However, since then, most games that claim to improve your brain are no better at doing the job than the average videogame. In fact games in general have been shown to improve certain elements of the human mind. As this Psychology Today piece points out (bit.ly/1KgRYNC), games have several positive effects on cognition, particularly basic mental processes perception, attention, memory and decision-making. That’s doubly surprising when you consider that it’s often action videogames that are the subject of these studies. Evidence shows if you’re not particularly into gaming but you start playing regularly, then your basic perceptual and cognitive abilities improve.
The games that are best-placed to improve your mind depend on what you want to do. Want to improve your reaction times? Play flying simulations or action games. Want to increase your multitasking and mental flexibility? Action games, again, are a good place to start. Want to avoid the mental decline that accompanies ageing? General videogame-playing of all sorts helps and the choice is plentiful!
There’s even a study that shows giving novice surgeons regular gaming time improves their performance in surgery. From improving your memory to testing your logic, we’ve picked out a variety of games from the Windows Store, for all skill levels. Once you get going, your brain will want to move up to the next stage, so we’ve started off easy, and moved onto the harder ones your brain will thank you for it.
Bridge Constructor
£2.29 $3.32
it’s an old game concept, but on that’s educational. Combining physics, resource management and puzzling, Bridge Constructor challenges you to build a bridge across a gap with a certain amount and type of material to support a certain vehicle type (although it’s just as much fun watching your bridge fall apart)
Microsoft Sudoku
Free
If you want a simple and effective way of keeping your arithmetic skills sharp, then you can’t beat the grid-based addition game sudoku. Microsoft’s free Pc version explains how to play and includes a good variety of game modes, updated daily. Irregular Sudoku changes the shape of the grid, while Symbol Sudoku replaces numbers with colours and icons.
MICROSOFT SOLITAIRE COLLECTION
Free
Solitaire has been part of Windows for more than 25 years, and this version comes with five different versions of everyone’s favourite solo card game. There’s traditional Klondike solitaire, the minimal-move Spider version, the more forgiving FreeCell that gives you space to move cards around, the complex Tripeaks, and the unusual Pyramid. Daily challenges help keep your brain fresh.
TOCA KITCHEN 2
£2.29 $3.32
The best, newer Toca Boca games Toca Lab, Toca Blocks and Toca Nature haven’t made it to the PC yet, but their older games are still pretty interesting. Targeted at kids, they let players experiment freely. Toca Kitchen challenges you to use different ingredients and techniques to satisfy a range of hungry guests, judging from their reactions how you did. It’s an excellent learning experience for younger kids.
CUT THE ROPE 2
Free
Zeptolab’s game has the heritage of the very smartest puzzlers playing it, it seems like the most obvious idea, but it’s an inspried concept. Your job is simple to cut the rope. Which one and when, is the real challenge. Like the best modern puzzle games, it has great cartoony graphics and clear controls and it encourages you to replay each mission, to improve your score.
MINECRAFT: WINDOWS 10 EDITION BETA
£7.69 $11.15
The Windows0 Edition of Minecraft is a step towards makinstep towards making the game even more accessible, without stepping away from the game’s core challenges. The game is completely non-linear and hugely creative it’s all about exploration, discovery and survival in a huge, rich randomly generated world that turns hostile at nighttime.
LARA CROFT GO
£3.89 $5.64
Following on from the equally brilliant Hitman GO, Lara Croft GO focuses on high adventure in a forgotten world filed with all the much-loved ancient secrets and deadly challenges of the original series. And fear not, this game is still a turn-based puzzler at heart, as Lara must move blocks and avoid enemies. However, be aware that the brand and look disguise how interesting and challenging the actual gameplay is.
DUOLINGO
Free
A departure from the pure brain-training of other apps here, Duolingo teaches you something you can take around the world with you a new language. However, it does it using all the tricks of gaming, ranging from cute graphics to friend leaderboards integrated with Facebook to XP systems that reward you for playing every day. The lessons are smart, and it currently supports ten different languages.
MICROSOFT MINESWEEPER
Free
Microsoft’s old masterpiece has returned (albeit not bundled with the operating system any more). In this tactical game, clicking on a mine means instant death but clicking an empty square will clear the board up to any possible squares, which you have to work out logically. It could have succeeded as a classic newspaper puzzle, but it’s very challenging to finish especially on hard difficulty.
ONE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
£3.99,$5.79 STEAM
Despite the anti-social name, if you’re looking to acquire reaction-based skills, the One Finger Death Punch is a fine place to start. It’s very simple martials arts fighting game, where your character stands mid-screen and various enemies attempt to attack him. It’s a pure accuracy and reaction-based game, as you have to hit particular buttons to fend off the enemies.
PLAGUE INC.
£0.99 $1.44
Inspired by the Pandemic board game, Plague inc is a mixture of strategy and simulation. You’re in charge of a pathogen that’s infected its first human and your aim is to modify the plague well enough that it drives humanity to extinction. It’s a unique idea, and it will challenge your real-world biological knowledge as well as expend your geographical knowledge
CATAN
£3.89 $5.64
This game won’t test your reactions but it based on the boardgame that Silicon Valley brainiacs play for fun. The game has 3-5 players (any number of which can be computer players) who are trying to dominate the island of Catan. You do this by building up road networks, extracting resources and building villages and towns. It’s highly strategic, infinitely variable and involves tough negotiation skills for resource trading.
HALO: SPARTAN STRIKE
£4.59 $6.66
Where One Finger Death Punch tested your reactions, traditional action games go one step further by challenging you to multitask as well. In this top-down shooting game, you play one of the Halo series innumerable Spartan supersoldiers. You battle your way through jungles and cities against Promethean and Covenant troops. It’s flashy, shiny and fairly brainless but it’s good for your skills, apparently.
CARCASSONNE
£3.89 $5.64
Like Catan, this is based on a board game. Unlike Catan, Carcassonne is a board game where up to six players collaborate and compete to build a landscape. Each player has a limited number of followers, who they can deploy while building to score points when the game ends. It’s smart, easy to understand but hard-to-master game, and it’ll encourage you to learn how to manage resources well.
TRANSISTOR
£14.99 $21.74 (STEAM)
Transistor is a game set in a dystopian near-future and it concerns a mute singer and a talking sword. It’s weird, smart and beautiful. And while it does have combat in it, it’s partially pause-time based, allowing players to play actions. Most importantly you attack using functions, which can also be used to augment other attacks and for defence, meaning there are thousands of different ways of playing.
HEROES OF THE STORM
FREE (BATTLE.NET)
Heroes of the Storm is a team-based competitive strategy game (commonly called a MOBA). And while these are among the most skilled games to play in the world, this title provides an easy way to start playing them. It will improve your teamwork skills, analytical thinking and reactions if you dare to try it.
KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM
£17.99 $26.09 (STEAM)
It looks like a super-cute space game, but Kerbal Space Program hits an amazing balance between entertainment, education and stunning science. You play as the coordinator of the Kerbal Space Program, seeking to build, equip and launch space vehicles. These are accurately modelled and have to deal with cargo loads, atmosphere and gravity, exactly like in the real world. It’s hard, but amazingly rewarding.
PORTAL
£14.99 $21.74(STEAM)
Portal is one of the smartest games around, but, be warned, it really will challenge you. It has first-person controls, requires reactions, agility, and an understanding of physics. It’s also based around the concept of portals (these are holes in the world that you can move to bypass obstacles). It also has a stunningly witty script and it even looks good. By the way, Portal 2 is even more complex!
BRAID
£10.99 $15.94 (STEAM) Jonathan Blow’s masterpiece looks like a traditional platformer, such as Super Mario Bros. However, the art is twisted and strange, and when you start playing it, you’ll discover something odd every single level has a new mechanic that plays around with time. To play through Braid (without looking up answers online) requires that you use logical, lateral and experimental thinking repeatedlly and this is why it’s one of the best adventures around.
INFINIFACTORY
£18.99 $27.54(STEAM)
Created by the man who made the fiersion of Minecraft, Infinifactory is a game about creating machines that generate objects. You’ve been kidnapped by aliens who want you to build many objects for them which you do by constructing insanely complex conveyer belt systems. If you want a simpler, but equally tough puzzle game, SpaceChem is the previous game which was in 2D.
Wow, really impressive. Thank you very much for the sharing.
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