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.
Reviews
- The game offers an incredible depth of gameplay with a vast array of cubes and perks, allowing for endless combinations and strategies.
- Cube Chaos is highly addictive, with many players losing track of time while experimenting with different builds and synergies.
- Despite its simple graphics, the game provides a unique and chaotic experience that keeps players engaged and entertained.
- The user interface and cube descriptions can be confusing and poorly written, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics.
- The game can feel unbalanced at times, with some runs being overwhelmingly easy or frustratingly difficult due to RNG.
- Performance issues may arise during intense gameplay, especially when many cubes and effects are on screen, leading to lag or crashes.
- gameplay65 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay is highly praised for its depth and complexity, allowing players to explore a vast array of mechanics and combinations, despite its simple graphics. Many reviewers highlight the game's innovative blend of genres, emergent gameplay, and the satisfaction derived from experimenting with various strategies and synergies. While some note occasional bugs and a steep learning curve, the overall consensus is that the gameplay is addictive and rewarding for those who prioritize mechanics over visuals.
“The gameplay authentically allows one to explore what seems like an unlimited array of cube combinations.”
“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.”
“This game is surprisingly intuitive and quick to pick up as well as being mechanically deep.”
“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.”
“The battle mechanics are so original and new; this general structure allows veterans of the genre to feel familiar regardless.”
- graphics47 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. However, many players emphasize that the gameplay depth and mechanics far outweigh the visual shortcomings, making it a worthwhile experience for those who prioritize gameplay over graphics. Overall, while the visuals may be underwhelming, they do not detract from the game's charm and complexity.
“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 visuals are a mess but you get used to it.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its exceptional replayability, featuring a wealth of combos, synergies, and unique content that encourages players to return. Reviewers highlight its high complexity and variety, suggesting that it offers endless replay value and significant engagement across different difficulty levels and gameplay options. Overall, it stands out as a rogue-like with remarkable depth and 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.”
“The variety and replay value here is way higher than most games.”
“It's got a lot of different combos and synergies which make it really replayable.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its exceptional humor, featuring a unique and original concept complemented by charming retro art and clever mechanics. Players highlight the hilarity of various in-game scenarios, such as the amusing antics of infinite bees dropping caltrops on enemies, contributing to a consistently funny experience.
“An amazingly original game concept backed up by powerful and well thought out mechanics, an extremely charming retro 'dev art' style, and a great sense of humor.”
“Infinite bees dropping caltrops on my enemies is so funny!”
“Silly, messy, funny permutations.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some find it catchy and charming, others note that it can become repetitive. Overall, it serves its purpose without standing out significantly, appealing mainly to players focused on the gameplay mechanics rather than the audio 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.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % 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 frame rate drops. While many still enjoy the game overall, there is a strong hope for improvements in performance and user interface optimization 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. 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, particularly with hats.”
“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.”
“Far from optimized, 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.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be quite buggy, leading to confusion over whether issues stem from glitches 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.”
- story2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game lacks a narrative, with users noting that there is no story present.
“There is no story to speak of.”
“The game lacks any meaningful narrative.”
“The storyline is completely absent.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a wide range of intense emotions while engaging with the game, experiencing moments of joy, excitement, and even tears, highlighting its powerful emotional impact.
“I cheered, I shouted, I fist-pumped the air, I cried, I stood and cheered!”
“The story touched my heart in ways I never expected.”
“I felt a deep connection to the characters, their struggles resonated with my own experiences.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“The grinding feels endless and tedious.”
“I spent hours grinding for minimal rewards.”
