Snake was the game that slithered its way into the hearts of every Nokia phone user back in the day, whether we wanted it to or not. At a time when the PlayStation was taking us from 2D sprites to 3D polygon graphics, Snake reminded us that we didn't flashy graphics to get engrossed in game – just a ravenous line of pixels and more of them to eat.
While Nokia's influence may have faded, Snake's tongue still slips into modern gaming now and again. An upcoming indie game is taking the concept into 3D with a healthy dose of inspiration from Tron on the way. And there's a twist (or two).
Slake is the work of indie developer Infely. The game has no walls, only floors: whenever you reach what looks like a wall, it turns into a new surface to move over. Oh, and your snake can fly too, using flight points to continue your journey where it would otherwise end.
The developer describes the game as “focused, fast, and skill-driven”. Writing on Reddit, they say it “definitely leans more toward Tron-like territory, just filtered through a Snake-style core and movement rules”.
The constant rotation and moving makes things look a little disorienting with no clear anchor to clarify what's up and what's down. The developer says learning how direction, momentum and perspective interact in the continuous space is a big part of the challenge.
“It can feel chaotic at first, but once it clicks, orientation and movement get much easier,” they promise, although the dev also says it's one of those games that's easy to learn but hard to master.
You can play alone of in multiplayer and split-screen modes. You can check out the demo at itch.io.
If you're inspired to create your own take on a classic, check out our guides to the best game development software and the best laptops for game development.
