Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary

Firstly, if you don’t know the game, QUBE is a portal-like in which you have a glove that can manipulate some elements around you. Don’t expect anything from the story, there’s nothing particular about it.

QUBE 10th Anniversary is a revamped version of QUBE with the addition of Sector 8, a new chapter. I always had trouble with this series, I think QUBE is decent at best and, while QUBE 2 is a bit better, it still isn’t good enough.
However, the two dlcs from QUBE 2 showed one thing : QUBE can be really good. That’s why I bought this game, I knew Sector 8 at least would be good even if the base game was still boring.

And I was (not totally) right, Sector 8 is indeed good but the base game is also not bad at all! I won’t lie, I don’t remember QUBE very well so I can’t see what has changed. But what I can tell for sure is that I had a far better moment playing the 10th anniversary version : they clearly amped up the difficulty which was the main problem of the original game. That can be seen in my playtime : the original QUBE took me 3 hours to beat, this one took me nearly 5 hours (without Sector 8).
Narrative sections of the game are still very boring though… it’s just walking and waiting. No platforming sections at all, no landscape to admire, no action (apart from one or two moments with a fan). When you go for those long transitions between levels, I think you also need them to be interesting (and the dialogues you hear are not enough at all).

They also added collectibles. If you didn’t play the QUBE 2’s dlc where they first appear, the collectibles in the QUBE series are not just hidden items. They are additional challenges, places hard to reach inside the puzzles that often play with momentum (momentum-based challenges are completely absent from the game otherwise). Well, the collectibles from the base game are not hard at all but you can’t do miracles with a base like the original QUBE.

Sector 8 is exactly like the dlcs from QUBE 2. I expected the story to go deeper but no, the structure is the same : a big master room that leads to puzzles. Calling it Sector 8 is a bit misleading I think but whatever, this still is the best part of the game. Solving puzzles and gathering collectibles unlock elements in the master room, which also contains puzzles and collectibles. They are all challenging and interesting, and I hope this will be the standard if QUBE 3 happens someday.

A mini chapter called Tough Going is also available in the extras. It features 3 levels that play around magnets, they are not hard but some people might have a lot of trouble with them. This chapter is easily missable, that’s why I write about it.

QUBE 10th Anniversary is more than just another iteration of the same game, and I can actually say it’s good this time.

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Developer: Toxic Games
Publisher: Toxic Games
Platforms: Steam – Windows, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series, Xbox One, GeForce Now, Amazon Luna
Release Date: September 14, 2022