I actually just played through Candy Box 2, and decided to cheat my way past the one mandatory puzzle in the game.

(Aside from that puzzle, Candy Box 2 is a bizarre mix of an incremental game, an RPG, and an adventure game, with even what I'd call action thrown in in an few areas (there's a platforming challenge at one point, for example).)

Have you played this ?
https://www.gog.com/en/game/cramped_room_of_death

Yeah, games that really focus on puzzles. I don't like it when the narrative of point & click adventures gets interrupted too much. Sometimes it might fit, but in most cases they just seem to hav been inserted for the sake of it.

Not yet. It's on my wishlist.

For pure puzzles you can't go wrong with The House of Da Vinci series which is available on GOG and The Room series which is not available on GOG. IMHO

Why wouldn't Baba is You qualify as a puzzle game?

It's puzzles on top of a Sokoban clone which is also a puzzle game.

I'm just trying to get clarity about what type of game the poster is referring to. It's definitely a puzzle game, not an adventure game.


By the way, there's one nice feature that Baba Is You has that, according to a review, CROD does not: If you die, you can still undo that death without having to restart the entire level. (With that said, there's at least one puzzle in that game where it's still possible to win after dying without undoing.)

I'm not really understanding if the OP is asking for specific games s/he used to play, or recommendations based on a like of puzzles and solving mysteries. If searching for something specific that was previously played, I have no clue and can't offer anything.

But based on some of what OP said, I do have a couple of recommendations if old games aren't a problem (as in 1990's).

Gobliiins 1, 2, and 3 is what I would consider a type of "puzzle game" where you have 2 or 3 characters and each one has special actions or abilities to help solve the puzzles of advancing each screen. These were very fun to play, and will make you literally laugh out loud on more than one occasion. You must figure out which items on the screen must be used with which character's ability in order to solve the puzzle of each screen to advance.

Another 1990's puzzle game of sorts which also involves solving a mystery is Phantasmagoria which is a FMV adventure/puzzle game (Sierra made a few good FMV games in the 90's).

I'm pretty sure these aren't the specific games you're looking for if that's the case as these are all much older than just 10 years. But, IMO they are great puzzle/mystery solving games. And I believe they're all on sale for the winter sale.

EDIT:: Nope, it appears Phantasmagoria is on sale, but not Gobliiins.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/world_of_goo is on sale now, grab it!

"World of Goo is a multiple award winning physics based puzzle / construction game made entirely by two guys. Drag and drop living, squirming, talking, globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues. The millions of Goo Balls that live in the beautiful World of Goo are curious to explore - but they don't know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious. "

I recently tried the Cats Hidden series by Travellin Cats.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/cats_hidden_in_bali

https://www.gog.com/en/game/cats_hidden_in_italy

https://www.gog.com/en/game/cats_hidden_in_maple_hollow

https://www.gog.com/en/game/cats_hidden_in_paris

They are simple games about finding 100 hidden cats images. Each game has 1 really large map, and there aren't any varieties beyond that. It's still a lot o fun to play and replay.

After you complete each one the first time, a timed mode opens up. The non-timed mode if you just want to relax and chill for a bit or the timed mode if you want to test your memory. :)

I leave it permanently installed!
.