Weird Beluga attempted to merge two distinct genres of game with Clid the Snail: top-down shooter and narrative. Although they succeeded on the worldbuilding and narrative front, the gunplay feels unforgiving, repetitive, and frustrating. I can't sleight them for trying something new, as I generally enjoyed Clid's grimy world, but I really did want more. I can't wait to see where Weird Beluga go, as Clid is a good start for hopefully something better in the future.
It’s January, and we all know what that means: Dry January! You betcha, it’s the one month of the year where we pre-game giving up drinking alcohol to prepare us for the inevitable social media Lent, where some of us give up social media and tell everyone we know through a snarky tweet. Of course, not all of us practice that, but then again, who does? It’s the anticipation that counts! Now, anticipation is a dangerous concept in gaming. Game devs teasing an upcoming game by announcing an upcoming announcement builds hype, which in turn can generate interest, which in turn could generate sales. However, anticipation can also lead to quite a few angry folks who felt “slighted” by not getting what they were anticipating. I experienced anticipation recently with Clid the Snail, and I cannot help but wonder if I let myself down by anticipating something it’s not (or at least, doesn’t try to be).
Clid the Snail is a top-down shooter (think Enter the Gungeon) where you play as a grumpy alcoholic snail who was outcast from his citadel in a post-apocalyptic world lacking giants (humans). So…it’s a narrative shooter. Of course, by this description, I immediately anticipated Clid being Duke Nukem kind of game, where adult themes are scattered throughout an action-packed shooter. Or Serious Sam! However, Clid is everything but. Clid may be an alcoholic, but he’s more of a grumpy gunner who occasionally needs a drink rather than a sloppy drunk who can wield a gun despite falling down after a few cups of bamboo juice. I’m not mad, but I am perplexed.
Clid’s gameplay is similar to Gungeon in that you’re tasked with shooting slugs, barrel-rolling through a handful of bullets, and staying alive as long as possible. However, this is the closest to Gungeon that Clid gets. Each level of Clid features a handful of puzzles, the occasional side quest, and waves of slugs that feel more like a Call of Duty: Zombies wave rather than a bullet hell shooter. The gameplay really is that simple, which can be a good and a bad thing. It’s great because you never feel overwhelmed by so many things happening on screen…but the gameplay becomes predictable at a certain point. The puzzles feel less like an achievement and more like a nuisance. You slowly acquire additional weapons and tools as you play, but…you really don’t need to use them to advance. Even more, by the halfway point, it’s quite possible to unlock all of the weapons because of how easy it is to acquire currency. Other upgrades are level gated and missable, meaning you can only obtain an upgrade once per level, assuming you find the specific currency in that level. Even then, you’re in no way punished for just unlocking a handful of upgrades and calling it a day.
At its core, the gameplay of Clid is simple. The gameplay feels predictable and less of a test of skill and more of a test of patience, too. Gunplay is decent yet punishing at times. Playing with a mouse and keyboard requires you to aim directly at an enemy, otherwise you’ll miss. I would have liked some aiming forgiveness, since charging up a gun only to have it miss is a major letdown. Dodging is helpful at times, but you can only dodge and run so much before you run out of stamina. Boss battles primarily feel routine in the sense that waves of enemies are thrown at you (barring a few notable exceptions that I’ll avoid discussing for spoiler reasons). I would have liked some variability in the enemies, as they mainly run toward you, and that’s about it. Some weapons may be more effective against some enemies, but it’s entirely feasible to use one gun in the entirely of a level and complete it just fine.
Each level has a handful of puzzles scattered around, and most of them are easily solved by brute force. I never felt the need to consult a wiki or guide as I played, which is great, but I really didn’t feel like I accomplished much after I completed these puzzles. Even more, the learning curve of these puzzles was relatively steep at first. One of the first puzzles proved fatal in the sense that if I didn’t move fast enough, I died and was sent back to the beginning of the level rather than the beginning of the puzzle, requiring me to kill the waves of enemies again to get to the puzzle. It would have been nice for the respawn points to be more frequent and player-friendly, as having to start over, over and over again, was not what I wanted out of Clid.
Clid the Snail is advertised as a shooter that’s focused on the narrative, and I’m not 100% sure I agree. I mentioned prior that Clid is a grumpy alcoholic, and that’s partly true. Clid is grumpy, but the alcoholism is mentioned as an aside rather than core to his character. He’s just…a grumpy snail with a firefly for a sidekick…and he wants a drink at the end of the day. Reading through the textual cutscenes doesn’t really leave you entertained or giving you the feeling that you’re missing out if you decided to skip the dialogue and just play. Sure, some of the dialogue can give you some hints about where the story is going, but some of the characters felt less fleshed out than others. Even more, some dialogue felt like it was added for filler content rather than for a memorable narrative experience. This is not to say that the worldbuilding is lackluster. In fact, it’s anything but.
The world of Clid is full of flavor, intrigue, and character. The gibberish that is the voice acting makes the game feel less grim despite the apocalyptic world around you. Levels look and feel different, so you won’t feel like there’s that much repetition (even though there is). The characters have unique personalities and designs to the point of you wanting to see more of them. I mean, there’s a hedgehog with a wrench! A samurai frog! Luckily, you’ll end up getting to know some more than others. But I wanted more from these ragtag bunch of outcasts–so much more! The post-apocalyptic worlds you visit are interesting, and there are so many unique Easter eggs scattered about that remind you that you’re playing as a snail, so some human-sized toys and tools we take for granted are huge in the eyes of Clid.
One last notable mention here is the soundtrack of Clid the Snail. At the time of writing, I’m astounded to see so few mentions of Clid’s original soundtrack. In short, the music is fantastic and original. Each track of Clid’s OST is unique, moderately memorable, and a treat for the ears. Weird Beluga’s decision to use real-world instruments to compose the OST really deepens Clid’s world, and it’s a travesty that I haven’t been able to find the music to listen to anywhere else on the Internet. Weird Beluga, PLEASE make Clid’s OST available for purchase! If music is something that you pay attention to in gaming, you’ll be quite pleased with Clid.
Weird Beluga attempted to merge two distinct genres of game with Clid the Snail: top-down shooter and narrative. Although they succeeded on the worldbuilding and narrative front, the gunplay feels unforgiving, repetitive, and frustrating. I can’t sleight them for trying something new, as I generally enjoyed Clid’s grimy world, but I really did want more. I can’t wait to see where Weird Beluga go, as Clid is a good start for hopefully something better in the future.
