Cube Chaos
- October 18, 2023
- Wunarg
- 9h median play time
Get on SteamCube Chaos is a rogue-lite real-time strategy game with elements of auto-battler and tower defense. Players place cubes with unique abilities, such as summoning creatures, creating shield walls, and casting spells, to defeat enemies and progress through levels. The game features an open-ended design with risk-reward mechanics, allowing players to embrace debt or curses for powerful perks and strategies.
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game offers an immense variety of cubes and perks, allowing for countless unique strategies and combinations.
- Cube Chaos is highly addictive, with engaging gameplay that encourages experimentation and creativity.
- Despite its simple graphics, the game provides deep mechanics and chaotic fun, making it a hidden gem in the roguelike genre.
- The game suffers from balance issues, with some runs feeling impossible due to the enemy's random cube combinations.
- Descriptions of cubes and perks are often poorly written and lack clarity, making it difficult for players to understand their mechanics.
- Performance can degrade significantly during late-game runs with many interactions, leading to lag and crashes.
- gameplay130 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The gameplay is highly praised for its depth and complexity, allowing players to explore a vast array of cube combinations and emergent strategies, despite its simple graphics. Many reviewers highlight the innovative mechanics, such as the unique debt system and the ability to create chaotic interactions, which contribute to a highly replayable and addictive experience. While the game may have some bugs and rough edges, it is celebrated for prioritizing gameplay over visuals, making it a compelling choice for those who enjoy experimenting with novel builds and strategies.
“It's main claim to fame is its extreme amount of different moving pieces that can interact with each other, making for amazing emergent gameplay and creative strategies, made possible by the well-written descriptions, which almost always allow you to know why something happened.”
“Clearly a labor of love from a talented developer - if you enjoy experimenting with novel builds and strategies, and value gameplay above graphics, you won't regret buying this.”
“A brilliant game that allows you to discover for yourself all sorts of dynamic combos between the various 'cubes' by using a consistent set of rules for how various game mechanics interact.”
“If you are going into this game thinking 'the builds I can make are so cool!' think again, because the chances that you can consistently build a deck of cubes that focus on a particular mechanic are so slim that you may as well just choose the strongest cube you get in every draft.”
“It is very buggy sometimes and it might be hard to tell if it's just some weird interaction between mechanics or a legitimate bug as there are many, many weird interactions.”
“9 times out of 10, I have to rely on this 'neat' little balancing mechanic called 'Pandora's Box' because if I don't lose in the first 3 minutes, the fight goes on for 20+ minutes.”
- graphics94 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as simple, quirky, and reminiscent of retro or "dev art" styles, which may not appeal to everyone. While many players acknowledge the visuals as a downside, they emphasize that the gameplay depth and mechanics far outweigh the graphical limitations, making it a worthwhile experience for those who prioritize gameplay over aesthetics. Overall, the consensus is that while the graphics may be underwhelming, the game's innovative mechanics and engaging content provide significant entertainment value.
“Personally, I find the artwork, music, and animations endlessly charming.”
“An amazingly original game concept backed up by powerful and well thought out mechanics, an extremely charming retro 'dev art' art style and great sense of humor.”
“So long as you can get past the simplistic visuals, there's something truly special here, and the dev is a pretty swell guy as well, interacting regularly on the official Discord server.”
“The graphics were made by one programmer and they certainly look like it, and the music will get repetitive.”
“This is basically (old) Dwarf Fortress level graphics; everything is just a representation of a concept, without any worry or thought about flair or feeling.”
“The graphics have left the building and now only the gameplay is left.”
- replayability20 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its exceptional replayability, featuring a wealth of combos, synergies, and gameplay options that encourage multiple playthroughs. Reviewers highlight its high complexity and variety, suggesting that players will find endless value and content, making it a standout in the roguelike genre. Overall, it is considered a hidden masterpiece with significant replay potential.
“This profound rogue-like boasts exceptional depth and high replayability.”
“Hidden masterpiece with truly endless replay value.”
“For the pricing, the replayability and sheer amount of content is insane.”
“I can see this as a game I'll spend a fair bit of time on in the future given its replayability in both the difficulty levels and all the possible gameplay options.”
“It's got a lot of different combos and synergies which make it really replayable.”
“And the variety and replay value here is way higher than most games.”
- humor12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is widely praised for its humor, described as hilarious and original, with players enjoying its silly and chaotic mechanics. The charming retro art style complements the comedic elements, leading to memorable and funny gameplay moments, such as the amusing scenario of infinite bees dropping caltrops on enemies. Overall, the humor is a standout feature that enhances the gaming experience.
“An amazingly original game concept backed up by powerful and well thought out mechanics, an extremely charming retro 'dev art' art style and great sense of humor.”
“Infinite bees dropping caltrops on my enemies is so funny!”
“Silly messy funny permutations.”
- music8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed feedback; while some find it catchy and charming, others note that it can become repetitive. Overall, it complements the gameplay but is not considered a standout feature. Players seem to prioritize the unique gameplay mechanics over the musical experience.
“Personally, I find the artwork, music, and animations endlessly charming.”
“The sheer amount of combos between cubes and perks blows my mind, and the soundtrack is way more catchy than I would expect.”
“The graphics were made by one programmer and they certainly look like it, and the music will get repetitive.”
“Music is fine, sound is fine, nothing special, but if you're getting this, you're getting it because the idea of making a ridiculous combination of individual rules synergize into something that generates and catapults infectious TNT bundles across the map that explode into angry ants that ooze world-devouring shadow appeals to you, and you won't care about anything except that.”
“The music will get repetitive.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with players noting significant performance issues, particularly in late-game scenarios and during complex visual effects, which can lead to frustrating drops in frame rates. While many still find the game enjoyable overall, there is a strong hope for improvements in performance and user interface from the developers.
“I'm probably going to come back and change this to a positive review at some point because despite the frustration, the game is still awesome most of the time, but I would hope the dev sees this and does something about performance and the UI in late-game.”
“Some rare permutations are very slow in FPS performance (mostly hats).”
“Stop that run because performance optimization is bad with more and more going on on the screen.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be quite buggy, leading to confusion over whether certain issues stem from bugs or unusual mechanics interactions. Despite these stability concerns, players still find the game enjoyable.
“The game is super buggy, but it's still very fun.”
“It is very buggy sometimes, and it might be hard to tell if it's just some weird interaction between mechanics or a legitimate bug, as there are many, many weird interactions.”
“It is very buggy sometimes, and it might be hard to tell if it's just some weird interaction between mechanics or a legitimate bug, as there are many, many weird interactions.”
- story4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a story, with multiple users noting the absence of any narrative elements.
“There is no story.”
“The game lacks any narrative depth.”
“The storyline is virtually non-existent.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a deep emotional connection to the game, experiencing a wide range of feelings from joy and excitement to tears and celebration. The intensity of their reactions highlights the game's ability to evoke strong emotional responses.
“I cheered, I shouted, I fist pumped the air, I cried, I stood and cheered!”
“I cheered, I shouted, I fist pumped the air, I cried, I stood and cheered!”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, suggesting that it requires an unrealistic commitment akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
