Soko-Ban cover art
Pure Optimizationbox-pushing puzzle

Soko-Ban

Pure deterministic spatial planning - the archetype of a solvable puzzle game.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE0 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    1/10

    Pushing crates one square at a time needs no dexterity

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    No opponent exists in any form

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    0/10

    Every level is fully visible and deterministic

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    9/10

    Forty-step lookahead planning is literally the entire game

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
1982
Developer
Thinking Rabbit
Platforms
sg1000, PC-8800 Series, C64, x1, TRS-80 Color Computer, DOS, Apple][, TRS-80, FM-7, NEC PC-6000 Series, MSX
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer
IGDB users
71/100
Puzzle