Super Retro BoxBot Review

Super Retro BoxBot is, according to the Steam store page, a 90s-style puzzle game “inspired by the DOS classics Block-man and Loader Larry”, developed by Joseph Holliday and published by Doc Holliday Games LLC. Given I was born after that era and have no idea what the heck those games are, all I see is just another box-pushing game, so let’s see what this is.

You play as a box-carrying robot who must organise the boxes in each level to reach the exit. That’s pretty much the entire plot and what you’ll be doing for the 50+ levels in the game. Other than boxes, there are keys to unlock the exit, doors you automatically go into unless you block it with a box, and… nope, that’s all the puzzle elements. But despite its seeming simplicity, the puzzles presented can be very difficult to figure out. I got stuck on level five and needed a little help to finish the puzzle. It does have a Sokoban-style hint system for stuck players where it shows you the end solution but not the steps to get there. It’s all up to you to figure out the steps necessary to solve it.

Speaking of steps, the par number of steps is actually hair-ripping to reach. Even though I could solve the puzzle and feel as though I didn’t waste any moves, the game showed me that I used 40 more moves than necessary. If you want to reach perfection in levels, you’ll need a lot of practice and a lot of planning. And that’s just the levels in the main part of the game. There are bonus levels you can unlock by collecting the bonus token, and let me tell you, they are even harder than the later puzzles you’ll solve.

However, if you’ve managed to complete every level that comes with the game, it doesn't mean there's nothing left to do. You can create and share custom levels, however it isn’t naturally done in-game. Nope, you have to save your level as a .bin file if you want to share it with your friends. I wish there was something a little more contained, maybe a custom-level browser or something, but it works. No problem with that. Plus, there are a ton of slots for custom levels, so if you’ve finished the main game, you’ll have plenty to play if you want to.

Super Retro BoxBot is a pretty okay game. It has some really simple mechanics, but the puzzles can take a good while to solve, even with hints turned on. It’s a nice game to play if you don’t feel like playing anything more complex or action-oriented but still want your brain to do some serious work. Sometimes, it’s the simple games that are the most fun.