Like clockwork, it’s another friday, so that means another game to review! This week I take a look at A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, a game I bought when it was on sale due to a snow day here in the UK. So without further ado, here’s my thoughts on the game.
First up, AGSIHTB grabs your attention from the offset due to it’s absolutely charming design, and sweet animation. No matter how long you play the game, you’ll consistently be surprised at how cute the game is, especially given how few assets are on display here. Each snowman/woman you successfully create has its own unique look, leading you to believe they have their own personalities, despite them being technically inanimate objects. It’s charming, and down right amazing in your entire time with the game.
So, I should probably at this point talk about the game’s core loop. So here’s to elevator pitch: AGSIHTB is a puzzle game where you must explore a maze, creating snowpeople as you go along. Each section of the maze will be a different shaped room, which restricts you in your ability to create the snowpeople, leading you to think of different ways to the solution. Each room usually starts off with 3 snowballs – roll a snowball over a patch of snow and it’ll create a slightly larger boulder. Roll once more and you’ll get the maximum size. You must pile 1 small, 1 medium, and 1 large snowball on top of each other to finish a room, which is a lot harder than it sounds.
You see, medium sized snowballs CANNOT touch another piece of snow without becoming bigger, meaning you’re constantly watching and analysing rooms to see how you can make 1 large boulder, whilst avoiding snow to ensure the others don’t get any bigger. This complication can be irritating as hell at times, but the feeling of elation you get when solving a difficult room is exhilarating, enough to keep me playing throughout one day to the games completion.
Outside of building snowpeople, there’s not much more to do around the environment. You can sit on benches, hug completed snowpeople, and look through telescopes to see the whole map, but other than that, you’re stuck with just solving puzzles.
There’s not much to say in regards to the music – it’s cute, and is there, but otherwise, you’re more than welcome to play the game on silent on your mobile, or whilst listening to an audiobook. I personally played the game whilst watching youtube videos, which was perfect, as I was able to execute a guess at a puzzle, and whilst the person was animated in doing that action, I could then continue watching the TV.
There’s no story to speak off – you wonder around, create snowpeople who each have names and different accessories, and finish the game once you’ve completed each puzzle. There’s more after you’ve completed it all, but I shan’t go into that as I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
So overall, I know I haven’t written much, but that’s because AGSIHTB is to the point and genuinely lovely to play. Some would say the lack of anything else to do would be a detriment to the game, but I feel it made AGSIHTB all the more better for being a purely cute puzzle game. If you fancy a game on the go, and love puzzle games based on moving things around a given space, then A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build is the game for you.
4/5
