Snapstick is utterly bizarre. The puzzle game brings you a variety of different sets that find you moving blocks around, casting shadows in the right formations, or pointing lasers in different 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, Snapstick is a mixed reality puzzle game where you can either use your hands or your controllers to complete a variety of mini puzzles. These get progressively harder as you learn the different gimmicks and mechanics in the game.
In the opening moments, Snapstick seems like a relatively simple puzzle game. Which it is. None of the game's mind-boggling challenges are particularly difficult, requiring just a few ounces of brain power to beat each task, and it does feel good to complete them. However, Snapstick's puzzles are just downtime between the game's focal point - the gags.
One section of Snapstick sees you building roads to help a male dog fall in love with a female dog before he cheats on his 'girlfriend' with a dinosaur, is kicked out of his home, and ends up driving under the influence and moving to a 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.
Snapstick delivers its comedy brilliantly, bringing back gags regularly and occasionally at unexpected times. It's rare for a game to make me physically laugh instead of smiling nonsensically, but Snapstick did catch me off guard many times, and they're my favorite moments in the puzzle 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. The comedy approach is so utterly absurd and hilarious that it makes the simple puzzles in between feel tedious and, ultimately, very boring. 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. I could feel myself getting fed up with repeating similar, slightly advancing puzzles repeatedly, desperately waiting for the next line of jokes to appear.
It's proof that more isn't necessarily better. Having over 500 puzzles is certainly generous, but when 90% of them are forgettable compared to the best moments of the game, it may be time to cut down. I appreciate the clever gimmicks and mechanics that Snapstick offers during its puzzler moments, but it pales compared to the comedic elements.
Unlike Hide the Corpse'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. However, its monotonous tasks disappoint me in what could've been a truly excellent and hilarious game. 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 Meta Quest store for Meta Quest 3, Pro, and 2 headsets.
