Water Sort Puzzle without ads is way better, actually

If you’ve played mobile games or even just scrolled through social media, you’ve no doubt seen a misleading ad for a mobile game. Perhaps it was an advertisement for Hero Wars, like this one depicting a number-based tower game — an ad that bears no similarity to the actual game. Maybe it was an advertisement for a Water Sort Game. You can also read about how to get started. These games work exactly as described, but you have to watch an ad between each puzzle. Sure, these games are free to download, but there’s still a cost built into playing them.

Would you pay just $10 for five classic puzzles, with no microtransactions or misleading advertisements? The hilariously lengthy title of a new PC game will tell you everything about it: Yeah! You Want “Those Games,” Right? You Want “Those Games” right? Now, Let’s See You Clear Them!

Image: Monkeycraft/D3Publisher via Polygon

Just purchased and installed Yeah! You Want “Those Games,” and it’s exactly what it says on the tin. My personal favorite minigame is “Color Lab,” a version of the Water Sort puzzle games, one of which I once fell into the trap of downloading on my phone, only to discover it was full of ads. The ad version was purchased and I continued to play it up until the point where it became too hard to continue. I then had to watch advertisements again in order to unlock more beakers. Again, this is very common — inevitably with these types of mobile puzzle games, you’ll be asked to watch ads or purchase microtransactions, with no option to pay a flat fee instead.

Yeah! You Want “Those Games” doesn’t contain any ads or microtransactions, although it does have a limited number of puzzles available to play. The other four minigames are “Pin Pull” (similar to The Pin: Rescue Hero), “Cash Run” (similar to Money Run 3D), “Number Tower” (the same premise as the misleading Hero Wars ad up top), and “Parking Lot” (similar to Parking Jam 3D). My only complaint, shared with the other “Mostly Positive” reviews on the game’s Steam page, is that I want way more minigames and puzzles. That’s because I love what’s available so far!

These are not deep or difficult games, but sometimes, you don’t want that. Sometimes you just want something simple to play while you’re lying on the couch, phone in hand, half-watching episodes of The Blacklist. If you are a Yeah! You Want “Those Games,” I’ll just put it onto my Steam Deck and have a far better experience than I do with my small collection of mobile games, because I won’t have to mute my phone while it plays endless ads for other predatory mobile games. That’s more than worthy of my $10.