REVIEW · 2017-03-13
Death Squared
A co-op puzzle where robots explode
First Impressions
On Steam, 637 of 724 reviews are positive (about 88%, Very Positive, as of 2026-10-02). The positive side first praises the easy controls and the laughs it produces among friends. The store tagline about robot explosions is praised as an accurate description of play.
The negative side is small but specific. Recurring complaints are that it feels flat solo, that it was bought as a four-player game yet works mostly as two-player, and that there is no built-in online play. Few attack the puzzle design itself.
So the split is less about quality than about who plays and how. I read that as a game with a clearly bounded design range.
Death Squared gameplay — Steam store screenshot
Putting the Mechanics into Words
The verbs visible in the reviews are few: move, make the other wait, signal. Positive reviewers say the controls are simple and quick to pick up. The complexity lives in the division of roles, not in the input.
One positive review says that controlling both robots alone trains two-handed coordination. Another says that with more players, agreeing on the order of execution becomes the real game. The same board turns into a different game depending on headcount.
In Puzzlebyrinth's vocabulary this belongs to contraptions, but its subject is the distribution of information rather than the machinery. Where Thomas Was Alone staged role-switching inside one head, this game moves it between people.
Death Squared gameplay — Steam store screenshot
What Makes It Great
The words positive reviewers repeat are laughter and the comedy of failure. A trap seen for the first time blows up a teammate, and many report laughing together at that moment. Some write that you learn by dying a few times, because you cannot tell what will happen.
I read this as a design that lowers the price of failure. Restarts are quick and failure turns into a joke, so the mood rarely becomes blame for whoever misread the plan.
Still, roles can skew. One negative review says only the leader thinks while the others just follow instructions. The shape of cooperation wobbles inside the frame the author set.
Death Squared gameplay — Steam store screenshot
The Texture of Difficulty
Judgments of difficulty change between the early and late game. Early on it is read kindly as gradually increasing in complexity. Later, some write that it becomes mechanically harsh or gives them a headache.
From the reviews I sorted the difficulty into three kinds: difficulty of thinking, difficulty of precise execution, and getting stuck on bugs. Several people name the last one, in Party Mode level 27 and parts of The Vault.
That drifts from design talk, but one fact matters: the most-upvoted negative opinion says the traps feel unfair and the design does not separate a real solution from brute force. That is the line where comic failure starts to read as malice.
Death Squared gameplay — Steam store screenshot
Reviews Consulted
This piece was written from the Steam store's user reviews as of 2026-10-02.
· Steam: Death Squared (Overall 637/724 positive, about 88%, Very Positive)
· I read the opening portions of 20 positive (last year), 15 English negative and 8 recent reviews through the review API. This is not a full close reading; I reconstruct typical claims rather than quoting.
· I did not read Japanese reviews this time.
Closing
Steam's overall is about 88% positive (637 of 724, snapshot 2026-10-02). My design-critic score is 7.5. It sits below the number because solo play is thin and some reviewers feel the later traps turn unfair.
The reviews land on this: good when played on one screen with someone, less so alone or over the network. The solo clear time mentioned in reviews is about 8 hours.
Experience of difficulty splits by headcount and chemistry. Still, a design that lets you fail while laughing is a persuasive door into cooperative puzzles.
Death Squared gameplay — Steam store screenshot
Where are you with this game?
Press one and the game goes on your shelf. You can see it on your account page.
Reactions (no login)
Anonymous • one of each per visitor per day
Read next
Related reviews
MHRD
A text-only puzzle game that starts you with a single NAND gate and has you write hardware in a small description language: ANDs, adders, and finally the design of a working CPU. You play a new hire at a fictional company called Microhard, filling twenty-odd specifications in order. Made by Funghisoft.
Bridge Constructor Portal
A 2D physics puzzler in which you build bridges and ramps across 60 Aperture Science test chambers and thread vehicles through fixed portals and gels to the exit. ClockStone's entry in the Bridge Constructor series, built with Portal's own art and lore on loan from Valve.
Linelight
A minimalist puzzle game in which you steer a small bar of light along thin lines, working past switches, doors, keys and lethal red lines. No jump button and no shoot button — over 250 levels across six worlds, from My Dog Zorro.
