Sometimes it doesn’t take a completely new idea or a crazy concept to create something entertaining and challenging. Taking a simple element used in multiple genre’s of gaming and centering the focus around it by adding a few unique aspects is all it took for Improx Games to get my attention with their upcoming title The Last Cube. Now that they have a free demo on their Steam page, let’s break down how the experience went.
Gameplay
The gameplay is simple: you are a cube and you move by rolling in any direction that has a floor spot for you to move on to. In order to progress, you will have to take advantage of power-ups that you can place on your cube which is done by landing on the power-up and then taking it to where it is best used. That is the full essence of the gameplay mechanics in this game.
To specify further on this, they provide a handful of power-ups to be used in the demo. The first of which is a yellow plus sign that you have to put on one side of the cube and then take it over to the spot that the plus sign needs to push against in order to unlock a bridge or entranceway. This simple task is what shows you first that you will need to consider how you move in order to get the right side of your cube to land how you need it, where you need it.
They also give us the green multi-square power up plate which allows us to make a second square to give us temporary control. This can be helpful for getting to higher ground or completing a task that will cost you the cube. As you continue to progress through the demo, and eventually the game, more and more power-ups will be revealed to you that each provides its own helpful ability. Also, some power-ups provide more than one use, so be ready to get to know what all these abilities can do for you.
Expectations
Seeing how the demo’s puzzles were more complicated than they originally seemed to be, I am expecting to see the puzzles presented in this game to gradually get more and more difficult. With their ability to expand on the use of such a simple mechanic, I am curious to see just how creative these challenges are going to become.
I do hope they include some kind of notebook or hint sheet that can be pulled up from the menus, however. Sure, I was able to keep track of all the different ones used in the demo while I played it, but I can see people saving the game and coming back in a week only to forget what power-ups provide what ability. A quick cheat sheet to remind players what does what exactly is going to be necessary, especially if you end up having more than four or five different abilities, which I am presuming they will.
Conclusion
The Last Cube is creatively difficult despite its simplistic gameplay design and I can’t wait to see what more it can offer! The demo alone was intriguing and entertaining, so I can only imagine that the full game is going to be quite the brain teaser. After playing their free demo on Steam, I have to say that I can’t wait for the finished version to release later in 2021!
