Cuboid Keeper

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [h1][i]Cuboid Keeper[/i] is a top-down twin-stick shooter that really thrives on simple gameplay with subtle complexity, action-packed levels, and a fair amount of challenge to any gamer looking for the next best indie title on Steam. The game is not just run forward with guns ablaze, though the goal is still to destroy all in your path, cautious action seems to be the case in many levels. The story is fairly well-written with a mild hint of humor to tie everything together. The customizable protagonist that the player controls allows for the player to shape up the gameplay to his or her liking, giving the game a different feel for each individual who plays. Complementing the game is a really upbeat and intense soundtrack that helps to keep the player on his or her toes. The controls feel really smooth, both on the keyboard and on the controller. The game is not without faults, however, as [strike]the requirement at times to unlock further levels requiring the player to beat some harder levels may deter some people from being able to see the game to the end, even on Easy mode. In addition,[/strike]some explosions in largely crowded locations can mask remaining enemies, and there are some typos and grammar errors that may bug a small percentage of the crowd. Overall, this game deserves a lot of attention and praise, for it is not only good, but also excellently priced at $6.99 USD, making it easily accessible to most. If you like indie games, and you are into twin-stick shooters, you absolutely need to try this game. There's a demo available, so why not give it a try and decide for yourself?[/h1] [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Strip down the story and the extras, [i]Cuboid Keeper[/i] is a really nice top-down twin-stick shooter with a fairly wide variety of level designs, each its own arena survival experience that changes the further on you get into the game. Each level comes in Easy and Hard difficulties. [strike]And the game requires the player to play more than just the Easy levels for progression. There are many points where the game requires the player to have completed a certain number of hard levels as well in order to move forward. [/strike] The game does not require the player to play through the Easy difficulty in order to try the Harder version, which is nice. [strike] Though these lock points may push some potential players away with its need to complete a higher difficulty.[/strike] The protagonist vessel that you control powers up throughout the game. So taking on the harder difficulty levels from closer to the beginning of the game after some story progress will be not so challenging. Speaking of powering up, you really need to understand a little bit about your character, which is titled "Guardian." It is a robotic device with a core and surrounding blocks. Only the core needs to remain exactly as it is, otherwise, the other blocks can be removed and altered to fit the wishes of the player. You can also expand the size and shape of your character as you progress forward, as you earn shards that allows you to expand after each new level completed or new difficulty completed for a same level. Of course it is really difficult to describe this, and it took me a while after I started playing to understand what's going on. Please see my video below for a blind first-look gameplay experience. (I think I discovered midway that you can actually expand and alter the "Guardian" in a meaningful way.) The game has a decent number of levels, and even though each one is a survival arena, the altered geometries, different enemies, various obstacles, etc. ensure that each level is a different experience on its own. The bosses are all pattern-based and have a variety of actions that will require the player to do some learning as you go and to adapt to the movement and attack patterns. In addition, the game is more than just running forward with guns ablaze, as I mentioned before. When not firing, your body is condensed into a single point for avoiding obstacles in the form of enemies, enemy fire, or other hazards. So when you are among hazards and you want to fire, you need to get yourself to an area that is large enough for you to materialize and not take damage. There are achievements in this game, and some of them are really challenging. I think anyone who wants to go for 100% will have to try and retry several of the levels a lot, even when most of the levels will only take a few minutes to complete otherwise. [h1]Controls[/h1] Controls well with keyboard and mouse as well as the controller in the twin-stick fashion. The controls are really easy to learn and are very intuitive. I played mostly on an Xbox One controller and it worked perfectly. The pressure sensitivities are really well translated from the joystick to the game. [h1]Graphics[/h1] Simplistic in style, but there's a good variety of enemies that really throw off the player. The game is clearly inspired by [i]Geometry Wars[/i] in more than one area, but it certainly has a life of its own. The bosses are also fairly simple in design, but work well with the story and the gameplay. The on-screen explosions and all of the constant action may lead to unwanted and accidental contact damage for the player, but I am speaking from a personal experience perspective, perhaps most others won't face this situation. [h1]Music[/h1] I really like the music, it does a really good job intensifying the action in many situations. [h1]Audience[/h1] Not for the most casual players because it does get a ramp up in difficulty, especially around halfway through the game. But there's a demo, and the game is cheap enough, so at least try it. [h1]Pricing[/h1] Can't complain at all about the $6.99 baseline price, it's cheap enough that most players can give a reasonable go at it. Now if you are really super skilled and this game poses as no challenge, it may not be worth it, but I think those people are few and far in between. [h1]Positives[/h1] +Fun gameplay +Simple but game-altering ship-building mechanic in between levels +Nice written story to tie the game together (even gives you the story from multiple perspectives) +Simple graphics, colorful, and some nice effects +Easy to learn, difficult to master +Really responsive controls on controller as well as KB+Mouse +Achievements that are reasonable, with some that are really difficult to promote replay value [h1]Negatives[/h1] -Explosions are sometimes too many on screen to cause player to take unnecessary contact damage (personal experience speaking). -Some typos and grammar errors that can be easily fixed (there's one in the video that I commented on). -[strike]The need to play some levels on hard to unlock certain points of the story and following levels.[/strike] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]Cuboid Keeper[/i] is just as the title suggests, it's a keeper. It's fun, exciting, with short levels that can fit into any schedule. The witty story written in to tie the game together is fun to read through. And there is enough challenge for anyone, especially some people may wish to take on some of the more difficult achievements with a minimal build to maximize difficulty. There is really very little to dislike about this game, and with its cheap price and available demo, you definitely should check it out. Here's my blind first-look gameplay video for anyone who is interested: https://youtu.be/O1Rkm9j_6xk [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]

[h1]Un Shmup à la sauce Twin Stick Shooter, miam ![/h1] Vous avez déjà vu les films de la trilogie “Cube” sortis fin des années 90 - début 2000 ? (Oui oui, il y en a bien eu trois) Dans ces films, un groupe de personnes se retrouvait piégé dans un cube et devait en trouver la sortie, salles après salles remplies d’engins tueurs. C’était gore, c’était marrant (sadique ?), mais le scénario, c’était bof bof. Ce n’était pas si mal comme films, ça vaut le coup d’oeil, avec des amis, histoire d’en rire. Et bien [b]Cuboid Keeper[/b], c’est un peu la même chose, sauf que ça se passe dans l’espace, les gens essayent d’y entrer au lieu d’en sortir et que surtout, le gardien et bourreau, c’est vous. La comparaison est peut-être un peu méchante, mais le principe est fondamentalement le même, et dès les premières minutes de jeu, ça a rappelé à mon bon souvenir ces films. Instant nostalgie, il faudrait que je me les refasse un jour. Bref, on s’en fiche de ma vie, vous n’êtes pas là pour ça. Donc ... tous les 1000 ans, le cube s’ouvre pour laisser les peuples de la galaxie passer l’épreuve et essayer de découvrir le secret caché au centre. Votre cruelle mission est donc d’exterminer tout intrus. Vous progressez dans l’histoire au fil des niveaux via des dialogues au début de ceux-ci, ou via des interviews, journaux de bords, … disponibles sur l’écran de sélection des niveaux. De l’humour, du tragique, du non-sens, du flagrant, un scénario est bel et bien présent, et ce n’est jamais facile d’en faire un sur ce genre de jeu. On aurait pu s’en passer, mais c’est un bel effort de la part des deux créateurs de ce jeu d’avoir amené une histoire. Un petit plus supplémentaire qui enlève un peu du côté répétitif inhérent au genre. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1661011592 [b]Cuboid Keeper[/b] fait partie de ces petits jeux comme on en voit trop rarement. Un gameplay fun, entraînant et nerveux, ce jeu mettra vos réflexes à rude épreuve durant la dizaine d’heures qu’il vous faudra pour le terminer entièrement. Composé de 40 niveaux (+ mode difficile, donc 80 niveaux) à la difficulté grandissante, battez des vagues d’ennemis et des boss sur-armés qui voudront votre mort. Prenant place dans une arène fermée, chaque niveau est toutefois différent. Que ça soit par sa forme, sa taille, ou son contenu, aucun n’est pareil. Allant du simple couloir, au cercle, en passant par un labyrinthe et le parcours d’obstacles, vous aurez de quoi faire. Vous devrez donc adapter votre vaisseau à la situation grâce aux différents modules que vous débloquerez. Chaque niveau complété vous permettra d’augmenter la taille de votre vaisseau afin d’équiper toujours plus de modules, et ainsi augmenter votre défense ou votre puissance de feu. Attention toutefois, qui dit plus gros vaisseau, dit également plus grosse cible pour vos ennemis. C’est là que le [b]mode Étincelle[/b] entre en jeu. Dans ce mode, dans lequel vous entrez dès que vous arrêtez de tirer, la taille de votre vaisseau est considérablement réduite, facilitant ainsi l’esquive des attaques adverses. Alterner entre attaque et défense, avec un bon timing, est donc primordial pour avancer, surtout que vous ne pouvez ramasser les “[b]quads[/b]” (monnaie du jeu utile pour acheter de nouveaux modules) que dans ce mode. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1661011943 Aucun bug à déplorer, et aucun ralentissement ou baisse de FPS non plus, malgré la présence de très nombreux ennemis et particules à l’écran pendant certains passages. Le jeu est très léger et ne demandera pas énormément de ressources à votre PC. Si je devais quand même lui trouver un défaut, c’est l’absence de Classement pour partager vos scores et comparer vos performances avec d’autres joueurs. Pourtant le jeu pourrait s’y prêter vu le système de score présent. Malheureusement, ce n’est pas le cas, et au final, le système de multiplicateur ne sert qu’à débloquer les succès qui s’y rapportent. Peut-être un ajout à venir dans une version future ? La durée de vie est assez courte, il vous faudra un peu moins d’une dizaine d’heures pour arriver au bout de l’histoire. Mais c’est loin d’être gênant ici. Les Shoot’Em Up ont tendance à être lassants et répétitifs au bout d’un moment. Une faible durée de vie permet de garantir d’en voir le bout, surtout couplée avec les éléments décrit plus haut. La petite équipe des deux créateurs du jeu ont eu la sagesse de se concentrer sur la qualité plutôt que sur la quantité et ont ainsi réussi à bien doser le tout. Le prix pourra paraître excessif pour certains, mais vu le travail fourni ici, il vaut bien son pesant d’or. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1661012525 Des graphismes épurés, un gameplay fun, de l’action en veux-tu en voilà : une formule simple mais efficace. Ce petit jeu pourra vous donner votre dose d’adrénaline quotidienne. Concentrez-vous ! Il y en aura bien besoin. Sans être trop difficile, ce petit jeu indépendant vaut le détour pour les amateurs du genre, alors profitez-en.

In the vastness of the universe, many things still hold mysteries. You are one of those mysteries, as the guardian of a cube that has floated for eons near the center of the galaxy, rumored to contain knowledge that will allow whoever possesses it the power to rule the universe. It is up to you to protect the cube and the knowledge it holds from all who desire to take it. Released and Self-Published on Jan 10, 2019, by Developer Ottropi Games. The title a challenging 2D, Top-Down, Twin Stick Shooter. With 8 Epic Bosses to fight, along with over 40 enemies from 4 different planets, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Being their first title on steam, they are off to solid start as a developer. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for their career as a developer. Your guardian has 2 forms it can take; first is the spark form, in this state you can move quickly around the arena and collect quad fragments and avoid enemy attacks in this state. Second is the battle ready form, where your weapons and special abilities are ready and waiting. You will build up your guardian’s offensive and defensive abilities utilizing different modules you can add to your guardian by collecting quad fragments and seals that the enemies drop during battles in your spark form. There are 3 special modules, that can only be used 1 at a time. Use the quad seals to unlock additional areas to equip additional modules, and use quad fragments to purchase additional weapons and health to place in your guardian. Build up your guardian to your play style. I found the game rather challenging, even on easy mode. Boss fights can be difficult to beat if you're a casual gamer. Maybe I need to try and reconfigure my ship, you can remove all of your modules and rebuild any time you desire. With great visual & audio effects and challenging gameplay, the title will bring hours of entertainment. There are 2 difficulty settings, easy and hard, and I cannot seem to beat the easy mode to even attempt the hard mode. I will keep trying until I rage or succeed, as I do enjoy the game. I did find that controlling the ship and the direction of weapon fire to be slow and not as responsive as one would expect from a game dependent on multi-directional movement and weapon fire. Changing the direction of your shots seems slow and sluggish, though you kind of get used to it. This may not be the case for controllers. I have not tested using a controller as I am a PC Gamer to the core and too old to change my ways now. Cuboid Keeper: Protect the Knowledge: or the Universe is Lost! 8/10 Pros +Full Controller Support +Vibrant Graphics +Challenging Gameplay Cons -No Steam Trading Cards [quote]Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

* Worth Noting: This review is this games very first Steam review.. and I hope this is the first of 10,000 positive reviews because it's worthy of every one * Another Important Note: Playing with a CONTROLLER is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED! All you need to know is right here: As an avid video game fan all my life (35 years), and now having reviewed over 540 indie games like this one on Steam.. this game right HERE... is the first perfect score I've ever given to any game... a 100% score. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lEyOTLajmc - Perfect collisions, controls, and manueverabilty both with a keyboard and mouse or a controller - The music and sound effects as well as the graphics are beautifully done - The game is super addictive, and offers a nice challenge that will have you playing again and again - It's massive fun which creates the above mentioned level of addiction to play "just one more time" - The game actually has an intriguing and well thought out back story and purpose. You have a reason for playing - The ability to collect dropped "coins" from enemies which can further be multiplied by earning in game multipliers - Use the above mentioned collectible coins to purchase upgrades for health, shooting power and more and customize your player anyway you desire as you play further and further into the game - Boss battles and different enemies keep each level feeling fresh and different - Your controls are tight and responsive yet the game doesn't have that all too common "floaty and light" feel... Nice! The bottom line is.. I love, love, love this game! This game is EXACTLY why I do what I do on youtube and play and review these unheard of indie games on Steam. This is the diamond in all the rough of Steam that I seek and finding this game here and gems like it is worth all the sifting and sorting through mountains of the asset flips, meme-trash, and low effort garbage that floods Steam today. My score.. a perfect one.. a 100% (40/40 value, 30/30 fun, 20/20 controls and bugs, and a 10/10 graphics and sound) I can't recommend this game enough! It made Zaxtor's Indie Gold best of indie games award and gets my rare "Must Buy!" recommendation to all game fans out there! =) Well done to the developer! I look very forward to seeing what you come up with next here on Steam.. and THANK YOU for putting so much effort, heart and soul into this gem of a game! Your hard work shows brilliantly when you play this game for even five minutes * Disclosure: This Steam key was provided by the developer via Keymailer for evaluation.. however free keys NEVER influence my overall score or review. I've had plenty of free games offered that score terrible (0% and even lower)

Cuboid Keeper is a great top-down indieshooter. It tells an interesting story of an guardian defending a mysterious cube and it secret, a very good idea for this kind of game. The handling is top notch, all is very fluid and impactful. The music is awesome and the soundeffects great too. Graphics are very nice and clean. The game offers a very interesting update options for your guardian by adding differents modules on it. All in all, it is a pleasure to play this fantastic game. A must buy for players of this genre. Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NnXpAwtLFo

Un vídeo vale más que mil palabras.................... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcuR1Lf4S-U&list=PLPsIZqp3c64gQTHGXTHIrnwWb_SIIDlsu Cuboid Keeper nos presenta un juego de naves sencillo pero muy adictivo. Somos el guardián del cubo y deberemos defendernos en distintos niveles a hordas de enemigos que intentaran acabar con nosotros en un espacio cerrado. También tendremos niveles donde nos enfrentaremos al boss de turno. A medida que pasamos de niveles podremos modificar la forma del guardián, la vida e incluso la cantidad de disparos. Un juego rápido, frenético, que a lo tonto engancha. Un saludo

Cuboid Keeper est un twin stick shooter en arène où vous jouez le “gardien du cube”, une structure contenant un secret dont trois factions rivales souhaitent s’emparer. Votre but va être de repousser tous les intrus pour ne pas les laisser s’approcher du cœur. Chaque niveau est jouable en deux difficultés différentes : facile ou difficile. Chose très appréciable, réussir directement en difficile permet de récupérer également la récompense du mode facile, à savoir des emplacements pour améliorer votre vaisseau. Si au départ il est tout petit, chaque réussite vous permettra d’y greffer un nouveau module (tourelle, bouclier, laser…) et même parfois un nouveau pouvoir. Vous pourrez d’ailleurs à tout moment le modifier pour vous adapter aux défis à venir. Certains boss m’ont par exemple donné beaucoup de fil à retordre et dans ces moments-là j’ai préféré sacrifier un peu de dégâts pour mieux encaisser les attaques. Les patterns de tirs sont d’ailleurs bien touffus et si vous y allez avec un vaisseau trop imposant vous aurez vraiment du mal à zigzaguer entre les boulettes sans vous faire toucher. Les développeurs ont essayé d’apporter un maximum de variété avec des niveaux horizontaux, certains remplis de pièges ou autres surprises pour casser la monotonie inhérente aux shooters en arène. Un système de scoring est évidemment présent et si vous êtes vraiment bon vos points seront multipliés par deux si vous ne vous faites pas toucher du tout. Cerise sur le gâteau, l’histoire est intéressante et si vous le souhaitez vous pourrez lire de nombreuses notes collectées au fur et à mesure pour mieux comprendre le monde dans lequel vous évoluez et votre rôle dans tout ça. Cuboid Keeper a été une excellente surprise. Je m’attendais à un shooter en arène assez classique mais le studio Ottropi Games a su apporter un gros plus à la recette de base avec la personnalisation du vaisseau (tant dans sa forme que dans ses équipements) et des niveaux variés. Bravo à eux pour ce premier jeu ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUyBrfw13Dc

The bullet hell combat has a good variety of levels, and the shoot/don't shoot dynamic leads to some exciting moments. The focused intensity of the combat is nicely balanced with some interesting worldbuilding in the form of little stories, and a nice character builder. This Cuboid's a keeper.

Um jogo muito divertido pois a cada nível você evolui seu personagem principal a história é bem legal! Você também vai gostar do jogo Cuboid Keeper pois eu amei além de ser leve roda em qualquer computador! Super Recomendo você comprar! #Br1z #Recomendado

There is a reason it has so many positive reviews (even if they are from free copies), the game is pretty good and very underrated. To be honest, at first I was going to remove it from my wishlist because I didn't like the graphics, but then I saw on youtube some gameplay videos and I told myself: "well, lets give it a chance". So I let it stay on my wishlist until Hallowing Sale 2020, that is when I bought it. After I played it for a while, it made my realize how many good games don't get a chance in this day and age, just because they don't get enough reviews, or because they "don't look that good" on the store page, or for whatever other reason. To be honest I think it's pretty unfair, but as a consumer I think is my fault too, because I'm always searching for already highly rated games. I'm a hypocrite, probably, I don't know, maybe I will keep doing the same, but with more consciousness about it I will try to give more games a chance. Well, I haven't talked too much about the game yet. I haven't completed it by any means yet either. I'm still on stage 8 or 9, I don't remember, but I have already having fun beating the stages on hard. Pros: - It's pretty well crafted. - It's fun. - It has a story and I think it's nice (at least for me, I don't know for others). And it's what keeps moving the game. - You can customize your guardian with different modules. - Your playable character (the guardian) feels between pretty well balanced and strong, so it's good. (I don't like games were you are a weakling, unless you just start like that, but at the end you become kind of OP). Cons: - Obscure game (I mean that the game is very lost in the whole steam store library) that most people don't give a chance. PD: I'm a avid player of shoot 'em up were you can customize your playable character (most of the time they are spaceships though) with gameplay changing upgrades. I love games like Nova Drift, Geometry Arena, Tyrian (although it's not the best balanced game ever, and some stages can be boring, it's the game that made me love shoot 'em ups, because it has a ton of content), Jets'n'Guns Gold (a Tyrian-like game), Synthetik, etc. Well, in reality I have played a lot of shoot 'em ups games, the last ones being this one and DreadStar (another Tyrian-like game, pretty nice, but short). I have also played games like Steredden, Enter the Gungeon, etc., etc. So I have experience when I say this game is good, maybe it is not the one with the most replayability, but I think that at least you should give it a chance, maybe you will like it too. I will give it a score when I finish it.