Video game frogs should either stick to the roads or detective work, not shovelling snow. Unfortunately for the folk in Froggy Hates Snow, that’s exactly what they must do in this upcoming frog-like from Crying Brick. Why does Froggy hate snow, and why did the last sentence say ‘what they must do’? Are we using their desired pronouns, or is Froggy a plural?
For some reason or another, our hero finds themselves within a freezing biome that will literally kill them if they don’t wrap up like their parents always warned them. Froggy literally resides in a very literal bubble – a bubble of heat. This bubble is their safe zone for when returning to stash their haul, or to warm up. He/she/it/they will step out into the shoulder-deep snow, spinning their arms frantically to clear a path. What’s that shiny thing on the floor? Treasure!
Froggy Hates Snow features two distinct modes: survival and peaceful. I genuinely didn’t know I was in the second mode and wondered why there were tool-tips about combat, yet I knew how to attack. More on that in a moment. With both modes, the goal is to collect the treasure, or gems, take them back to your bubble and then upgrade your abilities. This part would be your rogue-like loop, as hauling these gems can improve a plethora of skills.
Each skill focuses on different areas, such as the speed at which you move, how fast you dig and gather gems, how much you can carry in your backpack, then later cart, and attack power (for the survival mode), plus evasion via rolling, and much more. Interestingly, each upgrade really makes a difference – notably the digging speed when you get a shovel, and wearing a scarf to combat the cold. Remember that bit about going to the bubble to warm up?
You have a small gauge to begin with that will deplete, causing you to freeze and lose health until you reach the bubble. Lose all your health, and you’ll be the main course in a French restaurant. Health is available through gems. There are different colours with different ‘abilities’, so first-aid requires yellow and red, while blue gems can be used to unlock permanent abilities and potentially new characters. There’s the ‘they’ in Froggy Hates Snow: multiple characters, all called Froggy?
The peaceful mode is genuinely relaxing, and while there are objectives to unlock chests and locate the exit, I found myself compelled to clear ALL the snow in each run. It’s a bit like PowerWash Simulator for that repetitive, restoration familiarity that’s so darn therapeutic. Alas, doing everything on my first attempt was a letdown as I required 5 keys to open the exit and only had 4 left after everything else, and there weren’t any other keys to find. I exited and started again, though pleased to see that my progress had chipped away at the extras.
In the Froggy Hates Snow preview, there was a good amount to see once I dabbled in the survival mode. A similar focus as the peaceful option, but the difference is that there are 10 waves of enemies to defeat, using automated attacks if standing still or manually if you prefer, followed by a boss. Another difference in game modes is deciding whether you wish to stay on until the boss or exit through the door early, thus keeping your loot. The benefits of this are that you unlock artefacts that can be used in each run, giving you a perk or two, such as faster digging or cheaper upgrades.
While peaceful mode is enjoyable, unlocking the second of the three available characters with their spit attack made it a lot of fun. I tinkered with both automated and manual attacks and was quite surprised that I preferred the automated option, as it mimics the automation when collecting gems. Froggy Hates Snow is a weird concept when taken to one side for a chat; however, it really has all the recipes for a rogue-like: the loop, the progress, but also that element of chill factor (literally and figuratively) by making snow paths and hoarding gems. Keep an eye on this one, it’s cool.
