Subcube is a simple game with a simple premise. Roll up all the different blocks in a level to create a 3×2 cube. It starts out so simple but my spatial awareness is lacking in my brain and subcube exploited my weakness.
Each level is a grid of blocks and as you roll them, they really flip. Each block starts out as an oblong but then squares and L-shapes get added to the mix. There’s also chairs and weird 3D objects and so you’ll be rotating the level around to work out firstly how to line up blocks and then secondly how to get into a position to do it. This is a tricky game to get right as blocks cannot be slotted into a gap – they have to flop on top. That means choosing your base blocks and building on top and that could go wrong out the gate. You have to be able to imagine a few moves time where blocks will be and as the blocks get more complex, this is where the difficulty level soars.
Each level has a gold, silver and bronze move clearance goals but this is all optional and doesn’t block your progress (boom boom). It also unlocks levels in groups of 20 and you only need to clear 5 of them to unlock the next 20. This means you don’t get stuck on one level and is welcome. Outside of that an experimental endless mode which doesn’t quite match the fun of handpicked levels but provides plenty more replayability if this kind of puzzle clicks with you.
Subcube knows exactly what it is and doesn’t go outside the framework. Whilst nothing changes outside of the level 1 premise, it executes that one trick pony very well. I found it very hard and challenging but if you have spatial awareness, you might breeze through it ten times faster than I could! Just make sure to use the keyboard as a controller – the mouse controls were too fiddly for me. Available on Steam.
Review copy provided by developer.
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