Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together! Review

One or two players control two individual characters (both in a sort of ice-lolly sort of shape) and move around a single-screen environment solving puzzles. Sounds pretty basic so far right? Snipperclips has one simple gameplay mechanic though where overlapping your teammate allows you to snip away at them in order to create new shapes. Cut them at the right angle and you can turn them into a triangle. If you’re really careful you can nick at them to craft a circle. It’s using this ability that you are then able to solve the game’s many puzzles.

These puzzles come in two different flavours – the first focusing on cutting yourselves into specific shapes in order to fit perfectly into a dotted-outline and the second completing a random task. Filling the requirements of certain outlines are the simpler of the challenges where using the curves and right angles of your characters well often results in success.

The creative tasks are the highlight here though offering a good mix of variety and wackiness – you’ll be trying to throw a bowling ball through a hoop, catch fish, help a flower grow and put a car together to name a few. Of course these can all be accomplished simply by snipping yourselves into the appropriate shapes. While I want to keep light on spoilers (after all a large chunk of the fun comes from figuring out your own solutions) we ended up solving the aforementioned bowling ball problem by cutting an almost scoop-like shape into my head so I could carry the heavy weight over to the hoop. This was just our solution though as we went on to discover early on that other resolutions could and do easily exist, repeating that same stage again but with a very different approach. And it’s this welcoming embrace that Snipperclips has on your ideas that really stand out. It never punishes you for trying something new no matter how ambitious. If anything it encourages it. And this shines true throughout the game’s main campaign…

…which is over all too quickly. Three worlds with fifteen stages in each is all you get and while some do take a while to figure out, we managed to reach the end in just a few hours. It’s a shame really as the ideas on offer here hint at greater things and just when you think the game will keep throwing more and more creative tasks at you, the game just… ends.

‘Party’ mode allows two more players to join the mix making for more complex and fun puzzles. If you thought organising two players was difficult just wait until you get four of you sat around shouting directions at each other. It’s a cool additional mode but again much like the main campaign is over far too quickly – quicker in fact.

And that’s what I couldn’t help but feel walking away from the game’s two main modes. Like Snipperclips was teasing me. The ideas on display here are fantastic but I just wanted more. I just hope we see a sequel with a grander scope and more content.

Snipperclips can be played alone if you are without a teammate and allows the player to switch roles between the two shapes. As you’d expect it’s functional but nowhere near as fun as working with another human. Likewise ‘party’ can be played with two or three players if you’re short.

‘Blitz’ is the final option and this multiplayer is split into three modes – Hoops, Hockey and Dojo. The first two are pretty much what you’d expect where scoring points is the aim of the game. Of course the snipping mechanic carries across from the main game where you and your teammate can cut each other into useful shapes that might help you score easier. They’re both simple in nature but a decent enough distraction especially when you get four people together. Dojo meanwhile is basically a manic race to cut opponents out completely whilst avoiding being eliminated yourself. Pretty basic stuff and the least impressive of the three.

Visually Snipperclips has all the lovely charm you’d want from a puzzler like this and it should come as no surprise that Nintendo had a hand in helping the team on this game. The three worlds all sport unique and fun environments (notepad, retro and science) while the shapes themselves are adorable – from their concerned faces as they’re snipped away to the funny way they walk and crouch down.

Snipperclips: Cut it out, Together! is a quirky, cute, fun little puzzler that makes use of its simple mechanic in amazing ways. It’s just a shame that it’s all over way too quickly. What could have easily been a no-brainer for any Switch owner feels a little tougher to recommend especially for its price of admission. I recommend everyone try this, just perhaps wait for it to see a discount first.