Gridlock Genius

Gridlock Genius hands you a grid and a set of rules, then trusts you to figure the rest out. Early puzzles teach you the mechanics without a single tutorial pop-up, which I appreciated more than I expected.

By the middle chapters it demands real planning — one wrong tile and the whole board locks. There's an undo button, thankfully, and a hint system that nudges without solving for you.

It's the sort of game that lives on my phone between the flashier ones. Perfect for a stubborn ten minutes when you refuse to give up on a level.

What we liked

• Rules taught through play
• A brutally fair difficulty climb
• Hints that guide, not spoil