Death Squared has been announced for the Xbox One and PC, with a tentative first quarter, 2017 release. The game will be previewed by its developers, SMG Studio, at the upcoming PAX West in Seattle, Washington, which takes place between September 2nd and September 5th.

The title of the game doesn’t really explain away what makes it so compelling. You see, the game is a cooperative title where one through four players must work together to get the end of increasingly difficult levels and escape from a laboratory. Sounds simple, yes? Well, it’s not quite like Portal.

Each player will control a cubed block as they move cautiously through trap-filled levels. Triggering a trap might kill your teammate, or it might kill you. There are lots of different trap combinations to look out for and a lot of communication and teamwork required to get through each level. The reason it requires a lot of communication and teamwork is because you can only advance to the next level if all of the players survive. You can check out a gameplay video below to see what sort of challenges await in Death Squared.

Another thing that makes the game tricky is that while each player must make it to the exit alive to proceed to a new level, each of the exits are different for each player, so timing, navigation, patience and wits all play a role in getting through each level alive.

Patrick Cook, the founder of SMG Studio, explains some of what makes the game challenging and different, stating in the press release…

“Death Squared rewards strong communication and instantly gives a crash course on its importance to gamers lacking the skill,”

 

“Failure is part of the solution process, and through trial and error as well as teamwork, everyone can survive Death Squared’s gauntlet of puzzles…whether friendships are still intact is a different story.”

The encouragement of failure and trying again is something we don’t see in games too often. Most times failure is discouraged through auto-checkpoints every minute or two and challenges that are easy enough for most five-year old kids to complete.

Whether or not the game works as well as it looks in the trailer will be determined at PAX West next month in Seattle.

You can look for the game to launch in full next year for Xbox One and PC. For more info feel free to hit up the game’s official website.