Froggy Hates Snow from Crying Brick and Digital Bandidos is a game about a frog who hates the snow… so at least the title isn’t lying.

“A survival roguelike where a frog digs through freezing snow, uncovers treasures, unlocks upgrades, and battles mystical creatures. Find the escape door — or defeat the final boss to survive.”

The blurb calls it a roguelike. I’d call it a roguelite because some upgrades are permanent and carry over between runs, but that’s me being pedantic before I’ve even warmed up. So, how’s the game? Short answer: I really liked it. Long answer… let me get into it properly.

Here’s the basic gameplay loop. You’re a frog in a snow‑choked arena, digging through drifts to uncover coloured gems. Those gems are your currency, and you spend them on upgrades and new skills that help you dig through… more snow. Rinse, repeat, shovel, repeat some more. The starting upgrades for your skills are straightforward, dig faster, carry more gems, that sort of thing. Others are wonderfully daft: a flamethrower, for example, or the ability to turn yourself into a rolling snowball like a froggy Katamari. As you progress, you unlock new skills, characters, and areas, so the loop keeps expanding even if the core idea stays the same.

There are two ways to play Froggy Hates Snow. You have Survival Mode, and this is the “proper game” mode. Ten rounds, each on a timer. When the clock hits zero, several enemies spawn in a small and sealed arena. Beat them, move on. The tenth and final round ends in a boss fight. Beat the boss, job done, move onto the next map. It’s all very manageable and quite a light survival game, more cosy than cut‑throat, but it works.

The second way to play is Peaceful Mode. No timers, no enemies, no bosses. Just you, the snow, and the quiet satisfaction of digging your way to the hidden exit door buried in the snow. You will need to find five keys (also buried), and you can still die if you freeze, but it’s a much more relaxed affair. Both modes share the same backbone: dig, upgrade, dig better, repeat. But the vibe shifts nicely depending on what you’re in the mood for.

As just mentioned, you can die by freezing. Stay out in the cold too long, and your frog slows down and starts losing health. Thankfully, each map has “heat bubbles”, warm, glowing safe zones where you can thaw out, bank your loot, and upgrade your skills. You start in one, and three more are buried somewhere in the snow. It’s a simple survival mechanic, but it adds just enough tension to keep you moving.

There’s a surprising amount to unlock: new characters with their own strengths and weaknesses, new maps, and a hefty list of skills and upgrades. I’ve put in over twenty‑seven hours for this review, and I still haven’t cleared the cupboard. It’s one of those games where you think, “I’ll just do a quick run,” then you look at the clock, it’s 1 a.m., and you’ve unlocked a new skill, like a penguin that collects loot… so you feel the need to give it a test run.

There is a lot to dig up and find in each of the maps, but they never really change that much. They’re all the same circle shape, and the fact that the game is set in the snow means that you’re going to be staring at a lot of white. As you progress and unlock new maps, the only thing that really changes is the addition of harder-to-remove ice, and each new map just seems to have more and more ice to shift, but in different patterns. So, in terms of level design, there’s not a lot here. Some different-shaped maps, different obstacles would’ve been nice. You do come across and dig up things like the Sphinx, broken walls, Japanese pagodas, etc. They don’t do anything other than add a bit of set dressing. It kind of reminded me of when people put castles and stuff in fish tanks.

Each map does have three sub-goals to aim for if you want 100% completion. You’ll have to dig up a set amount of snow, find a hidden treasure chest, and defeat the map’s boss on Survival Mode, or find the hidden exit door on Peaceful Mode. So the game does try to add a bit of variety… but those three sub-goals never change from map to map. So even they become a little repetitive. Each map does have randomly generated “anomalies”, these are like little puzzles that you need to solve to unlock a safe with a permanent upgrade in it.

Even playing in Survival Mode, the survival elements are very light. Warm yourself up when you get too cold, and avoid enemies and their projectiles when they appear. That’s about it, really. It’s a very relaxed Survival Mode that never punishes the player like other survival games do. Still, this is not meant to be a critique. Sometimes it’s nice to have a survival title that isn’t so hardcore to play, and Froggy Hates Snow is one of those games. Oh, I almost forgot. You can switch between a twin-stick shooter control scheme and an auto-aim/shoot one. I liked this as it added a nice bit of accessibility for those who may fancy the combat, but want a slightly easier journey. Add on an easy, medium, and hard difficulty to choose from, and you’re bound to find the sweet spot for your playstyle.

Froggy Hates Snow is a chilled (yes, pun intended) little roguelite with a satisfying loop and a mountain of upgrades to uncover. It does get repetitive, the maps especially, but the core gameplay is relaxing, rewarding, and weirdly addictive. I’ve already sunk twenty‑seven hours into it, and I’m still happy to jump back in for “just one more run”… several times. It’s the sort of game you dip into for an hour here and there… unless you’re reviewing it and accidentally spend a collective whole day digging virtual snow.

For around £13 on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, it’s absolutely worth a look. I think Froggy Hates Snow will be staying on my hard drive for a good while yet.