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Brainrack, Issue #286 (October 21, 2024)
22 Oct @ 12:43am - sdumitriu
Welcome once again to our weekly newsletter with puzzle game news, new and upcoming releases, giveaways, deals and bundles, spotlight on a lesser-known or forgotten game and other stuff, posted on Mondays (evening US time, night EU time, Tuesday morning AUS time).

Greetings to those who joined since last week! If you found us through a link to the newsletter, read the group overview to see what else we can offer, visit the forum for puzzle discussion, follow our curator for reviews and recommendations, check out our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide on how to improve your games, and tell your friends if you like what you see. Thanks!

NextFest is over. I played over 30 demos, lots of good stuff to look forward to, and although I didn’t have time to post some lists last week, I’m still planning on posting some highlights in the next few days. From the top 50 most played demos from NextFest, none are puzzles… Another sad reminder that the puzzle community on Steam is quite small.

New on the Curator
Ideally, every group member would follow our curator and vice versa, but until then here's the changelog. And don't forget our many lists based on themes and subgenres.

New curatees with full reviews:


New curatees with mini-reviews:


Please let us know in the Curator Info thread if you'd like to write mini-reviews (max. 200 characters, positive or negative) for puzzlers that aren't curated by us yet. Examples and inspiration can be found on the Group Member Recommendations list.

Giveaway: Lots of Things and Paper Trail
The giveaways are on SteamGifts, but no need to create an account, just visit the site and log in through Steam. Good luck!

Lots of Things[www.steamgifts.com] is available for everybody, and Paper Trail[www.steamgifts.com] only for group members, courtesy of the developers.

Puzzle Game News
Got your own puzzler, adventure, demo or some new content coming out on mobile or PC? Let us know in the forum or by adding sdumitriu on Steam Chat.

Free games:


New demos:


New and Upcoming Releases on Steam

So many releases this week! Some highlights. Entwined Time is a fantastic and hard puzzle game with a lot of levels, another great puzzle game that makes this a great year for puzzle games. Control two characters with the ability to rewind time separately for each of them. Do and undo actions, cheating time and space to inch closer to their targets without actually spending that many action points. PRIM is the high-budget, big studio release of the week. It looks and sounds great, a good choice if you like adventure games. CrossAbout is a unique crossword-inspired game, you have all the clues for the board, but you get to choose where they apply and how long the words are. It’s more like a crosswords designer than a crossword solver, and the different challenges for each level double the replay value. Wilmot Works It Out is a cute jigsaw-like puzzle, great for kids and casual players. Wizard of Wings is an escape room puzzle game, very similar to a few mobile games like “The Birdcage”, “Doors: Paradox” and others, rather easy, good enough for some relaxing puzzling. Crash Puzzle HammerSan is a puzzle platformer, part Lode Runner part Box-Man, quite challenging but a bit unpolished, and with too much focus on speed. Rubicon: Cubindom managed to make the Rubik’s Cube interesting and fun, focusing on small challenges, usually just 2-4 moves. Find’o’Lantern is a classic Star Battle with a Halloween theme, decent but not spectacular. Clony is decent, quite unique and challenging, mixing Box-Man, simultaneous movement, gravity and other themes. Spready is a good mix of one-line and perspective manipulation, but it needs some QoL (it starts in Korean, slow level loading, the story needs work). A few other promising sokobans, nonograms and portal-likes caught my attention, but I haven't tried them yet.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3094270/Crash_Puzzle_HammerSan/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1490770/
(this is CrossAbout, currently there's an issue with its store page so it doesn't load)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3147300/Entwined_Time/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1510470/PRIM/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2830100/Super_Blockbuster/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2060590/Wilmot_Works_It_Out/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2945220/Wizard_of_Wings_Escape/

And the rest:


Short game of the week: Sticky Block Pushing Game
Highlighting a short and free puzzle game every week!

Just like last week’s short game, Sticky Block Pushing Game[leaving-leaves.itch.io] is a one-level sokoban with a special mechanic, made by fellow group member Leaving Leaves. This is Microban-1, but with sticky boxes! How hard can it be to put two boxes in place? Sounds simple, but this is quite tricky and could take many minutes to solve. With just one level, this is perfect for a little break. Works in a browser, even on a phone.

Not-quite-short game of the week: Neighbors
Highlighting another free puzzle game every week!

For something a little different, a strategy game where you have to maximize your score. In Neighbors[www.unlimited-tiles.com] you must make chains of neighboring tiles, with the restriction that two consecutive tiles must have either the same color or the same shape, but not both. Once a chain can no longer be extended, tap on it to collect it, and the remaining tiles will fall down, so plan ahead to set up an even longer chain. Works in a browser, even on a phone. And if you get a perfect score on all levels, there are other games to try on that website.

Bundles and Freebies

Humble Bundle:
  • This month's Humble Choice subscription[www.humblebundle.com] has many adventure games, with some puzzle elements too, like Jusant, Station to Station, or McPixel 3.

Deal of the Week: Spirit of the North
You can always check our curator for curated titles on sale. Specials on the front page is incomplete, click the Discounts tab for more.

Since this group is also about adventure games, not just puzzles, I should try to put some less thinky games in the spotlight as well. In Spirit of the North you play as a normal fox, running through the gorgeous scenery of Iceland, following a spirit fox, occasionally solving puzzles. There's a sequel coming soon, maybe try out the demo for that one too.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1213700/Spirit_of_the_North/

Spotlight: The Fool and his Money
Not to be confused with our Deal of the Week, which is just an especially good deal from the weeklies. Every week we'll pick a puzzler we really like and try to push it down everybody's throats. But with love because it's so good. Or highlight a lesser-known title that's unlikely to get curated. Comment below if you'd like to write about an undeservedly forgotten game for next time!

Released 25 years after the original The Fool’s Errand, and 12 years ago, 2012’s The Fool and his Money[web.archive.org] continues the story of The Fool in an even better adventure, with a new story, color graphics, old but improved games as well as new games, a new tarot game, this time guided by the Moon. Unfortunately, the official site is down, so there's no way to purchase this absolute gem of a game. Maybe try emailing Cliff Johnson? Let me know if you succeed. And if you do manage to get your hands on a copy, you might even find my name somewhere in there.

Community Corner
Show the world how good (or bad) you are at puzzle games by submitting your Workshop levels, guides, walkthroughs, mods, artwork inspired by a puzzler, or whatever, even if it's not a game curated by us, in this forum thread or below in the comments, to be featured here next time.

The nice people at ThinkyGames.com just launched a database of thinky games[thinkygames.com], searchable, filterable, with support for many platforms (mobile, www, steam, linux…), different collections, detailed descriptions, and many other useful features. It’s not yet complete, but it’s an excellent starting point. Take a look, maybe it will help you find your next favorite game!

Wanna Help?
Here are a few quick & easy ways you can help us out. A little can go a long way, otherwise we'll never achieve world domination.
  • Feedback is important, so let us know what you like or don't like.
  • Follow our curator and get notified about new additions and reviews.
  • Tell your puzzle- and/or adventure-loving friends and your favorite developers about us and our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide.

Thanks for reading, spread the word!
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Free Fun Fridays!
18 Oct @ 1:20am - Tanner
31 Rate up

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Brainrack, Issue #285 (October 14, 2024)
16 Oct @ 9:47am - sdumitriu
Welcome once again to our weekly newsletter with puzzle game news, new and upcoming releases, giveaways, deals and bundles, spotlight on a lesser-known or forgotten game and other stuff, posted on Mondays (evening US time, night EU time, Tuesday morning AUS time).

Greetings to those who joined since last week! If you found us through a link to the newsletter, read the group overview to see what else we can offer, visit the forum for puzzle discussion, follow our curator for reviews and recommendations, check out our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide on how to improve your games, and tell your friends if you like what you see. Thanks!

Apologies for the late posting, family and work took too much time this week.

Three new people joined the curator team, mostly as playtesters. Welcome GamingRob, Innocentive and Lord Victor!

The big event this week is the Steam Next Fest, with plenty of demos to try. We’ll post a few announcements with the best ones, stay tuned. Another event with some puzzle games is Made In New Zealand.

New on the Curator
Ideally, every group member would follow our curator and vice versa, but until then here's the changelog. And don't forget our many lists based on themes and subgenres.

New curatees with full reviews:


New curatees with mini-reviews:

None, so please let us know in the Curator Info thread if you'd like to write mini-reviews (max. 200 characters, positive or negative) for puzzlers that aren't curated by us yet. Examples and inspiration can be found on the Group Member Recommendations list.

Giveaway: Thirty-One 3D Premium and Archipel Logic Infinite
The giveaways are on SteamGifts, but no need to create an account, just visit the site and log in through Steam. Good luck!

Thirty-One 3D Premium[www.steamgifts.com] is available for everybody, and Archipel Logic Infinite[www.steamgifts.com] only for group members, courtesy of the developers.

Puzzle Game News
Got your own puzzler, adventure, demo or some new content coming out on mobile or PC? Let us know in the forum or by adding sdumitriu on Steam Chat.

Free games:
New content:
Tents and Trees added some large packs. Lines on Sides added 28 more levels and new mechanics.

New demos: Way too many, we’ll post highlights throughout the rest of the week.

New and Upcoming Releases on Steam

Not many releases, but a few good ones. Neva looks amazing, from the same developer that made the acclaimed GRIS. PortalBox is finally released after a mishap last week, and it looks like a good thinky puzzle. For those that like dark point&click escape rooms, the Forgotten Hill series has a new episode. An Engineer and the Great Machine seems interesting for those that like programming/assembly line games. Yet another 12 Labours of Hercules game, the previous entries have been mildly recommended by the curator in the past.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3163110/12_Labours_of_Hercules_XVII_Feathered_Fury/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2482340/An_Engineer_and_the_Great_Machine/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2891870/Forgotten_Hill_The_Wardrobe/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3197400/Mariana/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2420660/Neva/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2891210/PortalBox/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2213410/Turbo_Fat/

Short game of the week: Space Block Pushing Game
Highlighting a short and free puzzle game every week!

Space Block Pushing Game[leaving-leaves.itch.io] is a one-level sokoban with a special mechanic, made by fellow group member Leaving Leaves. This is Microban-1, but in space! You have to choose your starting position and orientation, then walk along the edges. Sounds simple, but this is quite tricky and could take many minutes to solve. With just one level, this is perfect for a little break. Works in a browser, even on a phone.

Not-quite-short game of the week: Bee Magic
Highlighting another free puzzle game every week!

Since there have been many past short game highlights that weren't that short, I’m doubling down, with both a short and a medium-long free game every week from now on. Enjoy!

Did you know that bees communicate by dancing? Yes they do, they dance to let other colony members know where they found food, how much and how far, and the best dance wins! And Bee Magic[epicpikaguy.itch.io] takes inspiration from that amazing fact: the way you move triggers an effect, like a dance magic spell (or the special combos in fighting games like Mortal Kombat). Learn the 6 (and more!) different spells, use them to navigate a maze and collect all the stars, but be careful not to trigger them accidentally. While finishing the game the first time may not be that hard, the challenge is to finish it without learning all the spells. Using just 5 of the 6 spells is doable, but having to solve it with just 2 of the spells is a real challenge. Works in a browser, but not on a phone.

Screenshot of the Week: Classic Jigsaw Puzzles
Puzzler screenshots are mostly for providing hints or solutions, but they can still be beautiful, funny, or some other adjectives, so post yours in the Screenshots thread on the forum, include a caption if you want, and we might put it in one of the next issues. No spoilers, please!

Fall is here in the Northern Hemisphere, time for some beautiful fall foliage jigsaws!

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3349355067

Bundles and Freebies

Humble Bundle:
  • This month's Humble Choice subscription[www.humblebundle.com] has many adventure games, with some puzzle elements too, like Jusant, Station to Station, or McPixel 3.

Deal of the Week: Lara Croft GO
You can always check our curator for curated titles on sale. Specials on the front page is incomplete, click the Discounts tab for more.

For the release of the new Tomb Rider anime on Netflix there’s a big Lara Croft sale going on, many with new low prices. While the main games are more or less puzzly, with some going well into mass murderer FPS territory, the GO version is a great puzzler you should try.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/540840/Lara_Croft_GO/

Spotlight: Globesweeper: Hex Puzzler
Not to be confused with our Deal of the Week, which is just an especially good deal from the weeklies. Every week we'll pick a puzzler we really like and try to push it down everybody's throats. But with love because it's so good. Or highlight a lesser-known title that's unlikely to get curated. Comment below if you'd like to write about an undeservedly forgotten game for next time!

This is minesweeper variant I really enjoyed, with under 100 levels, but each one is unique and a pleasure to solve. Hexagonal cells on a globe, advanced rules beyond the classic mine count, beautiful patterns. You can also get it in a bundle with the infinite, but much simpler Globesweeper.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121530/Globesweeper_Hex_Puzzler/

Community Corner
Show the world how good (or bad) you are at puzzle games by submitting your Workshop levels, guides, walkthroughs, mods, artwork inspired by a puzzler, or whatever, even if it's not a game curated by us, in this forum thread or below in the comments, to be featured here next time.

Nana’s guide for dob.

Wanna Help?
Here are a few quick & easy ways you can help us out. A little can go a long way, otherwise we'll never achieve world domination.
  • Feedback is important, so let us know what you like or don't like.
  • Follow our curator and get notified about new additions and reviews.
  • Tell your puzzle- and/or adventure-loving friends and your favorite developers about us and our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide.

Thanks for reading, spread the word!
42 Rate up

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Free Fun Fridays!
11 Oct @ 5:58am - Tanner
31 Rate up

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Brainrack, Issue #284 (October 7, 2024)
7 Oct @ 9:49pm - sdumitriu
Welcome once again to our weekly newsletter with puzzle game news, new and upcoming releases, giveaways, deals and bundles, spotlight on a lesser-known or forgotten game and other stuff, posted on Mondays (evening US time, night EU time, Tuesday morning AUS time).

Greetings to those who joined since last week! If you found us through a link to the newsletter, read the group overview to see what else we can offer, visit the forum for puzzle discussion, follow our curator for reviews and recommendations, check out our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide on how to improve your games, and tell your friends if you like what you see. Thanks!

One major event going on, the Ada Lovelace Day event has lots of programming puzzles in the spotlight, many of them on sale.

New on the Curator
Ideally, every group member would follow our curator and vice versa, but until then here's the changelog. And don't forget our many lists based on themes and subgenres.

New curatees with full reviews:


New curatees with mini-reviews:


Please let us know in the Curator Info thread if you'd like to write mini-reviews (max. 200 characters, positive or negative) for puzzlers that aren't curated by us yet. Examples and inspiration can be found on the Group Member Recommendations list.

Giveaway: Hero Guider and Twistingo: Blue Moon
The giveaways are on SteamGifts, but no need to create an account, just visit the site and log in through Steam. Good luck!

Hero Guider[www.steamgifts.com] is available for everybody, and Twistingo: Blue Moon[www.steamgifts.com] only for group members, courtesy of the developers.

Puzzle Game News
Got your own puzzler, adventure, demo or some new content coming out on mobile or PC? Let us know in the forum or by adding sdumitriu on Steam Chat.

New content:

Linkito added 15 new levels, as well as a level editor.

New demos:

With Steam Next Fest right around the corner, many new demos have been released this week, and probably more to come. Most of these seem interesting, but I haven’t tried any of them yet.


New and Upcoming Releases on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2214880/Europa/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076100/GOST_of_Time/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3229320/LightRay__Wayfinder/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2339320/Nick_Jr_Party_Adventure/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2994680/Nobodies_Silent_Blood/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/993030/Rebots/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2728040/SherloCAT_Holmes_Nonogram/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1927150/Townframe/

And the rest:


Short game of the week: Edge Case
Highlighting a short and free puzzle game every week!

Edge Case[parachor.itch.io] is a sokoban game in which you can connect the edges of the room to wrap around, allowing you to re-enter from the top when you exit through the left, or to navigate between different rooms, for example. Using “terminals”, you can draw paths around rooms to establish or destroy these connections, adding a new layer of complexity to the ever fresh Sokoban genre. And this does get quite complex, which, I guess, makes this a not-so-short game. Works in a browser, even on a phone.

Screenshot of the Week: Idylls of the Lunar Maria
Puzzler screenshots are mostly for providing hints or solutions, but they can still be beautiful, funny, or some other adjectives, so post yours in the Screenshots thread on the forum, include a caption if you want, and we might put it in one of the next issues. No spoilers, please!

This is a roguelite Match3 game with a very unique style. While most of the games in this genre go for a sparkling, polished, bombastic look, Idylls of the Lunar Maria went for a hand-painted, simple look.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3341296580

Bundles and Freebies

Indiegala:

Humble Bundle:
  • This month's Humble Choice subscription[www.humblebundle.com] has many adventure games, with some puzzle elements too, like Jusant, Station to Station, or McPixel 3.
  • The Enter the Mysterium[www.humblebundle.com] bundle has all the Myst-related games for a relatively low price.

Deal of the Week: LYNE
You can always check our curator for curated titles on sale. Specials on the front page is incomplete, click the Discounts tab for more.

This is one of the best one-line puzzles on Steam, with a lot of content, daily levels, and most importantly (at least for me), it is quite challenging.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/266010/LYNE/

Spotlight: System's Twilight
Not to be confused with our Deal of the Week, which is just an especially good deal from the weeklies. Every week we'll pick a puzzler we really like and try to push it down everybody's throats. But with love because it's so good. Or highlight a lesser-known title that's unlikely to get curated. Comment below if you'd like to write about an undeservedly forgotten game for next time!

Following in the footsteps of The Fool’s Errand and 3 in Three, System’s Twilight[en.wikipedia.org] is another great story-puzzle game from the early Mac days. Subtitled “An abstract fairytale”, it is indeed very abstract. The story takes place in a broken computer, and all the characters are strange, colorful shapes. It features many different types of puzzles, non-linear progression, upgrades, and a funny (or is it weird?) story.

This game is now exactly 30 years old! It is freeware thanks to the author, and can be downloaded from the official website[www.eblong.com].

Community Corner
Show the world how good (or bad) you are at puzzle games by submitting your Workshop levels, guides, walkthroughs, mods, artwork inspired by a puzzler, or whatever, even if it's not a game curated by us, in this forum thread or below in the comments, to be featured here next time.

Today I’m highlighting something entirely different, a discord server where fans of thinky games gather to discuss new and old games, ask for help with difficult levels, talk about game development and puzzle design, showcase their upcoming games, and much more. I find it an excellent resource, and it’s where I source most of the “short game of the week” highlights from. If you’re a puzzle lover, and especially if you’re a puzzle game developer, feel free to hop in, but be warned that it is quite a chatty place, with almost 4000 members.

Join the Thinky Puzzle Games server on Discord[thinkypuzzlegames.com].

Wanna Help?
Here are a few quick & easy ways you can help us out. A little can go a long way, otherwise we'll never achieve world domination.
  • Feedback is important, so let us know what you like or don't like.
  • Follow our curator and get notified about new additions and reviews.
  • Tell your puzzle- and/or adventure-loving friends and your favorite developers about us and our Basic Functionality and Accessibility Guide.

Thanks for reading, spread the word!
31 Rate up

Leave a comment
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