Stack Overflow
Recursed is a pretty great brain-twister, with a strong central theme - resembling the idea of stack-based scope, plus occasional recursion into that stack, hence the game's title - and a surprising variety of mechanics layered on top.
Jumping into a treasure chest enters a new room, and entering a room resets its state. For example: There are two locked doors in front of you, and a chest leading to a room with a key; you go into the chest, pick up the key, jump back out, use the key on the first lock, go into the chest again, pick up the key again, jump out again, and use the second key on the second lock. Make sense?
You can also pick up the treasure chest, and carry it into a new room -- changing the path to that chest, and hence the path to resetting its state. Imagine if the chest leading to the key was "before" the room with the locked doors; that would mean each time you grab a key and bring it to the lock-room, the locks have been reset. So you'd need to pick up the chest with the key-room, and move it into the lock-room, so that the lock-room's state can be retained while you're retrieving each key.
And that's just the beginning, before rooms start having variable water levels and stateful objects. Recursed isn't afraid of throwing some pretty tough puzzles at you; but I wouldn't say that they're intimidating or obtuse, like Dyo could be. Recursed's puzzles are generally good at making their solutions appear within reach, given a few minutes of staring at each room and poking around.
But they're mentally exhausting, and I can only do a handful in one sitting before I need to take a break. Keeping track of all the state involved in a given puzzle, and plotting a route through its myriad permutations, is work.
That's why I've kept hesitating to dive back into Recursed since ... June, and why I'm now deciding to move on with my life.
Maybe a more-substantial story could have helped string me along, but it's not like Recursed is "bad," or lacking in good puzzle ideas. It just takes more effort than I'd like.
(I will throw a little shade at the game's "restart crow," which is supposed to tell you when the level has become unsolvable and you need to reset. I don't think it shows up as often as it should. ... or maybe I'm not as smart as I thought? No, that can't be it.)
Better than: Cypher (2018)
Not as good as: Braid
Maybe equitably as good as: Gateways
Progress: Got to the Ruins.