For the last few years, my hometown of Bruges, Belgium – known for its wide variety of cultural traditions – has been making an effort to integrate video games within its offerings through a festival called Playtime. At the most recent edition, all the way back in 2025, I was wandering around the city’s theatre building, taking in all of the installations and indie games on offer, when I stumbled upon Club Soko. Its art style immediately spoke to me, with it being reminiscent of the best Flash games from back in the day. And who doesn’t enjoy a good Sokoban-style puzzle game? So I decided to sit down and play the demo right then and there.
I also got chatting with one of the developers about how they were only a small team called Miracle Tea and how they were passionate about anything and everything indie gaming. It was a lovely chat, and I decided I would keep my eye on this game whenever it would release. I was sent off with a really cool sticker (I love me a good indie game sticker), and for the past year I have been patiently waiting for this day to arrive. Now that the game is finally here, let me tell you why you should play it!
Club Soko, as the name suggests, is a Sokoban-style puzzle game, which means you will be pushing things and people to find your way through each level. These levels are grid-based, which really suits the setting of an underground nightclub rather well. You play as Maude, a graffiti artist who is trying to find her way through the entire building, tagging up walls and floors along the way.
Moving from floor to floor is really interesting, as each of them has its own distinct setting and music. This varies from traditional techno sounds and visuals to a more metal motif – including a circle pit, which surely has to be a first for any kind of puzzle game – and even stranger things the deeper you go. There’s more to this nightclub than meets the eye, and it’s up to you to discover exactly what’s going on. That’s not to say the story is anything groundbreaking: this game is all about its puzzles and setting, with any narrative serving mostly as a background for everything else.
That’s not a bad thing at all, though, as the puzzles are highly addictive. You’ll have to move across dancefloors, shoving amplifiers and other visitors alike to make it to each exit. Every object and person behaves differently when shoved or moved: amplifiers will move when you shove them but will not budge if anyone else tries to move them; bouncers will shove you instead of the other way around; mimes will copy every single move you make, and so on. Every new interaction is integrated at a good pace, meaning you’ll never get bored with the same challenges as your brain will be tickled constantly.
Your puzzling is helped along by two important buttons: one will reset the entire level, while the other is an undo button which will, obviously, undo your last move. These can be very helpful the further along you go, as these puzzles do become harder and harder, although never frustratingly so. While I was playing, I did get stuck at times, which wasn’t handy, as there are no walkthroughs available before the game is out, but each time I just put the game down for a while, came back to it when my mind was a bit clearer, and ultimately found my way through. I never got angry because a puzzle felt unfair or impossible, even if it did take me a while to figure everything out with some of these rooms.
There’s an extra challenge for diehard enthusiasts, where you can solve levels within a certain amount of moves to earn an achievement, and earning one of those feels so incredibly satisfying. Then there are two types of secret rooms to find as well, for those who really want a challenge, as well as stickers and other secrets available to unlock. Even though each level has a certain way to be solved, there is replayability here for those looking for that.
So much love that has gone into Club Soko. It clearly has a passion for nightlife, with the game being a digital, interactive tribute to going out clubbing or going to see concerts, as the different kinds of characters in each level are very familiar to anyone who has done any of these activities before, like the ravers who hug you (and then leave you on their other side). And then there’s an added layer of love for indie gaming, with there being plenty of characters from other games to discover within the game. I wasn’t aware of this feature before I started playing and was absolutely delighted to see someone from Wax Heads in attendance on one of the floors.
With 6 floors total and plenty of puzzles on each floor, there is a brilliant time to be had here. It also respects your time, with a full playthrough taking about five hours, helped along by how easy it is to pick up and play in short bursts. Its gameplay feels incredibly intuitive, and the developers have even tried to make the game more accessible by adding a chill music mode for those of you who need something more calming in the background while puzzling and even a puke toggle for anyone sensitive to seeing someone puke their guts out after you shove them.
Has Club Soko been worth the wait, then, after spending an entire year anticipating it? Absolutely. I haven’t been the biggest Sokoban fan before playing, as I am often a little too, well, stupid to engage with its puzzles, but during my time with this game I actually felt quite smart. I’m not saying that the puzzles here are easy, but thanks to the gameplay, it felt easy to engage with and figure them out eventually, while its nightclub setting is welcoming and intriguing. And that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give Miracle Tea: they made the game accessible without having to make it easier. Fantastic work.
