Miegakure is baffling to the outside observer. A game of shifting landscapes and simple geometry, its inclusion as a design finalist is a clear choice to anyone who has played the game. It introduces some incredible new gameplay elements that haven't really been seen before in a game. While you may not know it (owing mostly to the fact that it isn't released for public consumption yet), Miegakure will twist your brain in ways you thought impossible, thanks to its almost entirely accurate representation of the fourth Euclidean dimension. Here's where we are about to confuse you, so if you have trouble understanding math, you might skip over this and simply read that Miegakure is a design finalist thanks to its superb transition of 4D space from a concept into a game.

In 4D space, an object is made up of 3D objects, in the same sense that a 3D object is made up of 2D objects (planes), 2D objects are made up of 1D objects (lines), and so on. If 3D is roughly considered to be a point along a 4D axis, 4D space can be interpreted as a line made up of points, with each point being a single 3D space. Confused yet? Miegakure roughly follows this analogy, with the fourth dimension being comprised of many 3D levels. In order to move through 4D space, you have to compress it to 3D space, which grabs the same slice of 3D space from each point on the 4D line to build a projection of 4D space into 3D space. In short, it's like Super Paper Mario or Crush, only instead of going from 3D to 2D, it goes from 4D to 3D.

Cogs is the last game on this list, and like AAAAAA!, it has already been released to good critical response. It's a sliding puzzle game, which doesn't make it anything especially intriguing to most if taken at face value. However, it's more than just rearranging the blocks. Timing, multiple gear speeds, and even double-sided blocks are all important to solving the puzzles, and the elegance of design in both the core and in each level is blatantly evident.

Each puzzle is founded on a separate unique concept, which makes for some variety, and players will have to replay puzzles to get the targeted times and block limit. At its core, though, it's a simple sliding puzzle game, with a definitive solution for each (and sometimes multiple solutions as well) level you try. However, it adds a little through the gimmicks and encourages the player to think fast and efficiently, which turns normally boring and drab sliding puzzles into something much more entertaining. It's currently available for purchase or demo, so you may as well try it yourself!