The best lateral games

Lateral games are a subgenre of puzzle games in which the main challenge comes from interpreting opaque clues. The relevant information can be obscured through many techniques, requiring the player to apply lateral thinking in order to extract solutions. Common examples of lateral puzzles include combining seemingly unrelated numbers from a written message to create a secret code, or rearranging the fragments of a picture to reveal an unexpected motif.

The lack of explicit instructions is a design element that lateral games share with rule-discovery games. However, lateral games focus on pinpointing extraction methods almost from scratch, and these methods may be radically different from one puzzle to the next, whereas rule-discovery games require gradual experimentation and explore consistent sets of rules over multiple puzzles.

One of the genre's rare breakthroughs in video game form, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes received the Game of the Year award at the Thinky Awards 2024. While lateral games represent only a fraction of video game releases, solving lateral puzzles is a familiar practice for puzzlehunt teams as well as cryptic crossword enthusiasts.

The games listed below are the most favorited lateral games in the Thinky Games database.