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SokobanP
Petr Lastovicka |
| A GNU-licenced Windows Sokoban that feels something like a lightweight YSokoban with fewer features. Comes with a bunch of skins, including XSokoban, KSokoban and Sokoban for Windows, and ~8000 levels from various sources; they seem to all be hardcoded into a single 2.63 mb file for some reason, but XSokoban and text files and also be imported/exported. Has a funny option to hide all walls and implement a distance-based "fog of war" for the boxes. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Free (GNU) |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Original Sokoban, Other Sources
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Yes |
SourceForge |
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Sokoblue
Games 4 Brains |
| German Sokoban clone(s) that is very, well, blue (da-ba-dee, da-ba-di). There are several versions that are essentially different games, not even necessarily sharing their levels! The original set is included in Sokofun, but I'm less clear on newer versions like the current web/mobile (which is free, unlike most releases). |
Systems:
DOS, Windows, Web, Mobile |
Licence:
Shareware, Free |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: No
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website
Legacy Download (Sokoblue 98 1.1)
Legacy Download (Windows Edition 2.3) |
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Sokofun
Games 4 Brains |
Not really a new game, but a combination of Sokoblue, Sokowahn, Sokolor and Sokonex in one big package (Freeware or "Pro" versions), with all of their levels (and more) accessible from a user-friendly GUI. Very customisable and includes a powerful editor that lets you create levels for Sokoban, Sokolor or Sokonex format or mix-and-match them. Has been offering a "level of the month" since the 90s.
The standard version is Freeware, but there is a paid "Pro" version. Since the paid version has most of the features and levels, the free one is more of a demo, but I'm still listing a Freeware licence. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Shareware, Freeware |
Type:
Traditional, Variant |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: No
Solutions: No |
Official Website |
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Sokolor
Games 4 Brains |
| A clever variant on the classic Sokoban in which your task is to make sure all boxes of the same colour are adjacent to one another. Some can't be moved, serving as "centre points" to arrange the others around. Included in Sokofun. |
Systems:
DOS |
Licence:
Shareware |
Type:
Variant |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: No
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website
Legacy Download (Shareware 2.0) |
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Sokonex
Games 4 Brains |
| At its core, this is Sokolor without the colours, making you connect (get it? So-connects?) all the plus-sign blocks, with some being immovable. However, there's a host of new objects, namely laser cannons, rubbish blocks that get in the way, and holes to either dump these things in or patch up with another new type of push block. Despite stretching the boundaries of a mere "variant", it's included in Sokofun, which also lets you use its elements in Sokoban/Sokolor. |
Systems:
DOS |
Licence:
Shareware |
Type:
Variant |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: No
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website
Legacy Download (Shareware 1.1) |
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Sokowahn Pro
Games 4 Brains |
| This name can be roughly translated as "Sokomania". German clone with 100 tricky levels, an early outing from a prominent Sokoban dev now known as Games 4 Brains. The levels are included in Sokofun, so this is largely obsolete. |
Systems:
DOS |
Licence:
Shareware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website
Legacy Download (Shareware) |
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Sokowin 2000
Ole Zorn |
Looks to be a traditional-based Sokoban of unknown origin, with simple graphics and an editor (only in the registered version). New are the TNT crates in some levels, which the manual says can be pushed against walls to destroy them and make a path.
Unfortunately, much like these crates, the game blows up when trying to start it, regardless of compatibility settings and even in a Windows XP virtual machine. I wasn't able to play it, but maybe someone else has more luck. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Shareware |
Type:
New Elements |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Scores Only |
Download |
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Soukoban
Staffan Modig |
| A shamelesss copy of Box World with an improved version of its skin. Has the Box World levels hardcoded in and locked behind completion of the previous stage. There is also an editor that only lets you save by exiting(?!) and a level-loading function that only opens levels created with it (level format is not human-readable). |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Other Sources
Editor: Yes
Solutions: No |
Caiman |
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The Quest of Kwirk's Castle
JME Engineering |
| A sort-of remake of the Game Boy game Kwirk, though it only shares the gameplay and not the levels. Push differently-sized boxes to fill gaps and flip revolving doors as you make your way up a tower, sometimes with multiple pushers to switch between. The game is free software and designed to be moddable through text file editing, but the format is a bit finnicky as it relies on special unicode characters. Of special note are the invisible tiles that make your character jump with joy, something that no game should lack. |
Systems:
DOS |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Other Puzzle Game |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Moddable
Solutions: No |
DOSGames.com |
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Total Sokoban
Adam George |
A very conventional Sokoban with smooth movement and sound/music. Comes with many levels from various sources, but the way it handles them is strange; there is a load function, but it's only for individual external puzzles, and the ones that come with the game aren't in a format that can be opened! Instead, to play an "official" level, you need to press Space, which for some reason is the only way to bring up a level select context menu.
Note that the game is weirdly CPU-intensive, especially when viewing scores, and prone to crashing if you let it run for a while. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Other Sources, Original Sokoban
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Scores Only |
Caiman |
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Total Sokoban 2
Adam George |
| A strange sequel to Total Sokoban that seems worse in almost every way, featuring the same levels but no scores, hard-to-read text and mandatory mouse controls, which can only push boxes by repeatedly clicking on them while your pusher is exactly next to them. It does have a way to save your position in the level, and the level select is now actually part of the game menu, so I guess it's not all bad. Imports "Sokoban levels", which it doesn't specify a format for, but presumably should work with ASCII levels. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Other Sources, Original Sokoban
Editor: Yes
Solutions: No |
Caiman |
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WSokoban!
Thomas Jensen |
| Despite the generic name, this is not a widespread one. Tiny graphics with unusually interesting tilesets, which are stored as .BMPs so you can make more. Of note is the level format, which is stored as .ico of all things; the game has instructions for how to make your own and add them on to the end, but it's probably not worth the hassle. A few levels are new, but most are recycled from sources like the original Sokoban and Box World, with lazy edits to make it less obvious. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: New Levels, Original Sokoban, Other Sources
Editor: Moddable
Solutions: No |
Download |
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Wani-no-niwa (Crocodile Garden)
Anahara Masataka |
| A very interesting "sokoban-like puzzle game" in which your objective is to carry crocodiles back to their ponds, once you have cleared a path by pushing boulders and filling holes with them. The catch is that sadly, you're not a super-powered Sokoban pusher, so you will need to enter and drive bulldozers to move the boulders, which can only go back and forth on a straight line. Often, it's necessary to push dozers with other dozers to bring them into position (dozerception), and the directions used to enter/exit them must also be kept in mind. Levels are small, but become very tricky very fast. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Other Puzzle Game |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Scores Only |
Official Website |
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XSokoban
Andrew Myers |
A popular (but very old) basic Sokoban implementation for Unix, best known as the origin of the XSokoban levelset. These 40 large levels by unknown authors are tacked on to the end of the Thinking Rabbit ones and sometimes used in other clones. Online high-scores, but the last submissions are from 2005.
Conversions of the XSokoban levels for Soko Banish can be downloaded on the Soko Banish page. |
Systems:
Unix |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Original Sokoban, New Levels
Editor: Moddable?
Solutions: Scores Only? |
Official Website |
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YASC
Brian Damgaard |
| "Yet Another Sokoban Clone", a powerful Sokoban suite (and perhaps the quintessential one, feature-wise). Many features, but not very user-friendly. Excitingly, it comes with powerful level solving and generation functionality, which were used in part for my Kingdom Come levelset in Soko Banish. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Free (GNU) |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: Other Sources
Editor: Yes
Solutions: Yes |
SourceForge |
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YHexoban
George Petrov |
| An implementation of David W. Skinner's "Hexoban" concept, which answers the all-important question of "what if Sokoban, but hexagonal grid?" Comes with Skinner's levels and a few other small sets; more can be imported in ASCII form. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Variant |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Import Only
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website |
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YSokoban
George Petrov |
A Sokoban implementation for Windows, clearly inspired by XSokoban for Unix. Comes with some interesting features, like changing the level orientation and recording macros, but (as expected from a Unix-inspired clone) the interface is confusing and relies on its documentation more than user-friendliness.
Comes with new levels, including a pack that has been "remixed" from Thinking Rabbit's, mostly shifting the goal positions around to make the clean-up more exciting. |
Systems:
Windows |
Licence:
Freeware |
Type:
Traditional |
Levels: New Levels
Editor: Import Only
Solutions: Yes |
Official Website |
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What's this?
This is a lightly curated list of clones and variants of the classic Sokoban, as well as some similar puzzle games.
Sokoban was invented in 1982 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi and is based on the very simple concept of pushing boxes into goal positions, with the caveat that you cannot pull them and can only push one at a time. Of course, being so simple yet intelligent, it's probably one of the most-copied games, and its pushing logic has become a stock game mechanic even in otherwise unrelated games.
As such, this list is far from complete, and it never will be. Right now, it focuses on PC games, and does not cover pure mobile games due to their fleeting and soulless nature. It also does not include games by Thinking Rabbit, as those are easy to find and the focus here is on clones.
If you know of any games you feel should be included here, feel free to contact me.
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Type:
- Traditional - Original Sokoban gameplay with walls, boxes and goals.
- New Elements - Uses the original elements, but adds new ones. Recreating traditional puzzles is possible.
- Variant - Puts a new spin on the formula (while still being distinctly "Sokoban"). Recreating traditional puzzles may not be possible.
- Other Puzzle Game - Feels too far removed from Sokoban, but may still be of interest to fans.
Levels:
- Original Sokoban - Includes levels from the original Sokoban by Thinking Rabbit.
- Other Sources - Includes levels from other sources, such as Box World, Boxxle or other widespread sets.
- New Levels - Includes fully original levels not seen in other games.
Editor:
- Yes - Game has its own editor, internal or external, to make new stages.
- Import Only - No editor, but allows importing levels from elsewhere (e.g. text files).
- Moddable - No editor or importing, but files can be changed with some finesse.
- No - No editor and no way to play different levels.
Solutions:
- Yes - Game can store and/or show solutions.
- Scores Only - Game only saves scores for each puzzle.
- No - Game does not save solutions or scores.
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