Cube World alpha preview
There’s been a good deal of buzz about Cube World as of late, so I couldn’t help but go have a look at what all the fuss is about. Cube World is a voxel based exploration game with some RPG elements tossed in. It has a blocky aesthetic similar to Minecraft, but the focus is on exploration and vanquishing foes and gathering loot rather than building. I do love me some loot. Since it’s currently in what’s being called a public alpha, I can’t very well call this a review as the game is supposedly far from being complete. So instead, let’s just call this my preview based on some first impressions of Cube World.
A landscape full of terror
Funny story: the first thing that I got to experience in Cube World was death. To be fair, I did get to generate my character before he was smote upon the landscape. However, as soon as I tried to load my poor rogue into the world, I was able to see the blue screen (just the mist that obscures things not yet rendered, not a BSOD) with little red numbers popping up. The world rendered just in time for me to see that I had been greeted by a skull bull. So that was a fun start. I get the feeling that I’m going to be no stranger to being murdered on a regular basis by weird and terrifying creatures. I had no idea just how terrifying these creatures could be.
The night is dark and full of terror.
As my journey of exploration continued I decided that I would avoid things that had skulls for faces. It seems like a pretty good rule of thumb for a level 1 character. Eventually I came across a bunny and I figured that was more my speed. In a harrowing fight against the fluffy white menace, I emerged victorious and collected some loot. Awesome! After a few more rabbits and some cats, I had made it to level 2. That’s when I saw a squirrel and figured it was time to move on to taking out small woodland creatures. NOPE! Holy crap, do not engage the squirrels. They are crazed hellspawn that will destroy you. If you see a squirrel, run the other way. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE SQUIRREL! Oh, and raccoons are right the fuck out. They will machine punch your face into the dirt faster than you can blink.
Now that I had gained a working knowledge of what to cautiously approach and what to flee screaming from, I spent some time walking around and exploring the vast randomly generated landscape. It was going well right until I noticed that it was getting darker out as the day progressed. As dusk fell and night was upon me, I pulled out my trusty lantern so that I might explore some more. As it illuminated a good 2 feet around me, I got the feeling that I was once again screwed. In the course of the next few minutes, something decided to kill me with magic from the darkness. Then I respawned at the top of what I would later find was a tree. When you respawn, it is done at a nearby angel statue. Who put a statue at the top of a tree? Sadistic assholes that like watching people fall out of trees I guess. I huddled next to the tree whimpering and waiting until daylight graced the land once again.
Potential in Cube World
Customized weapons are awesome!
Cube World has a ton of cool features and isn’t completely as frustrating as my previous highlights make it sound. Weapon customization is a hoot, for example. To make your weapon more powerful, you add blocks to it and change the actual physical appearance as well. Though there’s no real instruction in game and I had no idea that you use the middle mouse button to rotate your weapon until I looked up some FAQs online. Who uses the middle mouse for anything besides zooming in and out unless they’re told to? Still, check out my sweet jagged long sword in that picture to the left.
There’s also an interesting pet system in the game that allows you to tame wild creatures using food that you find (mmm…. food from the corpses of my enemies) and coerce them to fight by your side. The food to animal combinations don’t make a bit of sense to me, so I suggest referring to this guide if you don’t feel the need to work it all out on your own. Some creatures, like my alpaca, can be used as mounts if you put enough points into your pet skill as you level. Fear me astride my llama of doom!
As I pointed out earlier, this game isn’t supposed to be anywhere near done at this point and those of us that have purchased it are paying for the privilege of early access and getting to talk about it. I get the feeling that I would find the whole experience greatly enhanced if I were playing with a friend instead of trying to go it solo. The boss creatures which are currently the only types of quests in the game would probably be more entertaining. As it is they, as I’m sure you could guess, stomp me into pixel goo and scrape me off on the hillside. Seriously, you’re going to die a lot in this game, so just get ready for it in advance. It’s a cute game and a cool idea and I look forward to seeing where it goes in the future.
