In Above Snakes from developer Square Glade Games, you play as Aiyana in the Wild West. Aiyana is the result of a forbidden love, but that doesn’t stop her from saving the world when a meteorite crashes and everyone is attacked by zombies.
Above Snakes is an open world survival RPG where you start with small tasks to provide yourself with weapons, food, and shelter as well. As you collect new resources, you can craft new items, but you must have the right tool for this. Fortunately, everything is always clearly indicated and when you discover a new resource, blueprints or recipes instantly open up.
You also have to provide Aiyana with food and drink, but you will find this in abundance in the game world. It is best to sleep in bed, but you can only do this twice, that is, when she is tired or when night falls. It is best to provide a house around your bed and you can build this exactly the way you want it.
The world includes many characters, but you don’t meet all of them right away. The game sets itself apart from the rest by how it approaches the world. You start out on a single tile, but as you discover it and collect resources, you can build new tiles. Through the menu, you can then choose tiles, which always contain a certain biome. Transitions are available and you have to plan well how to build the world. These tiles also contain specific resources specific to the biome. Story-driven tiles are placed separately and provide progression in the story. To unlock tiles, you have to use certain resources.
Visually, the game looks quite good for a low poly style and the world feels far from empty. The gameplay is not always consistent, because we have some bugs related to dialogue triggers or missions. The combat is also very basic and comes with a bit of a challenge and feels somewhat wooden.
