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Death Squared

For those who like a bit of challenge in their puzzle games and can look past some basic presentation, Death Squared has enough to satisfy the most daring player.
Death Squared Game Cover
83%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, humor
Most mentioned negative aspects:stability, optimization
85% User Score Based on 431 reviews
Critic Score 80%Based on 5 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchAndroidPlaystation 5Playstation 4XboxSteam DeckiPhoneWindowsPlayStationLinuxXbox Series X|SPCTabletMac OSPhoneXbox OneiPadMobile Platform
Death Squared Game Cover

About Death Squared

Death Squared is a single player and multiplayer tactical strategy game with a kids theme. It was developed by SMG Studio and was released on March 13, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

A puzzle game you can play with a friend who says "I don't play games"

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Games Like Death Squared

Looking for games like Death Squared? Here are top tactical strategy recommendations with a kids focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with ibb & obb, Biped or Overcooked 2.

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Reviews

85%Audience ScoreBased on 431 reviews
story14 positive mentions
stability7 negative mentions

  • Engaging and clever co-op puzzle design that encourages communication and teamwork among 2 to 4 players.
  • Simple controls and accessible gameplay make it enjoyable for players of various skill levels, including non-gamers and family members.
  • Humorous and charming narration adds personality and light-heartedness, enhancing the cooperative experience.
  • No native online multiplayer support; only local co-op and remote play options, which can be unreliable or cumbersome.
  • Certain levels have bugs, glitches, or unintuitive mechanics such as hidden traps, imprecise physics, and problematic hitboxes causing frustration.
  • Repetitive dialogue and lack of camera control can contribute to difficulty with spatial awareness and cause player annoyance.
  • story

    60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    23% positive mentions, 70% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The story mode offers a substantial number of puzzle levels (around 80), featuring cooperative gameplay with humorous, Portal-inspired dialogue and characters. While some find the narrative entertaining and a fun complement to the puzzles, others consider it filler or less engaging compared to its gameplay. Overall, the story provides light entertainment and context but is often secondary to the cooperative puzzle experience.

    • “Over time, Chell reveals more and more of the story of what happened in the Aperture Science lab, and - spoilers - defeats GLaDOS and escapes to the great cake in the sky.”
    • “Portal tells its story through both never-before-seen mechanics and the copious use of dark humour.”
    • “We've enjoyed the humorous story voiced incrementally throughout the puzzles.”
    • “The 'story' / narration is a complete rip on Portal and isn't nearly as funny.”
    • “Easy, enjoyable game with pretty irritating voice acting and a lame story, but the gameplay is fun and the 4-player mode is great if you have 3 friends.”
    • “This game is good for the most part but the story's characters are annoying and the latter 20 levels aren't close to being puzzles; rather, they are almost platforming levels which do not work with the clunky controls, slippery edges, and inconsistent falling.”
  • humor

    42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    98% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 2% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is widely praised for its clever, light-hearted, and often chaotic co-op moments, especially the funny interactions and accidental sabotage between players. While some find the narration and voiceover hit-or-miss, the witty dialogue and humorous situations consistently keep the gameplay enjoyable and entertaining, making it a great experience to play with friends or family.

    • “The puzzles are clever, the humor lands well, and watching your friends accidentally kill everyone never stops being funny.”
    • “The humor sprinkled throughout the game, particularly in the form of witty dialogue and light-hearted banter between the AI characters, adds to its charm and keeps the mood light even during more difficult levels.”
    • “It requires a lot of communication and teamwork, but I must admit I was hysterically laughing after we found the solution to some of the levels was way more simple than what we had been attempting the past 10 minutes; or once the frustration from having all the bots actively attempting to destroy each other had passed.”
    • “The biggest con is the unfunny, tryhard voiceover.”
  • gameplay

    39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 54% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions

    The gameplay is generally praised for its fun, challenging puzzle design, gradual introduction of mechanics, and strong local co-op features that encourage communication. However, some users find certain mechanics frustrating due to trial-and-error elements, inconsistent difficulty spikes, glitches, and lack of clear instruction. Despite these flaws, the core puzzles remain engaging and enjoyable for both solo and cooperative play.

    • “Fun puzzle game with simple mechanics and good puzzles; difficulty varies with sometimes hard levels followed by trivial ones, providing a range of challenges.”
    • “Charming and cute gameplay with mechanics introduced gradually, offering great satisfaction when you find solutions; features delightful elements like hats and beepy lights.”
    • “Great co-op game that utilizes puzzles, requires communication, and good movement mechanics, making it engaging and enjoyable with friends.”
    • “Very annoying to try to beat a level that literally can't be won because the mechanics are messed up.”
    • “The trial and error element of traps is frustrating rather than entertaining and other issues such as clipping and glitches make it more annoying – simple changes such as having a marker on the spiked tiles, better collision mechanics and a controllable camera would have prevented this.”
    • “Starts off strong, they run out of challenges (solo and coop) at around level 40, and instead of clever challenges the 'puzzles' involve randomly hidden mechanics with no logic, blocks hidden with no indication they're there, and blocks lifting and lowering randomly, laid there for you to trial and error to stumble across them.”
  • graphics

    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    24% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions

    The game's graphics are consistently described as minimalist, clean, and vibrant, creating a charming sci-fi and robotic aesthetic that is both simple and effective. While not photorealistic or highly detailed, the smooth and well-designed visuals complement the gameplay and atmosphere well, contributing to an approachable and enjoyable experience.

    • “The minimalist design, combined with vibrant colors and clean lines, gives Death Squared a charming and approachable aesthetic.”
    • “✔️ Clean interface, readable environment, nice and simple graphics.”
    • “Graphics are minimalistic yet warm.”
    • “Graphically it looks fine if a bit basic and the puzzles do offer a good level of challenge, but it’s far from great.”
    • “The graphics are fairly simple, but the level designs and game mechanics really steal the show.”
    • “The controls are simple, and the graphics are okay.”
  • music

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    36% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 27% negative mentions

    The game's music features a pleasant and fitting atmospheric track, but suffers from having only a single repetitive looped composition, which can become tiresome. While the background music is generally well-received, some sound effects can be jarring, leading some players to mute audio. Overall, the soundtrack is good but limited in variety, reducing its impact.

    • “There's a nice and light atmospheric music during all levels, but unfortunately there's only one single looped composition, and that's a real pity.”
    • “Background music is gorgeous and fits really well.”
    • “The music in this game is also great.”
    • “I normally hate to turn off audio in games, even the most mediocre of soundtracks, but I ran out of patience for the voiceovers real fast.”
    • “Besides the fullscreen trouble, the fact it only has one music track and doesn't feature LAN/internet cooperative multiplayer is something that keeps the game away from a perfect 10 or a 9 as well.”
    • “I had to play with the sfx music muted because the cubes would make a horrendous noise when they are placed upon the circular pads.”
  • stability

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, including buggy hitboxes, frequent freezing in remote play, poor controller support, and physics glitches. These problems, along with clipping, glitches, and inconsistent fullscreen behavior, hinder multiplayer functionality and overall playability. While some issues are minor, many negatively impact the user experience and frustrate players.

    • “Only online play is through remote play, and it always freezes on loading the level.”
    • “Terrible controller support; incredibly buggy.”
    • “The trial and error element of traps is frustrating rather than entertaining and other issues such as clipping and glitches make it more annoying – simple changes such as having a marker on the spiked tiles, better collision mechanics and a controllable camera would have prevented this.”
  • atmosphere

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions

    The game's atmosphere is simple and robotics-themed, supported by effective but minimal graphics and a light, looping soundtrack that some find repetitive. While the narrative lacks humor and depth, making it feel dull at times, the challenging puzzles and party-friendly vibe provide some engaging moments. Overall, the atmosphere is functional but could benefit from more varied music and a stronger narrative to enhance player immersion.

    • “The atmosphere and graphics are quite simple and effective, everything is linked to robotics!”
    • “Difficult but not too difficult and great for a party atmosphere.”
    • “There's a nice and light atmospheric music during all levels, but unfortunately there's only one single looped composition, and that's a real pity.”
    • “With no real atmosphere and a barely humorous narrative it gets boring quite quickly, although solving the harder puzzles remains somewhat satisfying.”
  • optimization

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 75% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions

    The provided texts focus on character interactions and narrative rather than technical performance, offering no relevant information on the game's optimization.

  • grinding

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    Users found grinding to be time-consuming and demanding, often requiring multiple attempts or extended playtime, though some appreciated the achievement challenges associated with it.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
  • emotional

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the game offers good, wholesome fun that provides a lighthearted, enjoyable break between more intense emotional experiences. It encourages casual social interaction and playful moments, making it a relaxing way to unwind.

    • “Good wholesome fun.”
    • “Maybe this isn't going to fill that gap, but in between those intense, emotional sessions you seek, this may be a good way to unwind and make a friend... before pushing them off the platform for fun when they're not looking.”
  • replayability

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game offers limited replayability, primarily through secrets and achievements, but lacks lasting appeal, especially without multiplayer, as certain puzzles become too easy or tedious to revisit.

    • “The secrets and achievements offer some replay value but not much and without other players, the 4 player puzzles end up being either really easy or a chore to complete.”
    • “The only thing I am wary of is the replayability.”
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Frequently Asked Questions

Death Squared is a tactical strategy game with kids theme. Common tags for Death Squared include co-op campaign, sokoban, indie, trading, family friendly and others.

Death Squared is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

Death Squared was released on March 13, 2017.

Death Squared was developed by SMG Studio.

Death Squared has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Death Squared for its story but disliked it for its stability.

Death Squared is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include ibb & obb, Biped, Overcooked 2, Overcooked, Escape Simulator and others.