In the classic game of Snake, you eat pellets of food and grow progressively longer and attempt to avoid bumping into walls or yourself. It’s a favorite from my childhood, so I was very pleased when publisher Pixeljam reached out about Temple of Snekby Aetheric Games. Now in 3D and featuring the most adorable giant green snake, it updates the formula with rhythm and environmental puzzles.
You awaken in the Temple of Snek as “Snek” — a giant green man-eating snake, curled around several eggs. Intruders have come to pillage the vast amounts of gold stored within the temple, and the priestesses have awoken you to defend it.
The game is broken down into several chapters: I traverse through obstacle-filled rooms full of shield-wielding priestesses and pieces of pottery, semi-submerged dungeons, and contraptions lying about to both help and hinder you — destroy enemy guns before they kill you, and press switches to impale intruders.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Snake game without something for Snek to munch on. Eating an intruder lets you grow longer, with the byproduct of a blood-curdling scream. Unlike classic Snake where growing longer makes you more of a hindrance to yourself, using Snek’s growing body is one way to solve these devious puzzles. Remember the switches I mentioned earlier? I use Snek’s body weight to press two switches, each one on the opposite side of the room. This opens a door for me that would’ve otherwise been inaccessible.
Snek always moves one space forward with the beat of the music and this being a rhythm puzzle game meant that it only added to the thinkiness of the puzzles. I was able to time my movements to chomp on the intruders at the right time, and it made it easier to keep track of every turn I made.
Most puzzles were deceptively easy at first, until I realized that I needed to quite literally worm my way out of a tight situation on some levels. Snek’s ability to move orthogonally had me coming up with creative solutions to bypass spike traps and dungeons filled with water. It took the classic Snake formula and added more ways to entangle yourself.
There are also fun secret music rooms, where Snek can press a series of switches and one of the game’s signature tracks plays, accompanied by the lighting of several wall torches. A group of priestesses also moved to the beat, and it was hard for me to not bop my head along to the groove.
Temple of Snek’s visuals are a semi-polygonal style reminiscent of early PS2 games, in a charmingly retro way. Snek is made to look pretty unassuming until you chow down on an enemy. As with the temple and its inhabitants, the textures are detailed enough to keep everything clear, while remaining simple and playful. Also included is “Make-a-Snek,” an option to customize your own personal snake-skin pattern.
Temple of Snek leaves Early Access and launches in full today, February 15th, featuring the Snek Workshop, where you can make and share custom levels a la Super Mario Maker. I really enjoyed every last bit of Temple of Snek, and I’m eager to see what Aetheric Games has in store for us next.
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