Some Puzzle-y Games I Have Played Lately
Jan. 4th, 2026 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrSpirit City Lofi Sessions is a productivity game but I'm including it anyway :P
Actual puzzle games: Strange Antiquities, Mega Mosaic, Botany Manor, Logiart Grimoire, The Roottrees are Dead
Productivity:
Spirit City Lofi Sessions: Set up a little room for your digital character, set timers and goals and gain points to unlock little creatures to hang out in the space. Cute but I don't find it super motivating. Crashed my old mac a few times until I could get it to stay open long enough to set all the graphics stuff to minimum.
Puzzle Games:
Strange Antiquities: Fun, lightly spooky narrative/puzzle game about running an eldritch object shop in a mildly Lovecraftian 19th century English town: tracking down and identifying objects using books/maps/clues, figuring out what object will help someone with their problems, and solving the mystery of What's Wrong With The Town. Sequel to Strange Horticulture and very similar, I think you could play this first without problems.
Mega Mosaic: Just one really large logic puzzle, which works kinda like minesweeper but just politely offers to fix mistakes instead of killing you for them. Not exciting but enjoyably meditative. The puzzle is divided into connected sections which turn into pixel art as you finish them, so there's a bunch of attainable sub-goals, and it's surprisingly fun picking away at one section, getting stuck, and wandering around the 'map' to find something easier, since every section completed will eventually join up to help finish other parts.
Botany Manor: Slightly janky but cute and pretty plant identifying game where you play as a female scientist in the 19th century, wandering around her manor house and compiling information on various rare plants in order to make them bloom. A bit heavy handed with its Girls Can Do Science message but its not like that's a bad message. My main complaint is it keeps track of WHICH clues you've gathered but not WHAT THEY SAID, so you need to take detailed notes, be ready to do a lot of back-tracking to reread information, or follow a walkthrough. No timed sections as I recall.
Logiart Grimoire: Picross logic puzzles, where you combine the results of puzzles to create more puzzles. Okay, none of the hint/error notification options are quite what I want but I found a combo which is good enough.
The Roottrees are Dead: Uncover and connect clues to fill in a complex family tree and solve a mystery. The mystery itself is sadly kind of boring but the clue combining parts were pretty fun and the hint system is well done.
Actual puzzle games: Strange Antiquities, Mega Mosaic, Botany Manor, Logiart Grimoire, The Roottrees are Dead
Productivity:
Spirit City Lofi Sessions: Set up a little room for your digital character, set timers and goals and gain points to unlock little creatures to hang out in the space. Cute but I don't find it super motivating. Crashed my old mac a few times until I could get it to stay open long enough to set all the graphics stuff to minimum.
Puzzle Games:
Strange Antiquities: Fun, lightly spooky narrative/puzzle game about running an eldritch object shop in a mildly Lovecraftian 19th century English town: tracking down and identifying objects using books/maps/clues, figuring out what object will help someone with their problems, and solving the mystery of What's Wrong With The Town. Sequel to Strange Horticulture and very similar, I think you could play this first without problems.
Mega Mosaic: Just one really large logic puzzle, which works kinda like minesweeper but just politely offers to fix mistakes instead of killing you for them. Not exciting but enjoyably meditative. The puzzle is divided into connected sections which turn into pixel art as you finish them, so there's a bunch of attainable sub-goals, and it's surprisingly fun picking away at one section, getting stuck, and wandering around the 'map' to find something easier, since every section completed will eventually join up to help finish other parts.
Botany Manor: Slightly janky but cute and pretty plant identifying game where you play as a female scientist in the 19th century, wandering around her manor house and compiling information on various rare plants in order to make them bloom. A bit heavy handed with its Girls Can Do Science message but its not like that's a bad message. My main complaint is it keeps track of WHICH clues you've gathered but not WHAT THEY SAID, so you need to take detailed notes, be ready to do a lot of back-tracking to reread information, or follow a walkthrough. No timed sections as I recall.
Logiart Grimoire: Picross logic puzzles, where you combine the results of puzzles to create more puzzles. Okay, none of the hint/error notification options are quite what I want but I found a combo which is good enough.
The Roottrees are Dead: Uncover and connect clues to fill in a complex family tree and solve a mystery. The mystery itself is sadly kind of boring but the clue combining parts were pretty fun and the hint system is well done.
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Date: 2026-01-04 03:41 pm (UTC)