He Who Watches releases September 2nd!

We’re thrilled to announce that He Who Watches is releasing in less than two weeks! If you haven’t checked it out already, this is a first-person puzzle game about walking on walls, manipulating gravity, and discovering secrets.

He Who Watches was developed by solo developer Bobby Vanden. We think this game is fantastic, and I’m so happy that he wanted to collaborate with us. It’s beautiful, challenging, and the main mechanical twist is genuinely innovative.

The Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant returns

Some more exciting news: the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant is back for 2026 and applications are open now! If you’re not familiar with the grant, this is an initiative that offers $15,000 grants to five underrepresented thinky game developers. In addition, successful applicants will receive a year's one-on-one mentorship and join a community of thinky puzzle game designers.

Applications will be open from today until September 27th, 2026. Selections will be made in December and the cohort will run from January 2027 - December 2027. You can find more information about the grant here.

Desktop Explorer, by Recurring Dream and indienova, Outersloth

We’ve seen plenty of desktop detective games in the thinky space, but Desktop Explorer feels a little different. You're tasked with investigating a missing person’s case, and the way you do that is through piecing together clues from different computer applications. This is pretty standard for the genre but what’s interesting here is how many of this game’s puzzles require you to have a basic understanding of computer literacy. You’ll be compressing ‘memory’ files, editing a software’s source code, and using the PC’s terminal to find secrets. Very cool idea.

Servant of the Lake, by Rusty Lake

Another deeply upsetting weekend for me at the Vanderboom estate, catering to the bizarre whims of three siblings... And yet there's no place in the world I'd rather be! The Rusty Lake formula delivers once again in their latest game. It's a classic point-and-click game where you have to think outside the (lightly-crusty and stained) box to solve the puzzles. Servant of the Lake doesn't add anything new or ground breaking to the 19-game series, but instead offers fans of the series a "welcome home".

Helix: Descent N Ascent, by Badass Mongoose

The first thing you notice about this game is its striking, hand-illustrated art style, and those immaculate vibes continue all across the mysterious world of Helix. I've been looking forward to this game for a long time, and while I haven't had a chance to play the full game yet, I really liked what I saw in the demo. Zelda vibes and magical powers that combined in interested ways? Yes please!

Big Walk, by House House and Panic

Big Walk might not look like the thinkiest game, but that’s exactly what I love about it. Ask your friends to play a low-stress co-op adventure and trick them into solving puzzles with you! The puzzle-solving isn’t really focused on how satisfying the solution is, but the cooperation it took to solve it - whether that be with all the efficiency of a military operation, or the goofy clownery of friends having a good time. One of my favourite games of the year so far!

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division, by Thomas Hsu

If you've ever wanted to learn SQL this is a pretty fantastic way to do it. You play a game AND you get tricked into learning something useful? Heck yeah. The gameplay is centred around solving crimes using a whole host of complex spreadsheets. To progress: Examine the clues, and set up a relevant SQL to extract what you need to solve it. A fun side note, a lot of detective and police officer's actual work does involve SQL and databases so if you do play it - congratulations on the genuinely diegetic puzzle solving!

Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse, by sketbordcat

A game about magnifying horses. What else is there to say? Match the horse on the right to the one on the left using fish-eye lenses. When you get it right, you get a little burst of confetti. It’s a goofy premise, but the most surprising thing about this gimmick is how precise you need to be. The game even asks you to take your time, so that’s how you know you need to lock in. A fun and goofy game, and remember: you're doing important work here.

Club Soko, by Miracle Tea

I thought I'd seen just about every theme in a sokoban game before... at least until Club Soko welcomed me through the doors into its bustling night club. Instead of pushing blocks around, you're managing this club's patrons who shove, hug, skateboard, brawl, and straight up jump you to new tiles all in pursuit of tagging your name MAUDE on a wall. There are plenty of secrets for the hardcore puzzlers to uncover, and even a few cameos from other indie games.

Rita, by SporkTank

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other s-. No, literally, the letter S. Rita is a fun little game with a quirky concept - to progress through the world you have to solve crosswords, but even if you know the words you'll have to wait until you find all the letters. Overall, it's very approachable and the platforming side is balanced nicely with the puzzling side. You'll also find rebus puzzles, wordsearches, and many others built into this system. In particular, I enjoyed the bonus, 'out of this world' puzzles where Rita reflects on her life lessons. Im-peck-able work.

The Detective's Apprentice, by darqwerful

A genuinely challenging deduction mystery in which you play Cleo Ace, apprentice to world-renowned detective Maya Lynch (who also happens to be your aunt, so those are some big shoes to fill!) The Detective's Apprentice is all about searching crime scenes for clues, and reconstructing what happened through careful observation and logic. The demo's case is great, but my verdict is in: The full game is something special, pushing the genre to it's absolute creative limits in delightful ways.

Compress(space), by B-Deshi Interactive

The premise for Compress(space) is really smart - ‘fold’ the game to solve platforming levels. Folding the space from right to left means your character can now jump across a gap. Fold the ceiling down, and now they can jump to what was once an out-of-reach platform. I really like this space manipulation element, and keeping everything on a grid makes folding easy and intuitive.

LogiGolf, by Moon Tile

I promise I don't just like this game because of the subtle nods to A Monster's Expedition, but this game's islands look lovely, and that little monster character certainly has a lot of charm! LogiGolf is an excellent puzzler its own right, with a delightful mix of satisfying golf puzzles and bonus riddle islands which vary things up. It's my cup of tee.

Aether-07, by SideLine Studio and Plate Games

You awake from cryo sleep aboard the Aether-07 only to be thrown head first into space (and mind)-bending puzzles aboard the ship's simulation. But when flowers start blooming where they shouldn't, it's clear something has gone terribly wrong. It's fantastic seeing how Aether-07 has developed over the course of the grant. Its test chambers complete with falling boxes make it feel Portal-like in all the best ways, but the way your handheld device can layer multiple mechanics makes the whole solve feel even thinkier.

Chess Tales, by IRG Studios

Chess Tales takes the classic mechanics of chess and adds a puzzly twist to each level. As you play through a series of themed dioramas, you learn how your enemy's Queens, Rooks, Knights and Bishops patrol in predictable patterns. Using this, you can think ahead and apply logic, and ultimately capture the king. The concept isn't a new one, but I think it chooses some strong mechanical twists to explore. Checking this out at launch is a gambit worth taking.

Shape Sender Deluxe, by Dead Teapot and Dear Villagers

Shape Sender Deluxe is a physics puzzler where you need to place different components - springs, fans, magnets, and other fun elements - to sort coloured shapes. And all with the ‘help’ of your ‘friend’ and ‘guide’ Sendy the talking square! What’s great about this is how easy the interface is to use. Placing the different components and having them snap into place feels satisfying, and together with zero time pressure or no one ‘correct’ solution, it makes for an approachable physics sandbox.

Chomp Garden, by PawPaw Games

Finally, a new game from the developer of Kiko's Apple Adventure, which was selected for a New Voices grant in 2024! Play as a tiny glowing lamp in a simple sokoban world where all the plants are aggressively trying to chomp you. Your four beams of light will attract plants every move, and the goal of each puzzle is to tie them into tricky shapes to navigate your way through. The full game launches soon, but in the meantime the demo has twelve levels to solve, and there are a number of sneaky worms hidden for extra eagle eyed puzzlers.