Puzzlegames typically leave you staring at the same thing for a long time, andOpen Worldgames usually have you running around and doing dozens of things, which makes for an odd combination.
Despite this, tons of puzzle-heavy open-world titles have come out that seamlessly blend brain-bending segments into gameplay that primarily consists of running around and not knowing what to do.
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Games that choose this style typically go one of two ways: a huge world with a ton of individual brain-teasers scattered about, or the entire world is a puzzle to solve. Both approaches are great, but there’s something better.
The greatest games are the ones that do both, giving you a huge overarching puzzle to solve while stimulating your head every so often with self-contained puzzles. These are the best to ever do it.
10Scribblenauts Unlimited
Written Up
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Scribblenautsas a series likely isn’t the first thing to come to mind when you think of either of these genres, yetScribblenauts Unlimitedis very open-ended in how you approach it, and it’s incredibly fun.
You get access to a handful of different hubs you can run through, solving problems by writing down objects, people, or anything the game lets you write, and adding any modifiers you’d like to them.
While you can solve plenty of problems with a jetpack, summoning a colossal dinosaur can work in plenty of other situations. Really, your creativity and how much you want to use unique words will determine how much fun you have.
It can get pretty repetitive, and the novelty of seeing whatever you write come to life wears off after a few hours, but the situations you get put in are so quirky and the art is so lovely that I had to give it a spot here.
9Islands of Insight
Daily Crossword Puzzle
Islands of Insight
In terms of open-world games with a bunch of puzzles scattered around, Islands of Insights is essentially the stock example, consisting of a huge world with some movement abilities, and a few thousand brain-teasers.
If you like open-world games and an afternoon of doing nothing but brain-teasers from newspapers sounds like a good time, then you’ll love Islands of Insight, though it all feels a tad disconnected.
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These games have such immersive universes that the optional content ends up being just as good as the main campaign.
Solving the puzzles can help upgrade your character, but there is very little reason to do that since you primarily get cosmetic things that don’t matter anymore now that online in this game is a no-go.
That said, this game does put me in a sort of relaxed, focused state, and I enjoy the exploration enough to come back over and over to crack a few more of the puzzles and slowly complete islands with each one I solve.
8The Witness
Snake, But Upsetting
The Witness
The Witnessis likely the most popular open-world puzzle game. Though I don’t think it’s the best at either of those things, it’s worth a shot if you’ve never tried out one of the most influential indie titles.
It throws you onto an island with no tutorial, direction, or guidance, and has you solving line puzzles on grids, then walking around after you’ve unlocked something, then doing more line puzzles on grids.
This game gets equal parts relaxing and frustrating, with incredible vibes that make you feel at least a bit better at how advanced and strange the puzzles can get when you’ve got no manual to help out.
It’s absolutely worth giving a go if you have any measure of patience within you, but if you tend to easily get frustrated when you get stuck in games, I highly doubt you’d get any enjoyment from this.
7The Pathless
Bow Go Zoom
The Pathless
One of the slickest Zelda-esque games I’ve ever played,The Pathlesshas you shooting arrows at targets and getting huge boosts of speed whenever you land any, resulting in some of the most fun traversal ever.
The puzzles aren’t slacking either, usually granting you something new to play with while also making you get some archery practice in, and each of them feel satisfying no matter when you hit them up.
It’s about as open as it gets, throwing you in a quick tutorial before tossing you into a massive open landscape with a bunch of big, important-looking buildings you can go run inside, though it’s rather simple, all things considered.
Once you get used to aiming and shooting, you’ve pretty much got a handle on the majority of the game, and while aiming and shooting remains fun the whole way through, it’s not as compelling as every other game coming up.
6Supraland
Not So Dangerous
This one is a bit more combat-focused than most other entries, but the dungeon exploration and puzzle solving in Supraland act as side-quests in an RPG, letting you wander around and do them whenever you please.
They all give some decent rewards and incentivize exploring, and that exploration leads to puzzles that test your thinking, platforming, or combat adeptness. It’s pretty great stuff.
It won’t break your mind in half or anything, but sometimes you don’t want puzzles that take hours and a massive whiteboard to solve, and Supraland serves up satisfying solutions surprisingly succinctly, which is superb.
There’s a rather extensive demo to try it out, and like four other games on this list with a similar premise, any game that has some Metroidvania elements in Zelda-like format is a guaranteed banger to me.
5The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Frozen Meat Shield
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
ThoughTears of the Kingdomcan bea controversial game to some, it’s one of my favorite Zeldas, taking that same open-world approach as Breath of the Wild and expanding the exploration threefold.
The puzzles are something else, though, namely because you may break them in an endless number of ways, and it’s encouraged to do so. This is occasionally very satisfying, but doing them normally is cool too.
As long as you’re not constantly using Rocket Shields and Rocket Spears to get through every puzzle with minimal effort, these brain teasers will have you stumped for a long while before you finally remember that Recall exists.
On top of that, Tears of the Kingdom is just a fun game, and fusing stuff together or constructing things to make the optimal weapons and builds with complete creative control is like a puzzle in itself.
4The Talos Principle
What Is Bro Yapping About
The Talos Principle
The Talos Principleis equal parts strangely mind-bending philosophy and utterly ingenious puzzle design, having you wander about a non-linear world and dig your way into a bunch of laser-filled rooms.
If you’re a fan of the laser puzzles in Portal and actually listened to the yapping going on in Getting Over It, then you’re going to be an instant fan of this game and its rather similar sequel.
It brings you into the depths of a really intricate world that keeps being expanded upon with so much lore, all while you redirect differently colored lasers through holes and around walls to open things up.
It’s equal parts relaxing and intriguing, and feels like the platonic ideal of a quirky puzzle game that will absolutely pull you in for hours, and an easy recommendation to throw on this list.
3Rain World
A Risk of Rain
Rain World
In terms of the world itself being one massive puzzle,Rain Worldis up there, and it has a bunch of mysteries to solve and places to try and go with absolutelyzero guidance given from the game.
It’s really better described as a prey animal simulator, where you have to constantly scavenge and attempt to survive while looking for a neat hiding spot to get away from the glowy lizards that play funky music.
If you’re looking for something chilled-out and relaxing that won’t be incredibly frustrating, absolutely do not play Rain World, as you will die constantly while simply trying to figure out a single path forward.
If you’re into environmental storytelling, great vibes, and a massive thing to try and figure out under stressful circumstances, though, Rain World will kick your ass for going the wrong way, and you’re going to like it.
2The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ashrined Knowledge
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
While I like Tears of the Kingdom more as an overall game, I do thinkBreath of the Wildbeats it out in the niche of puzzle design. You’re slightly more restricted, which requires more thinking.
You can get through most of the shrines in Tears of the Kingdom with one or two things you fused, but Breath of the Wildwill absolutely stump youwith no cheesable way out (unless you know how to clip into walls by shield jumping, of course).
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Magnesis both has a ton of options and is limited enough to not make cheesing shrines easy. Cryonis and Stasis are both great situational abilities when puzzles are designed around them, and windbombs are hilarious.
The dungeons require slightly more thinking, and while I wish the side quests were slightly more involved than going to a place to get money, it’s still one of the best open-world games at crafting individually great puzzles.
1Outer Wilds
More To Explore Here
Outer Wilds
In terms of making the entire game one big puzzle,Outer Wildstakes the cake.It’s my favorite game ever, and it’s for good reason, as it will absolutely wrought your brain as you attempt to solve things with pure logic.
It’s essentially an open-world Metroidvania, but instead of unlocking areas with items, you unlock them by gaining knowledge then working through the information you’ve gathered to progress.
I can’t spoil any particular details, since doing so would be removing content from your experience, so I’ll just say I was staring at my screen going over things I’d learned for thirty minutes straight before having a brain blast.
It’s one of those games where you should absolutely dive into it with as little knowledge as possible, because once you crack the secrets of Outer Wilds on your own, you’ll feel like an absolute genius.
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