As far as roguelites go, SNAKE FARM has to be one of the more unusual types that I have came across (and also had the pleasure of experiencing!) as the general premise of it may remind one of those real-life facilities that are often use for the breeding of snakes to collect not just their venom for various medications but also for the usual scientific research and whatnot. Of course, with this being a video game, said premise takes things up several notches as here the goal is to collect not so much their venom but rather 'snake oil' as it were, a valuable 'currency' of sorts which I'll touch upon shortly, by means of essentially cleaning out the farm of said snakes, rarely ever going down without a fight as is especially the case here with just how many snakes you can come up against at once alongside the sheer strength and violence of them too! To go directly into the gameplay side of things, you take control of what is supposedly not a human farmer but rather a 'oil harvester drone' of sorts who is commissioned to eliminate the fully-grown snakes for their prized oil (an intriguing enough concept where the currency itself doubles as a means of keeping your own health up alongside serving as the means towards gold itself) although actually defeating them is easier said than done! Since this game boasts a grand total of 38 unique snake types, 9 of which are bosses, it is without a doubt that the main challenge of this game comes from dealing with the many snakes and their special methods of attacking that makes approaching this roguelite not just a simple 'farm the easiest snake with the most oil' method as I'll speak more in-depth later on. Obviously before one begins a run, the player has to choose one of four packs as of the writing of this review, these currently being Base, Curse, Worm and Chaos, each of which has it's own host of weapons that you will need to pick one out of to start the game with alongside a sizeable amount of the snake roster so that each pack feels separate from the next. Once the game begins, you are thrown into the field to face off against whichever (or however many) snakes you have 'bought' via the starting currency of 3 oil at the beginning of the game to extract said oil from in a bid to gain more the following day, should you slay them in battle, as one thing to note is that any snake purchase will respawn the next day alongside any newly purchased ones, up to a big total of twenty in which any new snakes will replace those with the lowest oil value for defeating them. (This is to likely to ensure that you aren't swarmed by hordes of them once you reach the final day, although this can cause problems depending on your type of build) Now each snake has a different kind of attack style, since some will rush at you to bite you or dash through you given the opportunity, others will squirm towards you in a semi-direct manner to hit you via brushed dirt from behind them or the electricity swarming their bodies whilst a few snakes will take a more 'passive' approach by either obstructing your path with harmless clutter or spiky obstacles that hurt you when touched as well as trading the strength of their attacks and the durability of their snakeskin in exchange for sheer agility and speed alongside other abilities to make them much harder to hit. All of these, on their own, aren't actually that hard at all, though it's when you throw multiple different kinds in together (something the game encourages as each snake bought will raise the price by 1 gold, meaning you get less return for oil farmed the more you buy it for the farm) coupled with increasingly more powerful forms as you progress from day 1 to 10 that makes the roguelite truly shine as not only does the shop change the 3 snakes on offer each day, with more powerful snakes becoming common the further you delve into it, but so does the perks on offer that you can also buy with your gold to aid you in your future battles against the increasing numbers and threats brought about by said snakes! Speaking of which, the perks themselves are also varied amongst each of the four packs, since most of these are useful in some manner (some of my personal favourites include the Head-Hunter/Sidewinder Belt that increase the damage dealt on either the head or body parts of the snake which certain weapons on specific snakes are more ideal towards than others alongside the Snake Eyes that adds risk via 'cursed' snakes that are twice as hard to take down but also reward double the amount of oil which is a must for any skilled highscore chasers!) albeit it largely depends on your playstyle as I did find two or three to be almost useless based on how I played the game, hence the 'roguelite' element of getting the right perks to show up although it is worth noting that your chosen weapon is guaranteed to show up until it has been maxed out at level 6 alongside your second perk being guaranteed to appear up until you buy a third or more, in which case it is based on roughly what level of perk they are. Honestly, I quite liked the challenge offered by SNAKE FARM, seeing as it rewards intuitive players who have the fast reflexes and good tactical thinking to face off against increasing challenges from the many snakes at a rate faster than those who may prefer to play it slow and safe at first, seeing as it gives plenty of power to multiple playstyles assuming you are willing to experiment and take the necessary risks depending on your skill levels which feels truly satisfying once you learn how to battle the snakes at a more advanced level. Though to throw in some criticisms, some of which are justifiable whilst others are mere nitpicks, no doubt the graphics are plain and pixelated, which is the given for many a young and new indie developer these days but this will put off those who want a more flashier and stylized type of game. Also the game can become formulaic once you have played it for long enough although, at that point, you will have likely put in 10+ hours and possibly even 100% all of the achievements on this game which, considering the price point, isn't too bad for the amount of fun you can get out of it. Other than the odd gameplay issue where you can become trapped and have zero way of escaping outside of a specific weapon in the Worm pack or fighting your way out by quickly slaying the snakes trapping you by circling around you constantly before they kill you with their own attacks, (which can be easily avoided if you are careful or have the right perks to either speed past the dangers of being ensnarled by the snakes or have enough defence to tank multiple hits before you can free yourself) I'd safely say that SNAKE FARM is quite the charming little project for a new and interesting roguelite that is well-worth giving a good bash if you are on the lookout for something refreshing here! TLDR Version: • SNAKE FARM offers a new venue for roguelites via 'farming' a wide variety of snakes to kill in a growing cycle of difficulty versus reward (+) • Five different weapons that support entire branches of unique gameplay styles to use against 38 different types of snakes alongside dozens of perks to aid you in combat (+) • The action is quick and rewarding and the challenge can be as gentle or as intense as you are willing to risk, with more oil comes more purchased snakes with additional risk for even more oil (+) • Many different highscore boards for each unique weapon for each of the four packs that host their own selection of snakes and perks (+) • Graphics are simple and without any flair or style to them, resulting in a rather plain-looking game that will put off some (-) • Snakes can often 'ensnare' the player by trapping them with their own bodies circling around them, which could prove frustrating for newer/inexperienced players to the genre (-) • Gameplay does eventually become repetitive after some time, with little to change up the formula (-)
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