SAWkoban

I went in expecting either a clever parody or a genuinely creepy puzzle experience. SAWkoban is neither quite successfully. The core loop is standard Sokoban - push blocks to designated spots, solve spatial puzzles, advance - but wrapped in a horror skin that mostly amounts to dark visuals and menacing dialogue from your captor between levels. The puzzles themselves are competent but not particularly inventive, and the horror framing doesn't meaningfully change how you interact with them. What doesn't work is the tonal whiplash. The game can't decide if it's a lighthearted parody of Saw's overwrought torture-game obsession or a genuine thriller, so it lands awkwardly in the middle. The puzzle difficulty doesn't escalate meaningfully, and once the novelty of the premise wears off around level five or six, you're left with straightforward block-pushing that runs out of ideas. It's a one-concept game that needed either sharper puzzle design or darker commitment to its horror angle to justify the full playthrough.

Alex · Scout Team

Catch-all

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