Thinky Third Thursday

Get it in your inbox every month:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails.

For information about our privacy practices, please see our Privacy Policy.

← Prev

Thinky Third Thursday
May 2026

Welcome to the May 2026 edition of Thinky Third Thursday - a roundup of games that the puzzle experts from Draknek & Friends think are worth your time.

Cerebral Puzzle Showcase returns next week

Cerebral Puzzle Showcase

Before we get started, an exciting reminder! Next week is Cerebral Puzzle Showcase 2026, our annual celebration of all things thinky and puzzly. This year it'll run from May 28th to June 4th, and it'll be kicked off with Thinky Direct in which we have not one but two exclusives - a brand new trailer for He Who Watches, and an announcement of yet another upcoming game! We put in so much work into the showcase every year, and we think you'll love this year's event.

From the Draknek & Friends Official Podcast

Recent thinky highlights

Since Cerebral Puzzle Showcase begins in exactly seven days, we suspect you may want to save your money ahead of that (there'll be hundreds of discounted puzzle games taking part in the sale, so it's the best time of the year for thinky bargains). So here's a break for your wallet: a selection of recent releases which are great and entirely free!


The Archives of Trevosa, by jamwitch
If The Roottrees are Dead left you wanting more genealogical deduction, then The Archives of Trevosa delivers with a vengeance. Untangle seven generations of a complex royal family tree by scouring decrees and scrolls, but be careful - cultural terms don't translate, so you'll also need to figure out who exactly someone's "valeren" might be, or whether a phrase is an honorific or an insult. The special something that makes Trevosa well worth putting on your radar is exactly that - it combines clever language deduction with family tree puzzling in a way that felt surprisingly deep.


Pull Chain, by Steven Miller
Steven Miller consistently delights me with his free puzzle games (see also: Shackle, Sokobrawn, and many more), and he's back to his old tricks with yet another thinky game that looks simple until it absolutely isn't. You play a lizard dragging a ball light that attracts moths. Over the 70 or so levels you'll push levers, open doors, sometimes you want to attract moths and other times you don't. Like a moth to a flame, I'm a big fan of this game, but if you're looking for a gentle brainteaser, look elsewhere. This one, is in parts, moth-umentally hard.


Bubble Sort, by patrickgh3
From the developer of Patrick's Parabox comes a bitesized recursion puzzler that's just one level long - but it's a satisfying level! Bubbles contain other bubbles which in turn need to contain bubbles, and all the while you'll need to visualise and modify the order of this nested structure to solve the challenge. The art style is simple, the rules clearly explained, and it gets straight to the point.


Carrot Kingdom!, by shomaisshi
Stretch your absurdly long ears to grab carrots in this weird puzzle platformer. Carrot Kingdom is in the same territory as Elechead and Öoo - it's a bitesized metroidbrainia that tricks you with the implications of the mechanics. The progression feels natural and there's something special in how it repeatedly introduces new mechanics you didn't know you had all along. Ears-y to complete in one sitting, but you simply carrot forget it after.

Thinky releases from the past month

Free games:

Paid games:

New demos:

Great games releasing into Cerebral Puzzle Showcase

There are loads of games releasing in the run-up to Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. Here are a few you might want to check out:


Phonopolis, by Amanita Design
If Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" was a point and click adventure made out of cardboard it would be a little something like this. Being outside of the control of your dystopian overlords, you hijack loudspeakers and use them to solve environmental puzzles. Of what I've played in the demo, it isn't the most puzzley on this list, but developers Amanita are best known for excellent thinky games like Machinarium, Creaks and Samorost 3, making Phonopolis one to watch.


Schrodinger's Cat Burglar, by Abandoned Sheep
A game that's been on my radar for a long time finally released earlier today: Schrodinger's Cat Burglar! In it you play Mittens, a cat burglar who can exist in two places at once- so long as nobody's observing. For the most part, Mittens is real. But sometimes she's theoretical, and can pass through locked doors because they might theoretically have been open. The puzzles are great, but Schrodinger's Cat Burglar is especially fun in it's feline playfulness, like knocking things off ledges and riding a roomba-like robot.


EMUUROM, by borbware and Coyote Time Publishing
This one's a non-violent metroidbrainia that's giving peak cosy xenobiology vibes. I've only played a small portion of the game so far but besides the platformer-precision moments, I found the exploration and environmental puzzles satisfyingly thinky. If 'metroidbrainia' weren't a giveaway, the full release teases a depth of secrets the surface-level tunnels I've found so far can only tease at. This one is sure to delight completionists!


868-BACK, by Michael Brough and Finji
868-BACK is the sequel to cult-classic 868-HACK, turned up to 11. Sneak into 6x6 grid servers, steal corporate data, and survive increasingly aggressive AI. We don't often cover roguelikes but this is one of the thinkiest out there, with each run containing hundreds of brain-burning decision points. If you want to hear more about the development of the game, check out our podcast episode from today chatting to Michael.


Map Map - A Game About Maps, by Pipapo Games
If the name weren't a giveaway Map Map is quite literally "A Game About Maps". This was one of the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant selections last year, and we're very proud to see they're releasing next week. In it, you play a young cartographer exploring a series of desert islands. To help you 'solve' these islands and mark the right location on your map, you've got a whole host of tools including a step counter, protractor, compass and binoculars. Put it on your map!


FROGBLOCK, by nicksgamedev
FROGBLOCK? Sounds like an opportunity for more frog puns. Let's hop to it. Jokes aside, FROGBLOCK is an accomplished perspective puzzler starring a tiny frog in a zen-like world. It reminded me a lot of recent release A Little Perspective, but FROGBLOCK has a lot of charm and adds its own challenging mechanics to the genre.

Here's the full list of games that we're aware of that have timed their release to coincide with the event:

That's it!

Thanks for reading again this month, and we'll see you next week for Cerebral Puzzle Showcase! Don't forget, we have an exciting announcement about a brand new game coming next week. Keep an eye on your inbox for that!

Until then, did you particularly enjoy any of the games above, or do you have a recommendation for a game I should check out? Please get in touch!

If you want to get every edition of Thinky Third Thursday sent to your inbox, please join the mailing list!

← Prev
All editions