Box #341 is a competent puzzle-platformer that’s charming enough, but doesn’t leave much of an impression. You control the titular Box #341, a sentient box with a terrible habit of losing its place in a warehouse. You must guide Box back to its slot while making sure it’s in the correct, upright position so it can be shipped away.
Movement in Box #341 is incredibly simple. Box can slide left or right, and jump – that’s it. That is, until you get the various liquids scattered throughout the warehouse involved. Most stages contain various coloured liquids Box can be dipped in, coating one of its faces and giving it a new property. For example, red liquid allows Box to jump higher while the green liquid will dissolve any wooden obstacles it touches. Experimenting with the liquids is where Box #341 is at its most fun and creative. Needing to take Box’s orientation into account made for some tricky puzzling and decently fun platforming over the course of my two hour playthrough.
In fact, most of the puzzles themselves are well designed. Some of them left me stumped for a while but you can restart any stage with the press of a button and quick reload times meant they never felt overly arduous. I also found Box #341 does an excellent job introducing new mechanics. Different liquids are added over time, and then expanded on in increasingly challenging rooms. Similarly, moving platforms and locked doors are introduced gradually to keep the difficulty curve steady.
Unfortunately, that’s all there really is to say about Box #341. The levels are all designed well enough, but none of them stick out as particularly memorable. The biggest issue is in the game’s frankly bland aesthetic. Every single stage shares the same warehouse location, meaning it’s gray concrete for all 100 levels. The looping piano track that accompanies these stages is pleasant, but similarly grows tiring. Even with the game’s overall short length, there’s a lack of variety that makes everything feel repetitive.
This extends to the game’s story. Box #341’s incredibly simple set-up, being about a Box trying to get back into its slot, is perfectly fine for a puzzle platformer. But there are hints at a greater story given through light cutscenes every few stages featuring Box talking with a variety of animals inhabiting the warehouse. Unfortunately, the story goes nowhere and none of the characters have particularly memorable personalities. It leaves the whole game feeling empty and I kept wishing for something more attention grabbing.
I also ran into a number of rather frustrating technical issues such as becoming stuck inside walls or bizarrely simply not being able to jump. Given how short each level is and how quickly you can restart them these glitches were never game-breaking, but in a game as simple as Box #341 any technical issues stand out.
As a cozy puzzle game, Box #341 is fine. It’s pleasant, the puzzles are relatively fun, and it provides a decent challenge without being too mentally taxing. But in the pantheon of puzzle games, or even the incredibly specific niche of box-based puzzle-platformers, Box #341 does nothing to stand out and feels destined to be forgotten.
