Sokobos Gameplay Preview

Sokobos is a small puzzle game about pushing blocks, much like the Sokoban series. It sounds simple but the puzzles are pretty challenging and they add in new, interesting mechanics to further add to the complexity of the problem solving.

For a game about pushing blocks, Sokobos does have a small narrative back drop. You are playing as a person chosen by the gods to build their temple and have been granted extraordinary strength in order to do so. You are using this strength to assemble large stone blocks into the proper position.

The game is very straight forward. The game shows you where to move each block and the only way to interact with the blocks in the level is by pushing them forward. This sounds like an easy thing to do but the solutions are pretty complex. The level is designed in such a way that moving the blocks around haphazardly will oftentimes end in creating a gridlock that prevents other blocks from being moved.

Thankfully, the game provides an infinite undo key so you can keep undoing moves if you make a mistake. You can fully reset the puzzle at the press of a button as well. The game has leaderboards keeping track of how many moves it took to solve the puzzle so the competitive crowd can optimize their solutions aim for the top.

The game keeps the puzzles fresh by adding in interesting new mechanics. The first new mechanic you will encounter are paint puddles. By moving a block over a paint puddle, the puddle will disappear but it will color the block. This creates another layer of complexity to the problem solving because now you have to plan out how to move the proper blocks over the proper paint puddles. The puddles become obstacles because if you move the wrong block over them, you will waste the paint and be unable to solve the puzzle.

The game is pretty relaxing to play. There is no time limit so you can take all the time you need and you can freely undo all your moves. The game also has a very minimalist art style that works well.

Overall, Sokobos is a fun and well made puzzle game. It uses a simple mechanic but still manages to be pretty darn challenging.