As long as it comes to first-person puzzle games, everyone's most impressive thing is "Portal", this game launched by Valve in 2007 dropped a shock bomb on the market, and the sequel in 2011 was another peak, creating more than 80,000 overwhelming reviews on Steam, changing everyone's impression of "puzzle games".
The meaning of the word puzzle in the classification of the game is actually very general, the types are various, from pushing boxes, Tetris, minesweepers, puzzles, permutations, square elimination, etc. Hundreds of types, all that involve brain thinking, careful observation of both, almost can be counted as puzzle games.
However, the first-person perspective puzzle game, before 2007, but quite poor, the first-person puzzle game before the portal, most of them are looking for props, finding mechanisms, associative questions and other "groping" games, good is not common, bad is rotten street, running up and down in the map in order to find hidden switches or props, almost no brain component, the game experience is mostly very boring.
And "Portal" successfully combines the "brain" element into the first person, unlike the "groping" game, there will be no hidden ultra-secret mechanism or inexplicable association problems, the puzzle elements will be clearly presented in front of the player's eyes, what is in the white puzzle room is clear at a glance, and the player has only one thing to do: think hard. Since then, traditional puzzle games have become a thing of the past.
Focus your efforts on the puzzle in front of you, and don't worry about what you haven't found or where there is a secret door. Focus the game experience entirely on the "brain", combined with the first-person features, to create a new pattern. Of course, Portal wasn't the first brain-activating first-person game, but there's no doubt the first to be so successful, taking the first-person brain-solving game forward.
Given the success of portals, many developers have also invested in this area. (Is the V Society really the "origin of all things"?) However, it is difficult to solve the problem, the design problem is even more difficult, and the puzzle game is basically a "niche", after all, for many people, playing the game is just for entertainment, usually going to work and class is exhausted, and do not want to play a game and burn brain cells. Therefore, there are not many puzzle games with specifications comparable to Portal, and most of them are small grades, which is a pity. However, there are also many skits that are quite outstanding, and the following article officially begins to introduce various brain-moving first-person puzzle games, and will also contain some third-person types.
Taros' Law
If you want to say that any game can compete with "Portal", it is "Talos Law", which has won full evaluations from major video game media, won numerous awards, and is a very stunning game, "Talos Law" is probably the only game that exceeds the portal in the depth and breadth of the puzzle.
Of course, this rising star is not fair to compare with portals, after all, the "Law of Talos" itself also refers to the design concept of many portals, like stepping on the shoulders of giants and reaching higher heights.
It is no accident that this masterpiece, which combines story, picture, difficulty and change, has been affirmed by all sides. DLC Road To Gehenna brings even more brain-burning puzzles, and this game is definitely not to be missed for players who want to seek a lot of brain-burning experiences.
Portal Story: Mel
Since you want to talk about the game inspired by portals, how can you not talk about the mod levels of the portal itself, however, there are too many mod levels in Portal 2, and the workshop is full of them, so there is no time to introduce them one by one, so I will only pick one to talk about. Portal Story: Mel is a very high-level folk self-made mod level, without relying on the body's independent mods, players can download and play for free as long as they have Portal 2 on Steam.
The quality of this module is very high, please dub and soundtrack, close to the official production level, it is completely invisible that it is made by fans. Since it is fan-oriented, the difficulty is not a level, "Portal Story: Mel" will use a variety of advanced combination applications in the 2nd generation at the beginning, and the later difficulty is outrageous, and even need to use some partial door solutions or precise operations. It is highly recommended for players who want to continue the Portal 2 experience and seek high difficulty.
Turing test
After the "Law of Taros", another puzzle game that combines the theme of artificial intelligence philosophy, although the overall game specifications are not as good as Talos, but it is also a small but complete masterpiece. Like Portal, players will be challenged into puzzle room after puzzle room. This is mentally similar to the Taros Law, and the scene is similar to the Portal, a bit like a clever combination of the two.
"Turing Test" with a concise and simple puzzle combined with in-depth philosophical thinking, supplemented by textured graphics, is a very typical "portal-like" game, although it is a decent puzzle design, it is also very worth playing, interesting philosophical reflections and plot is also quite interesting.
Q.U.B.E.
Q.U.B.E. is a very original puzzle game that takes players into a simple and fantastic world of blocks. In a world made up entirely of white blocks, manipulate several color blocks to solve puzzles, using blue blocks to jump high, red blocks as stepping stones, and purple blocks to change the environment. New elements are often introduced into the game to challenge players, such as ball problems, dyeing problems, magnetic problems, beam problems, balance problems, etc., which are very varied.
The sequel, QUBE 2, further refines the design of various aspects, using Unreal 4 to create a more textured block world, although the tricks are slightly less than the previous game, but the puzzle design is more coherent, both varied and difficult. Both works are masterpieces of small and fresh sketches.
The Witness
The Witness is a unique puzzle game in that the puzzle is a "stroke" problem, according to specific rules, a stroke from the beginning to the end. This genre was originally patented for minimalist graphic puzzle games (such as Line Way), and was first seen in the first person. Unlike the puzzle rooms of Portal, this game is a small open world, and the non-linear gameplay is quite rare in puzzle games, although it is a brain-moving game, but it is also very exploratory.
"The Witness" does not have any plot dialogue, all rely on soft and simple pictures to render the atmosphere, and the special picture rendering method has a different flavor. Don't think that a stroke problem is very monotonous, this work leads a variety of colorful path problems, a variety of special rules and question types, subvert your imagination of a stroke problem.
Attractio
Another portal game with a strong sense of vision, also a closed puzzle room after another, the screen of "Attractio" gives people a gray sense of technology, the main theme is gravity theme puzzles, but also has a good originality, the player can change the object or their own gravity, such as letting the block fly up and press the ceiling switch, or walk on the ceiling by themselves, testing the player's sense of space and physical prediction.
The puzzles in this game are also more actionable, often combined with puzzles, but there is also bullet time available. Unfortunately, the gravity theme is not very good, the problem is mostly more difficult to perform the action, rather than making you want to break the head, the game optimization is also relatively poor, and players who cannot recognize the low frame need to be cautious.
Antichamber
Once a hit, quite a strange game, using a minimalist style, the scene coloring is very simple. Armed with a block gun, the player can shoot small blocks to stick to various surfaces, fill a designated area to open the trap, or act as a stepping stone. While there is no plot, there are some interesting aphorisms throughout the level, sometimes even related to puzzles.
The biggest feature of "Antichamber" is the arrangement of various otherwise common sense scenes, such as the stairs leading upstairs or downstairs, whether going up or down, will always run back to the original point, and the motto next to the stairs reads "If the results of the choices are the same, the choice is not important." Although the picture is very monotonous, the unique puzzles and various anomalous scenes make people's eyes light up, and you have to admire the author's ingenuity.
summary
Although "Portal" has caused a lot of repercussions, it is thunderous and rainy, there are few extremely good rising stars, and there are many sketches, but they are often reduced to a niche. Good puzzles are not easy to design, and the market is small, resulting in very few producers willing to open high-quality puzzle games.
It is evident that no major player is willing to develop AAA puzzle games, and it is a pity that there will be games comparable to the "Law of Taros" or "Portal" and do not know what year and month to wait until. If the portal has ever brought you a very pleasant puzzle solving experience, you may wish to try other good puzzle games.