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Sokorobot Review

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Pushing Boxes to the Limit

Developers Afil Games have gone Sokoban mad lately, with both SokoCrab and Sokomonster hitting the store this month. And despite receiving a fair amount of criticism for being little more than cheap Gamerscore boosting affairs, they’re back with another Sokoban-inspired venture.

Step forward Sokorobot, a ‘captivating puzzle game’ where precision is apparently crucial to conquer all it has to offer. So let’s see whether Sokorobot is as ingenious as it claims to be, or if it’s a budget title that fails to deliver anything clever enough to challenge the old grey matter.

Sokorobot Review 1
Sokoban, with a robot!

Sokorobot’s Simple Premise and Evolving Mechanics

Sokorobot places you in charge of an unnamed robot and from the outset basically leaves you to figure out what to do. Fortunately, it’s not rocket science, with the goal being to guide the hunk of metal towards a big red button and then press it in order to complete a level. Simple enough, however there will be debris and obstacles in place preventing an easy route to glory. This is where the robot, with its box-sliding skills and destructive powers, enters the fray.

Within the confines of the play area, there are often holes needing to be filled by power blocks. Instead of pushing these blocks, the robot nonchalantly kicks them and sends the block sliding until it hits the perimeter, an obstacle, or the aforementioned holes. The puzzling part is plotting a suitable path for the block, which may require the removal of debris. Our handy little bot can just boot such things, like broken TVs, to remove them from existence.

Early on, the number of blocks to worry about is minimal, but eventually the numbers do increase and the playfield gets bigger, with more complex layouts to navigate. It gets to the point where the level cannot be contained on a single screen, which is actually a bit of a nuisance because you have to preempt whether anything is needed for the second area. Considering the amount of levels in Sokorobot – thirty to be exact – this is perhaps too simple of a concept to hold onto you until the end, and that’s why the introduction of new mechanics are welcome.

Sokorobot Review 2
Things occasionally change up

Mixing Things Up

Upon clearing a third of the levels, tiles are added with the ability to stop a sliding block in its tracks. Having something else to take into account on the journey to the red button certainly brings a little more complexity to proceedings. This idea is eventually built upon further, with directional arrows on the tiles, which sends the box sliding in the direction displayed. When a few of these interactions are chained together, it’s quite cool to see. Ultimately though, the extra mechanics aren’t going to impress too much, but they will push you to carry on.

In regards to the difficulty, Sokorobot struggles to find any consistency to be honest, with a fluctuating toughness. At one point, you might spend a good few minutes manoeuvring around and testing potential solutions, while in the next level it’s so simplistic that you won’t even need to utilise spare power boxes or many of the special tiles. On the whole, there’s nothing greatly challenging and you can be done with all thirty levels in two to three hours.

You might be done even sooner, especially if your focus is solely on unlocking the achievements that reward up to 2000 Gamerscore. Every level-based achievement is attainable after only completing twenty of them, with the rest basically coming from banal tasks. Expect to be partaking in resetting the puzzle and undoing moves intentionally, as well as breaking debris, to obtain some nice chunks of Gamerscore.

Sokorobot Review 3
Better than recent Afil Games games

A Decent Sokoban Puzzler with Limited Originality

Visually, the pixel-art doesn’t do an awful lot to present eye-catching environments for the puzzles, however everything is defined well enough to distinguish the different elements within them. As for the audio, I’d recommend just turning the volume down as it can become annoying fairly swiftly.

Overall, Sokorobot manages to deliver a decent challenge with its Sokoban-style box-sliding puzzles and provides adequate variety in regards to the mechanics to get you over the line. Just be aware it doesn’t really bring anything overly original to the table and won’t keep you busy longer than a couple of hours. And don’t forget, you can gobble up a lovely helping of Gamerscore for your efforts.

If you’re in the market for a Sokoban puzzler, you could consider Sokorobot because it has the edge over Afil Games’ other exploits in this area, but it’s worth noting there are better games of this ilk to be had elsewhere too.


Sokorobot: A Slick and Strategic Sokoban Adventure for Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/sokorobot-a-slick-and-strategic-sokoban-adventure-for-xbox/

Buy Sokorobot on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/sokorobot/9NFFGLHDJSLG


SUMMARY

Pros:
  • Thirty levels for a low price
  • Decent layout variety and mechanics
  • Gamerscore
Cons:
  • Bland concept and visuals
  • Mechanics lacking ingenuity
  • Levels spanning multiple screens
Info:
  • Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Afil Games
  • Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), Xbox One
  • Not available on Game Pass Day One
  • Release date | Price - 15 January 2025 | £4.19
James Birks
James Birks
Been gaming casually since the SNES as a youngster but found my true passion for games on the Playstation 1 (the forbidden word ooo). My addiction grew to its pinnacle with the purchase of an Xbox 360 & Xbox Live Service. A recovering GS hunter that will still play literally any game.
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<b>Pros:</b> <ul> <li>Thirty levels for a low price</li> <li>Decent layout variety and mechanics</li> <li>Gamerscore</li> </ul> <b>Cons:</b> <ul> <li>Bland concept and visuals</li> <li>Mechanics lacking ingenuity</li> <li>Levels spanning multiple screens</li> </ul> <b>Info:</b> <ul> <li>Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Afil Games</li> <li>Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), Xbox One <li>Not available on Game Pass Day One <li>Release date | Price - 15 January 2025 | £4.19</li> </ul>Sokorobot Review
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