First-person games often take immersion to the next level. When that level of immersion is merged with intense puzzle-solving, the gaming experience can often become pretty intense. Solving problems in the first-person sounds like it should be far easier, but players often wish they had the extended vision of a third-person game.

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Exploring environments, shifting items, and occasionally battling enemies, these FPS puzzle games blend unique and enticing stories with original gameplay and puzzle mechanics. They also put a spin on the convention of first person always meaning shooting weapons. Many of these games arm players with anything but violent weapons, or in some cases, no item at all.

8 Trover Saves The Universe

A flying character and Trover in Trover Saves the Universe

If you’re a fan of Justin Roiland, Trover Saves the Universe isn’t to be missed. The sci-fi adventure, which could be played in VR, saw players rescue the universe by rescuing their stolen pet dogs from a villain named Glorkon. Aided by the titular character Trover, this Squanch Games product is entirely reminiscent of other Roiland productions, notably Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites.

Lending his voice to the majority of the characters, Roiland’s distinct sense of comedy and equally squeaky high and gravelly low-pitched voices carry the game, which consists of first-person puzzling, moral choices, and combat.

7 Superhot

FPS Gameplay of SUPERHOT

Superhot is a classic blend of unique FPS gameplay with strategic life or death action. In a similar style to The Matrix, players can work with time to their benefit to evade the flurry of bullets flying toward their heads. The game throws players into increasingly awkward circumstances with enemies, from spawning them inside lifts, in the middle of bar fights, or even MMA-style cage arenas.

Using quick wits, players are tasked with calculating every move whilst they’re stationary, for that is when time slows down to a near standstill. Take one step, however, and you’ll soon know about it.

6 Portal/Portal 2

Portal play in Portal

Of course, Portal and Portal 2 - the titans of not only first-person puzzling but survival, mystery, cooperative, innovative narrative gaming as a whole, the Valve produced series is endlessly iconic and regarded by many as a modern classic.

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Aside from its unique and compelling dystopian story, the Portal games' central mechanic is what sets it aside from other games. Equipped with a futuristic portal gun, players could create, you guessed it, portals in the game’s many levels of increasing complexity. Throw in physics challenges, bloodthirsty robots, and life-ruining, frustrating puzzles, and you have yourself a gamechanger.

5 Superliminal

An illusion comes to life in Superliminal

Few games are as outright unique and mind-bending as Superliminal. Designed to throw players off completely, this indie game saw players navigate numerous environments, primarily offices and warehouses, interacting with objects and experimenting with the concept of forced perspective.

The videogame equivalent of flicking through an optical illusions book, Superliminal forced confusion upon players with objects that would unexpectedly change size when picked up, items that turned to paintings when turned away from, and doorways that lead you from room to room, erasing the ones that you just came from. Paired with the dream-technology-centered script, Superliminal is a mindboggling piece of escapist interactive art.

4 Obduction

A house in a desert environment in Obduction

Who doesn’t love a good alien abduction game? Obduction is quite the opposite of your standard alien overlord game, though, in which there is no combat, nor aliens. There is, however, a bunch of alien technology and mysterious clues to keep players engaged with the rich and often unsettling atmosphere of Obduction.

One of the key features of the game is its non-linearity. Players are encouraged to explore the alien world that they have been unsuspectingly transported to by getting up close and personal with the various interactive mechanics. The FPS nature of the game enhances the curiosity of the protagonist, making exploring all the more personal and urgent.

3 Manifold Garden

A seemingly infinite world in Manifold Garden

Slick and trippy are two words that accurately summarise the nature of Manifold Garden. The PC game which was later ported for consoles is as visually engaging as it is thematically simple in its gameplay. This illusion of a game, however, is far from straightforward.

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Set in an abstract world, players are tasked with solving puzzles in an infinitely complex land of geometrically-stylized buildings. With the ability to turn walls into floors by merely walking toward them, every room in the game becomes entirely different from a new perspective. Endlessly appetizing for a curious mind and somewhat as relaxing as it is creepy, Manifold Garden is a game experience like no other.

2 Quantum Conundrum

Companion Ike in Quantum Conundrum

Few first person puzzlers focus as much on their clever set-up as they do with gameplay as Quantum Conundrum does. Players control a twelve-year-old boy who is accidentally subjected to a experiment by his typical-mad-scientist uncle. Now able to navigate four separate dimensions, each providing unique abilities to the poor nephew, it is up to the player to listen to the uncle to help restore normality.

Switching between dimensions that alter the speed of time, the player’s damage intake, the direction of gravity, and the weight of objects makes for a wildly dynamic game that keeps players on their toes.

1 Mundaun

A looming antagonist in Mundaun

Part folk-horror, part mystery survival, and part enigmatic puzzler, Mundaun is needless to say a unique package. The 2021 game sees players control a man named Cudin. Cudin must return to his hometown for his grandfather’s funeral, but upon discovering some morbid discrepancies surrounding his death, he decides to head to a nearby mountain to solve clues. T

he game features numerous puzzles that once solved, can aid Cudin on his quest, also allowing him to progress his skills in health, sanity, and marksmanship. Mundaun features multiple endings, making decision-making and problem-solving all the more engaging.

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