Maze Burrow

[b]january 2024 edit:[/b] price got lowered in the meantime to a more reasonable value. in [b]maze burrow[/b] you control an echidna, whose home was turned into a maze by nasty moles. not sure how they installed all the portals, teleporters, switches and other mechanics overnight, but there you go. the game revolves around [b]pushing and pulling blocks[/b] to activate the exit, then leaving through said exit. mechanics include immobile blocks, blocks that can only be moved in the direction they're pointing at, the above-mentioned teleporters (for yourself and blocks) and switches (always marked to show what they do), icy terrain, and so on. there are [b]60+ levels[/b], 10 in each world. the map can be scrolled around by pressing 'e' and progression isn't entirely linear, sometimes there are branching paths and not every level has to be completed to move on to the next world. on [b]boss levels[/b] you have to use pipes to guide rocks thrown by moles to hit each other and eventually leave through the exit, as usual. these levels aren't only at the end of each world and [b]some timing is necessary[/b], but the first few I did weren't too bad and most of the time getting hit by rocks doesn't do anything. [b]the timer and move counter are only for show[/b], no requirements for either to unlock anything. they can be checked for each world from the menu instead of walking all over the map and there are hud settings thanks to a post-release patch where you can set what you want on-screen. [b]controls are a bit finicky.[/b] since pulling blocks is sort of a unique selling point, you have to grab blocks first (space or 'x' by default), and while there are 3 settings (holding the grab key, pressing it to grab/release, and auto, which means grab on bumping into a block), none of them feel good. holding a button all the time is not ideal, having to press it before and after moving something isn't either, and using 'auto' makes letting go too finicky. keyboard and controller are supported, there are two default keysets for the former (e.g. you can use backspace or 'u' to undo) and [b]everything can be rebound[/b]. the same post-release patch also made sure that undo works while grabbing a block, and can be held to undo multiple moves. the undo limit is 60, but only block pushes/pulls count as moves, walking around doesn't, so it should be enough. [b]the presentation is acceptable[/b], both the graphics and music are okay, not great. there are separate volume settings for sound and music, windowed mode and 3 settings for zoom instead of proper resolutions, but there is [b]no widescreen support[/b] in a game released in 2020, which is baffling. all in all, it's an [b]average sokoban with a few good ideas[/b] and a .pdf manual (pretty rare these days), should provide several hours of block pushing and pulling (I stopped around the halfway point, felt like I'd seen enough, not big on the genre), and with a few quick fixes it's now recommended (especially since the way too high $10 price got reduced to $3 at the end of 2022).

First off I am very happy to see this game come out. Sliding block puzzle games aren't anything new but I feel this game adds enough to make it unique and worth the time to play it. When something like paired blocks or teleporters are introduced it's clear there's a lot of potential for difficult puzzles. This game takes advantage of it's own gimmicks well, it doesn't feel like any of them overstayed it's welcome or wasn't used enough. I didn't know what to expect with any level really. Around world 3 is where the puzzles started to get decently tough in my opinion. Most of the time my experience was just sitting back and thinking about exactly what problem I had to get past. And during those moments I found the game to be most enjoyable, especially when I ran into another problem with a creative solution right after. Then there's a few levels where there's so much going on you can't really think about it, rather you just have to play around until you get somewhere. Those levels aren't the best, they show up every now and then. But the majority of levels are the clever type, the level design is really great and the strong point of the game. Every world has a boss level where part of the objective changes and sometimes the focus is on doing things quickly. They feel like proper ends to each world, and the difficulty curve is done most well with these levels. The game isn't super long, I'd say it'll take anywhere between 5-12 hours, maybe 15 if going for 100%. The whole time I had fun with it, mostly because I never felt frustrated. The music didn't get tiring, and I didn't feel like resetting in any level was a huge setback. It's a classic style puzzle game, and it does that well. If you like that then you'll have fun with this game.

This game is really good! It starts as a simply Sokoban-like game, but quickly new systems are introduced that really make you think differently than most Sokoban-like games. The puzzles are great, really well designed, and never get too big, which is a mistake other indie devs often make with these types of puzzles. I really enjoyed it! The progression in difficulty is great and new systems are introduced often enough to always give you new ideas to explore. The game is also great at teaching you new systems and ideas directly through the puzzles, without requiring text or tutorials. Also, you have the ability to undo moves, which is great. The game took me a little over 3 hours to complete, but I must say, I've played way too many Sokoban-like games throughout the years, so you experience may vary. Reading other reviews, the standard completion time looks to be closer to 6 hours. Also, I still have a few levels to play that I skipped along the way and new bonus levels to complete. The game also keeps note of the time you take to complete a level and how many box pushes/pulls you did. There is no "goal time" or "goal moves", which I think is a good thing. It means you can still just concentrate on solving the puzzles, which is the important part in these games. If you want to do a better score, you can, but there no star system to distract you from the real goal. There is also no online leaderboard, but it could be fun to start an unofficial one in the forums if anyone's interested. This game adds a lot of new ideas, so there are some stuff that I found a little weird at first, like the fact that not only do you need to grab a box to drag it, you also need to grab it to push it, but for most of these little things, I see after playing it that they actually make sense. If we didn't need to use the grab button to push, we would push boxes when we're simply turning towards them to pull them. It's just small stuff that you need to get used to, but since there is a reason behind it it's really not a problem, and you'll get used to it soon enough. The default controls are also different than most Sokoban-like games, but you can change the controls in the settings, so I changed them to the standard controls used by Stephen's Sausage Roll and the likes and it felt more natural to me. Overall, I highly recommend Maze Burrow if you like Sokoban-like games. The puzzles are really good, really well designed, and a lot of fun to solve!

I've always been a big fan of sokoban (倉庫番, sōko-ban, "warehouse keeper") games. Maze Burrow absolutely captures the purity and playability of these games, all while twisting your brain inside out. The progression is fairly slick and I never found myself feeling held up by the difficulty curve. The puzzles themselves are satisfying, with action puzzler elements mixed in that fit nicely with the pace of the game. Reminds me of Little Magic (SNES) or Power Soukoban (SNES). Rewind and reset feature is slick (you'll be using it alot haha). The number of moves you make and the time each puzzle takes you is recorded - which makes for some odd moments like: 'How the heck did I solve that in 8 moves last time?' The menus, transitions etc. are really fast and let me rip through a bunch of puzzles in one sitting instead of waiting around. Used a keyboard first playthrough and using a PS3 (USB) controller this time around.

A good, retro-style puzzle game with some nice twists on the formula to make it worth playing. Block puzzles have been done before, but Maze Burrow has a nice selection of gimmicks and additions to make them feel new. Although the difficulty level is quite high later on, I rarely felt frustrated or incapable of solving the puzzle before me; the difficulty is mostly in figuring out a strategy for each level, and the addition of an undo button makes it far less tedious to get back to where you were. The soundtrack helps as well; it's very upbeat and never feels repetitive, but it's also background-y enough to let you focus on the puzzles. Unfortunately, the game is quite short; I took only about 6 hours to clear the campaign, though there are a few brutal bonus levels that open up once you defeat the final boss. Still, it's definitely worth a play if you're into puzzle games.

I love this game! Played it on the twitchplaypapermario channel and it was a great experience. Now that I have the real game it's fun to try to solve the rooms as fast as possible with the least amount of moves. Highly recommend!

I havent played much on steam but I have spent several hours playing this game on the developers other platform; TwitchPlaysPaperMario (you can play this game using twitch chat inputs!). The game has a wholesome retro charm with a perfect learning curve to its simplistic but eventually maddeningly complex gameplay. A real hidden gem! The dev is quick to respond to any requests. One of the best indie efforts you'll come across on steam.

このゲーム面白いです。押して引ける系のパズルで、倉庫番にはない楽しさがあります。よく練られていると思うステージも多いし、オリジナリティーも感じました。各ワールドの最後のステージはちょっと趣向が変わるのも好きです。これはガチで名作。セールでなくても買いです。

I just start this game, While I think this game is very fun, The only thing that bother me is when I win the level, instead of game go to next level immediately, It will back to the map and I have to move select the next level every time I win which I find it unnecessary inconvenient So the only complain is make the game go to next level after finish the level instead of go back to level selection.

Maze Burrow is a fun game that's simple in nature but puts plenty of its own twists on its puzzles as the game progresses. Each world consists of ten levels of pushing and pulling blocks with shapes on them to their respective slots, while navigating through tight corridors, as well as obstacles such as switches that move blocks in or out of your way. The end-of-world stages are particularly fun, pitting you directly against the mole antagonists, who attack by periodically throwing projectiles forward, and are defeated by pushing around pipe blocks to redirect their shots back at them. As someone that doesn't have a ton of experience with the sokoban genre, Maze Burrow is very approachable; I've played about four worlds in currently and the difficulty curve has been pretty smooth, several puzzles that stumped me for a bit until discovering a key insight or two. The levels are played in mostly a linear fashion, with occasional simple branching paths; as far as I'm aware isn't any content unlocked by meeting particular move counts or time requirements, but the game tracks your best scores and I imagine there's plenty of replayability for avid players to get their move counts optimized. The game's core movement, menus, and the "undo" / "reset" functions all feel responsive and snappy; I used a SNES-like controller and found the default controls intuitive, but the options allow for rebinding as you see fit, as well as switching between multiple modes for pulling blocks. The game's graphics are simplistic but clear to read, and the music is catchy, without ever being repetitive or distracting.