The best puzzle games on PS4 and PS5 

The numbers have been crunched, extensive notes kept and even a walkthrough or two peeked at to bring you this mathematically proven list.

First-person puzzle games

See the puzzles through your own eyes. Just remember it can often take a shift in perspective to uncover a solution.

Viewfinder

Redefine reality in this puzzler where your pictures – photos, sketches, paintings – become real, providing new directions to explore, bridges to new areas and reshaping the world around you.

  • Exploration is learning, and the player will uncover the secrets of the world, the reason why it exists, and the freedom to create, as they go deeper into the game.
  • The game's player-driven narrative means you can experience as much of it as you want - or just enjoy the game for its puzzles.
  • Accessible for any level of player, Viewfinder is a mind-bending experience offering hours of possibilities.
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Announcement trailer
Launch trailer

The Talos Principle 2

First-person puzzles meet deep philosophical themes in this game which explores the very meaning of civilization through picking over the remains of it.

  • Set in a world where robots live in cities left behind by now-extinct humans, The Talos Principle 2 sets its mind-bending posers around a mysterious megastructure.
  • Use skills such as gravity manipulation and mind transference to find solutions, and answer questions about the cosmos and our place in it.
  • Explore more than a dozen all-new environments, from a city on the brink of a paradigm shift to the varied landscapes of a mysterious island that holds the keys to the future.
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Launch trailer
GLaDOS plays

The Witness

You wake up on a strange island with no memory of who you are or how you got here. The only way forward is to explore this place, and take on its many puzzles.

  • Discover clues to your identity and location as you solve the island's puzzles - perhaps if you master enough of them, you can find your way home.
  • Play through over 500 puzzles in an order that suits you, roaming an open-world setting with dozens of distinct locations.
  • Every puzzle matters - there is no filler in The Witness, and the game aims to respect your time by only presenting content of significance to the overall story.
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Release date trailer
Conversations with creators video

The Forgotten City

“The many shall suffer for the sins of the one.” The Golden Rule is about to be broken in this thrilling ancient Roman time-loop mystery.

  • Unravel the goings on of a cast of colourful characters, exploit the time loop and make morally dubious choices.
  • Combat is an option, but violence will only get you so far. Only by investigating the community and looping time back around, over and over, can you solve this epic mystery. 
  • Grapple with moral dilemmas which have life-and-death consequences, and become entwined in the lives of richly detailed, deeply interactive characters.
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Launch trailer
Accolade trailer

Atmospheric puzzle games

Lose yourself in games with strongly styled visuals, sound design and music that evoke a palpable sense of place.

Manifold Garden

Simultaneously ascend and descend into a gravity defying slice of infinity in this M.C. Escher-inspired puzzler which blends the abstract with the logical.

  • Master impossible rules and solve physics-defying posers as you navigate your way around and through mind-bending architectural structures.
  • Manipulate gravity to change your perspective and see the world in new ways as you bring vegetation and life back to barren environments.
  • Nominated for several industry awards, Manifold Garden is a surreal and unmissable treat for fans of imaginative, original puzzle games.
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Launch trailer
Announcement teaser trailer

Howl

Howl is a turn-based tactical folktale set in medieval times. A sinister 'howling plague' has ravaged the land, turning all who hear it into feral beasts.

  • Play a deaf heroine plunged into danger as she searches for a cure, learning new skills during the course of her journey to overcome wolf-like adversaries.
  • Use turn-based combat, up to six steps at a time, to plan your own moves - and predict those of your enemies - across 60 levels split over four chapters.
  • Enjoy beautiful, living ink visuals which vividly illustrate the threats of this unique experience.
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Release trailer

Chants of Sennaar

Ascend a Tower of Babel-inspired structure in this game where translating language is the key to progression.

  • Decipher each level’s unique writing, using non-verbal communication with characters to learn what each symbol represents, filling a notebook to aid your understanding.
  • When necessary, use stealth to avoid unwanted attention and cross forbidden zones, navigating each beautiful scene with intelligence and purpose.  
  • Uncover an ominous truth and unveil the mysteries of this fascinating universe where ancient languages are both the lock and the key.
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Launch trailer
Behind the Glyphs video

COCOON

This award-winning game from the designer of Inside and Limbo tasks the player with navigating strange, atmospheric worlds, warping between them using mysterious orbs.

  • Carry a world with you within its own orb, and then combine these mystical spheres to leap between different locations.
  • Reactivate alien machinery and interact with biomechanical devices to access new areas, and face off against monstrous guardians using brains, not brawn.
  • A meditative, flowing experience with captivating art and enveloping music, COCOON gently points the way for any player to overcome its many obstacles.
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Launch trailer
Release date trailer

Puzzle games for PlayStation VR2

You can’t get any closer to the problem-solving action than with PlayStation VR2.

HUMANITY

Blending puzzles and platforming, HUMANITY is a surreal experience from director and celebrated visual designer Yugo Nakamura and famed game creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez Infinite, Tetris Effect: Connected) where you command massive crowds of human beings.

  • Take on over 90 levels filled with obstacles and enemies, moving your humans around them however you can – then construct your own challenging scenarios in the Stage Creator, and share them online.
  • Use VR Mode to get in close to the swarms of people as they march, leap and fly to the exit, and take on wild boss fights in the narrative campaign.
  • Play as a magical Shiba Inu, whose barks humans simply have to heed. That's right, you're a dog, bossing people around. Just like real life.
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Launch trailer
Gameplay basics

Moss: Book II

Aid the furry adventurer Quill in her quest to end the merciless rule of the Arcane over the land of Moss, in a third-person game that melds action and puzzles with deliciously detailed fantasy dioramas.

  • Take on twisted enemies and traverse dangerous terrain as you venture deep inside the hexed castle of the Arcane in this sequel to the award-winning Moss.
  • Play the role of the Reader of this tale, helping Quill on her testing and treacherous journey, keeping the Glass she possesses away from evil hands.
  • Make new allies and encounter old friends across a narrative filled with triumph and heartbreak.
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Launch trailer
Gameplay video

Tetris Effect: Connected

Experience the classic puzzle game Tetris like you never have before, as reimagined by the makers of Rez Infinite and Lumines.

  • Envelop yourself in a pulsating world of sound and vision, as music surrounds you and the iconic falling blocks move in time with the beat.
  • Play with others in co-op or competitive matches, via online cross-platform multiplayer, or enjoy the flow state solo, across over 30 stages and 10 different game modes. 
  • Enter The Zone, an all-new mechanic exclusive to Tetris Effect: Connected, where time can be frozen to allow for more relaxed thinking and avoid a game over.
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Official trailer
PS VR gameplay

Tentacular

Become an enormous but friendly tentacle monster in this game of fun physics puzzles that supports several PS VR2 comfort settings.

  • Help the local population of La Kalma across an adventure spanning 50 levels of humorous situations.
  • Use playful tools to construct bizarre contraptions, and smash apart structures using your squid-like limbs.
  • Follow the game’s sweet and gentle story or play around in Tentacular’s sandbox mode to make your own emergent, immersive fun.
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Launch trailer
Announcement trailer

Charming puzzle games

Take on the role of a plucky puzzle solver with a range of fun indie titles with striking protagonists.

Chicory: A Colourful Tale

Paint a black-and-white world back into colour in this charming adventure that uses gentle puzzles and exploration to move its story onward.

  • Paint to open new areas, and to investigate and solve puzzles, using a magical paint brush that turns the very world around you into a canvas.
  • Unlock new abilities for the brush as you progress, such as glow-in-the-dark paint, and use these to discover hidden items in the landscape.
  • Interact with the other inhabitants of Picnic Province to learn about their wants and needs - and how you can bring colour back into their lives.
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Launch trailer
Colour the world gameplay trailer

Carto

Alter the world around you in this colourful puzzler where the young Carto manipulates the land, rearranging its pieces, to discover new paths and shortcuts.

  • Use a unique puzzle and exploration mechanic: rearrange pieces of your map like it's a jigsaw, and watch the world change around you.
  • Traverse strange lands, learn about different cultures, and enlist the help of new friends along the way in this hand-crafted adventure.
  • Enjoy lush visuals across a variety of biomes, with the gentle action set to an original musical score running to over 30 tracks.
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Launch trailer
Announcement trailer

LEGO Builder's Journey

This atmospheric and geometric puzzler using the famous bricks asks that you follow its instructions - some of the time, at least.

  • Experiment with pieces to find solutions to puzzles that form a surprisingly sweet story mode full of ups and downs, challenges and celebrations.
  • Use Creative Mode to construct your own LEGO models - and then use Photo Mode to snap your build and share it online with friends.
  • LEGO Builder's Journey uses accurately rendered elements from LEGO toys, making this an incredibly realistic looking and feeling experience. You can almost reach in and touch the bricks.
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Launch trailer

We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip

This co-op puzzler requires a friend to join online, and serves as a great entry point for a much-loved series (find previous entries here).

  • This bite-sized entry in the We Were Here series presents several perplexing problems that can only be beaten by a pair of players.
  • Investigate a distress call that leads the two of you to an abandoned amusement park on a deserted island - truly all the ingredients needed to kick off a mystery.
  • Communicate to succeed across a series of asymmetrical puzzles that give players different perspectives, and keep trust in each other in this friendship-testing experience.
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Launch trailer