I did set off my smoke alarm whoops.

A picture of a weird box that says "puzzle box" and "ideas" on it, covered with a bit of smoke.

New game is coming along nicely.

New game:
Play It By Trust (Sky Blue Super Mario Bros.)

pippinbarr.com/play-it-by-t...

Puzzle Spy International - Release Trailer YouTube video by Michael Dashow

Puzzle Spy International is out now!

I'll let the release trailer do the heavy lifting here, but if you're into fun wordplay puzzles and rules discovery and spies and flirting and mid-century modern art and cool spy music, check it out:
It's on Steam ats.team/a/3406690

youtu.be/eLXt8glg07g?...

Now we’re talking

You know what I want to make?

I may seem strange to you, but it is games.

It seems strange to everyone else.

yes

sTRANGE jIGSAWS

Annalog NES An NES Metroidvania Puzzle Adventure!

This looks really neat. A new game by the designer behind "System Syzygy"!

If you haven't played "System Syzygy", it's a free game, and a spiritual sequel to "System's Twilight" by Andrew Plotkin, which is a spiritual sequel to "The Fool's Errand" by Cliff Johnson. It's old school and great.

Thank you!

Save 10% on The Artisan of Glimmith on Steam The Artisan of Glimmith is a cozy, relaxing puzzle game about coloring stained glass and restoring the artworks of a kingdom above the clouds. Explore a world of handcrafted puzzles designed with inte...

The game I've been working on for the past couple of years is out now! 🥳 store.steampowered.com/app/4160210/...

Got it! It's really fun! (I finished three windows so far...)

20 Small Mazes on Steam This is a puzzle game with twenty small mazes. They're good mazes, though.

"20 Small Mazes" is now available on Mac!

store.steampowered.com/app/2570630/...

I think it’s really neat! I love all the computer games and variety of things to do.

It’s really fun to walk around and find weird stuff to do!

A 3x3 grid of video games: “Sam and Max Hit the Road”, “Psychonauts”, “System’s Twilight”, “Antichamber”, “Moon”, “Zero Escape”, “There is no game: wrong dimension”, “outer wilds”, “Tux and Fanny”

the vibrant ecology of indie games YouTube video by nocaps

after dozens of hours researching, playing, and learning i now present my first ever mini indie game nature documentary:
youtu.be/oogENt7XVbQ
more to follow soon

The developer of Strange Jigsaws and 20 Small Mazes has announced a new game, and you'll never guess the title · Thinky Games 20 More, Somehow Even Smaller, Mazes is expected sometime soon in 2026. It's the third game in a playful little series from the boundary-pushing designer FLEB, following 20 Small Mazes and Strange Jigsaws.

The third game in a playful puzzle series, following 20 Small Mazes and Strange Jigsaws, has been announced!

Perhaps!

20 More, Somehow Even Smaller, Mazes on Steam A puzzle game with twenty small mazes.

My next game will be "20 More, Somehow Even Smaller, Mazes".

It will be free.

Wishlist it today!

store.steampowered.com/app/4428890/...

The 3rd Annual Thinky Awards, February 4th, 2026 The image shows our thinky protagonist with a map, surrounded by arrow signs.

The 3rd Annual Thinky Awards are now live! 🏆

thinkygames.com/even...

HER TREES : PUZZLE DREAM on Steam HER TREES : PUZZLE DREAM is a unique point-and-click puzzle game where you move and combine objects to solve puzzles. Unravel the strange puzzles hidden in your dreams.

"HER TREES: PUZZLE DREAM", the sequel to "HER TREES: THE PUZZLE HOUSE" drops on the 10th.

The first game was an interesting take on language-agnostic puzzle hunt-esque puzzles. I'm looking forward to it.

store.steampowered.com/app/3300800/...

Thinky Awards 2025: The 3rd Annual Thinky Awards · Thinky Games We're celebrating the very best thinky games of 2025 in the latest Thinky Awards.

The Thinky Game Awards are tomorrow at 1pm ET. Check it out!

thinkygames.com/events/awards/

Linelith is an all timer. Many games have done a “rule discovery” lift, but no one’s touch has been defter.

Whoa! Thanks for showing me!

It’s great!

The 50 best games of 2025 A bonanza of peak set the blueprint for the year

👀

www.polygon.com/best-games-2...

Announcing the nominees for the 2025 Thinky Awards! · Thinky Games Our annual awards show is returning for another year: you can now see the nominees in every category and cast your vote for the various audience awards.

Announcing the nominees for the 2025 Thinky Awards! 🎉

Some thoughts on who you might want to nominate: Blue Prince, The Roottrees are Dead, Gentoo Rescue, Lab Rat, Glowkeeper, Motion Rec, Ooo, Chrono Quartz, Puzzle Depot, Mr. Elevator, Spooky Express, and Only Sliding.

There are many more I haven't played this year.

What a year for puzzle games!

Great company to be a part of!

Hello indies! It's almost Thanksgaming 2025!

If you have an unknown indie project in dev or just released, please could you email me at jwalker@kotaku.com with the subject "THANKSGAMING 2025", and a store page and YouTube link? I'll put as many as I can on Kotaku.

Rules next. Reposts appreciated!