Most people don’t expect puzzle sections to be the best part of action games. But if you appreciate a good mental challenge, you might think differently.
Action games are often perfect for relaxing and enjoying simple, fast-paced gameplay. However, sometimes you want something more – a game that provides both the excitement of defeating challenging enemies and requires you to think critically to solve clever puzzles.
I’m a big fan of puzzles in RPGs. They’re fantastic for adding depth to a game’s world, and the feeling of finally solving a challenging puzzle after a lot of effort is incredibly satisfying for players.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 10 action games that combine challenging puzzles with exciting combat.
10. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Use the Force to Solve Environmental Puzzles
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor successfully builds on the foundation of Fallen Order, delivering more of the exciting combat and lightsaber action fans enjoyed. The addition of the character Turgle is a highlight, and the game introduces expansive new worlds filled with challenging puzzles that really make you think.
Like classic Metroidvania games, we unlocked new abilities as the story progressed. These abilities not only helped in combat, but also allowed us to reach new areas and solve increasingly challenging environmental puzzles. Finding hidden items like stim canisters and Priorite shards required real effort, as each puzzle was unique and thoughtfully designed.
I especially enjoyed the puzzles with the little droid bombs that chased you around and exploded if you didn’t get away. The game builds on this idea by letting you blow up walls all over the planet Koboh to discover hidden items. There are also fantastic platforming puzzles that really make you think and react quickly, forcing you to carefully plan your path instead of just running through levels automatically.
9. Resident Evil 4 Remake
Scarce Resources Turn Combat into a Puzzle
The Resident Evil games are well-known for their clever puzzles, which make exploring scary environments feel like trying to escape a locked room. Resident Evil 4 does a great job of combining its exciting combat with these puzzles, offering a welcome change of pace from fighting chainsaw-wielding enemies and religious fanatics.
Resident Evil still features its traditional puzzles, like matching symbols or unlocking electronic doors. However, combat now feels like a puzzle itself. With limited supplies and tough enemies, carefully managing your resources is crucial for survival.
Many areas are guarded by enemies, so you’ll need to carefully plan your approach and manage your resources. Simply trying to kill every enemy will quickly lead to trouble. You’ll have to think strategically about each shot, as you can’t always count on finding more ammunition later.
8. Tunic
Discover The Way Forward Through Inferred Information
Tunic is a delightful game with a classic feel, perfect for players who enjoy exploring and figuring things out for themselves without a lot of guidance. It encourages discovery and rewards curiosity.
I’m so excited about this game! You play as this unbelievably cute fox with a sword and shield, and the coolest part is how you figure out where to go. You start with a totally blank instruction manual and have to find all 56 missing pages to piece things together. Honestly, the fighting isn’t super complex, but it doesn’t need to be! This game is all about the story and just wandering around this big, open world, discovering everything as you go.
These puzzles can be quite challenging, but figuring them out is incredibly satisfying when everything finally clicks into place.
7. Darksiders
A Hack-n-Slash With Genuinely Tough Puzzles
Darksiders successfully combines the fast-paced combat of games like God of War with the intricate puzzle-solving of The Legend of Zelda. Similar to Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, you’ll find and unlock new tools and powers that are essential for overcoming obstacles. As you progress, the game challenges you to combine these items in creative ways – using things like portals, boomerangs, and even shifting between dimensions – to solve some really complex challenges.
Even the easier puzzles in the game can be surprisingly difficult, as seen in The Twilight Cathedral. Here, you’ll need to light red crystals and then detonate them with bombs. Coordinating a chain reaction with blue energy beams, all under a time limit, adds to the challenge. Thankfully, being an older game, your companion won’t constantly give you hints, letting you explore and solve puzzles at your own pace.
6. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
“You Call this Archeology?”
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a fantastic video game adaptation, arguably the best we could hope for. It successfully blends the action of games like Uncharted with intense gunfights against Nazis and engaging, ancient puzzles – both are equally important to the story and finding the game’s central artifact.
Most action games use puzzles as a short break from fighting. But in The Great Circle, it’s the opposite – puzzles are the core gameplay, and combat feels like a reward after you’ve spent time solving them, like figuring out how to bounce light beams with mirrors.
The game features a wide variety of puzzles that are both challenging and satisfying to solve. These puzzles aren’t just optional extras; they’re central to the experience, unlocking new areas, valuable items, and driving the story forward.
5. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Combine Puzzles With Physics
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a truly exceptional sequel, ranking among the best ever made. The game presents a huge, open world where almost anything you encounter is a puzzle to solve, and there’s often more than one way to do it. You might find yourself figuring out the best route up a mountain to reach a shrine, devising a plan to overcome a Moblin camp, or using your items creatively to navigate a temple.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom felt so innovative because it gave players the ability to create—literally build—wheels and other tools. The new Ultrahand power lets Link combine objects to make weapons, helpful gadgets, and even vehicles. This opens up a world of creative, physics-based puzzles, and the sheer number of things you can build is really impressive.
Because of this, the game offers lots of clever ways to solve its puzzles, and it’s incredibly satisfying when you finally crack one.
4. Hitman: World of Assassinations
Discover the Most Optimal Way to Take Out Your Target
The Hitman games are known for challenging you to eliminate targets in the smartest, most hidden way possible, avoiding detection and minimizing harm to others. However, I think Hitman: World of Assassinations takes this to the next level with incredibly creative and open-ended levels that really allow for unique approaches to each assassination.
Every level is filled with opportunities to hide and carefully plan the perfect crime. You can find disguises to help you blend in, allowing you to learn about weaknesses in security and use them to eliminate your target and escape undetected.
For a really clever approach, you can create a situation where your target moves into the perfect position – right in your sniper rifle’s sights – from a long distance away. The game offers so many imaginative ways to complete assassinations that players are still discovering new techniques years after its release.
3. Dishonored
Find a Way to NOT Take Out A Target
Dishonored is a smart stealth game that strongly encourages thoughtful choices. Unlike Hitman, which focuses on how to eliminate targets, Dishonored rewards players for finding the best way to complete objectives without killing anyone. If you choose violence, the game will definitely make you pay for it!
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Because the game has a “Pacifist” ending that’s considered the true good ending, players will be rewarded for completing levels without killing anyone. This fits the story well – the soldiers are just following orders and aren’t aware of the bigger picture, so it feels right not to harm them.
Sometimes, completing a mission after incapacitating a target can be more challenging than the initial takedown. You still need to ensure they’re fully eliminated and escape successfully. For instance, you might knock someone unconscious with a sleep dart, but other enemies could revive them before you can grab a key item or move their body to a location where their fate will be decided.
2. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
A Platforming Masterpiece
Puzzle-solving has always been a key part of Prince of Persia games, but the puzzles in the latest installment, 2024’s The Lost Crown, are truly exceptional.
I’m so excited about this game! You play as Sargon, who’s the newest and most talented member of this awesome royal guard called ‘The Immortals’. You’ll be exploring these really cool, winding ruins on Mount Qaf, and it’s full of platforming challenges that are seriously going to put your skills to the test. The best part is Sargon can control time! You can basically create save points wherever you are, and then teleport back to them. It makes the puzzles super interesting because you have to think carefully about where you leave your save point and when you should go back to it to solve everything.
This introduces really tough movement puzzles that demand precise landings and a good sense of timing for using the game’s time-based abilities.
1. Neon White
Pair Your Momentum With Strategy
If you’re new to speedrunning, Neon White is a fantastic place to start. It’s a fast-paced first-person platformer that also challenges you to solve puzzles. You’ll constantly be figuring out the quickest and best way to beat each level, which makes it really engaging.
I’m really getting into this game, and a lot of the puzzles involve moving around in clever ways. To help with that, you get different weapons and ammo, but you don’t get a ton of it! It creates this interesting challenge – do I use my shotgun to blast enemies, or use it to get a speed boost and reach new areas? And honestly, there’s even a sneaky third option – you can actually use the ammo for both if you’re smart about it, which is super cool!
This game is a fantastic introduction to speedrunning. It gently guides you with hints and provides everything you need to learn, while also letting you experiment freely and develop your own strategies.
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2026-06-01 16:41