A Good Snowman is Hard to Build - Switch Review
"Who knew building snowmen could be this tricky?"
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build is about a strange monster who has taken time out from his other adventures in A Monster’s Expedition to come to this wintery wonderland to set his sights on one goal - to build the perfect snowman. Roll snowballs and solve puzzles, quite like some other lovely crafted puzzle games, such as Sokobond and Cosmic Express. And don't forget to make a few friends along the way!
The Good
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to its core gameplay; this is a block pusher akin to the classic Sokoban and the upcoming Akurra but with a snowy twist. You’re tasked with pushing smaller snowballs through the snow that’s proven within each puzzle area to create the right size that is required to build the perfect snowman.
Pushing a smaller snowball twice through the snow will create a larger one, pushing them once through the snow will create a medium sized one and finally, the smallest snowball shouldn’t be pushed at all through any snow as this is normally the snowman's head. This is where the puzzle element comes into play as using the larger snowballs to create a safe path for the smaller ones prevents them from gaining mass. It becomes interesting as you’re always required to have a larger base for the body, medium size ball for the chest and little ball for the head. The challenge is getting these snowballs to the right position. While the first few puzzles start off fairly easy, new obstacles (like bird baths and benches) start to appear within the garden, adding extra obstacles to manoeuvre around. It’s a tricky mechanic that works fantastically once you get the hang of it. If this sounds complicated to you, try not to worry as you can press the B button to undo a move or the X button for a quick reset and this is very much appreciated.
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build has a very relaxing soundtrack, keeping you calm and focused on the task at hand. Completing this game will unlock new sections of the garden, expanding the areas you can explore and giving you access to more puzzles and wonderful melodies. There are also plenty of cute little interactions that you can perform, such as hugging the snowmen, leaning against hedges or sitting on benches, to name a few. Doing these will also change the music, which is a nice touch.
TL;DR
- Very relaxing gameplay loop
- Charming, cute interactions
- Soothing music
The Bad
Once you’ve completed all 20+ levels, there’s nothing really left to do here. A Good Snowman is Hard to Build isn’t an expensive game so once you’re done with these levels, you’ll need to go elsewhere for more block-pushing puzzles.
When you’re walking around, you can sometimes brush up against a wall and our monster friend will automatically lean against it. When you’re simply trying to navigate around the maze-like garden and your monster insists on interacting with something that you didn’t mean to touch, this quickly becomes annoying. It’s not a huge deal but it happened quite a bit to me while I was playing and it got old real quick!
While the puzzles can be enjoyable in small doses, they can grow to be a little repetitive after a while, especially when they become frustrating. After completing the main game, there’s an extra dimension that allows you to teleport by using the benches, taking you to the bonus dream puzzles. However, I’m not really sure what this is all about. I found a grave stone with a percentage on it but it’s all quite ambiguous; the game doesn’t communicate this additional content well to the player.
TL;DR
- Lack of replayability
- Leaning against walls
- Ambiguous post-game content
Final Score: 7/10
Who knew building snowmen could be this tricky? A Good Snowman is Hard to Build is a unique and relaxing romp throughout its 20+ puzzles. It’s not the longest game ever created but it won’t overstay its welcome. It’s a nice little puzzler to play over the weekend if you’ve always wanted to make the perfect snowman.
Thank you for checking out our A Good Snowman is Hard to Build Switch review, thank you to Draknek & Friends for providing the review code and thank you to our $5 and up Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
For more reading, check out our review of Dice Legacy.