Sneaky Sneaky – Cute and stabby!

Have you heard of Sneaky Sneaky? I sure hadn’t until I got a preview key for it. I was told that it was a turn-based stealth adventure game and it seemed to involve a rogue or thief, so that was good enough for me. I happen to like being stealthy, solving puzzles, and stabbing things. (You know, in video games.) So I played through and then — because I need to be perfect — I played through it again until I had gotten all of the gems and gold medals on every level. It’s got simple mechanics, adorable graphics, and a whole lot of character and charm.

I should start with a quick rundown of the game’s plot. Sneaky Sneaky is about a thief who has just stolen a bag full of gems from the local sultan. However, in a comedy of errors (shown in a montage of images) he loses this booty to a bird. Yeah, a bird flies off with a person-sized sack of gems and the Monty Python joke writes itself. At that point, our protagonist is captured and thrown in a dungeon. Thankfully your friend, Squeaky (a mouse), has snuck a key into your cell and thus begins your adventure to reclaim your ill-gotten riches.

These skeletons are so adorable!

Sneaky Sneaky is the debut game from Naiad Entertainment. They’ve managed to put together a bright and vibrant world and somehow make a stealth game out of it. Seriously, these are some of the cutest graphics I could possibly imagine being attached to a game involving a rogue stabbing people in the back. The world is broken down into three distinct areas (forest, desert, and town) which all have a unique look, challenges, and enemies to overcome. The aesthetic remains colorful and lively throughout the game, even when in dungeons or dealing with skeletal creatures. If they had put Cthulhu into this game, I’m pretty sure I’d just want to hug it. It’s quite fantastic if you ask me.

The game is pretty solid mechanics-wise. The description of being turn-based was a bit misleading as things normally move in a real-time fashion. Enemies patrol around on routes or randomly and the highlighted squares around them show their line of sight. Your job is to avoid being seen, collect the three gems littered about each level, and make your way to the exit. As per the normal adventure game formula, you’ll pick up tools to help overcome new challenges along the way. Stealth is, as the title would suggest, your primary tool. Luckily, as we’ve all learned from numerous Assassin’s Creed games, people have a love of leaving piles of hay around everywhere. Hide, wait for your enemies to be adjacent, then strike from the shadows!

Step 1: Hide in oddly convenient hay. Step 2: Stab! Step 3: Profit!

So where does the turn-based part come in? When you screw up, of course. When you’re either seen or initiate open combat, action breaks down into a back and forth sequence where each side gets three actions before relinquishing control to the other side. If you’re spotted, enemies go first. If you initiate, you go first. Your goal is either to vanquish your foes or find a place to hide and elude them. Again, hide in conveniently placed piles of hay and sneak attack people to avoid this.

On top of all this, there’s a little bit of RPG flavor thrown in through an XP system and levels. On leveling up, you get to upgrade a stat (like dagger damage, or amount of HP) up to a max level of 12. Your little mouse friend runs a shop so you can replenish supplies in between levels. Does the cute ever end? Not really, no.

Currently there’s no release date for Sneaky Sneaky, but when it does come out it will be available on PC (how I experienced it), Mac, and iOS devices. The build I played for this preview consisted of 16 levels and took me about 4 hours to complete my first playthrough and then go back to levels I didn’t get gold rank and all gems in the first time. Definitely a game that can be consumed in small doses when you have a bit of extra time, or as a solid weekend afternoon experience. Sneaky Sneaky is light-hearted and entertaining, so I highly recommend picking it up and going forth as a hooded chibi death-dealer intent on stealing back what he rightfully stole in the first place.