Puzzle games!

Obra Dinn is another one of those games that makes you play it 'offline' to a large degree. At a certain point, I couldn't make any more progress just by visually processing things; I really had to mull things over in my mind during times I wasn't playing the game. Only the greatest puzzle games manage to get into my head like that.

Baba Is You doesn't quite get that honor, but I'm still finding it hard to abandon. I've had a bit of help from someone on the more basic puzzles that I couldn't wrap my head around (solutions involving the swap keyword are still totally arcane to me) so I thought, this is doable! I just have to keep at it! But then I load up the next puzzle, poke around in it for an hour and again reach the conclusion that it's utterly impossible. Aaargh!

Has anyone else gotten to that moment in Baba Is You? If you have, you know what I mean.

That is not the moment, although it's the moment I've been at for a while. 

Also, I've been playing Manifold Garden, and after 3 hours I can say it's is very impressive visually but pretty average puzzle-wise. I haven't had any big eureka-moments and the number of components to each puzzle is generally very small. However, here and there you'll find closed doors leading to inaccessible places that can only be opened from the other side. I remembered such a place in one of the first levels, but I was only able to access it when I started over and used a mechanic early on that the game only introduced later. I expected it to lead to a bonus room where I could get an achievement or something, but instead it acted as a shortcut to a place much later in the game. Also, it was a dead end: the next puzzle required cubes that I had no way of getting.

So, I backtracked and went on with the intended progression, but I kept an eye out for any doors in out-of-the-way places, and the next one I found I could actually bypass by going through a hole in what was normally the ceiling (but you can change your orientation at will, so I turned it into the floor). But this time, there was no shortcut on the other side, only another closed door. I tried exploring that place some more and apparently ended up breaking the game: what used to be an infinite tunnel became closed off by a wall on one side and bordered by a white void on the other, which would lead to the same dead end when passed through. I found my way out of there eventually but don't ask me how.

I still don't know if these places are just bonus challenges or if they're part of later puzzles. Given how difficult they are to reach to begin with, it might be the latter.

Bonfire Peaks is very good, there's even a Stephen's Sausage Roll easter egg in there!

The fan made portal 2 prequel has been delayed slightly, but looks to be coming soon though

www.gamesradar.com/portal-2s-game-sized-prequel-mod-squeezes-in-40-new-puzzles-fully-voiced-original-characters-and-an-8-hour-story/

That was quite a delay!

Also, it’s old, but Railbound is a lovely bedtime puzzle if you’re on Switch or mobile. Not overly taxing, but challenging enough to both stimulate your brain and wind down to.