Froggy Hates Snow Review

A Chilly Blend of Cozy Vibes and Roguelike Grit

Froggy Hates Snow is a unique entry into the roguelike genre, in that it combines cozy vibes with roguelike replayability for a wholly unique experience. The question is, how well do cozy vibes mesh with what is normally an intense and high stakes game genre?

Each run in Froggy Hates Snow involves exploring a snowy landscape, with various structures and obstacles placed around it, and buried supplies hidden in the snowscape that envelopes you. Within the snowdrifts you’ll find gold, gems, upgrades, and more which can be used to upgrade and expand your frogs skills. 

Of course, the name of the game is Froggy Hates Snow, which by proxy means Froggy isn’t a huge fan of the cold either. This means returning to the heat bubble located at the centre of the level, as well as smaller discoverable heat bubbles scattered around the level, to maintain an appropriate body temperature. After all, frogs are cold blooded and have no means of maintaining their body heat unless they are in the sun, or in this case, bundled up with a cozy scarf and comforting fire.

Choose Your Path

There are two ways to play Froggy Hates Snow. There is a traditional roguelike mode, which features a difficulty level that includes waves of enemies that will spawn in and fight your frog of choice. There are ten of these waves throughout the course of a run, which culminate in a boss fight that needs to be cleared to complete the level. 

Alternatively, there is also a hidden door somewhere on the stage which can be discovered and unlocked to bypass the boss fight. This door needs to be unlocked with a number of keys that are scattered around the level and need to be dug up. These also unlock crates, as well as a special chest that grant blue gems that are used for permanent unlocks between runs. The crates and chest will also grant an upgrade – or multiple upgrades – which improve the frog’s ability for the remainder of the current run.

Gems and gold are used to upgrade your frog’s abilities. This can be done at any of the heat bubbles placed throughout the map. Different abilities have a different number of upgrade tiers, ranging from increasing how many supplies are gathered at once, how much can be carried, how quickly the frog digs, attack power, and the effectiveness of various abilities that are unlocked throughout the run.

Froggy is the first unlocked character, but there are several other frogs that can be unlocked after completing challenges and spending blue crystals. Each frog will start with different attacks and abilities, but more abilities can be added to each for the duration of the run by beating enemy waves. These abilities include adding items like a scarf that improves heat retention, or a cart that increases carrying capacity. But it also adds special abilities; a resource locator or explosives that can hurt enemies or clear ice. Each of which has their own use during the course of a run.

When Cold-Blooded Mechanics Meet Winter Foes

While there are a range of abilities to choose from and unlock, which improve exploration and combat, at the end of the day, the combat is fairly lackluster. The core mechanics of Froggy Hates Snow revolve around slowly digging through snow to uncover resources, while avoiding succumbing to the cold. This means most movement is fairly slow and stiff, which makes sense playing as a frog in what amounts to a winter hellscape for them.

But this slow movement also means sluggish combat. Enemies don’t move too fast, but neither does your frog. There is a dodgeroll, which makes avoiding enemies easier, but attack registration never feels great, and even some of the dodging is a bit awkward. When enemy waves spawn in, a ring gets cut out of the area, where the frog is trapped until all enemies are defeated.

Several waves will spawn in sequence, while a torch burns in the center of the arena. This torch can be used to refill the heat gauge, so even if you are caught far away from the heat bubble, it doesn’t spell doom for your frog companion.

On medium difficulty, the combat is challenging. Enemies and traps hit fairly hard, and the only way to heal is through the use of manual upgrades that are limited in number. This means that it’s possible to reach the boss fight with limited health and nothing to do about it. Hit registration and dodging also don’t feel the best, and dying forces you to replay the entire run if you want to complete challenges or unlock the next stage. This is a bit frustrating as the gathering sequence between boss fights isn’t necessarily challenging, and replaying the entire level can feel tedious.

Turning Off the Heat

To unlock new stages, surviving is a requirement though, which means it’s much easier to progress with the fights turned off. Because not only do these eliminate the need to fight waves of enemies, but they give you unlimited time to complete the other level challenges. The game normally ends after the final enemy wave, or if you die. When there aren’t any enemy waves, the only way to complete a level is by finding and unlocking the hidden escape door, which means you have as much time as you need to do the rest of the challenges. Not only that, but the challenge that focuses on clearing all enemy waves gets changed to completing some of the random challenge events that spawn in the level.

This is great for players that don’t want to experience any of the combat sequences, but it does ensure that Froggy Hates Snow is then incredibly easy. The only way to fail with combat encounters turned off is by dying to damage from the random challenge encounters or by freezing to death. But freezing to death doesn’t happen immediately when the heat gauge depletes. See, the frog only takes minimal damage and loses the ability to dig. Simply backtracking to the nearest heat bubble replenishes the gauge and sets things back to normal.

Again, this is great for casual players, but limits the challenge for anyone interested in a more intense experience.

Immaculate Vibes vs. Lackluster Action

Ultimately your experience with Froggy Hates Snow is going to depend on what your expectations for the game are. If you are looking for a high stakes roguelike with thrilling combat, then you are going to be sorely disappointed. Yet should you be in the market for a chill vibes game that you can just relax and zone out with, all while playing as some wonderfully animated frogs, then Froggy Hates Snow is a home run hit. 

This gives me a split opinion on the game overall. As someone that enjoys roguelikes for their challenge and high replayability, Froggy Hates Snow misses the mark on the combat and challenge aspects. But the atmosphere and vibes cultivated are immaculate. The calm soundtrack, with the cool winter aesthetic and bundled up frog, just make you want to sit in front of a fire with a cup of hot cocoa. When the combat encounters are turned off, there is no pressure and it’s easy to just wander around and enjoy the vibes that the game lays out.

Players that want a challenge aren’t going to enjoy Froggy Hates Snow. Players that just want a game to vibe to will probably love Froggy Hates Snow. Personally, I feel it falls flat in the combat sections, whilst the exploration and discovery are too easy with the combat disabled. But there is no doubt there will be many players looking for a casual, care-free experience, which may make Froggy Hates Snow a perfect fit. If you find yourself in that camp, don’t let my rating of the game stop you from trying it for yourself as it may just be the perfect fit for your tastes.

Important Links

Froggy Hates Snow Combines Cozy Vibes With Frozen Panic – https://www.thexboxhub.com/froggy-hates-snow-combines-cozy-vibes-with-frozen-panic/

Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/froggy-hates-snow/9pl8dtbffv0t