Snipperclips: Cut it Out Together and Death Squared are both uniquely humorous puzzle games for 1-to-4 players available on the Nintendo Switch. In both games, you collaborate with your friends to solve levels through creative destruction and innovation. However, each differs in a few key aspects.
In Snipperclips, you transform your characters by cutting pieces off of each other to create the shapes and tools you need to solve each puzzle. In Death Squared, you direct robotic cubes through deadly traps to their corresponding color goals; every death gets you closer to solving the puzzle.
Both games provide hours of co-op laughter and fun, but which is the better buy?
Imaginative Gameplay
When it comes to imaginative gameplay, Snipperclips wins hands down. To solve the game’s colorful puzzles, you and your friends cut the in-game characters into fun, creative shapes. Because you can create any shape, there is a huge variety of puzzle solutions — you won’t be locked into one way of doing things. For creative players, this is a big draw.
The more friends you play with, the cleverer and funnier the game becomes. To make things even better, the characters make cute little noises when they squat, snip, and regenerate. Jumping around the screen snipping away is loads of fun and good way to let off steam if you get stuck on a puzzle — and regenerating characters after they’ve been cut away is great.
Death Squared has a much more linear puzzle mechanic, meaning there’s just one way to solve each puzzle.
Despite that, each Death Squared puzzle is its own unique challenge. As new mechanics and themes on existing mechanics are introduced as you progress, the puzzles get gradually harder. This gradual progression makes the game intuitive and fun — even if you become a master.
Solving puzzles in Death Squared requires a lot of communication with your teammates. Some levels require players to move backward and forward across the playspace to unlock new puzzle areas, while others require some players to block laser beams to protect other players while they solve the puzzle.
Story
Death Squared makes up for its more stringent gameplay loop by having a hilarious narrative between a “protagonist” and his virtual Omnicorp assistant, Iris. As the story progresses, the story elements of Death Squared become more and more intriguing. This one element can keep players progressing toward more difficult puzzles, whereas otherwise, they might not.
In Snipperclips, there is no story. The characters have very expressive facial expressions, which gives you the feeling they are all friends, adding to the overall aesthetic of the game. But there is no background story provided. While Snipperclips was fun to play with friends, it was less fun for me than a game that has the additional depth a story provides.
Length
Death Squared has 150 puzzles, which equates to around five to nine hours of unique puzzle gameplay.
The original Snipperclips only has 45 levels, putting it at about three to five hours of puzzle gameplay. It does have three mini-games (hoops, hockey, and snipping battle), which add another two to three hours depending on how much you like them. However, the Plus expansion adds on an additional 40 levels, slightly more difficult puzzles, and three more mini-games (two stamp coloring games and a keep away game), which essentially doubles gameplay.
At the end of the day, it really boils down to if you want to grab Snipperclips‘ expansion or not. If not, you’re getting about half the game time of Death Squared.
Cost
At retail, Snipperclips costs $19.99, with the DLC adding on an additional $9.99.
Death Squared is only $15.99.
If you really want to get into the weeds, this comes to $0.35 a puzzle for Snipperclips. And it comes to $0.11 a puzzle for Death Squared, theoretically making it cheaper both in total for the game and per puzzle.
Although, you can’t objectively put a price on fun, so it ultimately comes down to which type of puzzle game you prefer and gives you the most replay value based on your tastes.
The Verdict
If you are looking for something light and unique, Snipperclips is the way to go. If you are looking for the most puzzle for your buck, Death Squared is objectively the best value.
As a puzzle addict, I prefer Death Squared due to the simple yet challenging puzzle gameplay, amazing story, interactive gameplay, and affordability.
Which game do you prefer? Do you have any other great puzzle games for the Switch we should check out? Let us know in the comments below!
