Consider Isles of Sea and Sky, the only sokoban game I’ve ever enjoyed.

This is Sokoban! A game whose name I recognize as shorthand for this type of puzzle, but which I’ve never seen. It’s also a genre I don’t particularly enjoy, preferring puzzles that I can sometimes solve by intuition (Spring Falls), brute force (all the light-switching puzzles), or by entering chaos mode (real life).

But I do like Isles of Sea and Sky. After starting it almost on a whim, I started playing and figuring things out without any problems and without explicit tutorials almost immediately, and from there I suddenly found that several hours had passed without any frustration or boredom.

Your little islander washes up on a beach and naturally starts pushing objects around so he can collect keys that open up more screens full of objects to push. There are other items to collect here and there, including stars that act partly like keys, but in a way that tells you which area to move to next. Got 15 stars? It’s probably time to move on and maybe the tool you need will be there.

There’s a little Metroid feel to this, you see. You’ll find inaccessible areas very quickly, or a path will lead you through a small corner of a puzzle that you’ll tackle properly later, offering a glimpse that is sometimes a clue, and sometimes just tantalizing. Or maybe a hint of a discreet plot, when a strange woman appears behind some puzzles but when you reach her she runs away, then stands behind a door that requires more stars. But no, strange woman, I didn’t unlock that door even when I had the stars, because I have SELF-RESPECT and I won’t let myself be MANIPULATED and also because I FORGOT.

Other blocks arrive fairly quickly and periodically gain new powers or activate something that opens up new paths. This is true in the rather elaborately linked levels (the solution gap is sometimes larger than I’d like, with a bit of backtracking if you’re as stupid as I was and underuse the map and its signage system) and in the larger world. There are other islands, you see, and a turtle friend to transport you between them, to unlock more levels in a semi-linear way or to change scenery earlier (and to nicer music) and return to the old island later.

There’s also little frustration. Isles has an instant reset button and a “one-move-back” (but only if you’ve changed something, not counting the harmless walk), you can make multiple moves in depth at no cost. Even a mistake in water or spikes only sets you back one move, not the entire screen. Some screens can be (I’d say they should be, but there may be perfect solutions I haven’t caught) cleared by exploiting death and map resets, since items you collect stay collected.

Isles of Sea and Sky is an excellent puzzle game overall, not punishing or overwhelming, but still requiring you to stop and think often enough. It’s honestly hard to find fault with it, and it’s the only block-pushing game I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend even if it’s not your typical scene.