‘Snailshock’ Plays Pool With Living, Moving, Unpredictable Balls

Snailshock: Grand Supreme Tournament is a game of pool with a lot of variables since the balls are alive and constantly change the play field.

You’ve been given a prestigious invite to the biggest snail pool tournament in…possibly anywhere but I’m not sure how prevalent snail pool is in the in-game lore. Anyway, you have to play against eighteen different wacky opponents who will do their best to outmatch you across a variety of equally-goofy tables/boards.

As I’ve said, the balls are snails. They’re able to move around, but they don’t do this for nothing. Instead, you have a couple of different mechanics in place that let you alter their positioning (or have it altered against you). You have a die roll that dictates which side’s balls move, what direction they go, and how far. You can play this before or after your shot, so you’ll want to think about this depending on what you rolled. Also, you pick up playing cards that let you adjust elements of certain snails. Want to make an extra cue ball? Nail one snail in place? Making a snail repel anything that rolls near it. You can play a handful of cards each round to add all kinds of effects to the table to give you an advantage.

Snailshock: Grand Supreme Tournament, while interesting with all of these extra elements in play, is also just really satisfying in action. The snails have this nice sense of weight and impact when you’re knocking them around (which actually makes me feel a little bit guilty smacking them around). The game’s visual presentation is also really nice, as the many tables have a lot of creativity poured into them. Likewise for your opponents who are a wild array of creatures and characters, all created in a style that captures the game’s chaotic, silly nature. I never expected that beating someone up by playing pool with them could look this good or be this entertaining.

Snailshock: Grand Supreme Tournament is available now (for free) on itch.io.

About The Author

Joel Couture

Joel has been covering indie games for various sites including IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Magazine, and more over the past seven years, and has written book-length studies on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is constantly on the lookout for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what games can be, and seeks to delve into the creative process, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.