Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut

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Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is a single player arcade simulation game. It was developed by Toxic Games and was released on May 21, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is the definitive version of the indie puzzler Q.U.B.E., accompanied by a completely new story by award-winning writer Rob Yescombe. Q.U.B.E. is a brain-twisting first-person puzzler. Using special high-tech gloves to manipulate cubes in the environment, the player solves an array of conundrums - from physics-based challenges; to 3D jigsaws; to platform-based trials. Q.U.…

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Single-Player

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78%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,225 reviews

story218 positive mentions

grinding34 negative mentions

Well-balanced and gradually more complex puzzles that are satisfying to solve.
Minimalist but effective and unique aesthetic design with pleasant ambient music and competent voice acting.
Engaging mystery story with intriguing dual narratives that keep players curious and motivated.

Game is relatively short and can be completed in about 2-4 hours without much replay value.
Tack on story in Director's Cut felt awkward, linear with no meaningful player choice, and had no subtitles or audio mixing options.
Frustrating controls with input delays, clunky jumping, and occasional physics bugs that can make some puzzles tedious or luck-based.

story
845 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
64%
10%
The story in "Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut" is a late addition that many feel is awkwardly shoehorned in and disconnected from gameplay, often described as mediocre, clichéd, and sometimes detracting from the puzzle experience. While the narrative adds atmospheric tension and mystery with decent voice acting, it tends to be short (around 2-4 hours), unevenly paced, and leaves several plot points unresolved or poorly executed, leading some players to recommend playing without it. Overall, the story provides minimal engagement compared to the puzzles, making it a secondary element rather than a compelling narrative driver.
- “The story and voice acting are top notch too and help tie all the puzzling into a coherent whole.”
- “The director's cut adds more of a "story" to the game, but the original actually makes you feel even more alone and helpless.”
- “The story is really unique, especially compared to its competitors, and probably my favorite part of the game!”
- “The story was completely unnecessary and uninteresting, and all it does is add long elevators, hallways, waiting rooms just so you can listen to someone talk while you stare at white walls.”
- “Very basic gameplay but the worst offender was the horrendous added story.”
- “They added a pointless story—no puzzle game needs a story; you came here for the puzzles, not some deep lore. Even the Portal series is still fun without the story. They didn't even add subtitles for it, removed sound settings, and made the game slower by adding long stretches where you just sit and wait for narration you don't care about to end.”
gameplay
368 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
64%
5%
The gameplay of the game offers clever, intuitive, and unique block-manipulation puzzle mechanics that progressively introduce new elements to keep the experience fresh, making it accessible and engaging for puzzle fans. However, some critiques highlight sluggish controls, imprecise physics, and a lack of depth or meaningful variation in mechanics, with the core cube-manipulation sometimes feeling insufficiently developed to sustain player interest throughout. Overall, while it may not reach the innovation or polish of genre leaders like Portal, its well-designed puzzles and steady difficulty curve provide a solid, enjoyable puzzle experience.
- “The gameplay itself moves along at an excellent clip, constantly introducing new puzzle mechanics without ever feeling overwhelming.”
- “The puzzles keep throwing refreshing new gameplay mechanics at you, it never gets stale, but it never gets confusing either!”
- “The mechanics are clever, and there are moments of satisfaction when a solution clicks — though the difficulty curve is fairly gentle, making it accessible but not deeply challenging.”
- “Some of the physics mechanics are too imprecise, janky, and buggy.”
- “The gameplay is sluggish; like you're trying to run underwater.”
- “The game has introduced a lot of different mechanics that could be combined to make some really complicated and satisfying puzzles, but the developers instead opted to discard each mechanic almost as soon as they introduce in favour of new ones.”
graphics
143 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
55%
4%
The graphics of the game are minimalist and cube-based, featuring a clean, stark, and futuristic aesthetic reminiscent of Portal’s style, which some find appealing but others see as overly simplistic or repetitive. Visuals are generally well-rendered with good lighting and effects like shadows and bloom, providing a polished look that complements the puzzle gameplay and atmosphere, though some users note occasional graphical glitches and limited customization options. Overall, the graphics are considered solid and fitting for the genre, praised for clarity and design despite lacking complexity or variation in environments.
- “The stark, clean aesthetic works well for a puzzle game — it’s minimal, but the color cues are clear and the environments are sleek.”
- “It's tastefully done and while the graphics appear minimalist, they're well rendered with a good range of graphics tweaks, shadows, bloom, DOF and so on, so the game qualifies for PC.”
- “The visuals are very clean, fantastically pleasing and fit the game well.”
- “Also the game's story is pretty poor and the graphics suffer from ghosting.”
- “The visuals/setting can indeed be compared to that of Portal, however the puzzles and story are so unfulfilling that anyone who has played Portal would be left extremely disappointed if they were to expect something similar.”
- “You have zero choice, it's 100% linear except for the minor 'beta' puzzles that are just as simple as the normal ones, and everything is so simple graphics-wise that it looks like you are in a simulator that isn't quite capable of handling complex color display.”
music
130 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
63%
4%
The game's music is predominantly ambient and atmospheric, effectively enhancing the mood of isolation and mystery, with a generally calming and immersive tone fitting the puzzle-solving experience. However, many users note the lack of volume control options for music, voice, and effects, and some feel the newer soundtrack and added narration in later versions detract from the minimalistic charm of the original. Overall, while the music contributes well to the atmosphere, it is sometimes considered repetitive or less memorable compared to the original soundtrack.
- “The ambient soundtrack is subtle and calming, fitting the tone of the puzzles.”
- “Combine that with some lovely sound design & an immersive soundtrack and it’s easy to lose yourself in the game for a good few hours.”
- “The soundtrack is composed of ambient sounds spread here and there adding to the atmosphere of being isolated and having to escape this mysterious structure that we find ourselves in.”
- “Almost direct downgrade from the original Q.U.B.E. as it adds a poorly written story to a game that didn't need one in the first place and then makes the music worse to keep it in line with the story.”
- “Even the sound settings only have a master volume slider, so you are stuck with that monotone extremely repetitive music.”
- “There is little to no soundtrack in the game.”
atmosphere
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
40%
4%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive, eerie, and mysterious tone, enhanced by ambient soundtracks and minimalistic visuals that evoke isolation and tension. However, opinions diverge on the added narrative and voice acting in the director's cut, with many feeling it detracts from the original's quiet, haunting ambiance. Overall, the atmosphere effectively supports the puzzle gameplay, creating a compelling sci-fi experience reminiscent of but distinct from Portal.
- “The soundtrack is composed of ambient sounds spread here and there, adding to the atmosphere of being isolated and having to escape this mysterious structure.”
- “It has unarguably many pluses - atmospheric story worth following, great level and puzzle design, easy to learn but hard to master concept, many new ideas driving you forward, challenging difficulty, responsive controls, nice looking graphics, atmospheric music and sounds, and great fully-voiced narration.”
- “The atmosphere and soundtrack perfectly accent the game, and the hidden areas make it all the better.”
- “Wouldn't advise playing this version; it only adds unnecessary, immoderate, abundant, and redundant blabbering about 'the end of everything' and such, which totally ruins the atmosphere.”
- “Instead of the calm and isolated atmosphere, there's a tacked-on narrative that reduces it to a panic.”
- “The woman who dryly delivers exposition into your character's headset is monotone and annoying, and it distracts from what little atmosphere there is.”
grinding
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's puzzles start off challenging but quickly become tedious and rely heavily on trial-and-error or flawed mechanics, leading to frustration rather than fun. Additionally, numerous grindy achievements—such as excessive repetition or time-consuming tasks—significantly extend gameplay in a monotonous way, detracting from the overall experience. Many players found the grinding to be a major annoyance that overshadowed the core puzzle-solving.
- “The majority of puzzles boil down to 'interact with everything you can until the puzzle solves itself,' and the ones that go beyond that rely on somewhat unreliable physics, collision detection, or tedious trial and error.”
- “Some puzzles are just tedious; the puzzles seem to make an effort at being difficult but end up just being tedious and frustrating.”
- “There are also very grindy achievements like acquire 10,000 powerups, which I recommend working on last, and if you do please put on some music as it will be very repetitive and will turn you insane otherwise.”
stability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from frequent physics-related glitches and imprecise mechanics, leading to frustrating puzzle-solving experiences and occasional game-breaking bugs. While graphical glitches and minor bugs are present, they generally do not impair gameplay and can often be resolved by resetting or returning to the main menu. Overall, stability issues are notable but do not cause crashes or serious performance problems.
- “Some of the physics mechanics are too imprecise, janky, and buggy.”
- “The physics engine is not particularly good and suffers from occasional glitches.”
- “I have tried that one a couple of times now, the solution is easy but one cube always glitches and hops around rendering the physics puzzle unsolvable since the physics don't work.”
emotional
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The emotional impact of the game is mixed, with some praising the voice acting and moments of genuine feeling, while many find the story disconnected, forced, and lacking depth compared to genre leaders like Portal. Attempts at emotional storytelling often fall flat or feel cringy and unearned, resulting in limited player attachment to characters or narrative significance. Overall, it evokes some emotions but fails to achieve a cohesive or compelling emotional experience.
- “If you like any sort of puzzler with a wholesome story, you'll like this game.”
- “It was delivered extremely well with superb performances by all of the voice acting; they really made me feel a sense of loneliness, happiness, nervousness, and sometimes confusion.”
- “Director's cut adds a touching and suspenseful narrative to an otherwise excellent puzzle game, to great success.”
- “Qube is a disappointing and lackluster entry into the genre of first-person 3D puzzle games, containing mediocre to decent puzzles, a boring story, and a lot of walking through empty corridors to pad out the runtime.”
- “Voice acting and obnoxious, boring story were added to mimic Portal, which is a massive failure.”
- “Short, boring story, puzzles too easy.”
optimization
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
53%
27%
The game suffers from poor optimization, often resulting in low and inconsistent frame rates despite minimalistic design and modest system requirements. While some users experience performance issues such as stuttering or glitches, others report stable gameplay on better-equipped computers. Overall, optimization appears to be a significant weakness impacting playability for many.
- “The game was overall refreshing, and it played well (meaning, no performance issues or serious glitches).”
- “Thoughts are the same, however this version was more optimized for better performing computers.”
- “There were several instances where a box simply would not lie flat or I got stuck between the floor and a slightly slanted wall, but other than those, there weren't that many performance issues.”
- “I more than meet the requirements to play, but this game was just terribly optimized—there are hardly any assets and it still has terrible FPS. I run Subnautica better on high settings than this game on low.”
- “It manages to be very badly optimized despite the minimalistic design similar to Portal, and runs rather poorly.”
- “It is so poorly optimized that if you buy it, be ready to ask for a refund before it's too late.”
replayability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The game generally has limited replayability, as most players complete the main story and puzzles quickly with little incentive to return. However, achievements, challenges, and a speedrun or time trial mode provide some additional, though modest, replay value for those interested in extending gameplay.
- “Gameplay and mechanics were great, and the game has great replayability with its achievements and challenges.”
- “I would recommend if you like puzzle platformers like Portal, there is also an interesting speedrun mode at the end which adds some replayability.”
- “That alone would make this game 10x more playable.”
- “Short game with limited replayability.”
- “Steam says I only played for 2 hours and I beat the story and 2 hidden bonus puzzles, and since there's no medals, collectibles or rankings in the main game (outside the DLC racing side-levels) it has zero replayability.”
- “My only problem with the game is that it has low replay value and not much to do after the game is beaten.”
humor
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is largely absent or ineffective, with many reviewers finding the story and dialogue stale, awkward, or unintentionally amusing rather than genuinely funny. While some note a few humorous moments or characters, overall the humor fails to engage or enhance the experience, especially when compared to more humor-driven puzzle games like Portal.
- “The story is hilarious in its simplicity and service to the game's mechanics, evidently not what a lot of the development effort went towards.”
- “The dialogue from the ISS astronaut is so stilted that I was laughing at how absurd some of it sounded.”
- “The second was that it was a good game—smooth difficulty curve, solid atmosphere, and a surprisingly hilarious antagonist.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is generally seen as lacking depth and humor, with many finding it bland compared to titles like Portal 2. While it is present to some extent, it falls short in adding vibrant or memorable personality to the story.
- “No humor, no color, no character development, no workshop.”
- “A lot of people are calling it bland, and I certainly can't say it matches the story of Portal 2 in terms of character development or pacing, but it is there and it somewhat does its job.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's monetization is criticized for exploiting bugs, which negatively impacts the overall experience and damages the developer's reputation despite the game's qualities.
- “Not a bad game (albeit very short), but the nefarious monetization of bugs kills the deal and stains the developer's name.”

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3h Median play time

3h Average play time

2-4h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 11 analyzed playthroughs

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Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is a arcade simulation game.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 3 hours playing Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut was released on May 21, 2014.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut was developed by Toxic Games.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut is a single player game.

Similar games include Q.U.B.E. 2, The Turing Test, Lightmatter, Magrunner: Dark Pulse, The Entropy Centre and others.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut

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