One of the bigger surprises this year at PAX West was Death Squared. Developed by SMG Studio and initially created in a Game Jam, Death Squared is a very unique puzzle game in that it fosters coorperation between players for success. See, each of the little robot cubes you play as is color coded for a reason. Depending on your color, certain traps won’t hurt you and certain barriers won’t hinder you.
Furthermore, whenever you move, the environment reacts accordingly. For example, if a red block starts shuffling forward, red traps will activate. Which would be fine, if you didn’t need to escape with both the red and blue blocks. The key, then, is to work with your partner to find a way to safely navigate each level without an untimely demise for either of you. However, given the title of the name, you can probably guess that you’ll die a few (hundred) times before you figure that out.
Thus far Death Squared is a blast to play with others, though I was relieved to hear it will also feature a one player mode where one person controls each cube independently. That said, this might be the only puzzle game ever made that works better with friends. It is also noteworthy that Death Squared is going to release on Steam and XBox One first, followed by potential console releases. I had a lot of fun playing Death Squared at PAX West this year, and look forward to seeing how diabolical the full release is going to be. Stay tuned as always to oprainfall for more news about this and other titles as it comes down the pipe. And check out the trailer below to see how crazy things can get in Death Squared!
