8 Puzzle Games That Make Portal Look Basic

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Portal is one of the most beloved puzzle games ever made, and rightfully so.

Apart from the endless, uniform allure of GLaDOS and the lively pitch of Cave Johnson, the gameplay is straightforward and simple to grasp. You place a portal in one spot, another in another, then something swift moves through – that’s the gist of it.

As a gamer, I’d say it’s a straightforward puzzle-like mechanic that even beginners can grasp, yet it’s deep enough to hold your interest for quite some time.

On the other hand, one of the reasons why puzzle games are so captivating is because they challenge your logical and analytical skills. If you’re not actually seeking straightforward games, then Portal might not offer as much in terms of gameplay, instead relying more on its impressive presentation.

If you’re looking for puzzle games with a bit of extra flavor, there are plenty of options available for you, such as these.

For the sake of clarity, let me emphasize that our statement does not imply superiority of these games over Portal. Instead, we’re pointing out that their unique features or puzzle-solving methods show a greater degree of diversity or complexity compared to Portal.

8.
Return Of The Obra Dinn

Extreme Bookkeeping

I’m truly thankful to reside in the time of digital databases, and I stand by that statement. The concept of manually jotting down notes and making revisions is something that fills me with dread, both personally and professionally. This might be why Return of the Obra Dinn left me puzzled for quite a while, but that’s not necessarily a negative comment about it.

As a gamer, I found the unique hook of Return of the Obra Dinn lies in unraveling the identities, roles, and final destinies of everyone aboard the ill-fated ship. However, simply observing their demises doesn’t typically provide the answers. It’s not as if each corpse on deck has a name tag sewn into their undergarments, making it easy to identify them.

To recognize people during flashbacks, you’ll often have to pay close attention to contextual cues like the numbered beds they sleep on or the specific titles others use when addressing them. This game requires a keen and meticulous observation of even the tiniest details.

7.
The Witness

It’s There To Be Solved

At times, the captivating charm of a puzzle game might reside in its apparent absence of a distinctive feature. Instead, it’s about the pure joy of solving puzzles, fueled by intuition and logical reasoning. To immerse myself in a game like The Witness, I need to trust my instincts wholeheartedly, even when the game seems to be trying to convince me otherwise that one plus one doesn’t always equal two.

The puzzles presented in the game often revolve around themes such as shapes, designs, and progressions. While recognizing a pattern might seem straightforward, solving one that has gaps or irregularities, or stretches over an extended length, requires a good deal of mental effort.

It’s a strategic approach that challenges you to maintain and connect sequences of straightforward pieces of information over an extended period.

Experiencing The Witness resembles performing repetitive data-entry tasks. While I’m competent at linking small pieces of data, maintaining logical consistency over extended periods proves to require greater concentration than initially anticipated.

6.
Baba Is You

Puzzle Is Solve

Designing games, in essence, can be likened to solving an intricate puzzle. Though you may have established variables and adjustments, ensuring a logical and coherent progression of ‘if this happens, then that follows, because of these reasons’ is crucial, or the narrative within your created world becomes illogical and confusing.

Playing Baba Is You feels akin to functioning as a quality assurance tester for a game nearing completion, but with the occasional intention of deliberately causing glitches or malfunctions.

In Baba Is You, you have the power to modify the game world using words and actions. Each puzzle is filled with word tiles that define the current rules, like “WALL STOPS.” Removing “STOP” means walls no longer obstruct your movement. By carefully swapping and deleting words and their functions, you can shape the puzzle according to your desires.

I particularly enjoy the small “eureka” moments in Baba is You, instances where an unintended action can unexpectedly solve a puzzle. In each level, the objective is simply to locate the flag, but by manipulating the rules to read, for example, “WALL IS FLAG,” you can achieve victory just by touching a wall.

5.
Braid

Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey

When discussing innovative features in complex puzzle games, manipulating time is a reliable choice. While navigating through space can be engaging, altering time introduces complexity by challenging progression and cause-and-effect relationships, concepts that are generally abstract. If you’re looking for something truly thought-provoking, Braid, an old favorite in the genre, is a great example of abstract puzzle design.

The core concept of Braid lies in your power to universally rewind time not only for you but also for any characters or objects within reach. Initially, it’s about strategically placing yourself to take advantage of moving barriers. However, as the game progresses, this unique ability develops and expands.

In this scenario, objects and adversaries cannot be influenced by time manipulation; instead, your own actions determine the flow of time. Rewinding your actions generates a short-lived copy of yourself.

Braid demonstrates the idea of thinking in four dimensions. It’s not just about moving forward and jumping over things; you also have to monitor the advancement of the world around you, considering aspects that are both influenced by and separate from your temporal antics.

4.
Fez

Change Your Perspective

As a gaming enthusiast, I can’t help but draw parallels between my experience with Fez and something extraordinary like Portal. If you were to imagine a twist on Portal’s mechanics, it would be where, instead of placing portals in the traditional sense, you needed to subtly adjust your perspective, looking beyond the ordinary reality as we know it. In essence, playing Fez feels like exploring a world where I’m not just seeing reality straight-on, but slightly tilted, offering a whole new dimension to gaming.

Fez’s quirk lies in the fact that it often appears as a flat, two-dimensional space, but in reality, all of its contents exist within a three-dimensional world.

By turning the whole world sideways, you’ll uncover hidden platforms, secrets, and goals that were obscured by the deceptive illusion of perspective. What once appeared to be a ladder with many of its rungs missing is actually a full staircase where some steps may just appear discolored or placed strangely.

Beyond its primary feature, Fez is also richly populated with peculiar mini-puzzles. These can range from linguistic puzzles like ciphers, hidden platforms, and even QR codes to be scanned using your mobile device. This game was my very first encounter with QR codes, and the idea that a game could subtly impact me in such a way, however slightly, was absolutely astonishing.

3.
Blue Prince

Everything Is A Context Clue

Puzzles aren’t just found in complex science fiction; wealthy eccentrics have been putting their loved ones through frustrating devices for entertainment for hundreds of years. In essence, that’s the basic idea behind Blue Prince – navigating your peculiar great-uncle’s home to fulfill legal obligations.

As an avid enthusiast, let me share my excitement about Blue Prince, an immersive escape room experience that blends intricate puzzles with roguelike mechanics. Each room in this sprawling mansion is a treasure trove of individual brain teasers, while the house itself serves as a vast web of contextual clues to help solve the riddles hidden elsewhere.

Each day brings a surprise as the layout of the house alters, leaving you guessing about which room holds which information. Consequently, the game advises you right from the start to keep notes.

In a unique twist, Blue Prince stands out as the first game I’ve encountered that encourages extensive note-taking more explicitly than others. It’s invigorating to play a game where every move seems to contribute to solving an intricate puzzle, reminiscent of working on one large, interconnected Rubik’s Cube rather than just a few levels with codes here and there.

2.
Lorelei And The Laser Eyes

Hope You Paid Attention In School

In many puzzle games, they’ll familiarize you with the main ideas or special features at the beginning, and then create later puzzles by gradually developing or expanding upon those initial concepts.

In contrast to many other games, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes makes it clear from the beginning that it requires a diverse range of knowledge, both fundamental and more complex, to successfully navigate its puzzles.

As a gamer, I’ve come across all sorts of things in my virtual journeys, from the familiar to the mind-boggling. Roman numerals, astrological signs, the periodic table of elements, dentistry, Agatha Christie novels, atomic numbers, and even the keys on a piano – these are just some of the diverse elements that Lorelei and Laser Eyes have woven into their world.

If you haven’t previously encountered these concepts, you can locate in-game resources for an overview. However, the expectation is that you should be able to tackle and understand them without needing external help.

I’m familiar with a variety of diverse subjects, but there are certain mysteries I struggle to tackle. It seems there are gaps in my general knowledge, much like how some details about Agatha Christie’s character Hercule Poirot remain unknown to me.

1.
Outer Wilds

The Whole Solar System Is The Board

In simpler terms, games like Portal challenge your mind to think beyond conventional solutions while still operating within a larger defined space. You’re focused on solving one puzzle at a time without worrying about the bigger picture. On the other hand, Outer Wilds is an expansive puzzle experience that spans an entire solar system, offering you freedom and exploration with minimal constraints.

This way of phrasing aims to make complex ideas more accessible and easier to understand.

In Outer Wilds, it’s not just about seeking out hints to figure things out; rather, it’s about uncovering the bigger picture altogether. You aren’t always clear on your objectives or purpose beyond understanding the time loop existence, but it seems like you ought to take some action regarding that.

As an ardent explorer, I find myself tasked with diligently scouring each potentially habitable world within our solar system, gleaning any scrap of knowledge or guidance that might come my way, all while ensuring my own survival in the process.

In essence, Outer Wilds seems to capture the essence of the puzzle-lover’s approach perfectly. When I found myself struggling to find my next hint, which happened frequently, I would often come to understand, “ah, I don’t need to solve this immediately. Let’s mark it for later and move on to solving a puzzle somewhere else.

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2025-05-22 21:10