Shadō: The Minimal Snake Game (by Defpotec Studios) is a new take on one of those games we dare say most people have either played or at least seen. Yep, we’re talking about good old Snake.
Shadō is a game that is obviously heavily inspired by Snake – the developers even describe how the game builds and improves on the classic game in our developer interview.
A familiar game for everyone
So instead of talking about what is the same, let’s talk about what is different in this game.
For anyone who has played Snake at some point in their life, the first thing you will probably notice is the huge gaps between the different segments of your snake’s body. Instead of forcing players to manage space, and avoid crashing into themselves, Shadō allows players to get a little more creative.
Although you will still die if you crash into yourself or a wall, you are now given the option of looping over yourself using the gaps in your snake’s body which is tricky but definitely possible. Speaking of walls, you’ll need to deal with more of those in this game as well…
Where most versions of Snake we’ve ever played only have walls around the outer edges of the play area, Shadō spices things up a bit with obstacles in the middle of your screen!
Not only this but these obstacles cast cool “hard shadows” across the map. Shadows that slow your player’s movements down to a sluggish crawl in comparison to the lighter areas on the screen.
What does this mean? Not a lot – until you realize just how useful “moving slowly” can really be!
You’ll need to use the shadows to win this game
At its core, both Snake and Shadō are timing games. You patiently wait for that perfect moment to turn left (or right) and collect the next segment in your snake’s body. Basically a timing game.
Shadō manages to add a whole new layer of skill into the base gameplay of Snake which we believe is the difference between a modernized clone and an entirely new gaming experience.
If you enjoyed playing Snake, this is a game you need to check out!
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