For most of us, clearing fallen leaves is one of those chores we’d happily avoid, throwing it in alongside mowing the lawn. For the bear at the heart of Sokobear Autumn, however, it’s become a full-time occupation.
The latest entry in the steadily growing Sokobear puzzle series has arrived on Xbox and PC, bringing another batch of brain-teasing sokoban challenges wrapped in a cosy seasonal theme. This time, instead of navigating icy landscapes or gloomy caves, players are tasked with tidying up leaf-covered village yards before the whole forest disappears beneath an orange blanket.
At A Glance
Game: Sokobear Autumn
Developer: Bad Kid Games
Publisher: Bad Minions, Little Giant
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Price: TBC
Genre: Puzzle / Sokoban
A Bear-Sized Cleanup Operation
Autumn has arrived in the forest village and the leaves just won’t stop falling. As the local bear, it’s your job to push piles of leaves into designated garden holes, clearing each yard before moving on to the next challenge.
Of course, things quickly become more complicated than simply pushing leaves around. Rocks, logs and environmental obstacles block the way, forcing players to carefully plan their movements and think several steps ahead. Like any good sokoban game, one misplaced move can leave you trapped with no option but to rethink your approach.
Across 40 handcrafted levels, the difficulty gradually increases, introducing new layouts and obstacles designed to test even seasoned puzzle fans.
Another Seasonal Adventure For Sokobear
Xbox players may already be familiar with the adventures of this industrious bear.
We’ve previously reviewed both Sokobear Winter and Sokobear Cave, finding plenty to appreciate in the series’ willingness to experiment with traditional sokoban mechanics. In our 3/5 review of Sokobear Winter, we praised the combination of sliding ice puzzles and box-pushing challenges, noting that they worked together “like bears and honey.“
More recently, Sokobear Cave earned a stronger 3.5/5 score, with us concluding that it arrived “with a sackful of ideas” that helped it stand apart from the increasingly crowded puzzle genre.
Sokobear Autumn appears to continue that formula, swapping icy surfaces and underground caverns for crunchy leaves and warm seasonal colours.
Time To Rake In Some Solutions
Not every puzzle game needs elaborate mechanics or a complicated story. Sometimes all that’s required is a clever premise, a steadily increasing challenge curve and a bear determined to clean up after autumn.
Whether Sokobear Autumn can match or surpass its predecessors remains to be seen, but fans of box-pushing puzzlers should find plenty to enjoy in its 40 levels of leafy problem-solving.
Sokobear Autumn is available now on the Xbox Store. You’ve got choices as to whether you purchase the Xbox One edition, that which is Xbox Series X|S Optimised, or the one for Windows PC.
And, for achievement hunters, the promise of 2000 Gamerscore will likely provide an additional incentive to get those leaves cleared.
