Brain Test 3: Tricky Quests

Review by eFreeware

Puzzle games often ask for a few minutes and give nothing back but a solved screen. What I look for instead is a reason to keep going past the next riddle, and that is the gap Brain Test 3: Tricky Quests sets out to fill. It comes from Unico Studio and sits in the Trivia category, and the premise is a puzzle game with a story running underneath it rather than a plain sequence of teasers.

The scale is not small. The game has passed 10 million installs and holds a 4.7 average from more than 392,000 ratings, which tells you plenty of people have stuck with it. It arrived in April 2021 and was still being updated in September 2026, so this is not a title that was pushed out and forgotten.

If you have played any of the earlier Brain Test games, you know the tone: bright art, animated characters and puzzles that depend on you noticing what the game is doing to you. This entry keeps that style and adds a longer adventure around it.

A dying father and six power gems

The plot follows Alyx, who must collect six gems to rescue her sick father. That single goal gives the puzzles a direction: each obstacle is something standing between her and the next step of the journey rather than an isolated brain teaser.

Along the way she meets characters from the wider Brain Test franchise, so anyone who has spent time with the earlier titles will recognize faces. The developer describes the adventure as long and epic, and the structure supports that: dangers, troubles and a cast of dozens rather than a handful of levels.

What appeals to me about this setup is that it gives the trick puzzles somewhere to land. A riddle that would feel arbitrary on its own reads differently when it is the thing keeping Alyx from the next gem.

How the puzzles actually work

The core is still the Brain Test formula: tricky brain teasers, reverse logic puzzles and riddles that are built to mislead you before they let you through. The developer is upfront that you will be tricked, and that is the point rather than a flaw. These are puzzles where the obvious answer is usually the trap.

The bigger change is the inventory. You collect objects as you go and use them to get past obstacles, and you can merge items together to create new ones. That turns the inventory into a working toolset rather than a list of souvenirs, and it means progress often depends on what you are carrying as much as on how you read a puzzle.

Dialogue levels add a second kind of challenge. Alyx meets characters who need to be convinced, and you pick the chat responses that do it. The developer frames these exchanges as role-playing, with NPCs whose replies are designed to trick you and test both your brain power and your social instincts. It is a different muscle from the visual puzzles, and it breaks up the rhythm nicely.

There is also a workshop to build and gradually develop, complete with idle resource generators that feed into your adventures. Tools and machines fill it out as it grows. I would expect this to be the part that decides whether the game holds someone for weeks rather than days, because it gives the puzzles a longer-term project to serve.

Why the tricky format keeps pulling people back

The hint and help systems have been improved over earlier entries, and the developer's stated aim is that players are not left struggling against a puzzle with no way forward. For a game built on tricking you, that matters. A riddle you cannot crack stops being fun quickly, and a help system that nudges rather than solves keeps the momentum going.

Customization gives the game a second layer of appeal. There are costumes, pets and workshop improvements to collect, so there is something to work toward beyond the next puzzle. None of it changes the core loop, but it gives the adventure a personal edge.

The practical details are worth noting too. The game is designed to be played offline without an internet connection, and it can be handled with one hand. That combination makes it easy to pick up in short bursts, whether you are waiting for an appointment, sitting through a layover or winding down before bed.

A recent update added social login support, which lets you save your progress and reach your profile across devices. If you play on more than one phone or tablet, that removes the annoyance of starting over.

What it costs and what comes with it

Brain Test 3 is free to download and free to play. It does contain ads, and it offers in-app purchases.

Because the game is free with ads and purchases, my advice is simply to go in knowing that. The presence of both ads and purchases is the kind of thing worth deciding about before you install rather than after.

The content rating is Everyone, which fits the cartoon art and the puzzle-first design. It is a game you can hand to a younger player without much worry about what they will run into.

Where the formula asks something of you

The obvious cost of this design is patience. Puzzles built on reverse logic and deliberate misdirection mean you will spend time stuck, and the hint system exists precisely because that is expected. If being tricked by a game frustrates you rather than amuses you, the central hook will not land.

The story also asks for commitment. This is a long adventure with a workshop to develop, resources to generate and a cast of characters to talk through, not a quick set of teasers you clear in an evening. The length is the selling point, but it does mean the game rewards players who come back over time.

And the dialogue levels are a genuine second skill. Convincing characters through chat responses is a different demand from spotting a visual trick, and some players will find one half of the game much easier than the other.

A strong fit for story-hungry puzzle fans

Brain Test 3: Tricky Quests is a free puzzle adventure from Unico Studio that wraps brain teasers in a proper quest. The inventory merging, the chat levels and the workshop give the trick puzzles more to do than a plain level list, and the offline, one-hand design makes it easy to fit into spare moments.

I would point it at players who like being outsmarted by a puzzle and then working out why, and who want a story to carry them between riddles. Fans of the earlier Brain Test games will recognize the art and the characters, while newcomers can start here without missing much.

The free price comes with ads and in-app purchases, so set your expectations accordingly. If you want a long, tricky, story-driven puzzle game you can play without a connection, this is built for exactly that.

What's new in version 1.82.0

Social Login support has been added. You can now securely save your progress and seamlessly access your profile across devices.