Isles of Sea & Sky

Play it on: Switch, Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Stars! MORE STARS!
Buy it from: Steam

If you asked me if I needed another block-pushing puzzle game in my life, I’d likely have just shaken my head and walked away. I don’t know what caused me to even load up Isles of Sea & Sky, given its Sokobanish stylings, but I’m ever so glad I did.

This is far more than standard block-pushing. This is a vast, ever-expanding world of islands to explore, each packed with unique puzzles, often solvable in two or three different ways for different rewards. It has heavy A Link to the Past undertones, while never feeling like it’s leaning on Zelda as an inspiration, instead possessing its own unique character. Each island has a sort of deity-like being that needs you to find six of at least a dozen tokens, which will then unlock new blocks that allow you to re-approach the area’s puzzles using new skills. For instance, the second island you’ll likely explore has specific blue blocks that are eventually transformed into gorgeous little blue sprites, who will take on the properties of any block they’re shoved into. This obviously has enormous consequences on puzzles you couldn’t solve before, and offers new ways to approach those you could to reach a different prize.

I really, really thought I was done with this genre, usually finding the nature of sokoban puzzles—where you’re endlessly finding yourself in dead-ends—to be far too frustrating, but Isles of Sea & Sky (once known as Akurra) removes all of this with single-button taps to take back any move, and another tap to reset a location. It’s also just so damned smart. — John Walker