See, I understand the disappointment towards this game and, to an extent, I feel it myself. I never got around to playing The Stick of Truth and The Broken But Whole (I absolutely have to though!) and the trailer for this when announced at (I believe) The Game Awards last year left me awfully mild because of its focus on the co-op aspects of the game rather than its roguelike elements. After playing through the campaign, I feel it deserves just a little bit more than that.
Snow Day is a budget game retailing at only $30 and honestly it shows. The game's campaign features only 5 chapters and nothing else to do around the main map of South Park officially, each ranging from about 20 to 45 minutes and the only reason to continue playing are a free horde DLC, a difficulty modifier postgame in the form of "infernal maps" and a perk system using an in-game collectable. With the entirety of South Park at your fingertips, the hub world really is ultimately limited to just a little headquarters and that's a shame. Bosses are entertaining, but usually hinge on a single gimmick, such as the forced use of cannons or said boss hiding and giving sound cues to find them amongst decoys.
The story of the game is played surprisingly straight. South Park falls victim to a blizzard that claims the lives of many of its occupants but, more importantly, causes the titular Snow Day. Cartman, the New Kid and friends find themselves at war and begin to find out that something else lurks near, causing the blizzard to be eternal unless they team together. Cutscenes are honestly brief and the game seems to rely pretty heavily on its 3D atmosphere, which is barren of anything that separates each chapter as it's just South Park covered in snow every time. Some of the comedy in its short focus gives a decent chuckle but there really isn't anything signature here to write home about.
Gameplay is actually quite enjoyable and scales well with the roguelike elements, but genuinely could benefit with more card variation; every weapon (of which there are three melee and three ranged) and every special power (of which there are 8) has 2 or 3 upgrade cards available through Jimmy and scaled with toilet paper currency. Once in a while you come across Henrietta who deals with dark matter, which also is used to buy perks from Mr. Hankey, and offers you limited choices to do with your current upgrades in a run, from sacrificing one upgrade to boost your others to removing one entirely for a small sum in order to speed the tedious levelling process when you get back.
With so little in the way of changing gameplay it's honestly a wonder why they decided to make it a formal part of the marketing in the first place, because the only thing that ultimately changes the base gameplay are the addition of "bullshit" cards that alter how you (in about 4 ways) are able to gain an advantage and several ways in which normal enemies are able to operate to make your life harder cast sporadically or permanently through a run, such as a timed upgrade to enemy protectiles that cause AoE explosions or a permanent 5-10 second invulnerability on every enemy upon spawning. There is also a third currency exclusively used for cosmetic purposes and collected exlusively through an achievement system but it's honestly not worth talking much about, as the selections are entirely uninspired and don't really amount to anything more than a throwaway gag in the late game.
Honestly there is a lot to like about Snow Day but it feels incomplete, even for a game of its budget price. After beating all five chapters there really is little to keep you around because the expectation is to grind variations of those same five maps to a tee but with modifiers and a randomisation of the same tired upgrades you've already mostly exhausted. Perhaps if it put more faith in its own roguelike abilities and really tried to make the experience more procedurally generated there would be more to do, but in its current state Snow Day is fun, yet brief and disappointing in its applications.
Snow Day is a budget game retailing at only $30 and honestly it shows. The game's campaign features only 5 chapters and nothing else to do around the main map of South Park officially, each ranging from about 20 to 45 minutes and the only reason to continue playing are a free horde DLC, a difficulty modifier postgame in the form of "infernal maps" and a perk system using an in-game collectable. With the entirety of South Park at your fingertips, the hub world really is ultimately limited to just a little headquarters and that's a shame. Bosses are entertaining, but usually hinge on a single gimmick, such as the forced use of cannons or said boss hiding and giving sound cues to find them amongst decoys.
The story of the game is played surprisingly straight. South Park falls victim to a blizzard that claims the lives of many of its occupants but, more importantly, causes the titular Snow Day. Cartman, the New Kid and friends find themselves at war and begin to find out that something else lurks near, causing the blizzard to be eternal unless they team together. Cutscenes are honestly brief and the game seems to rely pretty heavily on its 3D atmosphere, which is barren of anything that separates each chapter as it's just South Park covered in snow every time. Some of the comedy in its short focus gives a decent chuckle but there really isn't anything signature here to write home about.
Gameplay is actually quite enjoyable and scales well with the roguelike elements, but genuinely could benefit with more card variation; every weapon (of which there are three melee and three ranged) and every special power (of which there are 8) has 2 or 3 upgrade cards available through Jimmy and scaled with toilet paper currency. Once in a while you come across Henrietta who deals with dark matter, which also is used to buy perks from Mr. Hankey, and offers you limited choices to do with your current upgrades in a run, from sacrificing one upgrade to boost your others to removing one entirely for a small sum in order to speed the tedious levelling process when you get back.
With so little in the way of changing gameplay it's honestly a wonder why they decided to make it a formal part of the marketing in the first place, because the only thing that ultimately changes the base gameplay are the addition of "bullshit" cards that alter how you (in about 4 ways) are able to gain an advantage and several ways in which normal enemies are able to operate to make your life harder cast sporadically or permanently through a run, such as a timed upgrade to enemy protectiles that cause AoE explosions or a permanent 5-10 second invulnerability on every enemy upon spawning. There is also a third currency exclusively used for cosmetic purposes and collected exlusively through an achievement system but it's honestly not worth talking much about, as the selections are entirely uninspired and don't really amount to anything more than a throwaway gag in the late game.
Honestly there is a lot to like about Snow Day but it feels incomplete, even for a game of its budget price. After beating all five chapters there really is little to keep you around because the expectation is to grind variations of those same five maps to a tee but with modifiers and a randomisation of the same tired upgrades you've already mostly exhausted. Perhaps if it put more faith in its own roguelike abilities and really tried to make the experience more procedurally generated there would be more to do, but in its current state Snow Day is fun, yet brief and disappointing in its applications.