Previews

Develop 2014: Hands-on with snow-pushing heart-warming puzzler A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build

Crunchy

Develop 2014: Hands-on with snow-pushing heart-warming puzzler A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build

I just hugged a snowman. Not in real life though. I wish I had, because Develop is like a sauna. A sauna full of games and lanyards and monetisation strategies.

A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build is a sweet third person puzzler that sees you poking a little black creature around snow-strewn levels. Each of these levels is split into smaller gardens, and each of these gardens contains a selection of snowballs.

The aim of the game is to roll these balls into a three-tier snowman. And then hug it. You don't have to hug it, but it'll make you feel good if you do.

But rolling the balls in snow makes them bigger, and you need specifically-sized balls to make the perfect snowman.

You need to work out how to push the crunchy snow together without ending up with three giant useless balls that your weak arms can't lift.

And it's tough. The clue's in the name. I'm playing a PC build with a 360 controller, but I'm assured there's a touchscreen version on the way at some point.

The first few snowmen go together nicely. The snow makes that squeaky creaky noise that snow makes, and the ambient soundtrack makes everything feel nice and happy.

I'm not sat on a precarious stool sweating in a conference hall, I'm pushing snow and snow is cold.

As well as hugging the snowmen you can sit on benches. It's nice to sit on benches and think about what you're going to do next.

You don't have to sit on benches, but I do, and imagine the cold snow on my toes.

I get to the last puzzle and my heat-and-hangover addled brain gives in. It's not that it's too hard, I just want to go and hug the snowmen again and let their stick arms soothe me to sleep.

Instead I go outside and stare at the sea and pretend there's a breeze. There isn't a breeze. There isn't any snow.

But I want to hug the snowmen again.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.