Originally a public service announcement which discouraged the Australian public from thoughtless activity that could result in injury (and death), Dumb Ways to Die became an internet sensation on social media and spawned a whole franchise. Whether you have played the Dumb Ways to Die mobile games or have at least once in your life had the theme song stuck in your head (I currently have it playing on repeat on an open tab in my brain), now you can team up with your friends in the challenging Dumb Ways To Build game - available on console and PC.

As far as building co-op games go, Dumb Ways to Build is a cute addition - once again making questionable physics an entertaining few hours of laughs (and frustrated interjections). You can play in Solo Mode by yourself and Co-Op with 2- 4 players in a cross-play session. There is no multiplayer match up yet, but hopefully something they may add in the future if the developers want the game to stay active. You play as a “Bean,” the cute little naive characters from the original Dumb Ways to Die, trying to complete objectives that somehow seem to all take place at the top of some structures that could use a health and safety inspection.



Solo mode is a study in focus and determination. I spent hours building the perfect structures that would withstand me going up and down multiple times to collect new materials and kits - pressure testing various techniques to make my life easier as I traversed up and down to complete my tasks and discover hidden gems and better paths.

There is no multiplayer match up yet, but hopefully something they may add in the future if the developers want the game to stay active.

Co-Op may or may not be Dumb Ways To Build’s greatest enemy - Depending on who you play with (as with most co-op games). If you choose your friends carefully, you will fly up the obstacles with ease. Each person has a job, each job has a purpose. OR you can find yourself trying to scale up dubious paths, while your teammates laugh as the planks fall out from literally under your feet. Choose wisely, friend… communication and common sense are pivotal to reach your objective.



The costumes and wacky consumables and materials do make Dumb Ways to Build a fun, laugh-heavy game with the potential to keep players occupied with friends for hours. What I would love to see the developers add is a pvp (or friend-v-friend if you’re that way inclined as I am) element where you can challenge your friends to be the first to reach the objective - adding sabotage and hi-jinks to make the experience a lot more clippable and streamable in the long run. Traditionally, co-op games with a competitive element tend to draw more attention and more playability than pure co-operative games.

Each person has a job, each job has a purpose. OR you can find yourself trying to scale up dubious paths, while your teammates laugh as the planks fall out from literally under your feet.

In the end, Dumb Ways to Build is still a lot of fun for a party game. You will have tons of laughs and occasionally question why some of your friends are “like this.” I do feel like the game may not have the longest lifespan, unless more content and modes are added.

Reviewed by Sheree Steenkamp