Snake Pass Slithers into Consoles March 28
After covering games like Rain World, and The Town of Light, it’s starting to feel like most of the PAX East demos were on the “dark and gloomy” side. Snake Pass makes for a great pallet cleanser!
Sumo Digital, contributors to LittleBigPlanet 3, will be releasing its first independent title later this month. Snake Pass follows the fun and colorful vein of 90’s collector games like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Wrap, weave, and slither your way through the land of Haven Tor. With your friendly hummingbird companion, gather orbs, gems, and coins while ridding Haven Tor of evil!
You’re bound to find the game mechanics tough at first. Noodle the Snake doesn’t have limbs to move or climb with, so you’ll need to swerve the controls back and forth to propel him forward. Once you’ve got the slithering down pat, you’ll have to learn to climb up walls and other surfaces. This move will require you to wrap part of Noodle’s body around a pole or tree trunk as you (literally) stick his neck out to reach the next landing. These controls can be tricky to learn, but with enough practice, you’re bound to get the hang of it. The developers like comparing the controls to driving a new car!
Fortunately, you’re not alone: Doodle the Hummingbird flies by Noodle’s side, ready to lend a hand. Use Doodle to lift the end of Noodle’s tail whenever you need an extra boost. This feature might not seem important at first, but you’ll be thankful for Doodle’s help when you’re struggling to slither from the edge of a cliff. That hummingbird saved Stack-Up from several Game Overs in the demo alone!
As you might expect from a Spyro-esque game, the goal of each level is to gather a certain number of gems and bring them to an altar. From there, you’ll jump to the next level and do the process all over again. Apart from the gems, you can also collect plenty of orbs trailing around the level like breadcrumbs, and a few rare coins placed in hard to reach areas. Collecting everything only gets you a few neat achievements, but it’s still a fun challenge.
Snake Pass has a winning combination of unique gameplay mixed with familiar themes. The game uses the nostalgic structure of titles you played decades ago, but the controls and mechanics make it something completely new. While the replay value might be low (unless you’re gunning for those last few coins you couldn’t reach earlier), there’s high hopes that Snake Pass will be popular with young and old gamers alike.
Snake Pass will make its US debut on Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows 10, and Nintendo Switch starting March 28. The game releases in Europe on March 29.
Comments