2026’s Best Puzzle Game Is an Even Trippier Take On Portal
He Who Watches, a new first-person puzzle game developed by solo developer Bobby Vanden and published by Draknek and Friends, is being recognized as one of 2026’s best puzzle games. The title draws significant inspiration from Portal’s groundbreaking mechanics while introducing its own unique perspective-shifting concept that reviewers describe as innovative and mind-bending.
The game casts players as an archer exploring a mysterious structure with minimal narrative guidance. Instead, the experience relies on environmental puzzle design and perspective-based challenges to drive progression. Notable for its complexity and hidden secrets, He Who Watches is characterized by challenging spatial puzzles that reviewers describe as disorienting—descriptions that some note can be mildly nauseating given the game’s perspective-shifting mechanics.
The comparison to Portal—which debuted in 2007 and fundamentally transformed first-person puzzle game design—underscores Vanden’s achievement. Few games have matched Portal’s innovation in the nearly two decades since. He Who Watches appears to recapture that sense of wonder, delivering the kind of intellectual and spatial reasoning challenges that reshape how players perceive the game world. The title appeals to puzzle enthusiasts seeking cerebral, architecturally complex experiences that prioritize environmental storytelling and discovery over traditional narrative.