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Dumb Ways to Build Review
My son has long loved “Dumb Ways to Die” and its infinite variants, so seeing a full game made in the spirit of those videos, where the unlucky souls meet their end in myriad absurd ways, was quite surprising. I had never heard the game was in development, so it was completely off my radar, but what harm could there be in trying it out? In the worst case, Dumb Ways to Build would give me a spinoff of something my son loves, and it could give him a game to mess around with.
And, damn, am I glad I did.
While I am unsure how much the affiliation with the once-viral song really matters outside of simple recognition, the team at Dumb Ways to Die takes its co-op, “friendslop” framework and constructs a foundationally solid game where the joy is found by engaging in chaotic, often unexpected, scenarios and working through them with friends.
Publisher: Dumb Ways to Die Developer: Dumb Ways to Die Platform: Played on PC (Steam) Availability: Released on Sept 10, 2026 on PC (Steam), Xbox Series X/S, and Playstation 5 |
Dumb Ways to Build requires players to reach an objective location by utilizing building materials, tools, and random objects to construct pathways to their destinations. It includes many genre hallmarks, such as proximity voice chat — which changes sound based on location, distance, and even player status (e.g., helium pitching up a character’s voice) — a simpler art style, and a low barrier to entry.
In multiplayer, cooperation is key, as a player cannot hold an object in place and nail it at the same time. So, one player must hold an object while another nails it down. With each level being these sprawling layouts, there are numerous buildings and objects to interact with that each may or may not lead a player to their intended final destination, and multiple pathways to any given location.
As a playground for that interaction, Dumb Ways to Build is a phenomenal space. Almost immediately upon loading into the game, you can feel a level of polish that is quite rare for the booming genre, featuring smooth performance and movement, as well as consistent object interaction and behavior. I came away quite impressed with the game on a technical level — nails shoot where you aim and place objects exactly where you would expect them to; I have encountered no glitches or bugs of any kind, and the object physics and collision handling are themselves astonishing, with very little overlap between the building materials in unexpected ways. The boards pile on top of each other rather than bleed together, and you’ll never find yourself falling through a floor unexpectedly.
This has an enormous effect on the actual experience of playing, where performing the task at hand is the only real objective. Without a concern for an errant bug or unexpected object behavior, there is confidence in every action. So, when the game tasks you with reaching a specific destination or completing an objective, planning and execution are your only real concerns.
And while there is a certain joy in the absurdity of a game not quite working as intended, Dumb Ways to Build instead fills that void with expertly designed spaces and unique items. You might find yourself needing to scale a building, but without any proper scaffolding to work with. So you take a nearby pole and bolt it to the architecture to aid your climb, only to then realize a rounded surface is not as easily navigable as a flat one.
Every object has its own properties, all of which are intuitive or discernible quickly. You can’t bolt objects to glass, an electrified battery will shock anyone nearby when it discharges, and grappling hooks launch you up to new heights like the Dark Knight floating through Gotham. Of course, the stability of the mechanics does mean fewer unexpected outcomes, but there’s enough to worry about already.
Aside from the aforementioned object variability, the human element is always at play. Characters do not pass through one another and cannot occupy the same space. Try to walk through your pal, and you are likely to push them off the small ledges to their death; swing your building materials around haphazardly, and you can kiss your nailer goodbye. Even in a single 20-40 minute period, you can create so many memorable moments it becomes almost dizzying.
Once, I saw a friend get run over by a car, then another before dying. As I gazed upon their body drifting slowly upward thanks to an attached balloon, I shot them down, not understanding what was happening. This promptly dropped the player back into traffic, where multiple cars ran them over again, carrying their now-limp corpse off into the distance. At another point, I brought a battery up to a location where everyone was standing around. Knowing the shock would stun me, I backed away, but I did not consider that the electricity would travel through the groups of players, shocking us all.
The moments never stop coming, and they never stop being fun or funny. Every mistake, every voice change, every moment of discovery and happenstance — all of it a riot, and all of it facilitated by the mechanics and design of the game. You can certainly experience this through its single-player mode, to an extent, but the game thrives on the chaos of multiplayer.
The simplicity of its mechanics also means a low barrier to entry, but there remain ways to tailor the experience. There are options for infinite revives, and there is a timer if efficiency is your goal. Furthermore, there are multiple difficulties per level (though only 3 levels are available), and extra challenges litter each environment for players to discover and complete. It has an openness to its design that encourages exploration and experimentation, while never fully feeling directionless or haphazard.
Verdict Frankly, I am thoroughly impressed by what Dumb Ways to Build is doing. There is a level of cohesion and deliberateness to every element — from its visuals and music, all the way down to the technicalities of object interaction and level design — that I cannot recall another friendslop game having. Insofar as you can design for chaos, Dumb Ways to Build has distilled it. The absurdity of the “Dumb Ways to Die” songs captured my son’s attention, and now, having been on the receiving end of that absurdity in video game form, it finally won mine, too. |
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