PEGBRJE: Sokoban Land DX and Toaster Jam
SOFT AESTHETICS ONLY
Sokoban Land DX is a soft ‘sokoban’ title made by lightUP, the studio name for indie developer Juliano Lima out of Brazil. This title shows players who are within a magical land of sokobans, where they will traverse each region from grasslands to patchlands to candylands in order to reach the end.
Now this word ‘Sokoban’ is going to get thrown around a lot, which might sound a bit confusing at first as to what exactly that is; especially for those unfamiliar with the concept. Sokobans are games centred completely around the idea of moving boxes on to specific squares to move onwards in the game. The genre takes this name from the original, Sokoban, which released back in the early 1980s featuring a protagonist moving boxes in a warehouse to their storage locations. The strength of the genre is in how players need to approach each solution since pulling the boxes is impossible, and there is never only one solution that works perfectly every time. It’s been cited for many different applications, namely in the AI field, but this time around it’s more for cooperative island fun. Players can play solo with one or two of the characters or grab a friend to control that second player, maneuvering them all throughout the world to push those boxes on to the storage areas. The friend can also change modes on the fly as well for some added spice if one feels so inclined.
With 20 maps per area to explore, Sokoban Land DX offers a lot of puzzle solving possibilities for players to enjoy. If you knew the genre beforehand, you already knew what you were getting yourself in to and will love this soft aesthetic to pieces. If unfamiliar, then this is a great starting point in the genre thanks to the lack of time limit and ability to undo the last previous move just in case an input got placed by accident. Regardless of your skill level, this is just good clean fun for all ages, and will entertain for hours. Oh and it’s also on mobile! Should’ve mentioned that sooner.
Toaster Jam is an adorable puzzle game made by SnoutUp, an indie developer utilizing Gamemaker out of Lithuania — definitely the first time I’ve seen a dev from there in this bundle, so kudos! So what exactly does this cutesy game contain? Well, players are a toaster attempting to make breakfast in the most confusing way possible; through physics.
As this lovable little toaster, players will be attempting to reach the golden toast situated within the level. Thanks to the power of electricity and carbohydrates, the toast has he ability to push itself in a direction of the player’s choosing, launching it in to the air to collect the other toasts along the way. The toaster’s powers are limited, however, as it only has two jumps before it runs out of juice — hence the toast that is littered throughout. Not only does it act as collectables for completionism, but also as fuel for the toaster to regain those charges to keep on jumping. Due to being midair during this, players will need to be on their toes to avoid hazards while flying, usually in the shape of spikey bad donuts or angry forks. Clicking in any direction will launch the toaster, so there are some neat aerial dodges and stunts that can be pulled off as players fly through the sky to get that bread. Of course, this is a puzzle game meaning that there are many other interactables around to help complete each level. Jam is labelled with a direction, meaning that it will automatically launch the toaster in the direction it is facing upon collection; helps to keep the number of jumps down and to get out of sticky situations. If players need to recollect themselves, cups of coffee will grab ahold of the toaster and let them rest, before allowing them to launch off to their next destination. Think of them as barrel cannons from Donky Kong Country, but more breakfast themed.
With 40 levels to dive in to and dozens of customizable toasters to play as, Toaster Jam has a bunch of content to start your day off fresh. For those looking for even more customization, there’s a level editor built in to the game as well for players to build their own creations and test them out for the fun of the game. For more of a challenge, players gain ranks based on how good their performance was per level; things such as number of jumps, number of toasts collected, time and deaths are scored against you, so finding the most optimal route within the shortest time will grant more points. There’s ways to play for everyone involved, and if you love puzzle games with more edge towards reactions then this might be perfect for you. It can be taken at any pace, so don’t feel pressured to hurry — breakfast will be served regardless.
