The best action puzzle games
Action puzzle games are a hybrid genre that combine elements of both action and puzzle games, requiring players to manipulate a character or solve problems within a real-time environment. Unlike traditional puzzle games that often allow for careful, turn-based thinking, action puzzle games demand quick reflexes and fast decision-making.
These games often involve navigating characters through obstacle-filled environments (thing about puzzle platformers). The core gameplay still revolves around problem-solving, but it’s layered with the intensity and pacing typically found in action titles.
These games often involve navigating characters through obstacle-filled environments (thing about puzzle platformers). The core gameplay still revolves around problem-solving, but it’s layered with the intensity and pacing typically found in action titles.
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Bomb Jack remake
DOS2002remake
Bomb Jack is a classic arcade platform game developed and published by Tecmo in 1984. The goal of the game is to collect bombs while avoiding enemies; the entire game takes place on a fixed screen. This version of Bomb Jack for DOS is a faithful remake of the original arcade version.
Night Shift
DOS1990 LucasArts
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
DOS1993 DMA Design
Lemmings 2: The Tribes is an abandoned puzzle game part of the acclaimed Lemmings series. It was developed by DMA Design and released by Psygnosis in 1993. Lemmings 2: The Tribes runs on DOS but was also published for Acorn, Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy, Genesis, SNES.
Chagunitzu
DOS1990 Softdisk Publishing
Rodent's Revenge
Windows 3.x1991 Microsoft
Rodent's Revenge is a puzzle video game originally released in 1991 as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows. Developed by Christopher Lee Fraley, the game is simple, with gameplay revolving around a small mouse character attempting to outwit cats by trapping them using movable blocks. The primary goal is to trap the cats by pus...
The Lost Vikings
DOS1993 Silicon & Synapse
The Lost Vikings is an old DOS platform-puzzle game, developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay Productions in 1993. In The Lost Vikings you have to solve puzzles by controlling three characters (glorious vikings!), each with a single skill of its own.
The Humans
DOS1993protected Imagitec Design
Diggers
DOS1994 Millennium Interactive
Holiday Lemmings
DOS1993 DMA Design
Lemmings was one of the most iconic puzzle games ever made. It was also one of the most inventive. The idea behind those tiny furred punk suicidal rodents is truly a stroke of genius. Not surprisingly, after the huge success of the first game a lot of sequels followed. Holiday Lemmings is just one of them.
Zoom!
DOS1988
DX-Ball 2
Windows XP/98/951998protected Longbow Digital Arts
DX-Ball 2 is a popular brick-breaking game that was first released in 1998 by Longbow Digital Arts. It serves as a sequel to the original DX-Ball, which was inspired by the classic arcade game Breakout and its successor Arkanoid. The core mechanics of DX-Ball 2 involve controlling a paddle at the bottom of the screen to bounce a ball upwards. ...
Humans 3: Evolution - Lost in Time
DOS1995protected Imagitec Design
Arkanoid 2: The Revenge of Doh
DOS1989 Taito
Locomotion
DOS1992 Prestige Softwareentwicklung
Rockford: The Arcade Game
DOS1987protected Arcadia Systems
Guldkorn Expressen
DOS1991 SilverRock productions
Supaplex
DOS1991freeware Think!Ware Development
Supaplex is a classic puzzle game released in 1991 by Think!Ware Development for MS-DOS and Amiga. It is heavily inspired by Boulder Dash but introduces more complex mechanics. In Supaplex, you control a red, Pac-Man-like character named Murphy, who navigates through maze-like levels filled with obstacles, enemies, and hazards. Your main objec...
ZZT
DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames
ZZT (1991, DOS) looks like it was drawn by an enthusiastic ASCII artist with too much time and not enough colors. And yet, it’s brilliant. Part action game, part puzzle adventure, part game creation tool, ZZT is the reason some people grew up to become game developers instead of astronauts. Built by a teenage Tim Sweeney (yes, the Unreal Engi...
Lemmings
DOS1991 DMA Design
Lemmings is a classic puzzle-platformer video game developed by DMA Design (now known as Rockstar North) and published by Psygnosis. It was originally released in 1991 for the Amiga and later ported to numerous platforms including MS-DOS, Atari ST, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and others. In Lemmings, the player must guide a group of small, green-...
Lemmings 95
Windows XP/98/951994 DMA Design
Arkanoid
DOS1988 Taito
Arkanoid is a classic arcade video game that was first released in 1986 by Taito. It is a breakout-style game, which means that the primary objective is to break a wall of bricks or blocks by bouncing a ball off a paddle at the bottom of the screen. The game takes its name and inspiration from Atari's Breakout, which was released in the 1970s. ...
Bust-A-Move
DOS1997freeware Taito
All Dogs Go to Heaven
DOS1989 Polarware
This 1989 game is based on the animated movie where dogs die, go to heaven, then come back for revenge (sort of). The DOS adaptation? Well, it’s more like All Pixels Go Nowhere Fast. You jump, you dodge, you squint at the screen wondering what any of it has to do with the movie. But hey, the music’s charming, and you’re a dog. Kid...
Archipelagos
DOS1989 Astral Software
Beauty and the Beast
DOS1992 Infogrames
Boulder Dash Construction Kit
DOS1987 First Star Software
Boulder Dash Construction Kit is both a full game and a level editor, built around the gameplay mechanics of the original Boulder Dash (1984). You still play as Rockford, the pixelated, googly-eyed spelunker, digging through caves, dodging falling boulders, and collecting diamonds before time runs out. But the real star here is the Construction Kit...
Contraption Zack
DOS1992 Presage Software
Gapper
DOS1986
Mario's Time Machine
DOS1993 The Software Toolworks
Oxyd
DOS1992 Dongleware