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Best Puzzle Games for iPhone and iPad in 2022

Puzzle games are the chameleons of the gaming world. They can adopt the flair of an RPG, disguise themselves as an adventure game, and even hide in plain sight as a minimalist game. Puzzle games are always different, and they can vary from extremely complex to super simple.

A great puzzle game will keep you entertained for hours as you try (and a lot of times fail) to progress in the game. You may get frustrated, you may put down your iPhone or iPad in anger, but the game will keep you coming back for more because you sure as hell aren't going to let a game get the best of you. The sheer force of will required to continue you in a well-crafted puzzle game is something a lot of gamers have a love-hate relationship with, but there's no denying its power. Here are my top picks for the best puzzle games for iPhone and iPad.

Red's Kingdom

Monument valley.

Slayaway Camp

Ultra Flow 2

You must build a boat.

Photographs

Donut County

Lumino city.

Red's Kingdom is a perfectly crafted adventure puzzle game that has a lot of depth. The goofy but heartwarming story with its colorful characters is bound to grab your attention, and the incredibly fun gameplay never seems to go stale as the game layers in plenty of elements to surprise you at every turn.

Red's Kingdom opens the doors to its world and allows you to take non-linear paths giving you the opportunity to explore different areas and find alternate routes to hidden treasures. Although it's a puzzle game at its core, the game feels more like an action-adventure game than anything else. I can't recommend Red's Kingdom enough .

$3 - Download Now

I couldn't make a list of best puzzle games without including the super creepy puzzler The Room 3. The entire Room series is worth a download, but The Room 3 is especially fun If you enjoyed playing Myst back in the day.

The Room offers complex box-related puzzles along with an atmospheric storyline and unsettling clues to the reality behind the madness. The visuals are outstanding, and the soundtrack is just as spooky as everything else, playing The Room 3 is a full experience.

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$4 - Download Now

Another puzzler with eerie visuals and a compelling tale, Monument Valley offers a variety of 3D maps to conquer — all while transporting you into a strange world of crows, block creatures, and breathtaking Escher-style landscapes.

Monument Valley has been praised by critics and player alike, earning accolades such as Apple's Game of the Year 2014 and the Apple Design Award 2014. Plus, the game has over 20,000 ratings and holds a 4.5 rating overall.

Once you're done with the original, don't miss out on the critically-acclaimed follow-up, Monument Valley 2 ($5) .

Slayaway Camp (17+)

Slayaway Camp is a morbidly funny take on the puzzle genre that tasks you with going on a killing spree, and no one you meet is safe!

You'll need to slide around each scene and murder your victims in a particular order to reach the portal to advance to the next area. With plenty of obstacles such as fire pits, open water, and cops, you'll need to be smart during your rampage.

Taking its inspiration from classic 80s horror films, the violence in this game is over-the-top, extremely fake, and incredibly funny.

A film-noir inspired comic book adventure, FRAMED is a unique puzzle game with great visuals to boot and compelling story to boot!

The story is told in comic book form with panels, but they are all jumbled up, and you'll need to put them in the right order to progress forward.

The comic book art is stunning, and all hand-crafted, and the mysterious storyline will keep you glued to the game for hours.

Once you're done with FRAMED, make sure to grab the sequel, FRAMED 2 ($5) for even more graphic novel panel puzzle solving.

The matching game that started a 2048-clone phenomenon, Threes brought smarts (and some great background music) to the puzzling genre.

Threes may be a game comprised of numbers, but you need no real mathematical skill to excel at this game — just an open mind and a penchant for thinking ahead.

Best of all, you can always find new paths to pursue, new tricks to test, and new methods for matching; the game is always different, though the numbers remain the same.

$6 - Download Now

Ultra Flow 2's simplicity is probably its greatest strength. The game has a fun and engaging soundtrack and focuses more on hand-eye coordination than serious brainpower.

That being said, it's still not easy. It's in the sweet spot: challenging enough that your mind gets a workout, but easy enough that you're never stuck on the same level for longer than a handful of cracks at it.

Free - Download Now

From Square Enix popular GO series, comes the mobile addition to the Deus Ex franchise that has everything you could want in a puzzle game.

Deus Ex GO never gets boring, as the game layers in complex systems to solve each puzzle. Defeating enemies, hacking computers, and sneaking your way around the map are just a few of the techniques you'll need to apply to be successful.

If you're a fan of Deus EX or the other games in the GO series, downloading Deus Ex GO is a no-brainer.

$5 - Download Now

If you need a game to help you relax after a long day, Prune may be the perfect puzzler for you.

Prune tasks you with cutting trees in different patterns to reach the sunlight, all while avoiding the dangers of the world around. Its minimalist design and very limited color scheme allow you to focus in on the game in a very relaxing way, making it perfect to help you unwind.

Do you ever look at your city's public transportation and think you could design it better? Well, Mini Metro will let you try to create your own subway system.

Minimalist in design but complex in its mind-boggling puzzles, Mini Metro provides hours of fun — even if for some of those hours you will be scratching your head.

You Must Build A Boat takes the classic formula of match-three and combines it with a challenging and frantic RPG, with a dash of endless runner and building.

Embark on a journey of battling monsters and getting them to join your ranks as you recruit them for your boat, which grows bigger and bigger with every conquest. Battle by matching blocks in groups of three or more to attack, defend, cast magic spells, unlock chests, and more. Watch as your boat continues to grow, and as more creatures join your ranks and offer valuable services and upgrades. And since your matches can be chained, the possibilities for huge combos can be done.

You Must Build A Boat is one of my favorite match-three RPGs ever, and it's well worth picking up. You won't regret it.

Photographs - Puzzle Stories

From the same guy who brought you YMBAB, comes a new puzzle game that focuses on the narrative. Say hello to Photographs.

Photographs is an interesting one because you'll be searching around and solving puzzles, but as you do, you'll uncover and hear a story to go along with each scene. And not only will you be immersed by the captivating stories, but the beautiful pixel art and music pair along with the narratives so perfectly.

Each story takes place in a different setting and will feature unique gameplay mechanics. And while the game is fairly short (only takes about three hours to complete), it's an experience that you need to try out.

If you like the panel puzzle concept like FRAMED, then you'll get a kick out of Gorogoa as well.

The gameplay of Gorogoa is interesting and fairly unique. You'll have several hand-drawn panels that you need to arrange and combine in order to solve the puzzles they contain. It's simple but complex at the same time. The art is also beautiful, and everything becomes animated once you figure it out. The entire concept of Gorogoa is something you've not seen before in other puzzle games, so it's definitely an experience you should check out if you're a puzzle fan.

Donut County is one of the most quirky and interesting puzzle gams you'll come across. Think of reverse Katamari Damacy.

Meet BK, the raccoon. He has a device that creates donut holes in the ground, which basically helps him steal trash in order to win stupid prizes. One day, he ends up falling into one of his own holes and finds his best friend, Mira, along with other Donut County residents, such 999 feet underground. They demand answers!

The gameplay of Donut County involves exploring the home of each character, who also have their own distinctive stories to tell. You'll move the hole around to swallow up their stuff, and the hole grows as you get more trash in it. You can combine items for fun effects, and catapult things out of the hole if needed. Sometimes you'll have to in order to solve the puzzles that await you.

It's a puzzle game, though it doesn't always feel that way. After all, you are controlling a big old hole in the ground and devouring everything that's in the way. Honestly, what else do you need in a game?

This puzzle game will help you find your groove and relax at the same time.

ELOH is a musical puzzle game that's all about finding the right position for the blocks to help guide the balls into the correct holes. As you progress through the game, the puzzles get a bit harder, but they all have one thing in common: rhythm. The blocks that you'll need to move also take on more creative shapes and forms and some can only move in a certain way. The game looks beautiful, has over 90 stages, and there's no time limits or other stress factors. Just find your rhythm and solve the puzzles. No stress or in-app purchases!

If you're into beautiful games that look as good as they play, then you must get Lumino City. It was painstakingly hand-crafted from real-life paper, cardboard, miniature lights, and motors to create a wonderful little world that we can all interact with.

Lumi's grandfather has been kidnapped from Lumino City, and it's up to you to help Lumi explore the city to find out what happened to her grandfather. The city is full of realistic puzzles that are all connected and intertwined together, and you can interact with everything through simple touch controls.

The game is a bit long in the tooth at this point, but it's still a must-have in our book.

What are your favorites?

Have a favorite puzzle game, I want to know about it! Leave a comment down below or hit me up on Twitter .

July 2019: Added more puzzle games to the list.

Luke Filipowicz has been a writer at iMore, covering Apple for nearly a decade now. He writes a lot about Apple Watch and iPad but covers the iPhone and Mac as well. He often describes himself as an "Apple user on a budget" and firmly believes that great technology can be affordable if you know where to look. Luke also heads up the iMore Show — a weekly podcast focusing on Apple news, rumors, and products but likes to have some fun along the way.

Luke knows he spends more time on Twitter than he probably should, so feel free to follow him or give him a shout on social media @LukeFilipowicz .

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The 12 best iPhone and iPad puzzle games

Image by Sirvo

There’s no shortage of diversions on the App Store, but why waste your spare time on some mindless grind when you can enjoy a perfectly portable puzzler instead? We’ve loved a great many iPhone and iPad puzzle games over the years, but we’ve whittled our list down to just a dozen of the best ones that are still well worth your attention today.

Some have you navigate tricky environments while others focus on numbers or processes; some are atmospheric or ethereal while others are bright and poppy. We’ve kept out word puzzlers with the intention of highlighting those separately in the future, but there’s still a diverse mix in here and no two games are exactly alike—and all come highly recommended.

Image by IDG

Monument Valley ($4) is the quintessential iOS puzzle game. It’s inventive, it’s compact, it looks spectacular, and it’s perfect for touch. Ustwo’s iOS original finds you solving impossible environmental puzzles, but they’re not “impossible” because they’re difficult—they’re impossible because they rely on visual trickery and feature architecture that doesn’t make any logical sense. But that’s the fun in it, as you rotate and contort the levels to guide princess Ida to the goal in each.

Given its profile, chances are good that you’ve already played Monument Valley. But have you played the Forgotten Shores expansion (via in-app purchase), or better yet, Monument Valley 2 ? Whatever the case, you should soak up as much of this dreamy brain-pleaser as you can.

Looking for a puzzler with a bit more bite? Threes! ($3) can probably do the trick. It’s one of the most delightfully challenging puzzlers we’ve ever obsessed over, and unlike Monument Valley, it’s an endless game that you can revisit time and again for a new experience.

Threes! is all about addition, but there are rules: you can add blue 1 and red 2 tiles together to make a 3, but from there, you can only combine identical number tiles: 3 + 3 make 6, 6 + 6 makes 12, and so on and so forth. But swiping the screen to make these merges moves every tile that has a place to move to, and it adds a new tile to the screen. With space in increasingly short supply, you’ll need to make calculated decisions to keep your game alive. There’s a free, ad-supported version too.

Great puzzle games can be found anywhere—even within a subway map. That’s the premise of the sharp Mini Metro ($5), which finds you trying to match up to the task of supporting an ever-expanding transit system. It starts simply enough with a couple of stations and a single train, but as the weeks carry on, you’ll have to add more lines, trains, cars, and tunnels to avoid overcrowding.

How you meet that goal is really up to you, as you use your limited resources to build the most efficient system possible. Mini Metro is tough, but addictive , with its ultra-minimal visual aesthetic belying a fairly complex and continual challenge beneath. And with 18 maps all based on real-life cities, you’ll find plenty to keep you playing.

Mushroom 11 ($5) is an odd little game, and the grungy, gritty look might put some people off—but this is a unique iOS game that’s well worth savoring. Essentially, Mushroom 11 finds you controlling a malleable, blob-like organism in some kind of destroyed, post-apocalyptic wasteland, and you’ll need care to guide it through the wreckage.

Part puzzle game, part slow-paced platformer, Mushroom 11 challenges you to use one or more fingers to prod the blob to coax it towards its destination. You’ll squeeze through tunnels, climb fences, evade lava pools, and even overcome boss characters simply by manipulating the green gunk in various ways. It’s really clever and perfectly suited for touch , too.

Do you want to build a snowman? Now you won’t have to wait for the appropriate season: just fire up A Good Snowman is Hard to Build ($4) and get to rolling. Of course, as the title suggests, this isn’t just a breezy sandbox game: building a proper snowman is indeed challenging, especially when provided with these confined garden locales.

In each area, you’ll find three prepared snowballs, and your little monster man will need to roll them to get the finished product. However, rolling a snowball upon fresh snow only makes it larger, and you need three balls—in order from large to small—to complete the task. How can you properly roll the snowballs to make a good snowman? That’s your brainy task to solve .

You probably know Lara Croft from the epic and exciting Tomb Raider games on consoles and PC, but Lara Croft Go ($5) sends the iconic adventurer on a new kind of voyage—a puzzling one. Here, Croft must overcome a series of environmental challenges, as each level finds you moving her space to space as you dodge trips, vault over obstacles, and even take down some enemies.

Despite the slower pace, new look, and change in perspective, what’s surprisingly satisfying about Lara Croft Go is how much it retains the tone of the original source material. And thanks to updates, there’s plenty here, with more than 115 puzzles in play. Also, if you dig this one, be sure to play its sister games, Deus Ex Go and Hitman Go .

Most puzzle games are guided by hard and firm rules or have fixed solutions, but in the effortlessly cool Blek ($4), you’ll create your own solutions—with your fingertip. This iOS original finds you presented with a bare screen with some colorful dots, and you’ll need to draw an animated pattern that can hit all of those dots in one motion without touching a single black dot.

You’ll doodle a little line or zigzag somewhere on the screen and then watch as it is let loose onto the puzzle, swerving and swaying towards hopeful success. Blek is all trial and error, and there are no breaks in the action: you can keep doodling and doodling until something works. It’s ingenious , really.

Altering space and time is easy-peasy, right? Uh, nope—not in Causality ($2), at least. This bright and attractive indie game finds you guiding little astronauts along paths. Actually, scratch that: little astronauts are walking along paths and you’ll need to manipulate the space-time continuum to somehow get them safely to each exit.

Each level is fraught with danger, packing in things like crumbling tiles and weird alien tentacles, plus there are switches to step on and other helpful opportunities. Also, time-warp portals create another version of your astronaut in a different location and timeframe. Sound like something that’ll screw with your mind? Yes, Causality will definitely do that .

Trimming a Bonsai tree can be a peaceful activity, and likewise, Prune ($4) strikes its own tranquil tone. But this cool and calm puzzler takes a few twists along the way, adding in a bit of challenge all the while without losing its unique demeanor.

Each game begins with a sapling stuck in the ground, and it rapidly begins growing upwards. Your job is to help guide it towards the light—and away from dangerous areas—by snipping unnecessary branches. That helps the trunk and most ambitious branches get ever closer to the light, while things like wind and bright red spots can disrupt your progress. Prune is serene and satisfying , and truly unlike any other puzzler you’ll find on the App Store.

You should probably start with the original The Room , but The Room Three ($4) is the biggest and best of the bunch—and really, you can’t go wrong with the entire trilogy. Each game serves up an eerie and hugely atmospheric adventure in which you must solve 3D puzzle boxes and unlock other contraptions, which you’ll do by looking all around, finding clues, and fiddling with the devices.

Manipulating the objects on a touch device feels really intuitive and tactile, and the puzzles are frequently complex and engrossing. The games only got more ambitious and larger in scale, and The Room Three here is the culmination of one of the App Store’s most impressive original offerings in any genre.

Simogo has made some of the most memorable and singularly impressive games on the App Store, including Beat Sneak Bandit and Year Walk , but Device 6 ($4) might be the studio’s crowning achievement. On the surface, it’s a text adventure—albeit one in which the actual words on the screen create visible pathways based on the action in this spy tale, making you rotate your phone to keep up with the events.

But there’s more than just reading here: audio and visual elements punctuate the text and present puzzles to solve. They’re plenty brainy too, and some may take long stretches of time (hint: take notes if you’re overwhelmed). It’s deeply clever, through and through.

How does a nine-year-old PC and console game ride high as one of the best puzzle games on iPhone and iPad? Well, when it’s World of Goo ($5), it accomplishes the feat by being absolutely brilliant. This charming and quirky game might have started with a Wii Remote or a mouse pointer, but it feels just as much at home with your finger on a touch screen.

In World of Goo, you’ll build quick structures to overcome large gaps or build to a skyward exit, and you’ll do so using little, sticky balls that connect to one another. Over time, the challenges become tougher and the goo balls pick up some curious new abilities, plus the game loads in unexpectedly unsettling atmosphere despite the cartoonish look. It’s an older pick, but thankfully, it’s been updated with 64-bit support.

Author: Andrew Hayward , Contributor

Andrew Hayward is a Chicago-based games, apps, and gadgets writer whose work has been featured in more than 70 publications. He's also a work-at-home dad to an unruly four-year-old.

Recent stories by Andrew Hayward:

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COMMENTS

12 Best Puzzle Games for iPhone for All in 2023
2. Jigsaw Puzzles – Puzzle Games. If you’re looking for an engaging jigsaw puzzle experience, Jigsaw Puzzles – Puzzle Games is one of the best iPhone puzzle games. This easy-to-play game offers 13,000+ HD pictures to create using puzzle pieces. It doesn’t involve any point system or gimmicks.
The 12 best iPhone and iPad puzzle games
Monument Valley. Image by IDG. Monument Valley ($4) is the quintessential iOS puzzle game. It’s inventive, it’s compact, it looks spectacular, and it’s perfect for touch. Ustwo’s iOS ...