Thinky Games

The latest beam reflection games

Beam reflection games are a genre of video games that prominently features laser devices and narrow beams of light. Players interact with various devices, such as light sources, mirrors and prisms, in order to direct the light towards fixed receivers. Lasers in beam reflection games are usually not dangerous (as opposed to many action games or movies): they’re merely visual tools that help crafting puzzles based on lines of sight.

Most beam reflection games include rules related to color and additive light mixing. Players manipulate the trajectory of beams of different colors in order to have them meet with specific angles and produce a new beam of the desired color. For instance, opening up a cyan door would typically require the appropriate deflection of both a blue beam and a green beam to create cyan light.

The Talos Principle franchise famously includes beam reflection elements, although the genre is best showcased by games such as Archaica: The Path of Light and SOLAS 128. You can read more about the history of beam reflection games on Electron Dance [archived version].

The games listed below are the most recently released beam reflection games in the Thinky Games database.

  • SPIN Protocol
    Windows
    Rotate various nodes to reroute color signals to the appropriate receivers.
  • The Talos Principle 2
    Windows
    PlayStation 5
    Xbox Series X|S
    Robots rebuild human civilization in this philosophical first-person puzzler.
  • Photon Engineer
    Windows
    Linux
    Place voxel mirrors to redirect photons in this first-person puzzler.
  • SOLAS 128
    Windows
    Nintendo Switch
    Reflect pulses of light around a large, interconnected, and rhythmic machine.
  • Octopticom
    Windows
    Linux
    Position lasers, mirrors and other optical components to output the desired sequences of colors.
  • Archaica: The Path of Light
    Windows
    Nintendo Switch
    PlayStation 4
    Xbox Series X|S
    Xbox One
    Position mirrors to activate the prisms laid out inside mystical temples.
  • ReThink
    Windows
    Solve first-person laser puzzles in peaceful chambers.
  • The Talos Principle
    Windows
    Linux
    MacOS
    Nintendo Switch
    PlayStation 4
    Xbox Series X|S
    Xbox One
    Android
    Overcome Elohim's tests in this philosophical first-person puzzler.
  • Prelogate
    Windows
    Linux
    Control laser beams with optical tools and logic gates.

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