Cubeworld has become my latest obsession. It’s a 3D Action/Adventure game that’s still in early alpha, but it’s now available to the public. After downloading it this morning, I spent roughly 6 hours exploring the world and fighting monsters. So I just tore myself away from the game so that I can actually get something productive done today. So without further ado, this is my Cubeworld experience.
I started off by making a character. There are 8 races to choose from. Human, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Goblin, Lizardman, Undead, and Frogperson. They don’t seem to grant any racial bonuses, so I just picked the one I thought was the coolest. The Frogperson. You have a choice of four classes. Warrior, Rouge, Mage, and Ranger. I made a Rouge, and after some simple character customization I was in the game.
The first thing I did was run around the world, getting a feel for the exploration. The controls are surprisingly fluid, and navigation gives you plenty of options while still being simple. I explored the forests a bit until I found a raddish-shaped monster. So of course, I stabbed at it with my tiny daggers. The beast turned around and began to counter attack.
Here I learned my first rule about combat. It’s not a breeze. The raddish actually managed to do some serious damage to me, and by the time I finished it off a quarter of my health is gone. I saw a +1 flash across the screen, which went into my experience pool.
Leveling up isn’t easy in Cubeworld. Monsters give you very little experience, and if you just stand still and hack away at them, they’ll kill you easily. After killing a few more animals and monsters, I found a travelling group of three Witches. I approached them, and then they all fired green lasers out of their staff and vaporized me in a second.
Cubeworld can be brutal, especially when you meet other adventurers. While some are willing to help you, I’ve been killed by roaming packs of Lizardmen and Elves more than I have been defended by them. After roughly 45 minutes of dying and exploring as my Frogperson, I decided to make another character.
My new undead ranger completely changed the gameplay for me. No longer was I looking for monsters to sneak behind and stab, I was now a sniper. This is where the game really clicked for me. Playing as a Ranger is fantastic, and nothing in the game is quite as satisfying as shooting a powerful arrow into a charging beast to knock them back, then finishing off the monsters with a barrage of normal arrows.
After trudging through the plains and taking out monsters, I found myself face-to-face with a squirrel. I shot it, and then it ran over and killed me in a few hits. I never thought a game could make squirrels intimidating, but this game pulled it off.
Along my journey, I visited many places. The first place I went to was a small village, which had many different shops and buildings. While the town was inhabited by tons of different people, but none of them had anything interesting to say. However, since this is an alpha, I’ll let this slip for now.
I stumbled across a castle as well, which was inhabited by powerful monsters that completely wiped the floor with me the second I reached the entrance. After five or six tries to even make it past the entrance, I gave up and decided to explore the rest of the world.
The game’s obviously in its early stages, but so far, this game has done nothing but impress. I’d nab it here before it gets more expensive. Trust me, this game has the potential to be great.