Puzzle games aren’t always the biggest and best-selling games, but more often than not, they have a way of really sticking in our minds.
It makes sense; a game that pushes you to really flex that noodle is naturally going to leave an impression. It’s a shame, then, that a lot of these really excellent puzzle games end up never getting sequels.
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Coming up with good puzzles definitely isn’t easy, especially if you have to pair them with a thought-provoking story.
Even so, puzzle games from across the decades have more than earned the right to try for it, especially if it means spending more time in some of gaming’s most thought-provoking settings.
10 Hypnospace Outlaw
Explore Later Iterations Of The Internet
Hypnospace Outlaw was a fantastically nostalgic deconstruction of early internet development, from overly-specified interest areas to edgy teenagers.
While that particular era of the internet is far enough away from the present to be novel, time does keep marching, and there’s still more development to witness.
A sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw could see the setting begin to mirror early 2000s internet trends, such as the emergence of social networks and video sharing.
These new technologies could give us new avenues for digital sleuthing work, tracking down scammers and griefers who are breaking the rules. Also, we can see what Zane has been up to since he finally got his dumb dream game published.
9 Papers, Please
Regimes Come And Go, Paperwork Is Eternal
Papers, Please was the game to first do something that seemed impossible: make paperwork compelling.
The gradually escalating phonebook of rules and regulations, balanced against a need for perfection and speed, created a gameplay loop that was both absorbing and high-pressure.
While many games have tried to ape that particular blend of public service drudgery, we’d be interested to see more of Papers, Please’s particular mechanics and setting.
As we see in the game’s best ending, after all, it’s not just Arstotzka checking passports; we could see the goings-on of the world from the perspective of a different country with different standards.
8 Outer Wilds
All Things End, But Something New Starts
While Outer Wilds was far from the first game to utilize a time loop mechanic, it was arguably the one that did the most with it from a gameplay perspective.
By setting an entire solar system in a relatively short loop, you have a mystery that requires a balance of thoroughness and punctuality.
That said, if Outer Wilds were ever to get a sequel, a time loop may not be a necessary component. The most important thing is to have a new mystery spanning a new collection of planets and celestial bodies.
Granted, we’d need to contrive a new limitation, plus a way to come back after inevitably dying, but that could be an interesting new wrinkle in itself.
7 Return Of The Obra Dinn
More Death-Filled Mysteries To Unravel
Return of the Obra Dinn’s setting of a lost 1800s trading ship returning from the mist was a stroke of genius. After all, ships go missing all the time, and even if they’re found, there’s no way of knowing what, exactly, happened.
Giving us a way to piece together the mystery ourselves serves as both great puzzle fodder and brilliantly organic storytelling.
A ship at sea is far from the only place a bunch of people could spontaneously drop dead, though. A sequel to Obra Dinn could have us explore various other mass-death scenarios with all kinds of supernatural twists, like a crashed plane or an isolated campsite.
6 Superliminal
Perception Continues To Be Reality
Superliminal was a brief, yet poignant take on the concept of dreams and their use as a narrative device. The concept of “perception is reality” both ties into the game’s overall message and makes for a surprisingly wide stable of rotating game mechanics.
With this single precept, many more puzzle concepts could undoubtedly come to be, from perspective changes to sudden rule alterations.
The only potential problem is that there isn’t much left for a potential sequel’s narrative hook that the first game didn’t already do. Perhaps this could be remedied by focusing on a dream therapist rather than a patient.
5 Grim Fandango
There Are Always More Souls Coming
While several of the classic LucasArts point-and-click games have managed to endure in one form or another, not all of them have, sadly.
Grim Fandango received a remaster in 2015, which was great, but such a fascinating setting really deserves greater exploration.
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We obviously can’t follow Manny anymore, since he made it to the Land of Rest, but the Underworld is always getting fresh souls with fresh problems.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find another poor soul to follow and problem-solve for, and it’d be interesting to see how the Underworld’s systems have changed in the wake of Hector LeMans’ sprouting.
4 Quantum Conundrum
Mo’ Dimensions, Mo’ Problems
Puzzle
Platformer
Adventure
Strategy
- Released
- June 21, 2012
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- ESRB
- t
Following the success of the Portal games, quirky, science-themed physics puzzle games became the order of the day for a period. One of the products of that period was 2012’s Quantum Conundrum, which was actually directed by Portal’s lead designer, Kim Swift.
Quantum Conundrum approached the concept of physics puzzles from a slightly different angle — the main gimmick was the ability to flip between four dimensions with different environmental properties.
A theoretical sequel could offer new dimensions, mechanics, and settings, broadening the base concept in a similar vein that Portal 2 did from Portal. Also, a sequel means more John DeLancie as Professor Quadwrangle, and he’s always a treat.
3 Baba Is You
Baba Is Two
- Released
- March 13, 2019
- Developer(s)
- Hempuli
- Publisher(s)
- Hempuli
- Engine
- Multimedia Fusion 2
- ESRB
- e
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Baba is You is one of the most deceptively cerebral games of the last few years. Beneath its humble, wiggly art exterior and cute little sheep-thing mascot, its deconstruction of rules and programming will absolutely set your brain on fire in the best way.
Since the game doesn’t have much in the way of a plot, a sequel wouldn’t need to do anything elaborate beyond just giving us some more puzzles to tinker with, maybe with a few new quantifiers and mechanics to keep things fresh.
2 Little Inferno
More Fuel For The Fire
2012’s Little Inferno seems more like a toy than a puzzle game at first, merely encouraging you to burn stuff and marvel at what happens.
The trick is to find and burn specific combinations of items to trigger new and interesting reactions. It’s a laid-back puzzle that’s content to roll at your pace.
A sequel could offer us more miscellaneous junk to burn for laughs, and that would certainly be fun.
What would really escalate the concept, though, is an increased emphasis on combining and experimentation, both for its own sake and to uncover even more combinations and tinkering potential.
1 Catherine
New Relationships, New Towers
Catherine was one of Atlus’ more experimental games, combining block-pushing, tower-climbing puzzle gameplay with a more mature story about romance and sexuality.
The game did get an expanded version in 2019, but an actual sequel with a new setting and characters has yet to come to pass.
It’s a shame, because the block-pushing alone was actually very interesting, moreso when you get to the creepy boss encounters.
A new protagonist with different perspectives on relationships from Vincent could give us a new tower with new mechanics and beasties to climb away from, backed by a similarly interesting story.
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I don’t know about you, but my brain turned into mush ages ago!
