Stretching the brain is good for your mental health. Use these fantastic indie puzzle games to keep your brain in good shape.
Independent developers are capable of creating some really amazing things and today we’ll be focusing on their games that will put your puzzle-solving skills to the test.
The games you’re about to see will bend your mind while providing a fulfilling experience. They may be difficult but that’s what makes completing them fun – don’t get discouraged if you can’t do it right away. Observe, experiment, and learn, and your sweat and tears will be rewarded with a genuine sense of accomplishment.
So, without further ado, here are some of the best indie games with intricate challenges.
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Quantum Conundrum | 2012-06-21 | Puzzle | Airtight Games |
 | Lit Bend The Light | 2020-05-15 | Indie | Copperglass |
 | The Room | 2016-07-15 | Adventure | Fireproof Games |
 | The Talos Principle | 2014-12-11 | Adventure | Croteam |
 | The Talos Principle 2 | 2023-11-02 | Adventure | Croteam |
 | The Witness | 2016-01-26 | Adventure | Thekla, Inc |
 | Antichamber | 2013-01-31 | Adventure | Alexander Bruce |
 | Viewfinder | 2023-07-18 | Indie | Sad Owl Studios |
 | The Pedestrian | 2020-01-29 | Adventure | Skookum Arts |
 | Baba Is You | 2019-03-13 | Indie | hempuli |
 | Fez | 2013-05-01 | Adventure | Polytron Corporation |
 | Opus Magnum | 2017-12-07 | Indie | Zachtronics |
The Witness
| Release date: | 2016-01-26 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Thekla, Inc |
A one-of-a-kind puzzle game that won’t hold your hand.
The Witness is a fascinating game that does an excellent job of introducing new rules to its puzzles. The rules are not directly explained when you encounter them. Instead, you will gradually learn how they work, simply by playing and experimenting, which creates a much more fulfilling and rewarding experience when you figure it out.
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Baba is You
| Release date: | 2019-03-13 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | hempuli |
Win the game by bending the rules to your advantage.
In Baba is You, each level comes with a set of its own rules that can be altered. The rules are formed when blocks that represent nouns and verbs are connected in the correct order, forming a short sentence that becomes a rule, such as “wall is stop”, meaning the walls are impassable. The blocks containing the words can be pushed around, which means that you can change the rules – and that’s the major feature of the game.
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Fez
| Release date: | 2013-05-01 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Polytron Corporation |
Everything is a matter of perspective.
At first glance, Fez is a rather simple 2D platformer. It won’t take long, though, to realize that it’s much deeper and more complex than it first appears. Right after the beginning, you’ll get the ability to switch the perspective which allows you to spin the world around, making it effectively a 3D game disguised as a 2D – definitely something you don’t see every day.
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Opus Magnum
| Release date: | 2017-12-07 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | Zachtronics |
A treat for fans of a more classic approach to puzzles.
Arguably one of the best classic puzzle games where your job is to place various blocks on the board in such a way that they’ll interact with each other to complete a given objective. There are usually multiple ways of achieving success – the big part of the fun lies in finding the most optimal way of doing so and beating other players’ scores.
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Antichamber
| Release date: | 2013-01-31 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Alexander Bruce |
If you’re looking for a game that will mess with your brain and perception skills, pick this one.
There’s no other game as Antichamber – a fun, trippy adventure where nothing is as it seems. By the creative use of some programming tricks, the game creates a whole lot of deceptive illusions you must learn to see through.
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Conclusion
Indie games provide some of the coolest and most unique puzzles available up to date so if you’re in for a real challenge that will make your brain cells spin, you should definitely give them a try.