STATS

Puzzlebyrinth by the Numbers

This page is a primary-data tally of everything Puzzlebyrinth publishes, counted mechanically from the site's own data. It covers 301 reviews, 960 articles and 1360 article-to-game mention links, and reports the mention ranking, the distribution of review scores, release decades, and the number of games per mechanic.

301
Reviews
960
Articles
1360
Mention links
28
Mechanics

The most-discussed games

The top 30 games by how many of Puzzlebyrinth's 960 articles mention them. Ties are broken by slug. The game's own review is not counted.
#GameArticlesCore mechanics
1Baba Is You101Rule Rewriting / Sokoban-style Pushing
2The Witness73Environmental Observation / Routing & Line Drawing
3Stephen's Sausage Roll55Sokoban-style Pushing
4Return of the Obra Dinn53Deduction
5COCOON51Recursion & Nesting / Contraptions
6Patrick's Parabox44Sokoban-style Pushing / Recursion & Nesting
7Outer Wilds35Environmental Observation / Time Loop
8Portal35Portals / Physics Simulation
9A Monster's Expedition28Sokoban-style Pushing / Constrained Grid Movement
10Myst26Environmental Observation / Contraptions
11The Case of the Golden Idol22Deduction
12Lorelei and the Laser Eyes20Deduction / Escape Rooms & Puzzle Boxes
13INSIDE19Physics Simulation / Puzzle Platformer
14LIMBO18Physics Simulation / Puzzle Platformer
15Snakebird18Sokoban-style Pushing / Constrained Grid Movement
16Blue Prince16Deduction / Map Building
17Cosmic Express16Routing & Line Drawing
18The Talos Principle16Contraptions
19Papers, Please14Document Inspection
20Chants of Sennaar13Language Decoding
21Machinarium13Contraptions / Point-and-Click
22Opus Magnum13Programming & Instruction Writing
23Portal 213Portals / Physics Simulation
24Riven13Environmental Observation / Language Decoding
25Gorogoa12Panel Composition
26Sokobond12Sokoban-style Pushing
27Antichamber11Impossible Space
28Unpacking11Organization
29Escape Simulator10Escape Rooms & Puzzle Boxes
30Her Story10Deduction / Searching the Archive

Distribution of review scores

How the scores of all 301 reviews fall across the 0-10 scale, in one-point bands. Empty bands are listed so the full scale is visible.
Score bandReviewsShare
0.0–0.900.0%
1.0–1.900.0%
2.0–2.900.0%
3.0–3.900.0%
4.0–4.900.0%
5.0–5.910.3%
6.0–6.9165.3%
7.0–7.914247.2%
8.0–8.911939.5%
9.0–9.9237.6%
10.000.0%

Across 301 reviews the mean score is 7.83, the median 7.8, the lowest 5.5 and the highest 9.5.

Reviews by release decade

The 301 reviews counted by the release decade of the game covered — the game's release year, not the year we reviewed it.
DecadeReviewsShare
1980s00.0%
1990s00.0%
2000s113.7%
2010s15350.8%
2020s13745.5%

Games per mechanic

For each of the 28 terms in our puzzle-mechanics vocabulary, how many reviewed games carry it. A game can have several mechanics, so the column sums to more than 301.
MechanicGames
Environmental Observation35
Contraptions34
Deduction32
Point-and-Click31
Puzzle Platformer28
Programming & Instruction Writing20
Routing & Line Drawing19
Sokoban-style Pushing18
Physics Simulation15
Searching the Archive15
Escape Rooms & Puzzle Boxes14
Logic Grid Deduction14
Magnetism & Gravity10
Constrained Grid Movement10
Language Decoding10
Time Manipulation10
Impossible Space7
Light & Shadow7
Perspective Tricks6
Time Loop6
Map Building4
Recursion & Nesting4
Organization3
Panel Composition3
Portals3
Document Inspection2
Match Action2
Rule Rewriting1

Every figure on this page is recomputed automatically from the full dataset at build time, so it reflects the site as of its most recent publish.