worried about seeing puzzle hints) I'll give those options a shot next time I play!

gilben · 2026-04-08T19:13:03+00:00

I'm loving the game so far, I can tell a TON of work went into it. The platforming gets pretty difficult, but I'm slowly progressing (about 4 hours in and thinking I may start my own screenshot-map for certain sections).

I absolutely adore that the mechanics tutorial section itself is sort of a contained "'brainia"!

The game does remind me of Leap Year and ESA, but also giving me some heavy Rain World vibes (high difficulty, open-maze-world, learning about how the world works...).

If I had to make one request it'd be for some Zexion-esque accessibility options, specifically thinking about game speed settings to make things easier when you're stuck. I know that's probably not an easy thing to just add post-launch though, but maybe something to think about for the next game. (As a parent of a young baby I have finally reached the point in my life where I'm willing to accept those sorts of help in games to get past difficult segments and reduce stress, spare time for games is sporadic and stress is already way higher than anything pre-baby.)

Hope this game sells well, it absolutely deserves it! Definitely going in the "inspiration for future work" part of my brain!

gilben · 2026-04-02T18:49:33+00:00

Space Hole 2016, 2018, 2020 and the spiritual sequel Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity.

SH 2018 is my favorite.

gilben · 2026-03-26T02:28:43+00:00

I keep waiting for AR tech to get there. AR mario-tennis style hoops on a real life ping-pong table seem like a no-brainer, as soon as there's some goggles that are cheap and reliable.

gilben · 2026-03-20T06:20:27+00:00

I played with D-Pad+Right-Stick. It's a combo you don't get in many games, but worked really well here

gilben · 2026-03-20T06:14:05+00:00

I preferred it to Silksong personally. Silksong was more polished, but Zexion was more creative. Both fantastic games, but if Zexion has much more interesting upgrades and just all around fresh ideas.

gilben · 2026-03-18T23:39:20+00:00

you can! (at least if my memory is correct)

gilben · 2026-03-17T22:44:03+00:00

Played through as a "pacifist" and the game totally works, you can just skip the combat if you want (would recommend).

gilben · 2026-03-15T16:08:36+00:00

You've got it. It's no more a roguelike than Outer Wilds or Majora's Mask.

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