The ‘Cerebral Puzzle Showcase‘ is now live! It’s running from the 19th to 23rd May 2022 this showcase is full of demos, live streams, and even discounts for plenty of puzzle games that are designed to make you think! As such, here at The Escape Roomer we’ve been a little obsessed with how much fun we’re having playing all the games. A few days ago we highlighted some of the best upcoming games being launched (or with playable demos) in the showcase, and yesterday we dug around for 8 of our favourite hidden gems.
There are a huge amount of games being showcased (over 100!), but here are 10 games you’ve probably heard of – and not to be missed!
Get Coding
Human Resource Machine & 7 Billion Humans
Human Resource Machine: Program little office workers to solve puzzles. Be a good employee! The machines are coming… for your job. From the creators of World of Goo and Little Inferno.
7 Billion Humans: Automate swarms of office workers to solve puzzles inside your very own parallel computer made of people. A thrilling follow up to the award winning Human Resource Machine. Now with more humans!
Why we’re excited: Coding may not see fun, but HRM did a great job of getting many of us excited back in 2015! The follow up seemed to pass us by, so we’re excited to take the chance to catch up with this little world and dust off our algorithm skills again!
Explore a Mysterious World
Myst
Welcome to Myst: a starkly beautiful island, eerily tinged with mystery and shrouded in intrigue. Journey to Myst Island and other stunning, long dormant locations – called “Ages”- and begin to unravel the mystery you have been thrust into. As you learn what happened on the island, you will find that you are playing a key role in an epic story whose ending has not yet been written. Explore deeper connections in these stunning and surreal Ages, uncover a story of ruthless family betrayal, and make choices that will affect both you, and the world of Myst itself.
Why we’re excited: Myst is the OG mystery game from years ago (the clue is in the title) and even though Mairi couldn’t crack it, we can’t wait to return! The atmosphere is really what sells Myst – it’s quiet, with sparse sounds and virtually no writing. You come across little puzzles and vignettes, which you need to solve by exploring the island and figuring out what happened. It’s beautiful and unsettling and is a classic for a reason.
Obduction
The strange worlds of Obduction reveal their secrets only as you explore, discover, coax, and consider their clues. As you bask in the otherworldly beauty and explore the enigmatic landscapes, remember that the choices you make will have substantial consequences. This is your story now. Make it home.
Why we’re excited: This is a successor for Myth, but instead of a mysterious island you’re now on a mysterious planet. We love the fact Cyan have incorporated the Sci-Fi trend into the franchise!
Psychological Mysteries
Return of the Obra Dinn
In 1802, the merchant ship Obra Dinn set out from London for the Orient with over 200 tons of trade goods. Six months later it hadn’t met its rendezvous point at the Cape of Good Hope and was declared lost at sea. Early this morning of October 14th, 1807, the Obra Dinn drifted into port at Falmouth with damaged sails and no visible crew. As insurance investigator for the East India Company’s London Office, dispatch immediately to Falmouth, find means to board the ship, and prepare an assessment of damages. Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person mystery adventure based on exploration and logical deduction.
Why we’re excited: While the art style may not look immediately exciting or appealing, and ‘logical deduction’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea, this game has so many rave reviews across social media and has amassed a cult following, including by our own Russ! The narrative has a hold on you and stays with players long past the game is done, so definitely set your expectations aside and give it a go!
Inscryption
Inscryption is an inky black card-based odyssey that blends the deckbuilding roguelike, escape-room style puzzles, and psychological horror into a blood-laced smoothie. Darker still are the secrets inscrybed upon the cards…
Why we’re excited: This is the only horror game in our lists, but as it literally mentions escape rooms in the description we couldn’t not feature it! We are intrigued about how this game will blend escape room puzzles with a deck builder, but from what we’ve seen of the game we can imagine it definitely has our attention!
Change the Game
Lightmatter
A first-person puzzler where shadows kill you. Watch your step or be swallowed by the darkness. Play Tunnel Vision Games’ love-letter to the genre. Use lateral thinking to solve mind-bending puzzles with lights, shadows, beams, platforms, and lightmatter.
Why we’re excited: Silence in the library anyone? This game is a great mix of sci-fi, puzzles and a tad of atmospheric pressure from the fear of darkness!
The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian is a 2.5D side scrolling puzzle platformer. You are The Pedestrian! Enter into a dynamic 3D world with stunning graphics and challenging puzzles. You play by rearranging and reconnecting public signs in order to explore and advance through each engaging environment.
Why we’re excited: We love the combination of platformer and puzzler, as well as both 2D and 3D elements! We also bet you’ll pay more attention to road signs after playing.
Gunpoint
Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people. You play a freelance spy who takes jobs from his clients to break into high security buildings and steal sensitive data.
Why we’re excited: Back to the pixel art! This game looks like a great mix of stealth, action and puzzles, with quick levels and interesting mechanics.
Baba is You
Baba Is You is a puzzle game where the rules you have to follow are present as blocks you can interact with. By manipulating them, you can change how the game works, repurpose things you find in the levels and cause surprising interactions!
Why we’re excited: Baba is you. You are baba. Baba is a bunny. We love the fact you control your own abilities, and change the environment, by moving blocks to change the rules. Maybe baba is you one minute, but baba is me the next…
You can sign up for all the news about the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this week by heading to the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase website. Check out this post to read our top 8 new releases of the showcase, and this post to see 8 hidden gems you’ve got to check out.
