Here to round off our Thinkathon week with style, SokoChess White continues to refine the mash-up of sokoban and chess explored by Daisy Games’ previous title, SokoChess. There’s still time to join our giveaway for the chance to win a free copy of SokoChess White together with all the other Thinkathon games, so be sure to sign up.
The SokoChess premise is strikingly simple: what if we took the classic sokoban experience, but replaced the usual block-pushing character with an army of chess pieces? Rooks move horizontally and vertically, bishops move diagonally, and so on. In order for each chess piece to reach its corresponding goal position, they will have to help each other out by nudging one another around the board. SokoChess White both refines this formula and expands it with new mechanics like sokoban-style crates, bombs, ice that will freeze your pieces until they’re pushed, and more.
The removal of the black pieces that featured in the original SokoChess, which would attack your white pieces if given the chance, must have been a difficult choice, but it really pays off in elegance. It turns out that the white pieces can really hold their own — SokoChess White presents many excellent, tightly-designed puzzles that thoroughly explore this simplified system and all the ways the individual chess pieces can interact.
SokoChess White is presented in an understated package, with a simple art style and a soundtrack of classical piano pieces to keep you relaxed as you attempt to manoeuvre those stubborn pawns into position. This game gets tricky fast and, with its fairly linear level progression, you might find yourself stuck on a few stumpers along the way. However, these puzzles are also fair, and with careful deliberation you’ll be able to declare “checkmate” over these fiendish puzzles.
Daisy Games has released many sokoban-inspired puzzlers over the last few years and I’m increasingly impressed with the quality of puzzle design from game to game, with SokoChess White showcasing their best work yet. If you like the sound of a relaxing but challenging chess-based puzzler, SokoChess White is available on Steam right now.
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