Space Ducks: The great escape for Windows

A wild space block puzzle game

Space Ducks: The great escape is a casual puzzle video game wherein you must help a tribe of strange duck-people escape planets and journey to new ones. Developed by 6 Toad Games, this 3D puzzle platformer features Sokoban puzzle gameplay and an arcade-like atmosphere with its graphics and music.

Like other block puzzle games, Space Ducks: The great escape offers dozens of levels to complete. However, you can’t redo them after completion unless you reset your save file. This game is part of the CosmOS 9 bundle of space-themed puzzle games but can be availed on its own.

Save the duck tribe from gravity

In Space Ducks: The great escape, you play as one of the duck characters who end up stranded on a small planet. Your goal is to reach the planet’s fuel reserve—a glowing green-spotted block—and then make your way back to your ship. However, each step you take can disturb your terrain, so you’ll need to plot how to do these sequences and avoid getting stuck.

There are more than 18 planets to escape from, and each consists of loose terrain blocks somewhat connected to firmer steel blocks. The trick is to step on them, knowing that there’s another block next to their empty space waiting for them—otherwise, you’ll get whisked away by gravity. This also flings away obstacles, freeing up paths. “Sokoban” or block-pushing is the name of this neat puzzle gameplay style. 

If you mess up, there’s an Undo and a Retry button. In later stages, you also get more ducks to switch to and control to help move the blocks around. However, this game doesn’t have a tutorial and only displays your keyboard controls. The difficulty scales pretty quickly, too, and there’s usually only one solution available. It can be rewarding once you find the right solution, though.

Unique and challenging

Overall, Space Ducks: The great escape is a nice little Sokoban puzzle game if you want something a bit interesting in the subgenre. It has several challenging levels and while the difficulty spikes up fairly early on, it’s still quite satisfying when you figure out the proper sequence despite the puzzles being quite limiting. This is a highly recommended title if you’d like to try something new in block-pusher gameplay.