Thinky Games

Alan Hazelden’s Thinky Third Thursday – December 2024

Alan Hazelden, 20 December 2024
We’re delighted to bring you the latest edition of Alan Hazelden’s Thinky Third Thursday newsletter. Alan is the founder of studio and publisher Draknek & Friends and designer of renowned puzzle games like A Monster’s Expedition, Cosmic Express, and A Good Snowman is Hard to Build.

Recent thinky highlights

LOK Digital, by Letibus Design, Icedrop Games, and Draknek & Friends (Windows, macOS)

First up, in case you missed it I have to remind you that we launched LOK Digital, announcing the news in the amazing Day of the Devs showcase (see our segment here if you didn't already catch it). Learn the cryptic language of the LOK creatures and use their words to reshape the world.

We've been delighted by the reception so far, and you still have until Dec 24th to get the game with its 10% launch discount. If you're interested in hearing more about how LOK Digital was created, we recently interviewed the creators on the Draknek & Friends Official Podcast.

Confounding Calendar 2024 (web)

Returning for its fourth year, the Confounding Calendar releases a small single-screen puzzle for your entertainment every day this month. They're incredibly varied and always a delight - some of my favourites from this year so far include:

Chroma Zero, by ekorz and ZeroXP (Windows)

Chroma Zero is a mysterious game, intentionally obtuse but also filled with opportunities to learn. I haven't played it enough to uncover all its secrets, but an hour with it was more than enough to intrigue me.

Look Who's The Shining Two!, by Twinbeard (web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi)

Explore a maze of rooms, solving puzzles to collect items which give you more puzzle-solving abilities. As with many open world puzzle games, you'll commonly be encountering puzzles before you have the tools to solve them, but are you sure? Maybe you're missing a trick.

Dubio, by AJ Kolenc,Richard Boeser and Richard Boeser (Windows, macOS)

From one of the creators of ibb & obb comes Dubio, a minimalist one-button pathfinding puzzle game. At first the game seems deceptively simple, but it quickly starts to throw surprises at you. And even though it sometimes has the vibe of a challenging platformer, the solution to a level is always elegant, and more often about using your brain than your execution skills.

Thinky releases from the past month

Free games:

Paid games:

New demos:

Upcoming games to watch for

RECUR, by kaleidoscube and Astra Logical

RECUR was announced in the same Day of the Devs presentation that LOK Digital took part in, and is a side-scrolling adventure puzzle game where walking forwards advances time towards the apocalypse, and stepping backwards rewinds it. If that concept feels familiar, The Gardens Between from 2018 explored the same idea, but I think they'll end up feeling fairly different. I briefly worked with the team last year and am excited to see where they take it.

Schrodinger's Cat Burglar, by Abandoned Sheep

Schrodinger's Cat Burglar is another game where I've been talking to the developer for a while, and I'm really impressed with the progress their latest trailer shows. You play as a cat who breaks into a mysterious quantum facility and gains the ability to split themselves in two, but you're also getting up to a whole host of feline shenanigans like knocking things off ledges and riding a roomba-like robot.

LOK Digital (mobile release), by Letibus Design, Icedrop Games, and Draknek & Friends

Following the PC launch last week, we've also announced that LOK Digital will be coming to Android and iOS on January 23rd next year, bringing the world of the LOK creatures to your pocket. If you go to the App Store or Google Play Store, you can click a button to have the game automatically download to your device when it releases!

That's it!

The next issue of Thinky Third Thursday will be released in January, and it'll be an extra special edition in which we'll look back at some of the very best thinky game releases of 2024. What were your favourites? Please get in touch and let me know! I'd love to include a small selection of games highlighted by readers.

Thinky Third Thursday is archived at ThinkyThirdThursday.com if you want to share this roundup with friends. Please also feel free to reply to this email or reach out on Discord, Mastodon or Bluesky.

Until next time, have a very happy new year!

Alan

Disclaimer: Thinky Games is part of the Carina Initiatives and may have professional relationships with individuals and businesses related to the subject of this article. Please see our Editorial Policy for details.

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