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One of the best rogue-lite games on mobile, hampered by poor performance | Review - Warm Snow

8K View2023-10-11

Warm Snow

9.1

Action RoguelikeActionMartial ArtsDemonsRoguelikeRPGTop-DownCharacter Customization

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✨Overview

Warm Snow is an exhilarating take on the action roguelike genre that draws comparisons to Hades due to its fast-paced combat and diverse build options. The game was recently made available on Android and iOS after a successful release on Steam last year, receiving critical acclaim.

🟩Pros
+Fun, Flashy, and Simple Combat Mechanics
+Impressive Chinese-Inspired Art and Visuals
+Diverse Character Builds and Experimentation
+Deep and Rewarding Progression
+High Replayability

🟥Cons
-Severe performance issues on mobile devices, including frame rate drops and font readability problems
-Awkward English translations.

📖Story

The narrative in Warm Snow takes a backseat to its rogue-lite structure. It is intricately woven into the levels and boss encounters, which evolve with each repeated run. While the storyline may not be as narratively deep as some other titles, it plays an essential role in the repetitive nature that defines the roguelike genre. Players should expect to uncover more about the game's lore and world even with repeating runs.

🎨Graphics and Art Style

Warm Snow draws inspiration from Chinese art, mythology, and culture, seamlessly blending elements of darkness and the undead. If you have a penchant for titles like Onimusha, Nioh, or Sekiro (even though they ARE japanese), you'll find familiar asian themes and aesthetics here. The game's art style and soundtrack are carefully crafted to immerse players in a world that feels authentic and atmospheric. This distinct artistic approach adds a layer of immersion and appeal despite the 2D style cartoonish graphics. The flashy and visceral visual effects are amazing and fits perfectly with the game's action-packed tone. The game features voice acting in Chinese with occasionally awkward English translations.

🎮Gameplay

Where Warm Snow truly exceedingly shines is in its gameplay. The game delivers fast, fluid, and immensely satisfying combat. Players can dodge, attack, and use abilities. On the mobile version, you also have the option to “tether” commands together, such as binding dodge and attack together, essentially serving as an in-game macro so that you’ll dodge and attack at the same time whenever these buttons are pressed. This is a cool feature that only makes the game more fun and agile feeling.

Drawing parallels to Hades is inevitable, yet Warm Snow offers its own distinct approach. Clear rooms, combat different types of enemies, and kill the boss to end the chapter. Next chapter, rinse and repeat. If you die, back from the start.

Through runs, you’ll be given options what path and loot to take, either currencies, relics, weapons, stat boosts, and more. As for the relics, these are items that literally changes your character's powers, and you can either equip it with one of four slots; Core, Power, Agility, and Skill, thereby changing their functions depending on the slot type. You can swap these relics with these slots anytime therefore providing extreme customizability in builds as you discover more relics. This aspect minimizes the potential frustration of relying on luck and random chance.

The game's depth extends further with a wide array of relics, swords, and numerous combat styles by way of the statues that are unlocked after each boss defeated. There are also various NPCs to be found across the levels that can grant you further rewards and augmentations. This abundance of options ensures that each playthrough feels distinct and exciting, and keeps on giving players options as they go deeper in the chapters.

⏫Progression

Despite having the ability to swap out relics to any of the four slots, the game still has a lot of reliance on luck and chance, at least in the first few hours of play. The relics and weapons you find are more randomized and chaotic in nature, as such, you’d almost never get your desired build or synergies during your first few hours of play. However, as you accumulate more in-game currency, you gain the ability to seal relics, effectively "banning" unwanted items and increasing the likelihood of others appearing. The longer you play, the more control you have over character development and experimentation, which proves rewarding for players, even in the face of a very unforgiving roguelike progression system that resets your progress to the beginning upon death.

The progression system is truly impressive, and there's an abundance of room for experimentation and combos, making each run a unique and captivating journey.
Having said that, the game is very grindy, even more so than Hades.

The rogue-lite progression system in "Warm Snow" is robust and engaging. Red Souls, a currency earned through defeating bosses during runs, are invested in passive skill trees. These offer substantial enhancements to the player's abilities. The game encourages continued exploration and lore discovery as part of meta-progression. This element provides a sense of achievement and a strong motivation for players to return to the game for more runs and deeper exploration.

Warm Snow also introduces three passive skill trees, each providing various passive bonuses that enhance gameplay. The meta-progression in the game is a key element, incentivizing players to explore, discover lore, and continue unlocking content.

📊Performance

While Warm Snow excels in the gameplay department, it faces a significant drawback in the form of performance on mobile devices. Playing on the lowest setting is the minimum requirement to achieve a stable 60fps, but this can lead to a pixelated mess in addition to the already small fontsizes.

Even with this, on my Snapdragon 888 phone, I've experienced severe FPS drops, especially when rapidly pressing the attack or dodge buttons. Interestingly, when I hold these buttons down instead to continuously attacking or dodging, the game seems to like prefer this technique and perform significantly better. Still, holding the buttons down isn't always a viable tactic, particularly against certain enemies and bosses. Overall, it definitely needs some more work with the optimization to be truly enjoyable from start to finish,

⚖️Conclusion

Warm Snow not only serves as a fantastic stopgap for eager fans awaiting for Hades 2, but also establishes itself as a distinct and engaging roguelite in its own right. Despite the performance issues on mobile, I definitely love this game and would even repurchase it for PC/Steam Deck so I’ll basically have a better performing experience, for now. It’s one of the best rogue-lite games I’ve played, but on mobile, performance issues hamper the overall experience.

Mentioned games

Warm Snow

9.1

Action RoguelikeActionMartial ArtsDemonsRoguelikeRPGTop-DownCharacter Customization

Get