Is it still hip to be Square QUBE?
Serving as the ultimate celebration of a decade’s worth of brain-twisting first-person action, Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary adds refined visuals, completely redesigned and revised gameplay sections, and a whole new chapter to a fresh take on the classic puzzler entirely rebuilt from the ground up. The new chapter – dubbed Sector 8 – offers an additional 4-6 hours of gameplay, adding fresh content to an anniversary edition that will also allow players to take on either the original 2012 version of the game, or 2014’s Director’s Cut complete with its voice-over narrative and revised soundtrack – both with Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary’s stunning new visuals.
I reviewed the original Director’s Cut of Q.U.B.E back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t quite on the same standards of quality as Portal and its sequel. I had since hoped it would get a remaster of sorts and finally, its arrived with not just flashier visuals, but also with more content to boot.
The game itself lets you raise different coloured cubes on surfaces that are lit up with the very same colours, but each colour represents a different type of cube. These can vary from simple blocks to ones that make you bounce or some that can be placed as stair-like steps. The Portal comparison comes mostly from the fact that you have to complete room after room of these puzzles to reach the exit and repeat.
The 10th Anniversary Edition adds in a whole new chapter that adds 4-6 hours of new content, as well as letting console players attempt the original game for the very first time since it never got released beyond PC. The controls are simple enough to get to grips with and the game feels even better on the new hardware thanks to the sharper visuals and improved framerate. Load times are also incredibly short and it’s nice to see that both the original and Director’s Cut both got the same level of visual improvements.
The Verdict
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary is a great improvement over the original game with it’s improved visuals and performance, but also the new content adds superb value for what is already a highly packed and relatively cheap game to buy.