Thank you Odencat for sending us PC and Switch review codes!

Snowman Story originally released on mobile devices in 2022. In 2023 it was retranslated, converted to widescreen and ported over to Steam. This year it came out to Switch. The Switch and PC versions are $4.99, but the mobile version is free to play with ads.

Snowman Story is a couple of hours long and takes you on a journey of self-preservation and second chances. The main character is a snowman named Chris who was made by a kind-hearted boy. Upon hearing about snowmen melting in the spring, Chris decides to head North to stay alive. The boy who made Chris mentioned that there’s a paradise for snowmen in the North Pole.

Along his journey, Chris will get to talk with numerous animals including birds, squirrels, foxes, deer, bears, rabbits, gorillas, seals, and gophers. Early in Chris’ adventure, he’s given an opportunity to bring healing herbs to a bearded man in the woods. As a token of appreciation the old man gives Chris the ability to replay memories from objects he finds.

As Chris continues his Northern journey, he’ll stumble upon items left behind from snowmen who didn’t survive the trek. When viewing their memories there will be some stories that will tug on your heart strings. Some snowmen leave their human makers out of anger while others part with good intentions or out of respect for their creators. There are also some that leave because they simply don’t want to melt. After each memory is viewed, Chris gets an opportunity to meet the snowman responsible for them in a cloud-like purgatory. Surely this can’t be the paradise he’s heard about? Snowmen who have made bad choices have dark and bleak cloudy environments. One example of a gloomy snowman is one who was beat up by children after having a monster costume put on him.

Along with the stories, Snowman Story has puzzles as well. Throughout Chris’ journey there are several frozen rivers that need to be crossed and you have to plan on how to utilize the boulders. Gorilla brothers will move boulders for Chris with their special abilities. Each of the river banks has a gopher that can give you hints if you get stuck. However, if you don’t use the hints you can earn yourself a Steam achievement. If you’re not fond of puzzles, you can skip them altogether.

Other Steam achievements can be earned for finishing Chris’s journey and by playing around in the after credits environment. In total, there are five Steam achievements that you can earn. Other than earning all of the Steam achievements or replaying puzzles there’s little replay value. I can’t complain too much given the meager price tag.

When I streamed Snowman Story on my gaming desktop I ran into some unusual slowdowns. They even occurred when I wasn’t streaming. For a game that’s less than 50MB I was surprised to see these performance issues.

I was expecting Snowman Story to be a cute family-friendly game but after playing it, I have a couple of reservations about recommending it wholeheartedly. There is some language including d*mn and using the Lord’s name in vain. There is a scene involving a rainbow and the character explains the scientific origins of it and how it symbolizes diversity and different lifestyles. It’s a shame how the Christian meaning is completely disregarded for the LGTBQ+ symbolism. Last but not least, reincarnation is mentioned throughout the story.

In the end, Snowman Story was not what I expected. Some of the stories were somber, but the idea of second chances is nice. The free mobile version doesn’t have the LGBTQ+ propaganda so I would play that version if you’re curious about the game.