Tricky Towers (Switch eShop)

By removing the ‘well’ from that most famous of falling block games, Tricky Towers puts the skills you’ve honed through years of Tetris to creative, constructive use and does so with a mischievous glint in its eye. Seeing tetrominoes stacked haphazardly, freed from their rigid grid and ruleset, is unnerving at first – it’s difficult to overstate how odd being able to move blocks in half-space intervals feels! The physics of its towers owe as much to Jenga as Tetris and there’s an unbound joy to this colourful, characterful physics puzzler. Developer WeirdBeard fills the game with catchy tunes and a silly cast of wizards dealing in light and dark magic, the latter enabling you to scupper three friends as you either race towards a floating finish line, build using a specific number of bricks, or compete to jam the most blocks under a horizontal laser beam. Simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, its focus on riotous local multiplayer suits Switch right down to the ground.

The Gardens Between (Switch eShop)

Time manipulation is something that video games can do very well, and a trusty rewind mechanic is used to solve puzzles in The Gardens Between from Australian developer, The Voxel Agents. Controlling an intrepid pair of children across a series of abstract 3D islands, you’ll follow moving blocks back and forth, capture balls of light in a lamp, and freeze environmental elements as you experiment with the flow of time and journey through this mind-bending but relaxing puzzler. Its lovely art style and nods to a certain classic game make this a welcome tonic between the larger epics vying for your downtime on Switch.

Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, together! (Switch)

One of the first games to appear on the console, you control a pair of anthropomorphic cut-outs on a drawing board and must use your bodies to cut shapes in each other, fashioning solutions to environmental puzzles. Levels start out easy enough but soon turn fiendishly difficult, especially in this enhanced edition which brings extra stages, plus new minigames for up to four players. While you don’t strictly need a second player, we wouldn’t play Snipperclips without a friend, relative, or significant other – when solutions elude you or an attempt goes sideways, exorcising frustration by snipping (and, indeed, clipping) your partner is always cathartic and hilarious.

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Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, Together!
Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, Together!

Lumines Remastered (Switch eShop)

A PSP mainstay, the Switch edition delivers most everything you could want from a modern version of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s musical puzzle classic. 2x2 blocks containing two colours fall steadily onto the field and you must rotate these to form 2x2 squares of the same colour which disappear in time to the beat with the regular arrival of a sweeping timeline. Although not particularly challenging, the focus is more on the synaesthesia that characterises Mizuguchi’s work (famously Rez, and more recently Tetris Effect). Paired with some decent headphones, Lumines Remastered is the perfect game to zone out with on public transport. Maybe set an alarm so you don’t miss your stop, though. Don’t be silly; of course that’s never happened to us.

Subsurface Circular (Switch eShop)

On the topic of public transport, this text-based narrative game has you using your best detective skills as you puzzle through conversation trees with people you meet on the metro. We say ‘people’, they’re actually android commuters going about their business in a future world you only glimpse through the doors of the train. Listening for clues and asking the right questions is the name of the game in this ‘talking simulator’, and we adored our time with Subsurface Circular. Again, it’s a blessedly short two-three-hour journey, so we recommend everyone jump aboard and experience it.

World of Goo (Switch eShop)

We were ecstatic when this Wiiware game came to Switch at launch, and it’s still one of the smartest, funniest physics puzzlers you’ll find anywhere. Controlled with a pointer or the touchscreen, you must assemble a gooey framework and negotiate ever more hazardous environments while guiding your precious goo balls to an exit pipe. Excelling with its satirical narrative as well as its mechanics, Kyle Gabler’s unmistakable art style would go on to form the basis of the Tomorrow Corporation games from earlier in the list. If World of Goo somehow passed you by, do yourself a favour and indulge your rampant consumerist tendencies immediately.

Baba Is You (Switch eShop)

Baba Is You is like a compilation of gift shop brain teasers; they’re not for everyone, but some people can’t get enough of them. A Sokoban-like grid-based 2D puzzler that lays out its rules and then asks you kindly to break them, you play as a little white rabbit-ish creature called Baba, which spends its time pushing word blocks around levels which are used to formulate the rules of each level. It's one of the most unique puzzlers you can find on the Switch and how it encourages you to break its rules and create your own ones is refreshing and unique. Its sudden difficulty spike and lack of a hint system could easily discourage some from continuing, but if you enjoy a good brain-teasing, you could easily spend hours getting lost within Baba’s puzzles. Just make sure to take a break or two, or you may forget which Baba is you.

The Talos Principle: Deluxe Edition (Switch eShop)

Croteam, the creators of The Talos Principle, were previously known primarily for their silly (but fun) Serious Sam titles. The Talos Principle shows a remarkable maturity and depth of scope that's perhaps surprising, but in a very good way. This first-person puzzler poses interesting questions, allows the player to progress at their own pace — mostly in a non-linear fashion — and is a hugely satisfying piece of game design. Utterly entrancing and highly recommended.

TENS! (Switch eShop)

TENS! is very much like Sudoku; it’s the kind of puzzle game that is so immediately accessible to everyone, it’s actually quite difficult to pick out any significant flaws. Ultimately, your enjoyment of the title will come down to how much you want to play a game that’s essentially about adding and subtracting numbers. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re up for it, then TENS! will sink its hooks in you and won’t let go for a long time.

Mr. Driller: DrillLand (Switch eShop)

Mr. Driller is one of those elite few puzzle games that, like Tetris, remain immensely playable no matter what year it is. The GameCube edition was one of the finest examples of this and, a full 18 years later, it hasn't aged a single day. Given that you can easily enjoy it in 10-minute bursts or epic three-hour sessions, there are fewer games better suited to the Switch. A must-have for puzzle fans.

Tetris 99 (Switch eShop)

Exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, Tetris 99 offers a truly unique way to play the tried-and-tested classic, even if the overall package feels a little lightweight. Essentially a battle royale take on Tetris, playing live against 98 others is chaotic, and the action feels fast, precise, and wonderfully addictive. It’s seriously difficult, too – we’d fancy our chances in Fortnite over this any day – and we’re impressed with the fact that it's forced us to play the game with a completely different approach to our usual slow-and-steady ways. Signing up for Nintendo Switch Online just to play this game might be a bit of a stretch, but if you’re already a member, what are you waiting for? It’s free, and it might just become your next favourite time sink.

Tetris 99 + 12 Month Nintendo Switch Online Individual Membership
Tetris 99 + 12 Month Nintendo Switch Online Individual Membership

Touhou Spell Bubble (Switch eShop)

Touhou Spell Bubble is a top-notch puzzler with a ton of content to enjoy. The wonky localisation is a little disappointing, especially from a well-established company like Taito, but ultimately it doesn’t hurt the experience to a significant degree – the mechanics are the real star here; a thoroughly enjoyable, very modern, and hugely stylish take on Puzzle Bobble’s base formula.

Touhou Spell Bubble (Multi-Language)
Touhou Spell Bubble (Multi-Language)

Grindstone (Switch eShop)

Compelling to a fault, with a hypnotic and exhilarating central conceit, Grindstone is a tiny bit special. Hopefully, it won't be dismissed by players for being a mobile port, or being mistaken for a "match-three" game akin to Candy Crush – it's not. A full-featured, elegantly designed experience, Capybara's action-puzzle-tactics game is a tiny marvel and we'd strongly recommend it to any and all Switch owners. Ever-so-slight resource exhaustion is the only thing letting it down, but it's easily forgiven when smashing seven shades of shawarma out of creeps is so flipping fun. We say it's time to reverse that well-worn idiom and put your yes to the Grindstone.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon (Switch eShop)

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is a smartly designed and truly delightful revitalization of the falling block puzzle genre. High intensity, combat-driven gameplay, oodles of replayability, a cute art style, and a surprising amount of depth make this one a ridiculously easy recommendation. If you’re at all a fan of Shovel Knight or falling block puzzlers, you owe it to yourself to give this a shot; even if you don’t fall neatly into either of those camps, we’d still very much suggest you give this one a look.