Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube Review (PC)

Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube is an interesting mix of first-person platforming and puzzle solving, with its roots planted in the days when hardware limitations were the primary design force behind games.

Although that might sound weird, it's also true, as the game belongs to a niche that is both new and old at the same time, with gameplay simplified down to its barest bones and with a modern veneer that makes it pleasant to play through.

At first glance, it might be delightful, but it might also be yet another indie title that tries to do something a little different and ultimately misses the mark. So let's dig in.

Gameplay

When I first started playing Qbeh-1, my impression was that it was converted to a more convenient puzzle-solving adventure because by the time the development team created a few levels and saw how much work you had to put in, they gave up on adding actual gameplay.

But since that's the first thought that crosses my mind whenever I sit down to play anything that's not Skyrim or Fallout 3, I pushed on. Fortunately, in spite of several setbacks, the game starts growing on you and you soon start to even like your time spent with it.

The game has no story, no more than you would expect to gleam by going to an interpretative dance show. But that's not the focus. The focus is a nice visual journey, relaxation, and some puzzle solving. The game is played best when listening to something that requires your attention but not your eyes, such as debates, speeches, audio books, and other such items.

The basic gameplay premise is that you have to find different colored blocks and then stack them on top of each other in designated areas and then collect them and use them again in another such area and so on, until you can reach the exit.

Although some of the cubes are merely stepping stones that help you jump from place to place, others are imbued with more powerful properties, such as making doors open and parts of the environment move, or even setting up altered gravity environment around them.

This, in addition to some other environmental features that translate into more meaningful interaction with the game world, makes for an overall interesting and challenging experience.

Oftentimes you have to find the optimal method of building passageways and pick up the blocks you stepped up from in order to put them in front of you and so on and so forth.

Other times, you have to figure out the order in which to use various moving platform so you end up with enough cubes to open a hard-to-reach doorway.

In addition to this, there are sections where you also have to perform some precision platforming, otherwise running the risk of falling into nothingness, as the levels are largely big conglomerates of blocks floating high up in the atmosphere, but it never gets to the point where you have to pull off frustrating tricks.

It has no story whatsoever, just a void that you have to fill with your imagination. If you lack ambiguous stories and are thinking that you've just discovered some elusive hint at what the big picture might actually be, you can go wild with this one.

In any case, it’s not about world-building, but about a peaceful and satisfying experience, and the game manages to pull that off quite well.

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Visuals and sound

The art direction is truly commendable, blending a minimalistic art direction with inspired use of contrasting colors, juxtaposed with realistic skies.

The visuals are eye-catching and they’re complemented by soothing background music that helps create a pretty atmospheric experience.

It lacks any sense of urgency and the overall aesthetic conveys this really well, offering a serene journey punctuated by splashes of color and bloom effects.

The world is made almost entirely out of cubes, with some pieces being broken or askew, in order to introduce some chaos into the otherwise orderly graphics, offering a more varied visual voyage.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion