Clid The Snail Review

Welcome to Clid The Snail, a “quirky top-down shooter about a grumpy, humanoid snail” from the team at Weird Beluga. You take the role of Clid, a member of the Snail Citadel, and are accompanied by a firefly called Belu. Starting the game, we find out that slugs are on the rampage, attacking citadels of different wildlife. Having fended off a recent attack, Clid wanders back to the Snail Citadel ready to hit several rounds of bamboo juice. Upon returning, Clid is met with hostility from his fellow Snails due to not really fitting in with the whole “let's stay here and be safe vibe”, also the fact that you destroyed a number of defenses on your way back home.

Poor Clid is cast out of the settlement before having a chance to quench his thirst with that sweet bamboo juice. Venturing out, armed only with a blaster, your journey takes you towards the Grasshopper Citadel. This opening level introduces you to some of the enemies that you’ll face in the game. Slug minions that come towards you in an attempt to melee your lips off are easily dispatched with your Blaster, which thankfully has unlimited ammo and the ability to charge up a shot for extra damage. You’ll also encounter flies and other slug variants as you make your way through some rudimentary puzzles as you trek towards the citadel destination.

I will say that during this first proper level is when I first hit some reservations I have with the game. The soundtrack didn’t feel like it matched what I was experiencing in the level, as the same tune seemed to be on repeat. This trend continued through the game where what was playing just didn’t seem to fit, like it was also an outcast like Clid. The visuals to me seemed odd, like there was some weird polish effect that was applied to everything and I personally found this off-putting. When I tried to look at the graphics options, there was no way for me to do this while I was still playing the game. I had to exit and return to the main menu before I could adjust graphical options. This seems to be a bit of an oversight as we’re usually accustomed to being able to adjust graphics settings in other games while we’re playing.

Now we’ve reached our destination, Grasshopper Citadel and everything has gone wrong. The citadel is in ruins, torched by a pyromaniac rat named Ska, wielding a combination rocket launcher/flamethrower. After some discourse, Clid and Ska throw down, pulling you into your first boss encounter. There’s some basic mechanics to watch out for but Ska doesn’t prove to be too much of a challenge. Clid soon gets introduced to Haelsy, a bat with earphones attached to its back, which invites you to meet with the Alastor group. Once arriving at their base, it turns out Alastor is a group of outcasts from different citadels, apparently aiding other cidatels that are under siege from the slugs, while also trying to investigate why the slugs have become so aggressive.

From here Clid is tasked with running missions for Cassius the Chameleon, which usually involves going to different locations, killing slugs and other creatures such as moles or flies, with the level coming to the conclusion of the destruction of a slug hive. It’s pretty much rinse and repeat from here. While traversing the levels you’ll find gems in breakable objects, chests or from some enemies that can be used at trader crabs or in the Alastor base to purchase ammunition for your weapons, medkits or some upgrades. There are also seeds hidden away that can be collected, upon finding four of these, Clid obtains a permanent HP increase, while finally resin can be found that can be traded with Atxaka the Turtle to get new shells. These shells change how your ultimate ability works, once you’ve killed enough slugs to fill your ultimate meter. The first ultimate ability you get is a gift from Atxaka. This ability allows you to summon several orbiting ice crystals that one shot most enemies upon contact. Atxaka will also let you purchase more, with the resin that you find throughout the levels you encounter.

Now while the missions are pretty similar, it doesn’t necessarily mean Clid The Snail is a bad game. There’s some decent combat actions, some puzzles can tax the old grey matter and some boss fights do have interesting mechanics. Then the interactions between Clid and the other cast members can be pretty entertaining and the voiced chatter has a certain charm, even though it is essentially gibberish. There’s just something about this title that can’t push the game higher in the review scores. Individual parts are good, but the complete package can’t quite bond together and bake into a solid game. Perhaps it’s the musical score not quite matching the onscreen action, or the graphical direction being a personal turn off, but I just couldn’t fully get into the experience of the game.

Overall Clid The Snail isn’t a bad game, there’s plenty to enjoy for fans of this kind of shooter and it’s a decent first entry from the development team. While I had some reservations and concerns, it can still hold its own in the sea of shooters out there, despite being rough around the edges