In physics games, the gameplay mechanics involve, well, physics! As the player, you'll probably have to carry things, toss things, jump around, and more. Gamers love these games for their challenge and (usually) their realism.The special thing about physics games is that they're all unique. Each one of the games listed below use physics in a unique way, different from the others, in order to provide a challenge for the player. The results are games quite unlike any others.
Human Fall Flat
- Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
Human Fall Flat is a platforming game where you control a humanoid, blank-faced creature with poor control over its limbs. You'll need to do what you can with your flailing arms in order to solve puzzles and reach the end of the levels!
These little flailing men wind up looking pretty ridiculous; you'll be laughing in no time! And you'll be able to share the laughs and chaos with your friends - up to 8 players can work together.
Kerbal Space Program
- Genre: Flight Simulation
If you're looking for a physics game because you're a physics nerd, you're in the right place! Kerbal Space Program is a video game where you're tasked with creating a spaceship for a race of little green aliens.
Unlike other games on this list, Kerbal Space Program doesn't just focus on Earthly physics - to succeed, you'll have to deal with orbital physics and aerodynamics!
Trials Rising
- Genre: Racing
The Trials series is full of motorcycles with dents and their riders with concussions. Technically, the Trials games are racing games. But for many people, the fun is just to see motorcyclists do flips and crash.
Trials Rising is the most recent entry into the franchise; it came out in 2019. They included a ton of new races in some of the most famous places in the world, like New York City and the Great Wall of China!
Goat Simulator
- Genre: Action/Simulation
Goat Simulator might prove the existence of God. Or the lack thereof, depending on how you look at it. In it, you play as a goat. And, while Goat Simulator may involve physics, we wouldn't call them "earthly" or "realistic" physics.
Don't let the title fool you - you won't exactly be hanging out in barns, eating grass, or licking mountains. Instead, you'll be running around a modern town, complete with cars to be run over by, sewers to explore, and construction cranes to climb.
Donut County
- Genre: Indie
In Donut County, you play as a raccoon who's addicted to a phone app that lets him control real holes in the ground. Don't ask us how or why. The point is, all the gameplay involves swallowing up the local homes into your ever-growing holes.
Plus, it's even got a good moral. When all his neighbours get upset that the holes ate their homes, the raccoon has to make up for his mistakes, rescue everyone, and return the town to its former glory!
Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Genre: Flight Simulation
Microsoft Flight Simulator is no joke. In it, you pilot planes across the world and actually fly them (on a difficulty scale from Beginner to Expert). The physics aspect comes in when you experience turbulence, or rain, or wind, or anything else the world's skies have in store.
The wonderful thing about this game is the variety. You can fly commercial planes or light, one-person planes. You can fly within a country or internationally. You can see the traffic, animals, and people on the land below. And, to top it all off? It's available in VR.
Half-Life & Half-Life 2
- Genre: First-Person Shooter, Puzzler
In Half-Life, you'll play as Gordon Freeman, a physicist who works at a research facility where a dimensional rift is opened and an alien invasion begins. You'll spend the game taking out the monsters and, eventually, entering the other dimension to stop the creature on the other side that's keeping the rift open.
If for no other reason, the Half-Life games are worth playing for making video game history. Both entries are hailed as among the best video games of all time.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
- Genre: Indie
Octodad is a great dad. Perhaps the best there ever was. But even the greatest dads struggle. In Octodad's case, he struggles with managing his unwieldy eight tentacle legs.
In this game, you'll help Octodad masquerade as a human by performing basic stay-at-home dad tasks, like...
- Making coffee
- Grocery shopping
- Mowing the lawn
- Taking your family to the aquarium
...and more. Good luck! You'll need it.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Genre: Action-Adventure
Breath of the Wild might not be the first game to come to mind when you think of physics games but... if the shoe fits, wear it! The latest entry into the Legend of Zelda franchise allows you to do more in Hyrule than ever before.
You play as Link, an adventurer traveling across his land and gathering support from various groups in order to stop the big bad guy, Ganon, and help Princess Zelda, who's been holding him off with her magic for years. In the process, you'll have to climb trees for apples, collect wood and flint and a metal weapon to make fires, cook meals for yourself, avoid climbing in the rain... It's more fun than it sounds.
Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy
- Genre: Platformer
If you've ever heard of Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy before now, you probably know that it sucks. In it, you play as a shirtless man trapped in a cauldron, with only a really long hammer at his disposal. You'll have to use that hammer to bounce yourself all the way up a mountain to win the game.
Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy doesn't save your progress. It's ungodly hard. It's easy to mess up and accidentally set yourself back. But the feeling when you finally reach the top? Unmatched.
Portal & Portal 2
- Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
No good physics game list can truly be complete without mentioning Portal! In these games, you'll use a gun to make holes (portals) that transport items - and you - through space.
These portals help you finish puzzles that are put before you by an electronic overlord. Eventually, you might find a way to bust out of the endless tests, but a much harder challenge, and a darker secret, is waiting on the other side.