underground pixely movement puzzler, kinda like boulder dash without arcade elements. 63 levels in 7 chapters, sadly, only one level is unlocked at a time, solve a few in a pack to open the next. except the number doesn't mean that level but a total amount, as I learned to my cost near the end. ♥♥♥♥ move to make it seem like you're generous in unlocking multiple packs in case somebody gets stuck on the single available level in the current one. make it a countdown or say 'complete 46 levels to unlock' instead of 'complete 46'. I was stuck on 42 and 46, did 46 and still no pack 7.
eat all yellow tiles to finish the level, simple as that. on paper anyway. move counter in the corner, no move limit, nor records kept, but level complete compares your attempt to the global average and offers exit, restart and next as options. level numbers are visible on-screen and on level select, [b]no mid-level saving if you quit[/b].
non-rebindable controls, 99% mousable, keys don't work in the menus or for movement, nor are they mentioned anywhere outside the tutorial. 'f' selects/deselects qbik, along with left click, 'z' takes back the last path selection, along with right click. possible movement options are shown, only horizontal traversal is possible but gravity is a thing. click a tile to see if it's a valid destination and confirm with another click. [b]when qbik is selected, the whole level outside its line of sight turns gray, making it hard to tell which tile is what color[/b], could've been handled better.
[b]levels don't always fit the screen, so zooming out would've been necessary[/b], the wheel isn't used for anything else. often it's just a few pixels or some fluff but they still trigger scrolling. those could've been tweaked easily, but the last few stages are much bigger and I couldn't be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to take screenshots and look at the whole thing outside the game, it shouldn't be necessary. use edge scrolling or wasd/arrows to pan the camera, space/enter to re-center. no mouse equivalent for that, so I had to deduct 1% from mousability. arrow color on the sides is important, yellow means there's stuff to eat elsewhere, blue shows where qbik is.
[b]unlimited rewind (undo)[/b] is possible, click the icon or press 'r', can't hold to undo more. it's not step by step but action-based, so if you instructed qbik to move 3 tiles, a single rewind will take back all 3. [b]no hotkey or icon for level reset is a frustrating omission[/b], have to open the pause menu for it.
[b]limited level skip[/b] is available, only 6 for the whole game. instant and silent text for the story and monolog, silent typewriter effect for tutorial messages. qbik has some amusing remarks ('this cave is like a virgin, touched for the very first time') and occasional nudges in the right direction. there was a proofreader, apparently, but there's still a bunch of grammatical errors in the text.
further puzzle elements are brown clay blocks unaffected by and pushable green blocks beholden to gravity. qbik can't be squashed, the only temporary fail state is when you dig yourself into an unfavorable situation. can't have a puzzle game without teleporters, matching ones have the same symbol. movable platforms are also a thing, can carry one thing at a time. triggers (pressure plates) manipulate gates and pistons. can't say it's brimming with originality but they're utilized well enough, though difficulty is a bit uneven.
separate volumes, resolutions, windowed mode, mouse sensitivity and many languages comprise the settings, only available in the main menu. [b]the dripping water sfx, first appearing on level 3, ignores volume settings, incredibly annoying[/b], but turning off sfx solves the problem in a less than ideal way. in-game progress tracking (stats, achievements) and a [b]level editor with workshop support[/b] are also included. [b]I would've liked a brightness slider[/b], the whole thing is too dark, some of the text (settings, level numbers, wires and platform rails) are hard to see. [b]another thing missing is an animation speed setting[/b] for faster movement and undo, and a move counter toggle for those who don't care and find it distracting.
somewhat original idea, one can easily spend [b]8 hours or more going through it all[/b]. some clever and challenging puzzles, with the last few huge ones providing more tedium than anything, partly due to all the scrolling. the 5 eur price tag ain't bad these days (worse in 2017 when it came out), but plenty of flaws and shortcomings, and I haven't even mentioned [b]game-breaking bugs on some levels, involving movable platforms also moving qbik, through walls and everything[/b]. pretty sure it's because of undo bugging out, at one point leaving reset as the only option (got left with an endlessly spinning hourglass cursor, couldn't move or undo), taking away a bunch of progress and [b]turning a weak recommendation thanks to missing quality of life into a definite thumbs down[/b].
