Thinky Third Thursday

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Thinky Third Thursday
September 2026

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

Thinky dates for your diary

Before we get started, here's a few upcoming thinky events that should be on your radar:

  • We’d like to remind everyone that applications for the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant are still open! The deadline is Sunday 27th September 2026 so you have another week and a half to submit.
  • Have you heard about the Point-and-Click Showcase? This new event is being organised by Rusty Lake and Amanita Design and celebrates the point-and-click genre! Applications to be part of the event’s Steam sale and trailer showcase are open now and close 27th September, so get applying! Here's the application form.
  • ThinkyCon is back for 2026! Organised by our friends at ThinkyGames.com (yes they also have thinky in the name, no we're not the same team), this puzzle-focused event is three days of talks from all sorts of folks in the thinky game space. They’re currently looking for talk proposals, and you can find the submission form here. This year’s event takes place from 26th-28th October 2026, and the deadline to submit talk proposals is 30th September.
  • In the last piece of news, we’re one of the presenting partners for Cozy After Dark, a showcase for people who like cozy games but also spooky games too. The showcase is on Monday 12th October - just in time for the spooky season wooOOOooo.

From the Draknek & Friends Official Podcast

  • Episode 62: Alan and Ben are joined by special guest Bobby Vanden to talk about He Who Watches, which is OUT NOW! Topics discussed include how the game changed over time, the playtesting process, and tips for speedrunners.
  • Episode 63: Alan, Mairi and Rachel take a break from videogames to discuss all things board games. From thinky games, to party games, to which game would be best to be trapped in a Jumanji situation.

Recent thinky highlights


He Who Watches, by Bobby Vanden and Draknek & Friends

If you hadn’t already heard the news: we released He Who Watches two weeks ago! Whoop!

To celebrate the game’s release we’ve been creating a lot of behind-the-scenes content. As well as the podcast mentioned above, we also released a series of developer interview videos on our YouTube channel featuring developer Bobby Vanden talking about the game’s development.

We’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s responses to the game, including some lovely words from players and critics!

“My jaw has dropped countless times during my time with the game” 5/5 – Digital Spy
“Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic.” Game File
“He Who Watches is a design masterpiece.” – david.reviews
"Without a doubt one of the best puzzle games you'll play in 2026" – Polygon

A big thank you to everyone who has bought and played the game, written a review, and helped spread the news of its release!


PW7A, by スイカ食べ食べうさぎ

I love me a rule-discovery metroidbrainia, and this is another excellent one of those - explore a world with the power of teleportation, and discover even more powers along the way that you always had without realising it. The final twist is very cute! Note: this game is in Japanese, including NPC dialogue, but that text doesn't contain any necessary information to progress.


Portal: Alive & Kicking, by Rhubarb & Rhubarb

Portal fans rejoice! After 13 years in development, this fan-made reimagining of Portal (under a non-commercial license from Steam) has released. It's a lovingly made revamp of the original game with brand new visuals and extensive puzzle tweaks. It's far from perfect, but it's a love letter to the original game which nails the nostalgia. If, like me, it's been more than a decade since you picked up Portal, then it's worth checking out. You can have your cake with this one, and eat it too.


Would You Love Me If I Was a Snake?, by Andrea Boroni Grazioli

In this super charming puzzle game, you play as a snake solving a bunch of puzzle rooms! All the classic puzzle elements are here, we’ve got laser beams, buttons, pressure plates, portals, object pushing and more. You can even bite off your tail to make blocks to help you solve puzzles, which is so smart! My biggest takeaway is how focused each puzzle level feels. It explores a single idea and then quickly moves on, which I appreciate. A solid puzzle game.


Vo ylopol glebobapol, by rosday

So I lied on my resume, I do not in fact speak Glorpish. Which sadly is a requirement for writing this review for Thinky Third Thursday. But thankfully my years of playing Ace Attorney and Chants of Sennaar have trained me for this moment! In "Vo ylopol glebobapol" or "I can explain" you question three Glorban suspects about a crime scene. The gameplay is a mix of language deciphering and detective mystery, and with a wonderful UI it's simultaneously the best of both words. Tricky in parts, and plenty of moments to think outside the "veepo", but in the end it really speaks for itself.


Sokogram, by PressGtoGeorge

If the name weren't an obvious clue, Sokogram is sokoban meets nonogram. A delightfully simple hybrid where you first draw the grid according to nonogram rules, then must solve the level you just created according to sokoban rules. The tension between the two genres creates a brain-bending balancing act, and I've enjoyed what I played of it so far.


Hazard Pay, by Smitner Studio and Numskull Games

I am a big fan of the setting in Hazard Pay. This is a block pushing game where you’re tasked with discreetly cleaning up evidence of any secret wrongdoings in a string of creepy laboratories. You’re not just pushing blocks around, no, no, no. In Hazard Pay, you can push a mop to wipe up blood, push evidence into vats of acid to destroy it, and even shove employees down shadowy shafts to silence them. New mechanics and genre twists keep the puzzles satisfying, but the main draw of this game is its atmosphere, story, and [REDACTED].


We Are Gum, by Curious Nessie Club

We Are Gum is a simultaneous-movement puzzle game where you control sticky little gums across around floating islands in order to reach specific locations. I often find this genre a little fiddly, but this has strong enough level design to get me through the early levels, and some nice mechanics later in the game involving gums sticking to blocks. This charming puzzler will give you something to chew over.


Divider Dave, by Louis Vidal 'Pignomaster', José-Manuel Girona 'Gringo_Charlatan' and Chancla Interactive

"Why be alone, when you can be by yourself?" Divider Dave is a nicely polished puzzle platformer with a neat twist that involves cloning yourself to solve the levels. You can jump, push buttons, squash your copies into boxes, stack yourself up, and do other Dave-defying stunts to avoid the lasers and complete the levels. Above all, it's funny too! I'm all for being a martyr to science. For fans of the puzzle platformer, this is one worth checking out.


20 More, Somehow Even Smaller, Mazes, by FLEB

If you haven’t already guessed from the game’s title, this is another game from developer FLEB! 20 More, Somehow Even Smaller, Mazes is a sort of sequel to the previously released 20 Small Mazes, and I couldn’t be happier that I get to solve even more, even smaller mazes. Playing FLEB’s games are some of my favourite puzzle experiences. I love how they’re quietly pushing the boundaries of puzzle design. I love how the puzzles are well-designed and satisfying to solve. And what I love most is how utterly sincere they are. They’re full of heart, genuine to the core, and feel so personal. This one looks to be exactly that, so I’m very much looking forward to playing this. Also, it’s free! How nice!

Thinky releases from the past month

Free games:

Paid games:

New demos:

Upcoming games to watch for

It's a good time to be a thinky puzzle fan! These are just a few of the promising games coming out in the next few weeks:


Chomp Garden, by PawPaw Games

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. It's out next week, on 23rd September!


Nomori, by Enchanted Works

Also launching on that day is Nomori, a game about a whimsical spirit world in which you can control gravity, time and portals. It's puzzles are largely environmental, and allow for multiple solutions depending on the powers you can wield. The short demo teases a lot more metroidvania (-brainia, even?) content as the later seasonal domains open up. After several years, I'm excited to step into Nomori's mind-bending world.


Vexcell, by J.M. Bremer

Vexcell's abstract shapes may not be visually stunning, but its gameplay is simple and refined in a way that fits the art style. Every object on the grid has a different ability when clicked, and you'll be using this expanding arsenal of tools to shuffle objects around the board and get everything to its destination. It's out soon, on 2nd October!


Echo Weaver, by Moonlight Kids and Akupara Games

I’ve had my eye on Echo Weaver based purely on this line from the game’s Steam page: “Time is your greatest resource and secrets are your only upgrades.” Sounds pretty cool, honestly. It’s a time-loop metroidvania where you play as the last ‘Weaver’ sent to a planet filled with strange alien denizens. It has platforming and combat elements, and as cool as throwing a laser frisbee at the alien locals looks, I am very much intrigued by the game’s combination of finding secrets with the game’s time-looping. How does the time-altering mechanic fit within the learned secrets of the world? I won’t have to wait long for an answer, as it's out on October 8th.

That's it!

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!

And don't forget, applications for the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant close in a little over one week. If you or someone you know might benefit from a grant for underrepresented developers making thinky puzzle games, point them to the website here.

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