In the wake of the phenomenal success of Steam’s demo-highlighting Next Fests, Valve’s online store began frequently adding genre-specific “fests,” mini-sales on games of a specific niche. This has now reached the point where such sales are happening every single week, and this week’s is…Box-Pushing Fest?!
It’s fantastically specific! Previous fests have included Tower Defense Fest, Dinos vs. Robots Fest, and most recently City Builder & Colony Sims Fest. So a box-pushing sales week fits right in. It also highlights just how many games there are on Steam, how unfathomably ludicrous its catalog is, that a grouping of games so narrow can still feature hundreds of offers.
“Box-pushing” is, of course, the off-brand name for Sokoban games. The 1982 Japanese game’s name has pretty much reached “Xerox” and “Hovercraft” territory as a genericized title, and to give you an idea of how ubiquitously it’s used, most of the games in this sale are tagged on Steam with “Sokoban.” Heck, I’m going to prove it by not capitalizing or italicizing it for the rest of this article. Take that, the System.
The puzzling format—in which you must push blocks around a level to align them correctly—is somewhat notorious for its finickity nature, where mistakes (like pushing a block into a corner) are irreversible and require starting a puzzle over. For many, this is the joy, while for others, it’s infuriating. You either love them or you hate them. But haters, wait up! I always think I’m a hater too, and then I end up enjoying so many variations on the theme. I’ve pulled together a selection of some stone-cold classics of the genre that are included in the Box-Pushing Fest sale.
Isle of Sea and Sky – By far one of the best sokoban-themed games in recent years, this stunning islands-spanning adventure is part puzzle game, part Metroidvania, part RPG. It’s just compellingly brilliant, and currently half-price at $10.
Altered – Perhaps more deserving of “box-pushing” than “sokoban,” the wonderful Altered is a constantly inventive twist on the format, where your primarily pushed block has an arm that can grab hold of tiles and stretch out, letting you overhang levels and make masterful manipulations. It’s a nightmare to describe, but brilliant to play. And this week, it’ll only cost you $1.50!
Patrick’s Parabox – A popular hit from 2022, Patrick’s Parabox took the sokoban context and applied it to a recursive world of splendid headfuckery. It’s 40 percent off, now $12.
A Monster’s Expedition – This is log-rolling rather than box-pushing, but the principles apply! It’s joyful and extraordinarily difficult. And this week, it’s only $8. Draknek & Friends, the collective behind the breakout puzzler, have since released so many more sokoban games, all worth your time. They include Bonfire Peaks, Sokobond Express, and A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build.
Unitied – A minimalist approach to box-pushing, but with so much smartness. Here, you’re sliding more than one block at a time, often of different sizes, each having to negotiate the others as they find their homes. It’s fantastic. Oh, and right now it’s only 49c!
Baba Is You – Surely the best sokoban-like ever made? Is that controversial? Hempuli Oy’s masterpiece involves using a little lamb-like creature, Baba, to push objects and words around the screen, forming part word, part pictogram sentences that “program” the level. “FLAG IS WIN” means reaching a flag lets you win a level. “FLAG IS BABA” makes you a flag, but you can’t control flags, so you lose. “FLAG IS YOU” means you’re now playing as the level’s flag. And if any of that sounds complicated, you’ve experienced nothing yet. Oddly, the game itself isn’t discounted from its already very generous $15 this week, but it is included in a bundle with A Monster’s Expedition and Stephen’s Sausage Roll, where you can get all three box-pushing puzzlers for under $26.
Arranger – One of the best games of 2024, Arranger combined block-shoving with RPG, and the results are mindblowing. A constantly wonderful game with a gorgeous story, fantastic puzzles, and the massive twist that you don’t move your character across the game’s tiles, but the game’s tiles move under your character.
There’s gotta be something there you’ll enjoy. And if not, there are 490 other games in the sale to pick from.
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