Q.U.B.E.

Q.U.B.E. (Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion) is a great puzzle / action game from indie developer Toxic Games. For those who want to know what the game is like, I think saying it plays and feels like a cousin of Portal is a nice comparison. You don't have weapons, just your special gloves that can trigger actions, namely manipulating blocks; each block color behaves in a different manner and the main purpose of the game is basically to move on, using the many block combinations to your advantage, by either enabling you to climb up / get across an obstacle or make a chain of events that ends up opening a door for you to move on to the next chamber / section.

Later on in the game you will have to use the blocks and even a switch that basically turns wall sections around to make a ball go or fit into certain places so a door opens. And then you'll get the chance to do it in the dark. And then you'll get the chance to manipulate blocks to make a robotic ball that moves in certain directions move where you need it to go. And at a certain point you get the chance to arrange the blocks you learned to use previously the way you like in order to move on. Using blocks to redirect light in order to open doors is also featured.

Honestly, I think they did a fine job with the game, using practically all the concepts I could think of when dealing with blocks. The difficulty level is well calculated and you really don't need to read anything to get started, it's intuitive, you just mess around with the way the blocks behave and you'll soon understand how things work. Storywise there is a little tribute to Portal in general given the white rooms and general feel of the game, and even an interesting surprise that I won't reveal. Aside from that, storywise there is just this mystery as to why you're there and what those facilities are, so you'll probably have to wait for the sequel.

The game uses the Unreal engine, so it's pretty stable; I just managed to get stuck once later in the game and in one of the puzzles I somehow accidentally managed to cheat on one of the puzzles where I needed to redirect four light beams but actually managed to do it with three, with the fourth having been stuck in the right position from a previous experiment. Apart from these two smal problems, which you may not even come across, the gameplay is great. The game itself is not very long and you can finish it in a day or two, but that also prevents it from getting boring or extremely difficult.

For € 10,99 on Steam, it's well worth the money.