hocus similar games & best alternatives

hocus - hocus_1.avif
hocus - hocus_2.avif
hocus - hocus_3.avif
hocus - hocus_4.avif
hocus - hocus_5.avif
hocus - hocus_6.avif

hocus

Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Mac • 2015

Should you play it?

perspective illusion puzzle based on M.C. Escher drawings and impossible shapes

What works

  • Unique escher-inspired puzzles
  • Minimalist and relaxing design
  • Level editor and user-generated content
  • Low price and good value
  • Accessible controls and short levels

Things to keep in mind

  • Lack of narrative or story
  • Some difficulty inconsistency
  • Mobile port limitations (screen scaling, no exit button)
  • Limited sensory variety
  • No multiplayer or social features

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Strata

  • OneShift

  • Voxelgram

  • Glitchspace

  • Engare

  • Patrick's Parabox

Less expressive

Games that feels like hocus but with less self-expression and customization

  • Disoriented

  • Frame of Mind

  • Hook

  • GET OUT!

  • Scalak

  • Flightless Classic

More story-driven

Games that feels like hocus but with deeper narrative immersion

  • Monument Valley 2

  • The Almost Gone

  • Monument Valley 3

  • Zenge

  • Strange Jigsaws

  • THE IMPOSSIBLE

Less fantastical

Games that feels like hocus but with less imaginative fiction

  • klocki

  • OXXO

  • Hexologic

  • LineWay

  • Lines Infinite

  • Yugo Puzzle

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with hocus. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with hocus. These titles are not in What to play next.

hocus: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Fantasy, Thrill, Story. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Fantasy. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Story, Survival.

Last update: 21/08/2026