Soko Loco is an adorable train tycoon from some prolific indies

(Image credit: Sokpop Collective)

The creators over at Sokpop Collective have cranked out a full game, which they sometimes do between making two full games every month for literally years now. Soko Loco Deluxe is a train tycoon with simple, relaxing gameplay and an adorable lofi aesthetic. It also has a pretty jammin chiptune soundtrack. Sokpop’s games are often fascinating little ideas, but are only rarely expanded into full-featured games. Soko Loco Deluxe definitely deserved the treatment.

Soko Loco is a nice change of pace from games like Transport Fever or Railway Empire or Mashinsky, all of which I love, but which can get quite complex at times. The design of Soko Loco simplifies the whole genre down to a puzzle of limited space, placement, and optimization. It only uses four resources and would make an excellent first game in the genre for those introducing friends and/or loved ones to their favorite time-consuming hobby. I’ve played about half the game and love what it does.

Based out of Utrecht, Sokpop Collective is a four-person indie thinktank/brainbox/incubatorium which runs a Patreon that funds the release of two games every month. They released the original Soko Loco on itch.io a little over a year ago, for $3.00, and it has since been expanded by one of their developers into this full release.

You can find Soko Loco deluxe on Steam.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.