Snake Snack Attack is a roguelike proper, one where getting too clever can get your snake stuck.
The fundamentals of what makes a Roguelike were defined years ago and included things such as procedurally generated maps and randomised items. Of course, over the years that latter part has come to mean randomised item locations, but originally, and in titles like Caveblazers, ToeJam & Earl, Noita and Dungeonmans, that was a key feature. Anyway, that… is exactly why I’m fine with my most recent Snake Snack Attack run ending with my little snake dying from eating a banana.
Because, as with any of the games with this mechanic, randomised items means a learning curve that renews with each game restart. Each time you start Snake Snack Attack you have to spend the earliest part of the run, when you are the strongest that you will be for a while, experimenting to find out what the hats and fruit do. Eat a banana and it might give you deeper pockets, or allow you to stack more hats, but it also might simply deal two damage to you. Put on that crown and it might fire a magic missile that’s strong enough to kill an enemy instantly, but it also might duplicate whatever it hits.
The magic comes in when you’ve started to master these things, when you don your duplicating knight helmet to zap a healing pear, then chow both of them (or more, as you could duplicate further and further until the hat breaks) down while wearing your wizard hat, which has a chance to heal when anything is eaten. At that point you might well feel like you’ve mastered the whole thing, however that’s exactly where the thing that makes Snake Snack Attack special happens. Because, when it comes down to it, you’re a bendy snake, but if you get too long then you can’t manoeuvre well, and if you can’t manoeuvre well then you’ll just get stuck, and have to restart.
Snake Snack Attack was an entry to the 7DRL Challenge 2026 Jam, it can be played for free in your browser.
