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Thinky Third Thursday
October 2025 (Next Fest highlights)

Welcome to the October 2025 edition of Thinky Third Thursday - a roundup of games that the puzzle experts from Draknek & Friends think are worth your time.

This is an extra special one, as it marks the two year anniversary of this newsletter beginning. Thanks for sticking with us through (quite literally) hundreds of puzzle games.

Steam Next Fest is happening this week, so we're focusing this edition entirely on the demos that caught our eye from the upcoming games that are taking part in the event. Of course, that includes our own Spooky Express which has a newly updated demo, with the full game releasing next week on Tuesday 21st!

From the Draknek & Friends Official Podcast

  • Podcast editor Melanie Zawodniak talking about all things puzzle games, livestreaming, and Kingdom Hearts.
  • Composer and sound designer Priscilla Snow, talking about getting into composing for videogames, their work on Spooky Express, making up a conlang for JETT: The Far Shore, and weird bespoke instruments.
  • Next week: a very special episode featuring most of the dev team for Spooky Express.

Highlights from Steam Next Fest

All of these games have demos you can play right now. Thanks to studio manager Mairi for trying and writing about many of these while I've been finishing up Spooky Express!

If you like point and click puzzle games:
HER TREES : PUZZLE DREAM, by Stone

Point-and-click adventures aren't always the most puzzly, but HER TREES is very clever in how its central puzzle centres on anamorphic text. You're not just clicking around, you're dragging hand illustrated objects in space, and coaxing letters and numbers out of thin air. The puzzles presented in the demo each present their own excellent "aha!" moments and it was a joy to play. In particular, fans of Rusty Lake and Madison Karrh's works will love this strange, uncanny world.

If you like mathematics and block-pushing games:
E9uations, by 9npotato

A classic sokoban game but with a delightful mathematical twist, E9uations puts you in the role of an equals sign amongst numbers and mathematical operators. Your job will be to push them together to create new numbers: for example, a "4+3" on the left of you will transform into a 7 on the right of you, and so on. The demo is very generous and much deeper than you might expect - the second world took things in a direction I didn't see coming but loved. The puzzles "add up" well, and I'm intrigued to see how the full game will "multiply" from here on.

If you like Halloween and block-pushing games:
Prince of Darkness Jr., by Pond Area

If "Vamps vs Lamps" isn't one of the most charming pitches for this spooky season, then I don't know what is. In Prince of Darkness Jr you're a tiny vampire pushing crates around your castle to avoid your mortal enemy, the light. It's a sokoban game but with the twist in that the boxes you push around cast responsive shadows around the level. The demo offers a small selection of the full game's 200 levels, and it's got an excellently jazzy soundtrack. This game is shaping up to be a (trick or) treat when it launches this Halloween.

If you like The Roottrees are Dead:
A Case of Fraud, by Hesperus Games

If you've finished The Roottrees are Dead and need something to fill that detective-shaped hole, then A Case of Fraud from tiny New Zealand based studio Hesperus Games comes close. In its demo you investigate a missing person - and presumably later also a fraud - by piecing together a family tree from names, photos, and the identities of pets. Unlike The Roottrees, the demo doesn't include a search engine, but presents the relevant evidence as separate items from letters, post-it notes, and print-outs. For me, I've missed The Roottrees dearly, and so I consider this one worth investigating.

If you like clicking abstract shapes:
Vexcell, by Joseph Bremer

The abstract minimalist graphics might not be the most exciting, but Vexcell won me over with its interesting puzzle systems. Shapes must be moved around a grid by clicking on abstract symbols, each one with a different rule about how it manipulates the space around it. The demo starts simple but once it's introduced a few different symbols their behaviour starts combining to create challenging puzzles.

If you like first person puzzle games:
Eye of the Erime, by An Item for You

Eye of the Erime trades in the sterile test chambers and snarky robots often seen in first person puzzle games for something stranger: an alien world full of mysterious flowers which respond when photographed. The demo leaves you with just enough questions to want more. Where is this world? What sort of creatures was it built for? And who are the archaeologists who came before you?

If you like crosswords:
Rita, by SporkTank

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other s-. No, literally, the letter S. Rita casts you as a freshly-hatched chick in a world where words literally shape reality. Collect all the letters you need in order to spell out crossword clues and watch those objects pop into existence. If you need a bridge, you'd better hope you can spell it. The demo is light-hearted and cozy, but cleverly adds some twists on the main mechanic that could scale nicely into complex puzzles in the full game.

If you like The Case of the Golden Idol:
Confidential Killings - A Detective Game, by BRANE, Lorenzo Boni, and Surefire.Games

Golden Idol-likes are having their moment, and Confidential Killings is a new game throwing it's hat (or fedora) into the ring with a 1970s noir-detective Hollywood setting. You've got to piece together the classic "who, what, when, where and how" through blood spattered crime scenes, witness testimonies, and evidence. The demo takes you through the first few scenes and whilst it wasn't as puzzley as it could have been, it's always a satisfying process of deduction to piece together a crime scene and its inconsistencies.

If you like Minesweeper and Hexcells:
Alien Cartographer, by FachchefGames

Take Minesweeper or Hexcells and make it stranger and more alien. In this demo you're deducing tile contents, and each correct reveal feeds you more information to work with, but there's more possible states than just "safe" vs "not safe". The unfamiliarity of the ruleset meant I initially struggled to remember everything, but fortunately you can always consult a reference of everything you've been introduced to so far, and it doesn't take too long to internalise the rules of this alien society.

Whether or not you liked Cosmic Express:
Spooky Express, by Draknek & Friends

Last but not least we have to mention our very own game in Steam Next Fest, Spooky Express. The ghost train will officially be arriving into Trainsylvania next week, on October 21st, 2025. This is a spiritual successor to Cosmic Express from 2017, but we think you'll love Spooky Express whether or not you played that earlier game. Spooky Express features a lot of changes to the core gameplay, with much deeper mechanics, more approachable puzzles, and a helpful hint system. Plus, we hired comic superstars David Hellman and Zac Gorman to make comic-style cutscenes telling the story of these graveyard creatures. I'm delighted with how well the game has come together, so I hope you'll be picking it up next week!

Thinky releases from the past month

Free games:

Paid games:

New demos:

That's it!

Did you play any great demos from Steam Next Fest? Please get in touch with your recommendations!

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