Developer: Cavylabs, MadCat Corp
Publisher: AFIL Games, Cavylabs
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Sokobalien – Review
Today we are looking at Sokobalien, an alien-themed puzzle game. Our first impression of this game is that this game is accessible for all ages. The funny cartoonish character at the front of the cover and the premise of a stereotypical alien kidnapping a cow immediately piqued our interest. We were curious to see if the game was truly something simple for all ages, or if it was something even more. Let’s dive in and see.
Story
The Story in Sokobalien is about an alien that wants to kidnap cows. The story in this game isn’t complex, just as the game itself is also quite simple. Only a bit of the story is shown at the beginning of the game. There is nothing on why they need cows, or what they do with the cows. We didn’t really miss the lack of a narrative, as it’s all about the gameplay. It would have perhaps been nice to see a small comic book-like panel in between the levels.
Graphics
The graphics in this game look simple. It does look like they intentionally did it to attract a wide audience. The style choice does look fun for children as there are other games with a similar style with simple graphics as well. We would have liked it if the game had a bit more variety in terms of assets, as every stage looks nearly identical.
The background of the puzzles looks simple. You can choose which color it has, but it is just a one-color background that goes from a dark tint to a lighter tint. They could have put there a shadow drawing of a barn or a city in the distance to spice things up. It does contain stars in the form of white dots.
Sound
The music in this game is good. It is simple, and relaxing, and it does fit with the overall zen-like experience. Sadly, the overall cartoony soundtrack does loop rather quickly, so we would have loved a bit more track variety here. The SFX are decent, but nothing to truly write home about. It would have perhaps also been fun if the aliens themselves would also speak a bit of gibberish to add a bit of extra charm to the mix.
Gameplay
Sokobalien is a puzzle game that is a fun twist on the traditional gameplay of a Sokoban game. In Sokobalien you’ll have to push cows, or other animals to the marked end tile. Some tiles are transparent and you can cross them when a button is pressed. The cow does not fall when the button is released. If you do make a mistake, there is a step-back button or a total reset button. It’s a very straightforward experience, and if you already played Sokoban-inspired titles, you pretty much know what to do.
As a whole, you’ll be doing the same for all the puzzles in the game, albeit with some added hazards and mechanics here and there. You can take as much time as you want to clear levels, and the game does pose a certain challenge as well. Things will never get too hard, but some puzzles put your grey matter to work. All in all, we found Sokobalien to be accessible for all ages, and it might be a lot of fun to play this with your kid.
Sokobalien’s controls are very responsive. You’ll always move one tile at a time, and as stated above, if you make a mistake, you can undo your last action or even restart the game. You’ll be treated to a very standard Sokoban experience, albeit with a cute theme slapped on top.
For every level that is cleared, you will receive coins. Those coins can be used to buy hats, which is a fun touch. The customization options don’t add any actual gameplay value, but it does give you a small additional goal for pressing onwards.
Conclusion
Sokobalien is a fun little puzzle game that is meant for short-burst entertainment. The puzzles are not so difficult to solve that even children can have fun solving them. Even if you have a difficult puzzle, you can reset it as many times as you want. This game isn’t meant for the gamer who expects a lot of this game, it is just a relaxed game that would probably be very suitable for mobile phones as well. We liked the overall style of this Sokoban-inspired puzzle game, but we would have perhaps loved to see a bit more polish. We do suggest picking up the game on PC, as it’s only a fraction of the price of a PS5 copy.
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