Choose hocus
Choose hocus if you want the Steam Leaderboards side of the pairing. On Steam, it's currently about 50% cheaper on the Steam Store. hocus launched in 2015.
hocus vs Puzzlement
hocus and Puzzlement both land in Indie, Casual on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Indie, Casual on Steam. hocus (2015) is 3 years older than Puzzlement (2018). Both sit near 88% positive on Steam (hocus: 314 reviews, Puzzlement: 114). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Puzzlement
Choose Puzzlement if you want a Simulation experience. On Steam, it's the newer release (2018) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Puzzlement launched in 2018.
Both hocus and Puzzlement sit in Indie and Casual on Steam, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (87.9% vs 87.7% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 hocus |  Puzzlement | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Genres | Indie, Casual | Indie, Simulation, Casual |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS |
| Steam Deck | Unrated | Unrated |
| Price | 0.99 USD | 1.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 87.9% positive (314 reviews) | 87.7% positive (114 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Yunus Ayyildiz, Sho Ohhira | Yunus Ayyildiz, Ozan Çelik |
Side by side
- Both share Indie, Casual on Steam.
- hocus (2015) is 3 years older than Puzzlement (2018).
- Both sit near 88% positive on Steam (hocus: 314 reviews, Puzzlement: 114).
- hocus is currently ~50% cheaper on Steam than Puzzlement (0.99 USD vs. 1.99 USD).
hocus vs Puzzlement — FAQ
- Which is better, hocus or Puzzlement?
- On Steam reviews the two are nearly tied: hocus sits at 87.9% positive (314 reviews), Puzzlement at 87.7% (114). The choice usually comes down to genre fit and the platform features each one supports — see the comparison table above.
- Should I play hocus or Puzzlement first?
- If you want chronology, hocus (2015) came out before Puzzlement (2018). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are hocus and Puzzlement similar?
- They overlap on Indie, Casual on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.