In praise of puzzle games that actually get hard

A lot of mobile puzzle games are afraid of difficulty. They keep things easy so nobody quits, and the result is hours of levels that never make you think. That's fine for background play, but it's not satisfying.

The best ones trust you. They teach a mechanic, then combine it with others until you're genuinely stuck, and the stuck part is the point. Gearbox Tangle does this beautifully, stacking clockwork mechanics until you have to plan properly.

What makes a hard puzzle feel good rather than frustrating is fairness. When you finally solve it, you should be able to see exactly why it worked. If the answer feels arbitrary, the game failed you.

My tip: if you're stuck, put the phone down. Puzzle solutions have a habit of appearing when you stop staring at them, and coming back fresh is half the fun.

We need more puzzle games willing to be difficult. The satisfaction of cracking a hard one is one of the best feelings in the whole genre.