Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow Review (PC)

Having spent just shy of thirty years in a relatively cold country (cheers, England), I like to think that I’m somewhat familiar with the sub-zero temperatures and icy glaciers drooling from the crags and crevices of my window sills. Truth is, though, nothing—and I mean nothing, would’ve prepared me for the role of city snow shoveler and all-round frost courier. Needless to say that, being the human equivalent of a watered-down igloo since birth, I felt oddly inclined to give the likes of Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow a whirl. Am I an expert in the art of plowing fields and shifting stacks of snowflakes and grit? Not even close, no. But then, I’m certainly no stranger to sleet and hail, either — so I’ll have to do. Sorry, folks.

For the record, Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow is a first-person simulation game in which—if you can believe it—you fill the weighty boots of a Mr. Plow lookalike, bound for a quest to eradicate the snow-drizzled icebergs and glazed gutters of a remote mountain town. Sounds all rather relaxing on paper, for sure — and it is, so long as you don’t mind getting both physically and emotionally snowed under with copious amounts of chore core work, that is. Luckily for me, I had always wanted to operate the wheel of a plow machine long before developer FreeMind had rustled up the blueprints for its game. You can call that wasted youth, I guess.

So, to answer the question: is it worth the trouble, if only to make mountains out of molehills for a short while? Well, to unpack that conclusion, we’ll have to take it back a couple of notches. Care to tag along as we chop down a few icebergs? Then let’s jump right in.

With Snow Comes Hail

If you’ve ever so much as grazed the tip of the iceberg in an alternate simulation experience, then you’ll no doubt have a good idea of how Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow plays out. Similarly, the game slumps its users into a relatively powerless position—a role that, in a very rags-to-riches way, is only flexible when paired with good old-fashioned hard work and a signature devotion to a form of art. In this case, it’s plain ol’ snow plowing, and at no point does it attempt to present itself as anything more than that.

It goes like this: you’ve essentially inherited a raggedy little container for an office, and you’re first order of business is to sweep the snow from your driveway and learn the ropes before heading out into the wilderness. This initial portion of the campaign, although dressed in a selection of cozy features and seasonal effects, isn’t great. It isn’t great, simply because it’s smothered head to toe in pop-up ads and unnecessarily drawn-out jargon with no real value. It’s so heavily doused in clutter, in fact, that it makes the preliminary work come across as a little irrelevant and bare bones. And it shouldn’t be; it’s a snow plowing simulation, for crying out loud.

The first goal in the campaign is simple: order a shovel, and lop up the clumps of ice and grit from a small pathway. After that, it’s merely the case of earning enough funds to purchase bigger, better equipment, and unlocking new cosmetics and perks along the way, either by completing odd jobs around town, or performing exceptionally well at the task at hand. Again, it’s very rags-to-riches, and it doesn’t exactly take a genius to work out that, to make bank on your endeavors, you need to make a snowball.

Just Keep Chipping Away

It isn’t anything we haven’t seen a million times before, that’s for sure. If anything, it’s a lot like House Flipper, in the fact that, to progress deeper into the world of your chosen trade, you must first complete a set amount of objectives until the percentage flashes green. From there, it’s simply the case of moving on to the next job, and hoping that, with a little more time and effort, the pay check might be a bit loftier than the last. Aside from all that, it’s basically the case of rolling a snowball down a monolith of a mountain, and then watching it gradually develop into a boulder until it finally collides with your own inflated ego. And that’s it.

Mechanically, Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow isn’t in receipt of anything even remotely perplexing. On the contrary, most actions can be accomplished by simply pressing, holding, or tapping a button several times over until the final piece of the puzzle has been solved. In this scenario, it’s mainly the case of hovering your cursor over a highlighted pathway, and scrubbing the surface until a pop-up appears to inform you that the job is over, and that there’s more work somewhere out there on the horizon. Rinse and repeat — you get the idea.

Of course, you aren’t entirely restricted to a shovel and a pair of steel toe cap boots. As it turns out, there’s a treasure trove of additional tools and machines to unlock throughout your career, most of which can be received by your local courier at the tap of a button or two. Again, hardly any major issues there.

24/7 Chore Core

When all’s said and done, there is a question that simply needs answering, and that is, is the game fun? And not just fun to actually play, but also stare at for several hours whilst carrying out the same three or four activities dozens of times over?  In short, yes, it is somewhat entertaining, though it’s hardly a product that has the potential to hold your attention for days on end, though. Matter of fact, I myself started to grow a little tired of cleaning up the same sidewalks and communal spaces after just short of three or four hours. So again, there wasn’t much to keep me going — even after the appropriate tools and upgrades gave me a new opportunity to take my career one step further.

It all boils down to a matter of perspective, truly. On one hand, it’s easy to recommend Snow Plowing Simulator as a bog-standard, somewhat vanilla chore core game. But that’s about all it is, and therefore it isn’t likely to pack enough of a punch to knock every head in the room. It’ll draw a few eyes, for sure, but it won’t attract the whole demographic.

In addition to its somewhat monotonous gameplay, the game does also suffer from a fairly large amount of technical bugs and game-breaking issues — several of which forced me to lose progress and reboot the game from scratch. And believe me when I say, you do not want to have to restart a task that involves plowing a driveway for the umpteenth time.

Verdict

I’m certainly not going to beat around the bush and say that Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow changed my life — because it didn’t. With that said, it did serve its purpose of allowing me just enough time to forget my usual routines and habits and focus on something that, although scarcely beneficial in any way, shape, or form, was nothing more than a hard day’s work in a virtual environment. And I was fine with that, even if it did begin to grate after several hours of doing the exact same thing several times over for minuscule profits. But it’s chore core, clear as day, so I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Returning to that initial question of whether or not Snow Plowing Simulator — First Snow is actually worth picking up — yes, it is, but only if you’re a sucker for simulations that emulate real-life trades and duties. If you happen to enjoy doing the things that you could quite easily do without a controller, keyboard, or steering wheel, but in an entirely virtual world, then you’ll probably get a real kick out of this one. If, however, you’re hell-bent on getting your hands dirty in a game that offers bulky storylines and revolutionized mechanics, then boy, you’re about to be in for the shock of a lifetime.

As the title suggests, it is indeed a game about snow plowing, so you can’t really expect much more than that, nor can you badger the devs for any additional content when, really, it already encapsulates everything its creators set out to accomplish. Point is, if you’re looking for an honest day’s work in a trade that, quite frankly, not every person and their neighbor is likely to enjoy, then you’ll probably find this one to your liking.