Clid the Snail is a new game that has been trending on social media. It’s a game where you take control of a snail and try to avoid obstacles while collecting coins. The game is free, but it’s not without its controversy.
Clid the Snail is a peculiar game. Although it has twin-stick shooter controls, the game’s pace is more similar to an adventure or role-playing game. The environment is very evocative, and one of the most intriguing new backgrounds I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a dark, gloomy game with a sense of humor and intriguing characters, but it’s plagued by a startling lack of balance and consistency.
Taking on the role of Clid (yeah, it’s a math geek joke), a gruff, gun-loving snail, is often a fun and intense experience, but the game doesn’t appear to know where it’s headed at any one moment. Clid’s journey starts almost slowly, as he fights an invading army of slugs that has spread over the country like a slimy and nasty disease.
Clid the Snail Review: Shell-Shocked, Locked, and Loaded
Clid can easily mow down the initially sluggish and sporadic opponents he encounters with just a laser weapon that can be charged up for a super shot. Soon after, he’ll meet an insane pyromaniac mouse and get a flame thrower, before joining a diverse band of misfits headed by an oddly selfish chameleon.
Throughout most of the game, Clid’s relationship with this gang is chilly. Because the mouse he murdered was the turtle shaman’s closest friend, he despises you. The leader is just interested in making money and gaining reputation by assisting different and isolated animal enclaves, while the others are simply a strange collection of damaged survivors. These people and their world, thankfully, are intriguing.
Between the many animals and personalities Clid meets, there is a rich mythology and history. Much of that history is gruesome, terrible, and horrifyingly violent. Another interesting aspect of the tale is that it obviously takes place on Earth after humans have become extinct. The remnants of mankind, known as giants, have attracted a religious and occasionally cult-like following.
Clid’s world is gloomy and full of ruins, remnants of the old world, death traps, and continuous reminders of conflict, far from being a cheerful and colorful talking animal game. Even the levels with brilliant lighting, such as a scorching desert and a weird robotic fish village, have a gloomy mood. The visuals are stunning, with fine details across the environment and well-designed characters.
However, there are moments when the environment blocks your vision, and the multi-level viewpoint may be frustrating since accurate shooting at higher or lower levels is at best awkward. It’s almost difficult to throw grenades over walls or around obstructions, and the bouncing grenade physics may easily result in an accidental suicide.
There are many different kinds of opponents. Sword-wielding slugs, slugs with shields, grenade and crossbow slugs, gigantic moles, massive monstrous slug trolls, and a variety of other fairly conventional opponent categories are all waiting for you. Larger foes require a combination of tactics, typically including explosives and the appropriate weapons selection.
Clid is a walking killing machine when fully armed and equipped. There are a number of methods to smoke snails using ten different weapons, most of which were accessible early on. Clid will be greeted with a shotgun, circular blade launcher, goo grenade launcher, stunning electro cannon, fast-shooting laser rifle, and more. Except for his basic rifle, everything needs ammunition, and he can only carry a limited quantity of ammo, secondary weapons, and medkits.
Clid may improve his shell, holding capacity, and other attributes between levels using money and other things acquired during missions, but the game isn’t in danger of devolving into an RPG-style character-building experience.
The main issue with Clid is that his snail-like demeanor seems so out of place with the action. When just strolling about the main map of the first mission, enemy numbers are maintained low and controllable for a time. For the first few minutes, the game lulls you into a false feeling of security before thrusting Clid into an excruciatingly overlong arena scene in which he must defend a gate against attackers on his own.
Nothing in your life has prepared you for this. The game abruptly switches from one speed and difficulty level to an extremely tough another one. As things proceed, it becomes out that it veers a lot. Those arena scenes become the standard at the conclusion of each mission, but you’ll undoubtedly improve your fighting rhythm with time.
Turning a game with a surprisingly slow-moving avatar into something almost as frenetic as an old-style arcade twin-stick shooter is a significant challenge. Clid is extremely sluggish when it comes to reloading, dodging, and even running. He also has a low stamina meter for roll dodging and running, as well as no other physical talents.
Throwing mines or grenades by holding down the trigger to prolong a throw arc gets painful when swarmed with various styles of opponents coming from numerous angles, for example. Though the merchant hermit crab is typically positioned at the beginning or conclusion of each new sector, the game sometimes rushes you straight into a tough battle scenario without even giving Clid a chance to replenish ammunition and supplies.
The platformer-style shenanigans are much more troublesome. There are many fatal drops when Clid must roll over a gap rather than leap. Rolling, on the other hand, is random, slow (snailish? ), and time-consuming. This makes activities like rolling over moving smashing pistons with lethal seawater between them very unpleasant.
Finally, there are many puzzles here, many of which need you to reflect lasers off moveable jewels in order to unlock doors. The majority of them are straightforward, although the game may sometimes throw in riddles that need the usage of a particular weapon. This is great when the game really informs you of the new gun mechanism, but it doesn’t always do so or does it quickly enough that you miss it. For example, the flamethrower may burn up specific reflecting crystals in order to convert them.
Review of Clid the Snail – The Bottom Line
Pros
- The narrative, the ambiance, and the setting are all fantastic.
- A wide range of weaponry is available.
- It looks and sounds fantastic.
- There are many challenges.
Cons
- Clid’s leisurely pace contrasts with the most of the activity.
- Unprecedented pace and difficulty spikes
- It may be aggravating to platform rolling parts.
- Some of the problems are very difficult.
Clid the Snail has a lot to recommend it. The primary attraction is the world itself. It’s a very bleak and weird post-apocalyptic world with intriguing people, history, and vistas.
The gunplay is strategic and exciting when it works, but it seldom does, resulting in irritating difficulty spikes and control problems.
[Note: The copy of Clid the Snail used for this review was bought by the author.]
