New Puzzle Games This Week: 1,400 Puzzles, a Birthday and a Big Brain Study

SepoGames guide · 17 October 2026 · 5 min read

Looking for new puzzle games to play this weekend? This week brought a huge puzzle release with more than 1,400 levels, a birthday for a popular daily puzzle site, a fresh free word grid, and a big UK study about puzzles and the ageing brain that everyone is sharing. Here is the short, checked version – plus a classic number puzzle we just added to SepoGames.

1. Order of the Sinking Star: over 1,400 puzzles in one game

The biggest new puzzle game this month is Order of the Sinking Star. It came out on 8 October 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. It is directed by Jonathan Blow at the studio Thekla, with level design by several well-known puzzle makers, including Alan Hazelden.

The reveal trailer promised over 1,000 puzzles. Blow later said the final game has more than 1,400. Reviews are positive: Metacritic lists 83 for PC, 85 for Switch 2 and 86 for PS5, and OpenCritic says 84% of critics recommend it. If you like slow, "aha!" style puzzles, it is the release people are talking about.

2. Two birthdays: Puzzmo turns 3, LiveSudoku turns 20

The puzzle news site PuzzCulture reported that Puzzmo, a popular daily puzzle site, counted down to its third anniversary on 13 October 2026. It had already celebrated 1,000 days in July.

An older name also has a big birthday. LiveSudoku.com launched in 2006, so it turns 20 this year. According to the same report, it has more than 10,000 daily players and is available in 14 languages, with Turkish and Greek added this summer. Proof that a simple, fair number puzzle never goes out of style.

3. A new free daily word puzzle: eight words, one grid

New daily puzzles keep appearing. One of this week's finds is CrossEights Daily, made by Andres Echenique. Every day you deduce eight crossing 8-letter words – four across and four down. It has hints, letter help and a leaderboard for speed. If you enjoy word grids, it fits nicely next to our own Crossword Duel and Word Hunt.

4. Daily word games keep counting up

The big daily word games are still part of millions of morning routines. Today, Saturday 17 October 2026, is Wordle #1946, NYT Connections #1224 and Strands #958. Since there is one Wordle a day, puzzle #2000 should land on 10 December 2026 – a nice milestone to watch.

We will not spoil any answers here. But if you like a fresh puzzle every morning, try our Daily Sudoku: a new Easy, Medium and Hard grid every day, free and without sign-up.

5. The puzzle and brain study everyone is sharing

Many news sites this month wrote about the Active Brains study from the University of Southampton, published in The Lancet Primary Care (university news release, 28 September 2026). Here are the facts:

More than 11,500 people aged 60 to 85 with signs of cognitive impairment took part. They were found through family doctors.
They were split into three groups. One got testing and brief advice about brain-stimulating activities, exercise and diet. One also got a website with brain exercises. One got the website plus two short contacts with a helper, usually a nurse.
After 12 months, 28% of the advice-only group no longer showed cognitive impairment. The website and helper groups did somewhat better than the advice-only group.

Our honest take: that sounds great, but read it carefully. One of the lead authors wrote that "there was no real control group", because even the first group got advice and tests. Longer follow-up is still needed to know if the benefits last. So the study suggests that small, simple habits – reading, socialising, puzzles, moving more – may help. It does not prove that any single game protects your brain. We love puzzles because they are fun and keep us thinking – not as medicine.

New on SepoGames today: Kakuro. 34 free number puzzles from easy to hard, each with exactly one solution – plus a printable PDF with answers.

🧮 Play Kakuro 📄 Free Kakuro PDF

6. Our classic pick this week: Kakuro

With all these new puzzle games, we also wanted a classic. Kakuro is like a crossword with numbers: each clue is a sum, and you fill the squares with digits 1–9 without repeating a digit in the same run. The English name is "Cross Sums" and it first appeared in Dell Magazines in America. In Japan it was the most popular logic puzzle in print until Sudoku overtook it in 1992.

Our version is built for phones: tap a square, and a helper box shows every digit combo that can make the sum. It is a great step up if you already enjoy Sudoku or Nonogram. Prefer paper? Print our 6-puzzle Kakuro PDF – answers are on the last page.

What to play on SepoGames this weekend

Kakuro – new today, cross sums with a smart combo helper.
Daily Sudoku – a fresh puzzle every day.
Nonogram – paint a hidden picture with logic.
Arrow Puzzle – 50 levels plus a daily challenge.
Crossword Duel – build words and beat the computer.

Want more reading? See our puzzle trends for October and 2048 strategy tips, or browse all guides.

This article is for fun and general information, not medical advice.