Puzzle Games

This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo was full of amazing visuals. It makes sense given that most games shown off this year are developed on the cutting edge of console power, pushing the systems to their limits for robust, eye-catching graphics. It takes a special kind of game to stand out from the cluttered crowd, particularly at Sony's PlayStation booth, which was brimming with some of the most talked about games this year. Whether it's the amazing architecture or incredible detail on the repeating structures, there's just something special about Manifold Garden that makes it pop.

There's something dreamy about the world under the sea. While it is a very real place, the ocean is a relative unknown to many. Unless you're a diver or a marine scientist of some sort, there's a good chance you haven't seen much of what's lurking and living beneath the waves. We don't always need to travel to another planet to experience an alien world; we have one right here on Earth that's dying to be explored. That's just part of what makes Abzu such a wondrous experience. Living under the sea --- without the restrictions of actual scuba diving --- swimming with the fish and observing all the ocean's wide expanse has to offer is coupled with a great mystery of a lost civilization only you can solve.

Imagine having to follow up a legendary piece of media with something better. Can you put yourself in a place where fans ask you to take the thing you made that revolutionized a genre and make a follow-up that’s not only on par, but continues to push the envelope? That’s where Portal 2 was as it entered the gaming community’s collective radar. The game had an enormously high bar to clear with the original Portal, which was renowned for its excellent design, ingenious mechanics, and bizarre and somber, yet cynically humorous themes. Fortunately for all of Valve and Portal’s many fans, Gabe Newell’s team was well up to the task and years later, we celebrate the amazing sequel that was Portal 2.

Those adorable, anthropomorphic followers started walking in line and onto computer screens two and a half decades ago. It's time we celebrate an often overlooked classic in the puzzle-platformer hybrid genre. Lemmings has hit its big 25 year anniversary, so let's look back at the origins and impact these little guys had in video game history. AMA Design, previously known for their work on the '80s MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari, and Commodore 64 titles of Menace and Blood Money were starting to work on their next game, Walker. It was basically a big video game ripoff of Star Wars' AT-ST, but inadvertently spawned the development of a small character sprite.

From that love comes a touching story packed into a beautiful setting with a delightful main character in Yarny. The care and devotion of the team at Coldwood to the craft of game development is more than evident at every turn. This game is not without its frustrations, particularly in puzzles toward the end of the game, but the brief fleeting moments of anxiety are easily countered by the overall warmth that Unravel exudes. This is a game I'll play when I'm having a bad day and want to turn it around.

Imperative Entertainment and Phosphor Games are launching two titles based on Heroes Reborn, acting as prequels for Hiro's big return to NBC.

Sierra has announced that they will release the first chapter of King's Quest, their upcoming, multi-part adventure title, in July.

Instead of catching 'em all, you mobile gamers will now be tasked with matching 'em all in Pokemon Shuffle, coming to iOS and Android devices.

Coldwood and EA will team up to bring Unravel, an adorable, yarn-based puzzle-platformer, to life for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Although match-3 puzzlers can be simplified to a fault, Puzzle & Dragons adds a subtle amount of breadth to the genre.