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The Cub

The Cub is releasing early in 2024, but it's starting the year with a masterpiece and playing this has made me want to explore more games from this developer, Demagog Studio.
The Cub Game Cover
78%Game Brain Score
story, music
stability, replayability
80% User Score Based on 200 reviews
Critic Score 76%Based on 21 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Playstation 4Xbox OneXboxSteam DeckWindowsPlayStation
The Cub Game Cover

About

The Cub is a single player casual platformer game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Demagog Studio and was released on January 19, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"The Cub" is a platform parkour game inspired by classic SEGA titles, set in a post-apocalyptic world where a small child with immunity to the hostile planet must escape from humans who want to capture them. The game features challenging environmental puzzles and dangerous wildlife, offering a unique blend of exploration and survival. With modern twists on retro gameplay, players must outwit their pursuers and uncover the mysteries of Earth's ruins.

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80%
Audience ScoreBased on 200 reviews
story57 positive mentions
replayability2 negative mentions

  • The art style and visuals are stunning, creating a vibrant and immersive post-apocalyptic world.
  • The soundtrack, particularly the radio commentary, is engaging and adds depth to the storytelling.
  • The game offers a unique narrative experience that explores dark themes with humor and wit.
  • The platforming mechanics can feel clunky and imprecise, leading to frustrating trial-and-error gameplay.
  • The game is quite short, with many players feeling it doesn't justify its price point.
  • Some gameplay sequences are poorly designed, with inconsistent hitboxes and checkpoints that can feel punishing.
  • story
    150 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is a blend of engaging themes and unique storytelling methods, including a quirky radio that enhances the narrative experience. While some players appreciated the dark humor and political undertones, others found the story to be simplistic or lacking depth, with a desire for more content. Overall, the narrative is described as interesting yet short, with a strong emphasis on atmosphere and art design, making it a memorable experience despite its brevity.

    • “The story is interesting for a post-apocalyptic game: it's full of real-world references and surprisingly very political.”
    • “The artwork is superb and the story is actually pretty dark as you progress but in a humorous way.”
    • “There are three stories being told: through the radio broadcast, you hear gently about the desperate life former billionaires who are living on Mars are going through; through the environment you see the world that once was and what happened to those left behind; and the cub himself tells the story of the new generation of people who have adapted to life on post-apocalyptic Earth.”
    • “If you asked an AI to write you a story about kids left behind on Earth, it would be about as soulless.”
    • “Yeah, I'm afraid that's not even close to accurate, because there's barely any story to speak of.”
    • “The story is told primarily in the form of collectibles, but cursory glances at these collectibles tell me that it's just another generic story about capitalism and greed ruining the planet.”
  • music
    130 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received widespread praise for its quality and integration into the gameplay, with many reviewers highlighting the standout soundtrack and the unique radio mechanic that enhances immersion. While some found the radio commentary to be overly chatty or intrusive, the overall consensus is that the diverse and well-chosen tracks significantly contribute to the game's atmosphere and enjoyment. Despite some criticisms regarding the execution of the radio feature, the music remains a major highlight, often described as phenomenal and memorable.

    • “Amazing soundtrack, blended with the environment.”
    • “As many others have noted, the soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission, but the integration of the music with a good story and some fantastic art is where this one shines.”
    • “The cub is just a sublime experience, from the level design, to the challenges, to the legendary music playing along throughout the game, delivered by its very own radio station.”
    • “Sound - I get what they were going for with the music and the radio, and it is like, close to getting it, but it's all just... off.”
    • “And the story/music didn't captivate me either; luckily, the game is well optimized with no lag or bugs/crashes.”
    • “But really, you could save your money and just pick up the soundtrack whenever that drops.”
  • graphics
    75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning, hand-drawn art style and vibrant colors, creating an immersive and charming visual experience. Many reviewers noted that the visuals effectively complement the game's themes and storytelling, enhancing the overall atmosphere. While some felt that additional time and resources could have further improved the graphics, the consensus is that they are a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.

    • “The visuals are stunning, creating a vibrant and immersive, post-apocalyptic world that I couldn't get enough of.”
    • “It has gorgeous 2D graphics that legitimately look like a hand-drawn cartoon.”
    • “I think this is where the game shines, the art style and visuals of the game are really cool; it's not dark and gloomy, but very colorful and bright.”
    • “The ambience, radio, and graphical style elevate this game somewhat, but gameplay-wise, it is not worth paying much for.”
    • “Not sure what is in for this game other than the graphics and music.”
    • “During the demo, I fell in love with the visuals; the 2D hand-drawn art is simply first-rate and dope.”
  • gameplay
    74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some praising its engaging platforming mechanics and variety, while others criticize it for being clunky, basic, and lacking depth. Many players found the controls frustrating and the overall experience underwhelming, despite the game's strong aesthetics and sound design. Overall, while there are enjoyable moments, the gameplay is often seen as the weakest aspect of the game, with calls for more complexity and innovation.

    • “An exceptional game that revives the classic, rigorous style of gameplay where every move counts and there’s little room for error.”
    • “The gameplay matches and is smooth and has very satisfying platforming and puzzles.”
    • “The cub is a very exciting platforming romp that never slows down thanks to its rich variety of gameplay and manic set pieces.”
    • “The gameplay is clunky and frustrating.”
    • “Gameplay is the weakest point; it mostly consists of generic performing with several difficulty spikes in chase sequences.”
    • “It’s all let down somewhat by gameplay sequences that can’t maintain the same quality as the game’s other elements.”
  • atmosphere
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its haunting beauty and cinematic quality, effectively capturing a post-apocalyptic world. While it excels in storytelling and visual design, some players noted issues with sound design and character control. Overall, it is recommended for its immersive and atmospheric experience, reminiscent of titles like "Planet of Lana."

    • “The game focuses on variety, atmosphere, and telling a story through various means instead.”
    • “Short, but nice and atmospheric, cinematographic platformer, light on puzzles, rich on story.”
    • “For a game centered around atmosphere, the sound design sure is atrocious.”
    • “The atmosphere and animation is a haunting and beautiful look in a post-apocalyptic world.”
    • “If I had to compare it to one game, it's most similar to Planet of Lana, including the atmosphere and vaguely sci-fi story.”
  • humor
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is described as dark yet delightful, often balancing the serious themes with moments of levity through the main character's witty remarks and engaging voice acting. The radio broadcast adds an additional layer of humor, blending funny and sad elements while reflecting the game's themes. Overall, the humor effectively provides relief amidst the game's intense and unforgiving environments.

    • “The artwork is superb and the story is actually pretty dark as you progress but in a humorous way.”
    • “The main draw for this game was still the radio broadcast, which is both funny and sad, and plays a pretty good variety of music that often reflects the themes of the game.”
    • “The unforgiving and deadly environments keep you on the edge of your seat, but the main character always gives you a moment to relax or laugh after he makes a joke or does something funny.”
  • optimization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is praised for its strong optimization, running smoothly without any lag, bugs, or crashes, contributing positively to the overall user experience.

    • “The game is well optimized with no lag or bugs/crashes.”
    • “It runs smoothly and I love the storyline so far.”
    • “Performance, bugs, and user experience: 5/5.”
  • stability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game generally runs well on the Steam Deck, providing an enjoyable experience with its fun music and platforming elements. However, players have reported issues with unresponsive and buggy controls, which detracts from overall stability.

    • “Runs great on the deck, with cool funky music that adds to a fun platforming game that's not too difficult.”
    • “Unresponsive buggy controls.”
    • “Unresponsive buggy controls.”
  • replayability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game has been criticized for its lack of replayability, with users indicating that the only incentive to replay is to obtain missing achievements, suggesting minimal value beyond the initial playthrough.

    • “I don't think there is any value in replayability unless you want to get the missing achievements.”
  • grinding
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly during lengthy chase sequences that lack sound, which contributes to a sense of repetition and sluggishness. Overall, these elements detract from the enjoyment and pacing of the gameplay.

    • “Having a chase sequence with 3-5 minutes of no sound at all made it tedious, not to mention that these sequences already felt long, repetitive, and slow to me.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews highlight that while the game excels in visuals with striking backgrounds and character designs, there is little mention of character development, suggesting it may not be a strong focus in the narrative.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Cub is a casual platformer game with science fiction theme.

The Cub is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

The Cub was released on January 19, 2024.

The Cub was developed by Demagog Studio.

The Cub has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its stability.

The Cub is a single player game.

Similar games include Golf Club Wasteland, MO:Astray, The Way, Deliver Us The Moon, INSIDE and others.