The vibe is: Big weird "mystery"/puzzle games that have very specific moods. The mood is typically melancholy but doesn't necessarily have to be. The big puzzles can be quite "meta" and play with the boundaries of "video games," but again, don't necessarily have to.
Almost 100% certain I am the only person who knows what this specific vibe is, or if a game even fits it or not, but that's fine by me.
One of my favourite games of all time. I only played it once and I'll probably never touch it again. Masterpiece. Probably the definition of what I think of when I think of games the belong on this list. Would not be surprised if more secrets were discovered in this game tomorrow. We'll never get that sequel but I've made my peace with it.
Somebody mentioned the Witness to me and it dawned on me that this game completely belongs on this list, yeah. Great game, deeply flawed, Jonathan Blow sucks, Braid is over-rated. Next!
Has a different tone to FEZ but still fits "the vibe." Occupied my whole brain until I was done with it. Like FEZ, didn't think I'd ever touch it again until that DLC came out and I was enamored all over again. Also a masterpiece. Jealous of people who will play now that all the DLC content will be hidden in there too.
Downloaded this on Game Pass based on the screenshots alone. Went in expecting a Zelda, got a game that reminded me a lot more of FEZ than I was expecting. Has one of my favourite endgame puzzles in a video game. Inspiration for making this list.
On the fence about this one. While it did revolve around uncovering a mystery, it didn't quite have the "vibe" or "mood" that I'm looking for. I also kinda felt like it overstayed it's welcome despite how short it was. Including it for now. Oh, and for the curious: I got endings 2, then 4, then called it a day.
I think this game fits, but in the end I didn't like it very much. Felt a little too obtuse for me and I struggled with figuring everything out to the point where I didn't finish it and felt like I wouldn't be able to. Pretty bummed about it to be honest.
"What Remains..." is really close to not fitting this list, because while there is a mystery to uncover you are mostly being led through it in a narrative sense rather than piecing the mystery together yourself. There are moments where you are left to draw your own conclusions however, and I think that earns it an honorary place here.
I wasn't going to include this game because I didn't initially think of it as a puzzle game, but when it dawned on me that it kind of is I feel like it fits more on this list than "Edith Finch" does. Played the Deluxe Edition. Definitely didn't get all the endings. Might revisit to get some more endings at some point.
After many years I finally played Myst. It was okay. It was much shorter than I thought it would be and I found most of the puzzles to be completely underwhelming (except for that awful mine-cart puzzle). Might play the sequels.
I enjoyed The Room, never felt too difficult, neat aesthetic, great ending. I am not including it's sequel (which I did play!) because I fell off of it immediately.
More Portal than I was expecting (should Portal be on this list) but I didn't finish it because it gave me severe motion sickness, even after messing around with the specific sliders designed to help with that.
Some well made and rewarding puzzles layered like a blanket over a story that is presented in a way so as to force the player to engage carefully with it's themes or be completely lost. Powerful and beautiful.
Pretty fun and interesting puzzle game that unfortunately flip-flopped between amazing "a-ha!" moments of revelation with moments of just blindly guessing and hoping for the best. Would still recommend.
A wonderfully atmospheric, beautifully paced, short but memorable game. Never felt stumped by any of the puzzles, but felt more like a case of the games rules being clearly communicated so I was often thinking "oh, I wonder if I can..? I can!" Highly recommended.
