Death Squared | Nintendo Switch

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Welcome to Death Squared, a game so dastardly that it keeps a running total of how many times you’ve failed, reminding you of it every time you die. And you will die. A lot. Make no mistake, behind the cutesy aesthetic and quirky sense of humour is a neat little puzzler that takes great pleasure in your misery.

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by Allan
​Johnson

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​@pass_controller

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Developer: SMG Studio
Publisher: SMG Studio ​
Platforms: Switch,
Xbox One, PS4, PC
Players: 1 ​- 4

Like all good puzzle games, the premise is simple: you guide robotic cubes through increasingly tough mazes while trying to avoid traps including spikes and lasers. Luckily, everything is colour coded for simplicity - only a red cube can activate a red switch, pass through a red holocube or shield against a red laser. On the flip side, this also means that colour-blind players might find things a tad tricky, especially in the hectic four-player mode.

Full sighted folk don’t get off easily, mind, as you’ll need more patience than a Saturday night visit to A&E. Trial and error is the only way to progress; one false move means death for the entire team, so you’ll be restarting mazes numerous times. However, the puzzles are well-enough designed that success never feels too far away.

The on-screen action is narrated by a character called David and his sassy AI assistant, Iris, who are running a series of artificial intelligence tests on the cubes. These charming cuboid companions can be personalised with decals including lightning bolts and moustaches, plus you can even make them perform simple, adorable dance moves at the press of a button, making it clear that developer SMG has worked hard to give the little critters plenty of character. Unfortunately, they’ll perish so often that there’s no chance of becoming attached to them in the same way you might have done with Portal’s companion cube.

While there’s no real plot, the banter between David and Iris is consistently amusing, even when they’re insulting your ineptitude.

The game has a heavy focus on cooperative play, regularly introducing new rules and mechanics to test your communication, teamwork and, most likely, friendships. Death Squared wants to be a party game for everyone, but while it provides plenty of laughs, it’s also a little too complicated for anyone to just pick up and play.

​Another frustration is that you need four controllers for four-player fun. That sounds pretty obvious, but with the only essential control being movement, it feels like there may have been an opportunity to allow two players to share a Joy-Con (one person utilising the analogue stick and the other the four face buttons) in a similar way to Micro Machines Turbo Tournament on the Mega Drive.

Despite the focus on co-op, playing Death Squared solo is often more rewarding and less frustrating than the chaos of tackling mazes with your mates. Each analogue stick controls a separate character, which means that it can often feel like trying to rub your stomach and pat your head at the same time. While this can be a gratifying challenge, it also makes it easy to forget which cube you’re about to move, which can lead you to accidentally plummet to your doom. While the controls are simple, they can sometimes feel a bit loose. Not being able to rotate the level also means that depth perception is occasionally an issue.

Between the co-op campaign, four-player party mode and unlockable content, there’s more than 120 puzzles to infuriate and/or delight. It’s just a shame that there isn’t more variety to keep things fresh from start to finish. Once you’ve mastered all the puzzles, there’s little reason to return. Online leaderboards for level times or total deaths could have helped here.

Death Squared will have you tearing your hair out whether you’re playing alone or with friends, but it has the gravitational pull to bring you back for more and more punishment. Each maze generally only takes a few minutes to complete, so it’s the perfect head scratcher and time waster to play on the bus or train - a feature that is obviously unique to the Switch, in our minds making this the definitive version of a solid puzzle game with plenty of character.

Pros:

• Deceptively simple puzzle design
• A truckload of mazes to master
• Great voice acting and dialogue
• Plenty of character and charm
• Perfect for commuting

Cons:

• Repetitive traps and environments
• No reason to come back once you’ve finished all the mazes
• Lack of online leaderboards
• Occasionally loose controls

Score: 7/10