We love to shine a spotlight on some of the more experimental free games created by folks within the thinky community, so this month we've split them out from our commercial releases list. Here's every free thinky game that caught our eye throughout July, from rule-deduction racing mash-ups to meme-inspired riddles!
Cuboid
A short and simple game about rolling a cuboid around (similar to Bloxorz), developed by Thomas Friday.
how hungry...
A cryptic puzzle based on the "Man I'm So Hungry" meme, developed by winterbeak.
Push The Cat
Developed by Blink for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
A puzzle game where you push the cats. Don't push the reset button away!
PortalSnake
Create portals to guide the snake to its food. Developed by bcat112a for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
Precious Quest: The Puzzle Game
Developed by smartaigames for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
Precious Quest: The Puzzle Game is an anti-puzzle where you build the level and AI solves it. The goal of each level is to make a path for an adventurer to reach the Precious and get back, but make them spend as much time on it as possible in order to maximize their corruption level. Because corrupted adventurer is a Precious pawn, my Lord.
Play Precious Quest: The Puzzle Game
poki
Developed by witch for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
Guide poki through 10 wacky puzzles!
You drove off the road!
A rule deduction racing game, developed by panic!
UVSU
Developed by dietzribi for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
- Outsmart yourself in this puzzle platformer
- Every iteration you switch roles between the hero and one of the enemies
- Think ahead!
Curse of the Candle Maze
Developed by young gamedev for the GMTK Game Jam 2023.
A tricky puzzle game where you must make use of magic candles to access powerful forms, and navigate the labyrinth.
Letter Banks
Dam the river to stop it from flooding the beaver's home! Developed by sus1d1p for 1D1P.
[untitled puzzle]
A single screen puzzle about joining and separating blocks, developed by William Hu.
Pocket Dimension Mouse
Developed by Neonesque.
After the success of the slime intelligence experiment, research has expanded to other organisms. As a Pocket, a pocket mouse wielding a pocket dimension, learn to use a variety of tools and retrieve pieces of cheese in 33 handcrafted puzzles, each with a unique solution. And be careful not to get chalk dust on your cheese!
Piiri
Developed by Hempuli.
It's time for the traditional bicentennial battle between the Giants and the Gnomes! As usual, this ritual battle is held in the field surrounding the Monolith, a magical structure marking the place where the event was first held.
This is a 2-player asymmetric abstract boardgame about Giants and Gnomes throwing and pushing each other in an effort to defeat enough of their opponents. The gameplay revolves around the different ways the two sides approach their enemies and defend themselves, and it's heavily inspired by the game Thud described in Terry Pratchett's novel of the same name, which in turn was allegedly inspired by the ancient game of Hnetatafl.
Wordward Draw
Developed by Daniel Linssen.
Explore the set of 4 letter words. Either change one letter of the previous word or rearrange all the letters of the previous word. Find all 105 picture words!
Ollie's Ominous Orb
Developed by dead0ne (originally for the GMTK Game Jam 2023).
Pushing boxes is an easy job, right? But what would happen if you were not the one pushing the box, but the box was the one pulling you? In this journey you get to reverse roles with a magical orb and solve puzzles with interesting interactions.
Loopoban
Developed by Joel Fox.
Program your sokoban character to push crates onto targets. Issue commands on the left side of the screen, which will loop indefinitely. Press the red button to run the program and see if it works. If not, undo (Z) or restart (R) to try again!