Thinky Third Thursday

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Thinky Third Thursday
April 2025

Welcome to Thinky Third Thursday, a roundup of games that the puzzle experts from Draknek & Friends think are worth your time.

We've been busy with the release of The Electrifying Incident earlier this week, but not too busy to find some great puzzle game recommendations for you!

Recent thinky highlights


The Electrifying Incident: A Monster Mini-Expedition, by Draknek & Friends
The first game we've developed since A Monster's Expedition, this is a short (30 - 90 minutes for most players) puzzle game starring a familiar monster in a new sci-fi setting. Since it's our own game, we can't give an un-biased review, but hopefully the fact that you're reading this means you trust our ability to make something great!
Note: as well as this game having a 10% launch discount, all of our other games are also currently on sale on Steam!


Lab Rat, by Chump Squad and Klei Publishing
If you can't get enough of pushing boxes around a mysterious facility while trying not to get electrocuted, fear not! Lab Rat also launched this week, in which you're put through your paces in a series of test chambers under the watchful eye of a sarcastic AI named SARA. It starts out with Portal vibes and sokoban gameplay, and while it stays consistent to that throughout it also changes things up much more than you might expect.
Additionally, The Electrifying Incident and Lab Rat are available to purchase together in the Shockingly Good Puzzle Games bundle, for an extra 20% off.


Blue Prince, by Dogubomb and Raw Fury
One of the most highly anticipated thinky puzzle game launches of the year is Blue Prince. In it you're tasked with exploring your great-uncle's mysteriously empty house in search of the elusive Room 46. With each new door you encounter you gain access to new rooms, but since the house shapeshifts overnight, no two days will be the same. Blue Prince has some roguelike elements in the randomness of which floorplans you'll choose on each run, but the puzzles that underpin the experience are deep, complex, and multi-layered.


Mistified, by SpiceBound Studios
This had an early access release late last year, and its 1.0 release is out now. Herd rabbits (and other animals) around by stepping near them with your directional aura, but avoid them getting grabbed by creepy hands sticking out from the ground. It's a bit of a weird one - probably for puzzle sickos only, but fascinating and hard to compare to anything else.

Thinky releases from the past month

Free games:

Paid games:

New demos:

Upcoming games to watch for


Our Next Game...
What goes bump in the night and is full of frightfully good puzzles? Our next game! I know we just released a game, but next month we'll be announcing yet another one - a full-length game made by Draknek & Friends that will launch later this year. This has been in the works since late last year and we can't wait to show you more.


Double Trip, by MaxyLAND Games
This is a solo co-op puzzle game, with levels that are only solvable by frequently swapping between two players you control. It features some familiar log-rolling gameplay from A Monster's Expedition as a core mechanic, and when I played the demo I thought that the level design was excellent. It's coming out early next month.


Addlemoth, by mauve
Did you enjoy Leaf's Odyssey or DROD? Then you might want to anticipate Addlemoth - a puzzle game about anticipating enemy movements and luring them into the perfect locations to evade, stun, or destroy them without being killed yourself. With eight-directional movement and a sword, it's closer to the slightly overwhelming DROD than the elegance of Leaf's Oddysey, but there's a lot to like here even if like me you lean more towards one than the other. I've linked the demo that's currently available on itch - there haven't been any development updates in a while but I believe the full game is still on its way.


Cerebral Puzzle Showcase
Finally, a reminder that next month the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase will run from May 29th - June 5th on Steam. We're super excited about the line-up we have in store! This year's event will highlight the very best upcoming and released thinky puzzle games. Additionally, at the start of the showcase there'll be an extra special livestream event you won't want to miss. For updates, sign up to the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase mailing list here.

That's it!

Did you spot the secret connection running through several of these games? Many of the above take direct or indirect inspiration from A Monster's Expedition! The Electrifying Incident is much smaller in scope but explores some similar gameplay with interconnected puzzles (and secrets), and Mistified/Double Trip/Addlemoth all feature logs that roll along one axis and can be pushed into water.

If there's any other released or upcoming games taking inspiration from A Monster's Expedition or any of our other titles, I'd love to hear about it - please get in touch!

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