Also, a review code was provided by the publisher PLAYISM. Our opinions are not swayed by free games, but we have to disclose this regardless.
Snezhinka is a follow up to 2023's Marfusha. It's the same concept of cute anime waifus having to defend their vaguely eastern European former Soviet Bloc country from an army of invading robots. The main character Snezhinka is Marfusha's sister and joins the army to make sure she's OK after she didn't hear from her for a while. As you can probably guess, the story of Snezhinka and the other girls in her unit is pretty universally dire and tragic and gloomy.
But, look, they're super incredibly cute anime girls! Isn't the stark contrast between a horrifying warzone and cute waifus with big weapons just so unexpected and charming? Nah, it's fine. I'm just being facetious. But it also isn't exactly a unique idea ...
Before we get to why I really do think this is a nearly perfect game, let's address the elephant in the room - The name. Snezhinka is a terrible name for a video game. Marfusha was a pretty bad title too, but calling this one Snezhinka is undoubtedly doing more harm than good. First, it's incredibly hard to pronounce, and second, people have an uncontrollable urge to say "gesundheit" after they hear you say it. It does have a subtitle - Sentinel Girls2 - which probably would have been better as the main title.
The gameplay in Snezhinka is a 2D tower defense setup where your character, plus one of several other girls you can recruit controlled by the CPU, has to defend the city gate from invading robots using shotguns and machine guns and grenade launchers and all of that fun stuff. In between waves of enemies you can buy stat upgrades, new weapons, gadgets and items, or fix up the wall you're defending. You can only choose one thing each round, though, and you also only have a limited amount of cash to buy these things because the government constantly comes up with new taxes to screw you out of more and more of your money. There is a major strategic element to choosing the right upgrades and enhancements.
The game is fairly simple to play. You just move and shoot and use your gadgets when the cooldown timer ends. Being smart with when you reload as well as what enemy types you prioritize is the key to the game here. Every run is harder or easier based on what weapons and upgrades the game randomly offers you between rounds. And it rocks. It's genuinely so fun to play.
That's why I think it's pretty close to perfect - It's simple, but very refined, and executed basically perfectly. It's clean and straightforward and simple gameplay, with satisfying strategic elements, that all comes together in a very fun and rewarding overall experience. It also doesn't overstay its welcome. You can beat the story and get most of the achievements in a couple of hours, and for just $12 its hard to argue you aren't more than getting your money's worth.
The overall package is actually pretty impressive. In addition to the story - which has two distinct routes and multiple different endings - there are a couple of survival challenge modes with online leaderboards that are fun and rather addictive as well. The presentation is nice, too, and there are waifus!
Honestly, I loved Snezhinka. I didn't expect to, and mostly wanted to play it because it had anime girls in it, but I had a great time with it. It's a perfectly priced, nearly flawlessly executed, perfectly bite-sized little tower defense game that I genuinely can't recommend enough even if the name is needlessly hard to pronounce.
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