Snapstick is absolutely bizarre. You can play the puzzle game in a number of ways, such as moving around blocks, forming shadows or using lasers to point in various directions. Various comedy sections deliver a host of laugh-out-loud moments, but unfortunately, it can’t escape being tedious.
Developed by My Dog Zorro,
is a mixed reality puzzle game where you can either use your hands or your controllers to complete a variety of mini puzzles. As you become more familiar with the mechanics of the game, the puzzles get harder. It is. Snapstick’s puzzles are just downtime between the main attraction of the game – its gags. Snapstick has a section where you build roads for a dog to fall in love. He then cheats with his “girlfriend” with a dino, gets kicked out, drives under the influence, and moves to a farmer’s farm. After doing some normal puzzles again, you find the dog jealous of his ex-girlfriend, drinking again, and evading the cops after crashing under the influence again.SnapstickSnapstick delivers its comedy brilliantly, bringing back gags regularly and occasionally at unexpected times. Snapstick has made me laugh out loud more than I expected. These are my favourite moments from the game. Another example would be a talking toilet that wants friends, a useless currency that buys cosmetics you can’t see, or building our solar system which, of course, has a flat Earth.
However, this is also where Snapstick suffers the most. It’s so absurd that the puzzles between are boring and tedious. After having a hectic few puzzles of witnessing a dog suffer from alcoholism, the idea of some very basic laser challenges is dull, and I wish Snapstick would revel in the absurdity more often than not.
Snapstick has some major pacing problems, and I think it would’ve been better to have non-stop gags that offer a tighter experience over the 500+ puzzles the developer promises. After a few puzzles that involved observing a dog suffer from alcoholism, I found myself growing tired of the same, slightly advanced, repetitive jokes. It’s not necessary to have 500 puzzles, but if 90% are unremarkable compared with the highlights of the game it might be worth cutting down. I appreciate the clever gimmicks and mechanics that Snapstick offers during its puzzler moments, but it pales compared to the comedic elements.
Unlike
‘s unique twist on the puzzle genre, Snapstick keeps it fairly simple, relying on ridiculous and ludicrous moments to help it stand out in a crowded genre. Its monotonous and repetitive tasks let me down in a game that could have been hilarious. It might be a better experience in short doses, but I wish the developers would’ve tightened up the pacing.
Snapstick is now available on the
for Meta Quest 3, Pro, and 2 headsets.