Rank 4: The Longing
In The Longing, you play a lonely shadow who lives in a cave system deep underground. You wait for your king’s return, who has lost his power and needs to sleep for 400 days to regain it.
What makes the game special? Your task in The Longing is to wait 400 days for your king. You can achieve this by … doing absolutely nothing. That is the unique magic of the game. The developer describes it as a detox from the many energetic and overstimulating games that are common today.
Of course, you can also choose to keep the little shadow company while waiting. You can explore the large cave systems, collect items, and make the underground living room cozier. Or how about some literature? You can read classics like Moby Dick directly in the game (unfortunately, only in English for now). Whatever you do, there is no rush.
Rank 3: Superhot
Superhot is a first-person shooter in a minimalistic artistic style. In the campaign mode with just over 30 levels, you face hordes of enemies. Initially, you only have a firearm available. Later, additional weapons like explosives, melee weapons, or throwable items become available.
What makes the game special? In Superhot, time only moves when you move. This adds a new strategic depth to the otherwise reaction-based shooter genre. At the same time, it feels incredibly cool to slice through enemies in slow motion.
Rank 2: Portal 2
Portal 2, also representing the first part, is probably the most well-known game on this list. This is mainly because the puzzle platformer is among the best co-op games ever. Additionally, you can expect an interesting and humorous story.
What makes the game special? Portal combines puzzle and platform elements that you must overcome from a first-person perspective using a so-called portal gun. With this device, you can create portals through which items or even the player character can move. Portal 2 also introduced additional tools that allowed the surface properties of things to be changed.
With its creative ideas, Portal remains to this day a great experience for all fans of exciting puzzles – at least if you don’t easily suffer from dizziness.
Rank 1: Baba Is You
Baba Is You is a puzzle game where you can prove yourself in over 200 levels.
What makes the game special? In Baba Is You, there are no rules. Or at least you can change the rules by which you play. To do this, you simply move the interactive command blocks and might discover an unexpected chain reaction. Everything can be changed, from the character to the win condition.
This gives the puzzle game a completely new meta-level, where you have to think outside the box.
Do you know any other games with particularly creative gameplay mechanics? Feel free to share them in the comments! What this list was missing were role-playing games. If you need new inspiration for that, we have 14 recommendations for you here on MeinMMO: The 14 best role-playing games on Steam
