Whether you're a newcomer to the puzzle game genre or a veteran at them, the 2010s certainly brought some of the most influential variety of puzzle games that many are still discovering today. That's all thanks to a growing collective of Indie studios that played a crucial role in refining the genre conventions of past games to instill unique new experiences.

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Those of the 2000s were more focused on the mechanics rather than the impactfulness of the story, but the 2010s ultimately shine in that regard. As you'll see, the majority of puzzle games on this list are significant for achieving a remarkable balance between their storytelling and core puzzle gameplay.

10 Sherlock Holmes: Crimes And Punishments (2014)

A split image of Holmes and Watson and a puzzle being solved by a player in Crimes and Punishments.

In addition to The Sinking City, Ukrainian developer Frogwares is well-known for their adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous literary hero and brilliant Victorian-era detective Sherlock Holmes. 2014’s Crimes and Punishments represents some of the best of the Sherlock Holmes series, and it had an interesting way of interweaving challenging puzzles into the investigative casework you perform.

Some can seem quite frustrating and tedious to master, particularly the lock-picking mechanic and when you piece together the image for the scent Holmes catches. Nonetheless, they're an engaging part of the story, along with the game's method of making you feel like the detective deducing what really happened in each case.

9 The Room Series (2012 - 2018)

The Room Split Image with no border in between the cover art and puzzle object.

Mobile puzzle games were a hugely popular component of the 2010s, but none did the genre quite so well as The Room series. Any of the four Room games released within the period are equally brilliant and bring a refreshing new scenario with their signature escape-the-room style gameplay and intricate puzzle box mechanics.

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Although heavy on the puzzles, there's still an underlying narrative that revolves around the hidden inscriptions on the objects you're trying to solve, forged from a material called 'Null', and only visible through a special lens from your inventory. This supernatural aspect evokes a sense of dread and suspense that elevates its puzzle design to one of horror.

8 Never Alone (2014)

Never Alone Screenshot Of Fox Jumping Into Scene

You're indeed never alone in this tale that follows a young Iñupiat girl named Nuna and her accompanying fox as they navigate the puzzles of a harsh Arctic environment to get to the source of a blizzard that threatens Nuna's land. The puzzle design is modeled closer to Lego games, where you switch between Fox and Nuna at certain points to carry out a task relying on their specific skills.

Never Alone, known as Kisima Ingitchuna in the Iñupiaq language, is an essential one to highlight for its heartfelt representation of the Alaskan Native Iñupiat people. In fact, the developer E-Line Media created the game in close collaboration with many of its members, and the game's voice-over narration is from an Iñupiaq storyteller.

7 Portal 2 (2011)

Portal 2 co-op in a puzzle with lasers shooting into cubes

The sequel to the timeless classic puzzle platformer shouldn't dare go unmentioned on this list. Portal 2 takes you back to the obstacle course areas of the Aperture Science Labs facility and encompasses many of the cherished features from the first game, especially GlaDOS being there to guide you once again.

Armed with the signature Portal Gun, you must place and teleport through your portals in precise spots to accomplish the puzzle and proceed to the next room. However, an even more exciting change from the original is the co-op experience which offers a separate set of playable characters and an all-new story.

6 Superliminal (2019)

Superliminal Alarm Clock

Before the decade came to a close, Pillow Castle Games delivered one last mind-bending trip of a puzzle game in Superliminal. Trippy in the sense that the game's primary puzzle challenges lie in optical illusions and perception, where objects you manipulate around the environment can change in size depending on which direction they’re situated.

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The core gameplay loop involves you moving from room to room, clearing out these puzzles cleverly meant to break your brain, and all of it is structured around a narrative tied to a mysterious dream therapy program. It's a thrilling first-person adventure of a puzzle game that brings a refined concept to the genre while also nodding to familiar elements of past games.

5 The Talos Principle (2014)

the talos principle robot and landscape

Next is The Talos Principle, a philosophical science-fiction puzzle game centered around an AI machine that feels as though it was conceived directly from the mind of renowned author Isaac Asimov. The Talos Principle transports you to a harmonious world filled with beautiful nature and advanced technology, serving as the puzzle obstacles you’ll encounter.

There's a massive amount of puzzles for you to complete across varying environments, which require the use of devices called jammers to break open doors and freeze enemy AI robots in place. The main progression is to collect tetromino-shaped items while also debating the question of free will in the overarching narrative.

4 Papers, Please (2013)

Authorising a citizen entry in Papers, Please

The 2010s reinvigorated puzzle games in terms of their originality and where they could go, none more so than Papers, Please. Set in 1982, it's a hybrid of a puzzle and a simulation game that has you play as a border immigration officer in the fictional communist nation of Arstotzka to determine whether to let certain civilians enter with the documents in front of you.

It requires you to have a keen eye and undivided attention to the task, as it gets increasingly harder to ensure a successful match of information from the documents you're provided with and the guidelines you need to follow. And with the designer behind it being Uncharted alum Lucas Pope, there's a deeper story at play, one with multiple endings.

3 Inside (2016)

The main protagonist hiding from the flashlight lamp of a giant enemy robot as part of Inside's stealth puzzle.

Right at the start of the 2010 decade, Playdead set a new bar for puzzle-platforming games with their first game Limbo. That unique dark and gritty grayscale aesthetic and pure atmospheric environmental storytelling with its puzzles and set pieces would be further improved upon in a follow-up 2016 game, Inside, which arguably surpasses their debut.

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Similar to Limbo, Inside's protagonist is a small child who navigates an ominous dreary landscape full of uncertainty and enigmatic dangers, this time within a city. The game feels more 3D, the story is on a more horrifying scale, and the puzzle elements are taken to intriguing new heights, with the main mechanic revolving around mind control.

2 The Witness (2016)

Split image of the island's exterior view and a symmetry puzzle from The Witness.

Eight years after designing the acclaimed rewinding puzzle game Braid, Jonathan Blow returned with another dazzling puzzle-focused successor that’s quite unlike any other. The Witness puts you in a first-person experience of exploring a vast island where hundreds of puzzles await to be solved.

The puzzle format always takes part on a grid but varies depending on how far you've advanced through the gorgeous island. They range from simple maze-like puzzles that have you draw a line from one point to another to more difficult geometrical and environmental-based ones, all while also seamlessly incorporating full-motion video into the gameplay.

1 Little Nightmares (2017)

Six attempting the file cabinet room puzzle of the Maw.

The year after Inside launched, a masterful new nightmare of a puzzle game arrived from Swedish-based Tarsier Studios and publisher Bandai Namco. Little Nightmares formulates its puzzles around a disturbing series of rooms within a submerged ship called the Maw, which is also home to terrifying yet whimsical monsters for you to evade.

Trapped within this nightmare of a vessel is a girl named Six, donned in a yellow raincoat like Georgie from Stephen King's It, and you must successfully help her escape from it. Little Nightmares has parallels with other atmospheric titles mentioned here, notably Never Alone and Inside. However, its chillingly playful art style, level design, character design, and sound set it apart.

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