The world’s most accurate ranking of the 25 best puzzle games ever to reach a computer. Plucking the peak of PC puzzling, we break down what makes them so special, and put them in the correct order. Read on for more time travel, rearranged tiles, hidden objects and hexed cells than you could ever want.

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The turn-based sneaking, leaping, climbing, stabbing, swinging, and sword-flinging of Ronin caught our eye last August with a free prototype, and my it’s come a long way since then! A new trailer shows slick sequences of its cyberninja scaling buildings, smashing through windows, dodging bullets, and stabbing the heck out of cybermen. Tomasz Waclawek’s game caught the keen eye of publishers Devolver Digital too, as they’ve announced they’re helping bring Ronin to release later this year, fleshed-out and fancied-up. Really, come see how cool this murder looks:

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Do YOU want to be the next indie millionaire? Well, you can’t. There are far too many of the blighters already and not a lot of room for more. You could make a game though: that’s pretty cool. I suspect many people reading these have thought about doing so, if they haven’t already, but the question is where to start? Well, with an engine, and if you’re a raw beginner that’s either going to be Gamemaker or Unity. The former’s the best bet if you’re making something 2D, which is the best bet if you’re working solo. And then: where to start? Well, how about a new video series from affable Gunpoint creator Tom Francis? … [visit site to read more]

Judging by the new trailer for Heat Signature, two things are essential in a Tom Francis game – manipulation of interconnected systems and comical physics. Gunpoint’s infiltration often involved tapping into electrical systems and adopting a smart tactical overview, but usually ended with trouser-propulsion and instinctive defenestration. Heat Signature’s procedural spaceships provide similarly fertile ground for both forward planning and farce. The video shows two missions in full but really comes into its own when Tom decides to hijack a ship for no good reason, plotting a route to the cockpit and isolating the crew by sealing doors. Once he has the helm, explosions occur.

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Important proviso – all screens and video in this piece show placeholder art. The finished Heat Signature will apparently look very different – there are some hints to its possible final appearance here, however. >

“I think the subtitle of the game should be ‘You Can Go Inside The Spaceships’,” jokes Heat Signature dev Tom Francis as he shows me his follow-up to break-out hit Gunpoint at EGX last week. “I can already tell it’s going to have the Gunpoint problem where I say ‘I made a game called Gunpoint’ and they say ‘I don’t think I’ve heard of that’, then I explain what the game is and they’re “oh yeah, I’ve heard of that, but I just didn’t remember the name because it has nothing to do with what you do in it.” A pause. “This does have heat in it, at least.”

… [visit site to read more]

Important proviso – all screens and video in this piece show placeholder art. The finished Heat Signature will apparently look very different – there are some hints to its possible final appearance here, however. >

“I think the subtitle of the game should be ‘You Can Go Inside The Spaceships’,” jokes Heat Signature dev Tom Francis as he shows me his follow-up to break-out hit Gunpoint at EGX last week. “I can already tell it’s going to have the Gunpoint problem where I say ‘I made a game called Gunpoint’ and they say ‘I don’t think I’ve heard of that’, then I explain what the game is and they’re “oh yeah, I’ve heard of that, but I just didn’t remember the name because it has nothing to do with what you do in it.” A pause. “This does have heat in it, at least.”

… [visit site to read more]

You can learn a lot about someone from the games they make, I’m told. Tom Francis’s first game, Gunpoint, was about breaking into places, punching people out, bodging their wiring, stealing stuff, then leaving through a window. But look, his second game was a free game about gaily swinging on a grappling hook. That made the score 1-1 in Evil vs. Lovely. To settle the tie, today he released a new video showing a prototype for his third game, Heat Signature. It’s about, ah, sneaking up on spaceships, boarding them, sneaking around, punching men out, then stealing their stuff. Oh Tom.

… [visit site to read more]

In a lot of ways, I feel like Gunpoint is what Watch_Dogs should’ve been. A game not about violence, but about getting around it using a bag of tricky tech tools, being fluid and improvisational like some kind of cyberpunk Bruce Lee. Your character is just a flimsy, doughy detective who goes flying out windows all the time. You have to be smart, not brutal. (Also the writing is actually good>, so there.) If you still haven’t played it, there’s no better time than the present, seeing as it just got a spiffy new game engine and Steam Workshop support. See the full list of changes below.

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The GDC War Train of Impossible Enrichment trundles on, and RPS is on the scene with gusto, aplomb, and a stuffed lion. Each day this week, I’ll be gathering impromptu panels of colossal brains inside frail (but very handsome) human bodies to dissect the show piece-by-piece. Yesterday, John, Cara, Hayden, and I did so by crawling into bed and talking about our socks. Also games. But day two was different. John fell to exhaustion, and Cara was carried away by a throng of adoring fans, presumably to be worshipped and then made into soup. Fortunately I was able to drag Gunpoint creator Tom Francis, writer and camera whisperer Nika Harper, and Incredipede creator Colin Northway over forests, woods, hills, and plains to fill their not-shoes. … [visit site to read more]

I should be very pleased for now ex-PC Gamer writer and fine fellow Tom Francis, whose lovely debut Gunpoint, made in his spare time over the last three years, has proven wildly successful enough for him to “quit jobs, as a concept” and grant him total creative freedom for whatever he wants to do next and for the foreseeable future. Instead, I feel physically ill with envy and crippled by self-loathing at my own failure to work on a game as yet, all compounded by worry that feeling that way is a sign that I am a bad person. I am attempting to purge all these unpleasant emotions by posting about Tom’s amazing news. (more…)