Please note I've used rendered art supplied by the publisher to avoid any use of spoilers.I think it takes a specific type of mind to come up with entertaining puzzles. I often wonder what kind of order you create them in. If you start with a set idea of the types of puzzles that you want to create, or if you fixate on making sure the route to the answer is as fun as it can be while still providing enough of a challenge. For me, I would struggle to make them uncomplicated beasts and not have the end player overworking their brain. Your job as a puzzle creator is make others feel empowered and successful without having to massage your own scheming enigma based ego.
Overview
Save Snowball is a escape room like numerical solution based puzzle game, where you will draw numbered cards that will present puzzles to you that you must solve that in turn will lead you to other numbered cards in the deck, all with the goal of finding your beloved rabbit Snowball.
Main Play
Save Snowball works like a classic Choose You Own Adventure game, expect instead of being presented with the choice of where you are meant to be going to next, you're given a series of clue cards that when figured out will give you a number for a card that will take you to the next part of the story. The clues work as miniature puzzles, often requiring more than one clue card to unscramble the way forward and you will end up occasionally working with three cards in front of your deciphering what the various images mean for you journey. As you play you'll end up working on more and more intricate puzzles. If you are unsure, then you'll be able to access clue cards to help you progress, with the last clue presenting you with the solution card. Get anything wrong and you'll be made aware you'll have to go back and try again. Get through enough puzzles and you'll solve the mystery and win the day. Though I'll leave that for you to find out.
Looks
Graphically Save Snowball is quite sterile in terms of its looks, with clear illustrations and sharp lines. This is to be expected when the puzzles are visual, but the presentation is colourful and the game looks delightful when it is laid out and you are working through the puzzles. Some of the line work and information is fairly small as you are working through a normal sized deck of cards, so make sure you are playing in a well lit room as I found I has to squint on some of the cards to make sure I was seeing the correct information.
Learning the basics is extremely easy to the point where the rule book is more like a leaflet than a tome of any kind. You'll pick up pretty quickly how you are meant to be approaching the puzzles once you have a couple under your belt.
Timing
You're likely to get through the rabbit based shenanigans within ninety minutes, but this a game where the timing isn't too important and there is nothing stopping you taking longer and making an entire evening of it with your group.
Final Thoughts
Escape Rooms and their smaller sibling puzzle genre need to get one thing right, that fine balance of making the puzzles easy enough to solve but making them a series of Eureka moments when the players are made to feel powerful and intelligent for thirty seconds before they approach the next task and feel flummoxed by it all again. I was expecting something small white and fluffy, but this game certainly has some teeth to it and it isn't afraid to get you thinking and over thinking and second guessing fairly early on in your time with it. There's a mixture of a ideal number of clues that are so obvious it definitely couldn't be that and absolutely turns out to be the answer, to the ones where you'll think you'll have something correct only to flip to the answer card and find that you've got it wrong. The clue cards are there for those who are wanting an easier run but most importantly there are potential replay options for the game in terms of how you complete it, which as far as I'm aware is not the norm with these types of puzzles. Is it perfect? Personally due to my eyesight I would think this could do with slightly bigger cards to make reading the clues easy to fathom out and there where other clues where I needed to use the additional help where I felt the puzzle was a little bit obscure. All in all, Save Snowball is a cute puzzle game with sharp teeth and a cutesy fluffy tail that isn't going to cost you much in carrots but will maybe help with how you see things.
This preview is based on the prototype version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid for this preview. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned. Quotations from this preview may possibly appear in relation to any marketing associated with this game.
The majority of the games that we play are going to take a reasonable number of sessions and playthroughs to fully understand every possibility that they offer. We hope this write up gives you an idea of whether or not this game is something that you will consider playing or even add to your collection. Our Six Degrees of Expectation have been written to make it easier for you to find out what is important to you as a player. Even if we don't like something, hopefully it helps you to decide if it is something that you should find out more about. We always suggest you check out a gameplay video to give you a better understanding of the game as it is played.
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