Parent Game: Q.U.B.E.
Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut

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GAME
2011
Q.U.B.E.

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Summary

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is the definitive version of the brain-twisting first-person puzzler. Using special high-tech gloves to manipulate cubes in the environment, the player solves an array of conundrums - from physics-based challenges; to 3D jigsaws; to platform-based trials.


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Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut Reviews & Ratings

80
Review by spencerplewe [user]
June 24, 2021

It may wear its inspirations on its sleeves, but that doesn't stop Q.U.B.E. from evoking a chilling atmosphere with existential questions toIt may wear its inspirations on its sleeves, but that doesn't stop Q.U.B.E. from evoking a chilling atmosphere with existential questions to hold up its simple, and at times really challenging, puzzle gimmick.

80
Review by OldManGamerOMG [user]
December 7, 2020

I was gifted this game, and it has quickly become something of a puzzle that I don't want to put down. It is like solving a Rubik's Cube fromI was gifted this game, and it has quickly become something of a puzzle that I don't want to put down. It is like solving a Rubik's Cube from the inside. It starts subtle and simple, but the story and puzzle become quite intense and enthralling. This game is one that I can strongly recommend for thinker types. I have completed the game once now, and I am definitely going to have to go through it again, and see if I can find the things that I missed.The story is not excessively deep, but is very interesting. You have to question your objective. Which path is the objective? While I know now, I will not spoil it for anyone. Fantastic!

30
Review by TitaniumDragon [user]
February 17, 2017

Q.U.B.E. is a minimalist first-person puzzle game. You wake up in a sterile environment consisting entirely of white cubes. There are a smallQ.U.B.E. is a minimalist first-person puzzle game. You wake up in a sterile environment consisting entirely of white cubes. There are a small number of colored blocks – when you point at them and press your mouse, you can cause them to extrude from the walls or retract back into them. There are four kinds of blocks – purple blocks, which rotate the environment (either 90 degrees or, in a small number of puzzles, 45 degrees. There are red blocks, which extrude a line up to three blocks long. There’s yellow blocks, which always come in threes; clicking on either end causes them to extrude 1 block on the opposite end, 2 blocks in the middle, and 3 blocks on the clicked block. And there’s blue blocks, which slingshot you (or any other object) when you touch them.There’s a couple other mechanics – there are some round marbles which must be navigated through environments by use of the block mechanics, as well as some autonomous robots which always turn left which must be navigated through the environment using block mechanics. Later on, there are some wires (which, when they contact pads, light them up – these are only used for a very small number of puzzles, as they are pretty limited) and a few laser light puzzles, where you must reflect a laser using mirrors to get to the final point.A few puzzles make use of tinting blocks – either to change the color of lasers or to change the color of marbles – which adds an additional element to some puzzles.While the game tries to do a lot with its mechanics, I have to say that a lot of the puzzles weren’t actually all that much fun to solve. The game was very fond of the marble puzzles, but I have to say these were my least favorite part of the game; some of them involved fairly exact timing, particularly on some blocks with some amount of delay to them (the yellow ones), and on at least one puzzle that involved rotation, I’m fairly certain I “cheated” the game and didn’t solve it the “right way”. It was also common to face several marble puzzles in a row, which made them feel a bit more repetitive than they might have otherwise.However, the game as a whole doesn’t have all that many tricks to show the player; it clocks in around four hours in length for the main game, plus maybe another couple hours for the various side challenges if you’re intent on getting a lot of medals. But the game simply doesn’t have all that many puzzle elements to it, and so after a while it feels like the game is just remixing stuff you’ve seen a bunch without doing anything particularly clever with it. The fifth zone – doing puzzles in the dark – was particularly notable in this regard, as the main mechanic was that you couldn’t see all of what you were doing at the same time. This wasn’t a particularly fun mechanic, but it didn’t really do anything new with the puzzles, just made it more inconvenient to solve them. The first couple zones of the game were basically a tutorial in the games’ mechanics as well, with a lot of very simple puzzles which weren’t all that interesting to solve.And unfortunately, this game doesn’t boast much else other than puzzles; whereas Portal boasted GlaDOS, Wheatly, and Cave Johnson constantly chattering at you, Q.U.B.E.’s “mission control” voices are somewhat more limited in their appearances. Worse, however, is the fact that they just aren’t all that interesting; one of them says you’re saving the Earth, the other one says that the first voice is lying and you’re imprisoned in the Earth solving puzzles for their sadistic satisfaction. The second voice introduces a fair bit of fridge logic to the game, but neither scenario being presented to the player ultimately feels like it makes much sense – the second voice points out the ridiculousness of the game’s premise, but the game never really to justify why someone would be doing what they were doing. And unfortunately, in a non-comedy game that seems to be taking itself seriously, that’s a bit of a problem; why am I supposedly in some sort of alien spaceship solving puzzles to destroy it? How does that make sense? How does the player character solving these puzzles have any relation to stopping the ship? And, assuming that mission control really is telling the truth, how do they know that there is an escape shuttle waiting at the end of the ship for you?There isn’t even any real attempt at explaining all this made by the game, which seemed to be trying to be cleverly ambiguous but instead simply undermined itself.The one thing that I can say that the game did well was its graphics; Q.U.B.E. is an indie game, but by making use of the extremely minimalist environment composed almost entirely of white cubes, the producers managed to make a game that looks very good, even if it looks a bit samey by the end.My advice? Play the Portal games or The Talos Principle instead.

70
Review by Letraix [user]
November 28, 2015

Short (up to 4 hours) and entertaining first-person puzzler. The puzzles are not too difficult, but still satisfying. The minimalist styleShort (up to 4 hours) and entertaining first-person puzzler. The puzzles are not too difficult, but still satisfying. The minimalist style suits the game. Nice touches, like rhythmic movement of the walls, enhance the immersion. The narrative, though well-intentioned, tends to undermine the sense of place (or placelessness) by inserting unnecessary detail. Since the player has no choice in the outcome, the story feels overly dramatic and awkwardly staged. Nevertheless these minor annoyances do not detract so much that the experience is spoiled. Bundled for around 1$, the game is very worth it. At $15, your time is probably better spent elsewhere.

80
Review by CalmDownTom
October 3, 2014

Silly story aside Q.U.B.E Director’s Cut is very good game. Most first person games fall apart when the have platforming sections, but Toxic Games managed to pulled off a whole game with first person platforming.

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Game Information
Release Date May 21, 2014
Publisher Toxic Games
Content Rated T (Teen)
Game Modes Single player
Player Perspectives First person, Virtual Reality
Genres Platform, Puzzle, Strategy, Adventure, Indie
Themes Action, Science fiction, Mystery
Platforms Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 3, Mac, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One