The technology of video games has evolved to the point where photorealistic graphics are harder to distinguish from real-life footage. Games have evolved to be complex in mechanics as well, incorporating various stats, button combinations, and techniques that require nearly spider-like reflexes to achieve.
Some video games, however, take a more restrained approach in their design. Many puzzle games utilize simple visuals and mechanics to create a product that has a more simplistic beauty to them. These visuals, combined with their calming soundtracks and basic, yet addictive mechanics, can draw players into a trance-like state, proving that less is sometimes more.
7 Portal
Portal was one of the standout games on The Orange Box in 2007 with its innovative gameplay. It challenges the silent protagonist Chell, who wields a spacetime-bridging portal gun, in a series of puzzles crafted by Aperture Science and the nefarious artificial intelligence, GLaDOS.
The rooms of Aperture Science are glossy white, accentuated by a few sleek machines essential to the puzzles, as well as deadly turrets. The overall aesthetic is one of extreme sanitation, calculated to the finest millimeter. The cleanliness of Aperture Labs becomes sinister when Chell peers through the cracks in the walls, and finds the leftover food and water supplies of a resident between the rooms, along with the rampant wall scribblings of “The cake is a lie.”
6 Color Zen
In Color Zen, shapes of the same color must be combined to fill the whole screen with that one color. The end goal is to make sure that the screen is filled with the color that matches the border.
While it does seem straightforward, gameplay can get tricky. Some shapes cannot be moved. Black shapes can be used to eliminate a shape altogether from the screen. White shapes can be imbued with more than one possible color. Even if beating a level is not entirely simple, it is soothing to listen to the music, combine shapes and colors, and hear satisfying sound effects as color fills the screen.
5 Rush
Rush is a planning and automation fan’s type of game. Tiles must be laid down in the paths of colored locomotive cubes to guide them to their destination on a floating white structure.
Beating levels takes an element of trial and error, as redirecting one line of cubes may have unforeseen consequences, such as bumping into other lines of cubes. They will have to be redirected, paused, and even teleported. Putting it all together is like seeing a ballet in motion, with each line of cubes gracefully moving and dancing around each other as they head to the end goal. The thinking processes required to play this game are reminiscent of computer logic.
4 Subcube
Subcube is what would happen if Tetris used 3D blocks and took place on a horizontal plane. Shapes must be rotated and fitted to create squares on a grid. Levels get progressively more challenging by introducing extra blocks to work with, as well as multiple block shapes.
The elements of each level are sparse. The blocks are bright colors, and the level plane resembles a chess board. The levels have several variations. One is bordered by rocks and grass. On one side is a rock wall with a lion head sculpture from whose mouth pours a waterfall. These elements create a space separate from the rest of reality, where one need only focus on the puzzle at hand. The game can be found on both Steam and Itch.io.
3 Art Of Balance
Buddhist teachings emphasize maintaining a calm mind by observing one’s thoughts and feelings, but not becoming attached to them. One can recognize and accept the myriad emotions being experienced, but not get caught in their current. Shin’en Multimedia’s game Art of Balance requires both digital and mental balance.
The game focuses on stacking a set group of blocks on top of each other so none fall into the pool of water below. These challenges take place in clean, lightly decorated rooms. The basic, yet elegant design of these levels demonstrates the philosophy of detachment from worldly objects. Puzzles progressively grow more complex by adding blocks that break under a certain weight, scales that go up and down, and even gravity-altering mechanics.
2 LEGO Builder’s Journey
LEGO has been a presence in video games for several decades now, with its quirky sense of humor, child-friendly appeal, and the juggernaut success of Traveller’s Tales’ licensed video games. Light Brick Studio's LEGO Builder’s Journey is a much calmer, more meditative experience, with a focus on building paths to help a young boy reach his father.
The levels take on the form of basic dioramas, which provide LEGO pieces to assemble the needed paths. Through its bare-bones imagery and gameplay, LEGO Builder’s Journey tells a touching tale. It reminds people not to allow the day-to-day business of life make one forget what is most important.
1 Tetris
Tetris’s claim to fame is not only helping to sell the original Game Boy but also being the subject of an international legal dispute. It is an elegant game of stacking blocks of different shapes, and filling rows in order to score points.
The minimalist design of the game made it perfect for the Game Boy’s limited technology. The cycle of rotating blocks and seeing the rows vanish is a satisfying experience. The fact that the blocks keep falling faster as points are racked up also provides a steady and nerve-wracking difficulty curb. Playing too much can create the Tetris effect, where people can see the shapes in their dreams.