I've never done this before, come back to post more, but this game warrants it. :) Every single game is different! The music is fabulous (very Celtic-like and I adore Celtic music)! And there are 3 different ways to play (more than just timed, story and relaxed. This has to be the best match 3 I have ever played!! Thanks again, so much!!

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Hi JBDean, glad you like the game. I too love the music. Pity I wasn't up to doing a proper review as the music would have easily scored a 9. The highest I'd ever have scored a music score. :)

Thanks once again GGOTD, love the game, for a match 3 game its a little different from the normal run of the mill game, can't see any negatives in this game, my review is all positive!

My internet connection messed up momentarily, so it took 2 tries to download, but I got it the second time. Boots up fine, but haven't had time to play it on my Win 7/64 yet. Thank you for this game and all everyone at GGOTD does to make our weekends more enjoyable. Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you GGOTD and Alawar Entertainment for an excellent game for hours of fun!
So is the game called The Snow Fable or The Snow? The game seems to say "The Snow" but the author page (and this GGOTD) says "The Snow Fable". Confusing.
On my XP SP3 the game crashed the first play as I had to walk away and my screensaver kicked in (with password lock for those who down screensavers) but the second time I started it, I let the screensaver interrupt again at the same screen and it did fine then. Strange.
I've noticed a few little minor problems. For example one text balloon seems to be a jpg compressed too much as the quality of the text is poor. But as I said before, that's minor. Thanks!
Hopefully we'll have good games next "New Year's" weekend too? :)

Downloaded on 8.1 fast. Runs smoothly, graphics are very good. It is a bit too easy so far. I did a few levels and unlocked
another play. Not sure of the other choices yet, but would think could repeat the game many times in the other modes to
play same game differently.
Thank you for another game and 2 in one week!!
Happy Holidays!

Very nice game. Good graphics, nice story line. the different tasks to complete are imaginative and fun to complete.

Thank you much!

I'm not sure how the score is calculated - but then, it doesn't seem to matter.
I've been surprised at how long it takes to tell me there aren't any moves.

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Please forgive my lack of answers or thanks to all of you who have bothered to post today. The last few days have been extremely hectic and i'm dog tired, so have just allowed comments through without replying.

I hope all of you have a great New Years Eve celebration.

See you all next year. I'm off to bed (early for me at almost 2.30am)

Lots of variation in this game and the graphics are colorful and pretty. The story line is nice. Quite engaging for me. Nice surprise to have 2 games available on a weekend I'm not working. I'll have fun relaxing to this after work for a number of nights.

Looks very nice and I was looking forward to playing this game - but it refuses to install:

"The archive is either in unknown format or damaged"

These days this happens every time I try to install a giveawayoftheday game...

LOVE it! This is not a regular match 3 game. Every level has something different to do. Thanks so much for 2 great games this weekend. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

Pleasant surprise! Story very geared toward children, but the game play is actually a lot of fun (maybe I'm in my second childhood?). Each board is a different challenge, which keeps it fresh and better than most match 3s which are same old, same old. If the inter-board breaks had something like a hidden object (instead of the object being right there and with sparkles to show where it goes), it would be even better, but really enjoying this one so far! Thanks as always.

I absolutely "detest" match three games. However I do love Alawar, so I'm going to download it, I can always remove it if I don't like it. Thanks GOTD.

Downloaded and installed without a problem on Win 8 - I like the graphics, didn't test the sound. Easy to play how I like it.

How are your ribs WhiteRabbit?

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!

Lovely games this weekend! Although I already own Frosty Splash you made me resurrect it from my files. That is until today's game came along. I've played a few levels and love this one, particularly the little challenges. Am looking forward to trying all the different modes. ( Although the music is nice. had to turn it off because of the annoying sounds at the finish of the game. It spoiled the ambience totally.)) Thanks GOTD and the sponsors for all the games this year. Can't wait to see what next year holds. Happy New Year to all!

Hi Stephen,

Wow! I love things Celtic because of the strong Scottish blood flowing in me, and here is a game with Celtic tones! It's set up a bit different than most match 3's, and I like that I can match tokens quickly instead of waiting for everything to fall into place. Having lots of options (game modes, etc) is great. Curiously, the custom pointer was active when I first started, but then changed to basic pointer. I'll be enjoying this game through the New Year and beyond (we'll be having a series of my husband's relatives visiting, so I'll have less time for games, but that's OK). Best wishes to everyone for the new year, and thank you to GGOTD, all the game companies, and especially you Stephen for offering us so many wonderful games, even those that don't appeal to me because there are other people who prefer other types of games.

Cara in NC

ETA: I found the interspersed storyline even more extraneous than I normally do. I'm grateful that they are so short compared to others, but there is no explanation as to what is going on. Between the 2nd and 3rd boards you are directed to click on some heat item and then to place it onto an unconscious girl by a tree with a crow perched hold a necklace. When you do that, she wakes up and is standing there in a summer dress looking cold. She doesn't say anything and there is no explanation or story, but an animation runs wherein the crow is whisked away in some lights and the necklace is left. A new board pops up and the necklace is draped over it. I think the pendant from it is used to show which color needs to be matched to advance, but I don't know why it is there. I have a feeling that there is supposed to be some story and I'm supposed to know why it is important but I have no clue other than the few brief images I was forced to watch. I feel like there is something wrong with my installation, which I normally don't experience from Alawar games.

The Snow Fable is what it is, a match 3 game, but it is also very beautifully rendered with a captivating story line and well orchestrated music. Thank you for this great download.

One of the better match-3 games I've played. Music is amazing. Visuals look great. There are cutscenes and some voice acting as well. Usual match-3 game mechanics are incorporated with some other elements. This makes them a bit more interesting and fun. I can't say anything about story yet but there seems to be one definitely.

I'm not a big match-3 fan but I do like them on occasion. I've only played three levels of this game. From the main menu, there are indications of challenges and/or riddles to solve to unlock more features and/or options. I have a feeling that those may be more my cup of tea, but I can't get excited enough about the match-3 to get to them. The graphics on the story board are very nice but the game board doesn't really match the artwork of the story, which is a shame because it is very pleasing to look at. I usually get bored with these interspersed stories and just want to click through them as fast as possible. I haven't been able to do that in this game, and while the pacing of these story blocks may be perfectly fine if you enjoy them, I find it laborious. There are few games that do these interjected stories in such as fashion as to keep my interest, and this isn't one of them. Not that it is bad, I'm simply difficult to please in this area.

What I really find lacking is the game play. I was bored, plain and simple. For once I allowed the beginning story animations to play through because it looked so nice I thought I may actually get hooked into it. Alas, I was dumped into the first, small board with nary an explanation as to why. Usually there is some impetus to the game play, collecting pixie gems or magic stones and what-not, but there was nothing noted here. When I made 4 or more matches, I didn't receive any special power or reward on this first board. I remember one of the Fishy Splash games giving me a bomb or something on the first board. While it is nice to be introduced to new powers or special items gradually, it's also rewarding to get something for making a very good match on the first board. The second board provided a type of bomb (flame) with 4+ matches and they mixed the play up by only advancing the fill-up meter on red matches. The 3rd board didn't add anything new that I could find. The game play was mixed up again by filling the meter with colored balls. You had to match whichever color was next in line to advance the count-down to board completion. I didn't notice any timer of the board, so people who hate timers might prefer this.

The music during the animations is very nice, but I found the board music to be jarring and annoying. It's almost like two different games were meshed together. The board music is in a similar fashion, but is much more jarring to my ears and is different tonally. On a new board, the sound volume would start fairly low & pleasant and then the volume would inexplicably rise. This wasn't the usual intro type sound effect, it was as if someone suddenly turned up the volume. Thankfully I could manually turn the volume down to a tolerable level, but it is still strange. You can also independently adjust the effects volume.

The board is fairly small and thus is very simple to complete. Maybe someone who has played through can comment on if the boards get any larger and other features revealed later in the game. This seems geared more towards children, but adults looking for a quick distraction will probably enjoy this just as much.

Handsome game, but running painfully slowly on my (64-bit Windows 7 HP; 2.60GHz speed, 4G RAM) system. Any suggestions?

Thank you, Stephen and the GGAOTD/GAOTD crew for all of your work this past year. It's been much appreciated.

Belated Christmas greetings, and I hope that you all have a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

the colors are hard to distinguish (i'm somewhat green/red blind) - especially the purple and blue. the shapes within each of the gems are a big help.

my wife told me the color names for the above sentence - whatever would i do without her !!

What a nice one! If you like Treasures of Montezuma, I think you will like this one. It's a match-3, but with some nice differences. First of all the story is interesting along with some nice music. This is what draws me in and keeps me playing...I want to know what happens next. The power-ups are similar to Treasures of Montezuma, but you achieve them by just progressing through the game. Then you have tasks that you must accomplish. For example, you may need to match a certain amount of color gems to clear the board. One task has you chasing around some fairies landing on some gems. Tasks like these really spices up the strategy to these match-3 type games. Also you unlock different modes as you progress.
The only cons I found were that the game seems to tax the CPU even if I have a Win7 64-bit Quad-CPU with 8gb of RAM. It handles the game fine, but older systems may suffer some slowdown. I think the sound effects could be better. I don't get that "Pavlov's Dog" feeling when I accomplish something or the explosion SFX don't feel impressive or satisfying.

Story, music and gameplay are interestingly enough to keep the player absorbed. And Treasures of Montezuma fans should definitely give this one a try. It's a nice gem to keep in your pocket. Thank you and Happy New Year!

It's a big download, but the imagery is very nicely done. The game itself is basically Match 3, but with interesting variations and extra tweaks.

It has a story line, but I can't comment on sounds or music because (as usual) my sound isn't on at the moment. For me it's a keeper, and I would imagine youngsters will enjoy it, so it's a good family game for the season.

Thank to all concerned for another attractive time-stealer! I usually play only a couple of rounds to test the games, but this one has occupied a whole hour so far . . .

I'd definitely suggest giving The Snow Fable a try, as long as you've got room for it.

Quality match 3 game and this one includes challenges I've never seen before. The graphics are excellent. The ribbon level was a stinker (for me) and the ink over the paper one was clever. So much variety here, I'll be playing this for a good while. Thank you GGOTD, Alaware and all developers. Happy new year! Whiterabbit, I hope you're feeling better today.

:) some like - some don't :)

Our 2 sons can't fathom what my wife loves about these Match 3s

My wife OTOH feels [with no little dismay] that they only like to shoot, maim, blow up, & just generally destroy everything in sight with their games.

:) HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

Decent Match 3 on Win 8.1 x64 Pro. Usual set of slider options to tone down music that gets to be drag. At first not a fan of the icy pattern around game field but got to ignore it. Also put off bit by the watercolor style of game pieces. Played just 2 boards, good enough for a keeper if fan 8/10 but others 7/10. Happy New Year GOTD & WR.

Thank you so much for this....beautiful song!

The game first starts in adventure mode. I heard no explanation to all the all the change to ice/snow so the intro didn't mean a lot. I do have the music turned off (as usual) so that may explain it but I thought I saw the options AFTER that intro so I don't know.

The gameplay is a little different. At this point (after just a few levels), I have seen no indication of timing. You just keep making matches (sometime with only certain colors) to fill a progress bar above the game area.

I see there are several other modes of play and I assume (also based on comments above), that they will become available as I play.

The install was a simple self-extraction that defaulted to the last place WinRar was used. I re-directed that from my "1sies" area to my "Alawar" area since this is clearly an Alawar game. I, of course, made my own shortcut after I tested the game. I never go to the trouble until after I double-click on the main executable to be sure he game works! If I wish to remove it later, a simply deletion of the folder is the only uninstall as there was none during install.

Typical Alawar gameplay, simple install, what's not to like? It's a keeper!

Good game! I love the music. The sound that plays once you've completed a level is a bit jarring after listening to the rich 'n soothing Celtic music. My mouse pulls a little, just a tad bit. Not sure what that's about. The story itself is so-so. The graphics are nice. My Intel graphics card is up-to-date....just updated it 2 days ago.

That's what I was thinking too! How rare is this? A really Merry Christmas and Happy New Year indeed!

This game has beautiful graphics and wonderful music! Thanks, I love it!

This is a good match 3 game, my favourite. It installed without a problem. Each level has a slightly different goal. The look is rather nice.
Definitely a keeper. Thank you so much.
Barbara

Thank you for the reviews you do all year. Have a fun day and have a Happy New Year.

OK game, good storyline, and most of all, an unusually great soundtrack!
Here's a link to the theme song: https://soundcloud.com/matchugovsky/snow-song
Thank you.

Thank you Alawar and GGotD for this little gem. I am in awe. The graphics are fantastic. You first have to play the Adventure mode which is beautiful. The story unravels with every level. It is a joy to watch the graphics in the storyline. The match three is not that difficult, but there are a lot of variations which keeps it interesting. With every level you have to unlock an object which you use in the story. While playing you unlock other modes you can play, like relax or challenge mode. You do not have to finish the adventure first for this and I find that a good thing. You can choose which mode to play fairly early in the game. The challenge mode is timed and you need to be quick. I played a few and they are different from the levels in the adventure game as far as I played that is (part 3). The music is fine, although the tune when completed each level is annoying. It is the only thing they could have done without. I just listened briefly, because the top 2000 is on the radio and I rather listen to that. This game is definitely a keeper and because of all the variations replayable. Whiterabbit, thank you for all your reviews over the last year; they are very appreciated. Also many thanks to GGotD and all the developers who gave away their games. I wish you all a Happy New Year and am looking forward to next year's games.

I have bought this game a few years ago. And I love it very much.
Since there is no review yet of this wonderful game I post this link below

http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/24405/the-snow-fable/index.html

The Snow Fable storyline seems like it's for a kids' game, but there's some decent Match-3 action, and several modes of gameplay. Doesn't seem to be timed, but at Level 7, "Relaxed" mode is unlocked. Sounds like that's just Match-3 levels, without the story? Not sure, as I haven't tried it.

Best of all is that it plays on my old XP3 rig, with a mere 256MB graphics card! And without using Razer Gamebooster (which tends to leave one setting not quite like it found it).

Match3 with various variations, gets quite demanding, but there is a relaxed mode (as well as the story and the challenge mode). Well worth a try and a must for match3 freaks I think.

Happy New Year to you Whiterabbit and to all the rest. Thanks to GOTD and Alawar and Bigfish for the game. I know it is great time passer. Enjoy your day. GOD bless you all.

Use one match 3 you've seen them all. Apart from Candy Crunch/Candy Crunch Soda they're all the same

Madness! One weekend is 2 games !!!! Thank You !!! Many Thanks !!!

Very colorful time waster :D Nice to play, uncomplicated fun. thank you Alawar.

I will post a short review if I have the time later (or at least some screen captures). I will be out for most of the day visiting family, so moderation will be sporadic. I hope you all have your New Years resolutions prepared. Happy New Year.

You can see a game play video of The Snow Fable HERE