I play puzzle games and there are no games in that genre that can last for a few years. (Even with user created contents.)
Any established games that actually can last years if you are into the genre(ie. Factorio, Minecraft, Terraria, or procedural content generation games) have established guides and wiki so eventually you don't really think about doing creative stuff cause there are more effective/efficient ways to scale up.
And for games like Zelda:TotK where you can create many different crazy ways to defeat puzzles, mobs or bosses in the over world(since autobuild or zonai devices are disabled inside the shrine), it has that counter side of having to grind for materials or you need to rely on exploits like item dup to keep the boring side down. And, if you kid doesn't even like lego, then chances are those "crafting" games won't appeal to them.
What I think is best, is that you observe what they liked to do more, and then find games with mechanics they would like and have fun doing. And gradually transition to games with more complex progression or puzzles, before you let them try those really open ended crafting ones.
Most crafting games needs some basic skills to get better, cause the things you need to build relies on the materials you have. So you need to calculate how many certain parts needed to gather before you start building it. That would promote basic math skills and planning. Traditional puzzle games that focus more on logical thinking(ie. Talos Principle, Cogs, Toki Tori, Portal) mostly relies on spatial recognition/sequential order of breaking down tasks required to reach the goal.)
Last but not least, fun is essential to drive learning related skills to progress. There is no like one game to play and suddenly your 8 years old would become future a engineer or scientist. But the stuff he learned while tackle all the obstacles game designer throw at him will help him at problem solving for a long time.
If you wiggle the definition of "puzzle games" around, some of them can definitely last for a few years. Something like Slay the Spire is a tactical deck-builder with nearly infinite permutations on a run, and I've got over 600 hours logged in that over the past six years (been playing since early access, my last run was last night on mobile). Any puzzle game with user-created content can also be evergreen, but you won't get that on the Switch.
Just to give and answer I haven't seen: I know they recently released a remastered version of Advanced Wars. Not so much logical thinking, but turn based strategy is a puzzle in its own way. And I loved those games when I was around 8-10 years old!
Tunic is so good!!! I would have been obsessed if I had a game like that at age 8 instead of Donkey Kong 64 (which I still love to this day, of course)
A few years? As In you expect them to play this game for a few years?
I'm not sure what exactly you are asking for, the kinds of games I think of, for 'logical thinking' are to complicated to be engaging for 8 year Olds in my experience of 4 children. They like watching me or their older siblings play them, but when their turn comes around, they would much rather play a 2d platformer or 3d Mario or Kirby game, than something like astroneer.
Initially I missed the text body of the post, and thought "SMT: III Nocturne" is a pretty good game with moral dilemmas and whatnot. Lots of fodder for thinking.
That might not be very appropriate for an eight year old though.
It'll depend on the kind of puzzles they're in to (if they're in to puzzles at all), but the Picross S series is brilliant. Despite all the great games on the Switch, mine is pretty much a Picross machine that happens to be able to play other games.
Second this. My son loved these when he was that age, and still does. Portal 2 is maybe pushing it in terms of suitability, but not too bad. I generally stick to age ratings as a rule. Portal 1 plus the extra levels definitely.
Portal 2 is absolutely worth throwing at an eight year old based entirely on how cute it would be to hear him running around the house quoting something about combustible lemons, and can you imagine a child's reaction to "How are you holding up? because I'M A POTATO."?
I know 3DS had Super Scribblenauts, which needed spelling, logic, parts of speech, and creativity. I'm not sure if there is an equal for the Switch. Animal Crossing would be a good start, as would the remaster of Link's Awakening
When my kids were 8, they loved Good Job. It's not strictly a puzzle game or anything, but it combines problem solving with super fun physics and some silliness and destruction. My son and daughter both got a huge kick out of it when they were that age. Lots of laughing as they figured out how to solve the problems and get the jobs done.
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