Your Tier 1 list looks basically right to me, I’ve played all of those games some amount and would put them in that tier. Am excited to try out one or two of the Tier 2 games I’ve not played.
I looked through my games notes, here’s a couple that are in or near this genre. Note that these Tiers aren’t my overall score for the game, just within this genre.
Tier 4: Monument Valley, Super Mario Maker (puzzle levels), Toki Tori.
To my taste they are all puzzle games, but some of the above do not match central examples of puzzle games that you give in the post, so if you go in blind you may get a substantially different experience than you expect.
Junkbot is an efficiency game, and a great one at that. Alas, is hard to find, it’s an old flash game that the internet no longer support.
I haven’t played much of Antichamber, but I have seen it recommended a bunch. I think that this is a place where my aesthetic differs from others. I dont think I like this kind of game nearly as much, because (I believe) there is a lot of stuff that I would call guessing the developer’s password. It is something like I feel like I have to try things without knowing whether it would work, and have the game tell me whether they work in a way I could not deduce myself.
I have played through Gorogoa
Minor spoilers for Gorogoa:
I think Gorogoa made me feel like I had to try things without knowing whether they would work, and let the game tell me whether or not they worked, in a way I could not deduce myself (even with enough time to consider all the options). This seems pretty bad according to my aesthetics. I feel like I have not pin-pointed the thing, because a lot of good games could also be described this way, but in a way that is good. I think it feels good when it feels like I am doing science, and Gorogoa did not feel like science. It felt like in Gorogoa I was exploring a space made by man rather than by nature? IDK
I’ll just say whitelisted things on the first subject: I had a blast playing Antichamber. I played it for 3.9 hours, I believe I finished it, and it was hard but I completed everything myself (I never googled for hints).
I have played through Gorogoa. Minor-to-Medium spoilers:
I think it’s a charming game. It feels like exploring someone else’s world and aesthetic. I thought it was very beautiful, and after a while I started being able to predict how a couple of scenes in a row should go. But I could not tell you the rules by which the game works, in any concise and complete way, which is probably a large part of why you did not enjoy it.
“some of the above do not match central examples of puzzle games that you give in the post” made me pause and think about whether it follows the spoiler rules, but I think it is okay, since you are averaging over 9 games.
Your Tier 1 list looks basically right to me, I’ve played all of those games some amount and would put them in that tier. Am excited to try out one or two of the Tier 2 games I’ve not played.
I looked through my games notes, here’s a couple that are in or near this genre. Note that these Tiers aren’t my overall score for the game, just within this genre.
Tier 2: World of Goo, Return of the Obra Dinn.
Tier 3: Gorogoa, Junkbot (+Junkbot Undercover), Quadrilateral Cowboy, Antichamber.
Tier 4: Monument Valley, Super Mario Maker (puzzle levels), Toki Tori.
To my taste they are all puzzle games, but some of the above do not match central examples of puzzle games that you give in the post, so if you go in blind you may get a substantially different experience than you expect.
Junkbot is an efficiency game, and a great one at that. Alas, is hard to find, it’s an old flash game that the internet no longer support.
I have played a very small amount of Antichamber.
Very minor spoilers for Anti-chamber:
I haven’t played much of Antichamber, but I have seen it recommended a bunch. I think that this is a place where my aesthetic differs from others. I dont think I like this kind of game nearly as much, because (I believe) there is a lot of stuff that I would call guessing the developer’s password. It is something like I feel like I have to try things without knowing whether it would work, and have the game tell me whether they work in a way I could not deduce myself.
I have played through Gorogoa
Minor spoilers for Gorogoa:
I think Gorogoa made me feel like I had to try things without knowing whether they would work, and let the game tell me whether or not they worked, in a way I could not deduce myself (even with enough time to consider all the options). This seems pretty bad according to my aesthetics. I feel like I have not pin-pointed the thing, because a lot of good games could also be described this way, but in a way that is good. I think it feels good when it feels like I am doing science, and Gorogoa did not feel like science. It felt like in Gorogoa I was exploring a space made by man rather than by nature? IDK
I’ll just say whitelisted things on the first subject: I had a blast playing Antichamber. I played it for 3.9 hours, I believe I finished it, and it was hard but I completed everything myself (I never googled for hints).
I have played through Gorogoa. Minor-to-Medium spoilers:
I think it’s a charming game. It feels like exploring someone else’s world and aesthetic. I thought it was very beautiful, and after a while I started being able to predict how a couple of scenes in a row should go. But I could not tell you the rules by which the game works, in any concise and complete way, which is probably a large part of why you did not enjoy it.
If I’ve given away too much info Scott, let me know and I’ll remove / edit it.
Actually, on second thought, I don’t like you named a game in the parenthetical about Tier 1 and Tier 2
It doesn’t feel much like a spoiler, but I want the spoiler policy to feel like a white list.
Understood, removed.
I think this is okay.
“some of the above do not match central examples of puzzle games that you give in the post” made me pause and think about whether it follows the spoiler rules, but I think it is okay, since you are averaging over 9 games.