Warm Snow is a beautiful game that will make you scream with rage. This tough endeavour will hand your arse to you regularly. Consequently, if you wish to make the most of this title, you’ll need the patience of a saint and a cool and calm mindset. However, if you don’t possess any of these characteristics, you’ll scream like a banshee and rage quit repeatedly.
This action rouge-lite was developed by bilibili Game and BadMudStudio and published by Microids. Moreover, this cruel endeavour has plenty of tactical moments and oodles of randomness to keep you playing. Accordingly, if you can wade through the maddening gameplay, you’ll discover a lore-rich experience and plenty of unique approaches.
Warm Snow tells a strange tale.
I love a mysterious story that is fuelled by interesting lore. Thankfully, Warm Snow has this in abundance. Additionally, it is laced with interesting characters, loads of weapons, and plenty of relics and skills. On top of this, there are zombified monsters, sinister animals, and an oppressive world to explore.
You are Bi An, a hardened warrior of the Longwu era. Furthermore, you are battle-hardened, but you have never witnessed anything like the odd non-melting “Warm Snow”. This strange event turns your world upside down and chaos and disaster strike. 5 houses stand between you and the White Lotus. However, facing this strange entity isn’t an easy task. Death surrounds you and failure is all but assured. But if you can discover new weapons and skills, you may have enough power to defeat each house and save humanity.
A typical rogue-lite endeavour.
Rogue-lite games are nothing new. Yet, I love the cruel and repetitive gameplay and the unforgiving nature of the genre. Luckily, Warm Snow sticks to well-trodden mechanics whilst adding plenty of swordplay and mountains of dashing. Furthermore, you can alter your hero’s build to match your gameplay style.
This customisable approach was phenomenal as it created a tailor-made experience that rewards the hardiest of gamers. As you die, and you will, you are blessed with the ability to improve your character. Whether you increase your health, strength, or relic prowess is entirely your choice. Alongside this, you never know how each playthrough will unfold!
As you complete each mini-stage, you are given a choice of paths to take. Each one has a unique reward, such as a new weapon, health, a boss fight, or a fresh skill or item. Consequently, this is where the random nature of the game begins. Furthermore, there is an essence of gambling, as you never know if the path will improve your current set-up.
Smooth combat.
As you enter each new arena, you must tackle wave after wave of monstrous creatures. I was never bored with these fast-paced encounters, as I loved the gore, cruelty, and impact of each new skill you discovered. Furthermore, the smooth combat was fascinating. You’d dive through your opponents whilst throwing knives or setting them on fire.
If you successfully slay your foes, you are rewarded with an ounce of their soul. This in-game currency can be spent to buy new gear or replenish your health. As such, collecting every soul you can is an important task. As the game progresses, it is imperative that you have the best relics to increase your agility, speed, strength, and so forth. If you do not, you do not stand a chance to defeat each boss or the White Lotus.
Warm Snow is beautifully gory.
Warm Snow takes inspiration from silk paintings and oriental poetry. Subsequently, the art style is unusual, but striking. I adored the isometric viewpoint and the simple but effective character models. Additionally, the animation is smooth and there is enough variety to keep you focused. Moreover, though it is gory, it doesn’t go too far. Consequently, it wasn’t a blood bath, and I liked the balance between beauty and brutality.
The audio gets things right as well. The oriental soundtrack matches the theme and the snippets of acting are sinister, cruel, and perfect for the arduous task you face. On top of this, I loved the hard-hitting sound effects and the squelching of your blade through zombified flesh.
Excellent controls.
This is one title that doesn’t ease up. As such, it would have been easy to become overwhelmed by the action. Luckily, Warm Snow keeps you ahead of the game with its excellent control layout. The responsive inputs and easy-to-understand controls ensure that, though the gameplay is tough, it is easy to pick up and play.
Warm Snow is loaded with replay value and longevity. This excels thanks to its customisable character build, an array of skills, abilities, weapons, and the RNG approach to each playthrough. Additionally, there are plenty of difficulty settings to test out and a selection of modes to tackle.
Warm Snow isn’t Hades, but it is still great.
Everyone knows that Hades is the King/Queen of this genre. Sadly, though, Warm Snow doesn’t hit that standard. However, it is exceptionally good, and I enjoyed it immensely. My only gripe is the sheer cruelty of the initial action and how repetitive it becomes. Subsequently, if you despise this approach, this will probably drive you insane. Yet, if you like to grind your way past every obstacle, you’ll enjoy every moment. As such, I liked it and I recommend that you buy it here! Can you master every skill and weapon and become a hero? Kill every monster, destroy the bosses, and overcome the White Lotus.
