Puzzle games that respect your intelligence

There's a certain kind of puzzle game that treats you like a genius and another kind that treats you like a wallet. This piece is about the first kind — games that hand you a clean rule set and get out of the way.

Stack & Swap is a good example. It introduces one twist and then builds an entire game of depth around it. No pop-ups explaining the obvious, no hand-holding after the first level.

When I test puzzlers, I watch for how they teach. Good ones use the level design itself as the tutorial. You learn a mechanic by needing it, not by reading a wall of text.

I also love a clear par or move count. It gives me a reason to replay a board and hunt the elegant solution, which is where puzzle games get their long tail of fun.