Naiad Entertainment, founded by two industry veterans, finally released their first title just the other day: Sneaky Sneaky. SS is a puzzle/stealth game that utilizes some tried and true game design combined with stealth gameplay. And while most stealth games are all about the gritty takedown and painting the floor red, SS is a cute and family friendly hunt for rubies and gold.
The story is simple and doesn’t need to be anything more. You play as a thief who was on a mission to steal a bunch of rubies from a Sultan. On the way out, though, you were caught. You’re game begins with you breaking out of prison and ultimately heading back to Summer Kingdom where your bag of rubies was returned.
You aren’t introduced to any real control tutorial, but that’s not necessary as the only controls required are your mouse and the left-click button. Each level of the game is designed in the traditional dungeon sense, with each area comprised of grids. Simply click on one of the squares to move there or interact with the object occupying it.
The game’s style is adorable right down to the hilarious noise enemies make when you kill them which sound like small children feigning a stab wound. The soundtrack is also well-produced. I only wish there were more tracks. They provided a crisp and delightful tune while traversing through levels, but at some points I couldn’t wait to arrive to a new area where the music was different.
Working your way through each stage involves staying hidden and eliminating obstacles via puzzles. SS rewards you for stealthily taking care of enemies by showering you with more gold and a higher kill bonus at the end of the stage. Based on your performance, you’re given a certain amount of experience points and once you’ve leveled up, you can choose to increase your health, movement, or damage with your dagger or bow.
SS builds on it’s own rules and puzzle mechanics in a fun and creative way forcing you to rethink your execution or how to deal with certain enemies. And it does so without taking itself too seriously or making things too complicated. Some of the earlier enemies will merely be on a certain route and you must find the right place to hide to make your attack. Later on, however, you’ll find skeletons that hide in sand and if you step on the sand, they’ll pop out of the ground in search for you.
The entire experience doesn’t take long to get through and is for the most part short and sweet. Some of the gameplay, though, gets extremely repetitive. I felt that a lot of potential went to waste when I found myself on more than enough occasions waiting in a bush for an enemy to stroll by that seemed to take ages. And while going back to previous levels for a higher score is fun and rewarding, the experience as a whole is short-lived.
This is a great game to kill time, so I can see it doing very well on it’s iOS platform. I’d leave reserve my sitting down and gaming sessions for a more robust experience. But Naiad Entertainment has released a great casual experience for all types of gamers. Sneaky Sneaky is available on steam for $4.99. The special edition includes the soundtrack for a total of $9.99.
You may also be interested in our story, A Look at Sneaky, Sneaky.