What's Your Favorite Puzzle Game?
COMMUNITY QUESTION | Are you into the obvious, like Tetris, or something a bit more unexpected?
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We've seen a few really solid re-releases of puzzle games in the past few weeks, from Lumines Remastered to Money Puzzle Exchanger. It got us thinking about puzzle games in general, and how new ones are relatively rare nowadays.
For this week's community question, we're asking a simple one: what's your favorite puzzle game, and why?
Mike Williams, Reviews Editor
I'd have to say my favorite puzzle experience is probably Hitman. Sure, IO Interactive's titles plays out like a stealth game, with players using cover and disguises to get closer to their targets and assassinate them. In reality though, interacting with each level is like figuring out a giant puzzle. You have to uncover the pieces: which outfits to use, the patterns of guards and your targets, and where the instruments of murder are hidden in the level. But once you learn that, how you finish off your target is wonderfully freeform.
There's just so many ways to take out a target and IO Interactive intelligently added more contracts and allowed players to create still more. It's puzzle-solving and creative expression at the same time, which is why I love Hitman so much.
Matt Kim, News Editor
I wish I had the patience to play more puzzle games because just looking at my backlog I can pick easily pick out games that I'm sure I would love. Titles like Ghost Trick, the myriad of Professor Layton games I haven't played yet, or more recently Lumines are puzzle games that I still haven't jumped in and tried yet.
Luckily for me my favorite puzzle game is also easily one of my favorite games of all time, and that's Portal 2. While the first Portal might be the purer puzzle experience, Portal 2 expands the puzzles and mechanics without feeling bloated. The ambitious narrative is also just icing on the... cake. Sorry.
Caty McCarthy, Features Editor
On Switch lately, I've been playing a lot of Money Puzzle Exchanger and Lumines Remastered, two excellent puzzle games. My favorite puzzle game of all time though is neither of those. It's Puyo Puyo 2, the second installment in the blob-dropping series. The reason I adore Puyo Puyo 2 the most out of the series is a pretty shallow one: it has the best art style and the best music. I love Puyo Puyo games, and over the past couple years Puyo Puyo 2 is the only game that drives me to dust off my Nintendo 3DS. (Though nowadays, Puyo Puyo Tetris is a good enough substitute in a pinch.)