On Jan 19th, the Chinese Rogue-lite action game Warm Snow was released on Steam. The game was published by Bilibili and Developed by BadMudStudio. The 91% positive reviews from a total of 6,874 reviews give it a “Very Positive” review rank.
A screenshot from Steam shows the game has 91% positive reviews.
Warm Snow has strong Wuxia elements. The Wuxia genre comes from Chinese literature, where heroic swordsmen combat evil with martial arts and other special abilities. The story of Warm Snow is all about a young swordsman trying to save the world by fighting evil royal families and he is using a fantasy martial technique called “flying sword”. The game’s UI has many recognizable Chinese word elements like “破”(Break) or “氣”(Ki). All this puts Warm Snow in a similar vein to classic Hong Kong Wuxia films.
Defeating a boss in the game will cause huge Chinese words meaning “the evil has been slain” to pop up.
As an action rogue-lite game, the combat in Warm Snow is satisfying. Waves of enemies will swarm to players and be annihilated in the blink of an eye. Even the strongest boss cannot remain standing long with a good combination of power-up items like tomes, relics, and weapons. The visual and sound feedback is decent and makes the whole experience better. Many reviewers have favorably compared Warm Snow to the game Hades.
A Gif showing an example of the fast-paced, thrilling combat in game
Players will unlock statues after defeating chapter bosses. Each statue will provide two different playstyles. For example, “Sun Piercer” will change the flying sword into a freaking laser cannon if the players hold and release the button at a specific time. The game has six statues in total which means 12 different playstyles, providing good replayability, which is important for a rogue-lite game where players often get defeated and must start over again.
A screenshot of the “Carousing Acalantha” statues in game.
Defeat is always frustrating in rogue-lite games. Especially when you finally build up a strong character and suddenly lose all the progress just because you made a careless and reckless move. It seems Warm Snow wants to make the defeat frustrating but also funny with a special sense of humor. When the player is defeated in Warm Snow, they will get a Game Over screen showing a huge Chinese word “该”. It means “someone deserved a bad consequence” and is often used when elder family members blame their children. The idea is strongly inspired by Sekiro’s death screen “死 ” and a funny mod that replaces the word with “菜” (meaning “noob” in Chinese). They also provide options to change the word into something less trolling.
A screenshot of the game over screen in game.
The story of Warm Snow is attractive even if a story is less important for a rogue-lite game’s success. Players will find shattered lore pieces during their playthrough and reveal the hidden secret behind the story. The unexpected Cthulhu elements perform seamlessly in a Wuxia game and better depict a desperate and dark world.
Warm Snow is certainly a title worth checking out for players who can't have enough rogue-lite games.