Stephen's Sausage Roll
Ranked 11 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
Praised for elegant, tightly designed puzzles that build to a satisfying eureka moment and a story. Critics find it very hard and frustrating.
Praised for elegant, tightly designed puzzles that build to a satisfying eureka moment and a story. Critics find it very hard and frustrating.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Tight, elegant puzzle design
“held it out as a standard of excellence in puzzle game design”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “the puzzle design is incredibly tight”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “It's elegant but sooo hard.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” Deep play from simple mechanics
“pushes its basic mechanics to the absolute limits and made me think significantly harder”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “it explores fewer mechanics but with greater depth”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” Influential standard for puzzle design
“he has credited it as an inspiration for what's possible within the Sokoban format”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “held it out as a standard of excellence in puzzle game design”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” Story grows more poignant
“increase in poignancy and frequency as the game winds to a close”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “i feel bad even spoiling that there is a story. play it.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Very hard and frustrating
“it was so hard and frustrating I could not play it”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “It's elegant but sooo hard.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Braid | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Stephen's Sausage RollThis page | 21 | 5 | 81% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
23 of the 27 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's elegant but sooo hard.”
“I blame Stephen's Sausage Roll.”
“All of these are highly reknowned.”
“got stuck, and never went back”
“He was EXTREMELY thorough in the playtesting”
“I must have been mistaken.”
“pushes its basic mechanics to the absolute limits and made me think significantly harder”
“I don't find solving them satisfying at ALL”
“held it out as a standard of excellence in puzzle game design”
“That's my verdict on Stephen's Sausage Roll too”
“the ways that it's great are hard to put into words”
“he has credited it as an inspiration for what's possible within the Sokoban format”
“On sale for 6$ at 80% off.”
“Every puzzles is distilled to its smallest form, and involves a genuinely satisfying eureka moment.”
“it was so hard and frustrating I could not play it”
“A bit unique and interesting, though not particularly complex”
“i feel bad even spoiling that there is a story. play it.”
“the puzzle design is incredibly tight”
“it explores fewer mechanics but with greater depth”
“Stephen's Sausage Roll is great”
“increase in poignancy and frequency as the game winds to a close”
“Stephen's Sausage Roll is my favorite puzzle game.”
“the intellectual content of that kind of puzzle is, as far as I can tell, exploring a large tree of sausage roll states”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.