[table]
[tr]
[th]GOAL[/th]
[td]Score attack with the best distance by moving, jumping, encountering harmful obstacles to avoid, and hide against the patrolling cloudy eyes that attack through shooting as a black cube in a randomly generated gray and black environment, while earning in-game currency to upgrade and obtain 4 powerups types, of which 3 max can be used per powerup during a run.[/td]
[/tr]
[th]EXPERIENCE[/th]
[td]Played a variety of platforming games in general, but not much of stealth-oriented platforming in two-dimensions. There's a mobile version, but got the Steam version due to lack of advertisements.[/td]
[tr]
[th]SETUP[/th]
[td]Played it in fullscreen borderless window.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[th]CONTENT[/th]
[td]Randomly generated layouts to traverse per attempt in general. The two main modes are solo and online versus race multiplayer, with the latter to join or create races customized by max distance, how many players, obstacle types, and optional entry fee.
There are two side modes on earning additional in-game currency, with one side mode on best distance without any stealth at all or powerups, but earning 10 in-game currency per 1 distance instead of 1 in solo, and the other side mode being able to flap mid-air, trying to collect randomly placed numbered currency, and the only obstacles are spikes, lava pools, and moving crushers; both side modes after playing them have a 5 minute cooldown.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[th]BOUGHT[/th]
[td]Got it on July 11, 2024 for $1.99, undiscounted.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[th]ENDGAME[/th]
[td]Reaching 10,000 distance in solo, or winning 50,000 currency race in online versus multiplayer.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[th]PLAYTIME[/th]
[td]219 minutes overall, or 3.65 hours on playing the game so far.
[list][*] Reach 500m - 21.5 minutes.
[*] Reach 1,000m - 50.5 minutes.
[*] Reach 1,250m - 77 minutes, this is where I reached max powerup upgrades.
[*] Reach 2,000m - 33 minutes so far.[/list][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[h3]MY POSITIVES[/h3]
[list]
[*] [u][b]There's a fairly detailed statistics section;[/b][/u] besides the best distance, the game shows 5 notable distance numbers with the amount of times the player reaches it, total number of attempts, total distance across all attempts, total number of deaths, divided into 6 causes of deaths, and headshot death numbers along with longest shot. It doesn't really show how much in-game currency earned from the main runs, race runs, and the two side modes though.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3336306152
[*] [u][b]Rebindable keyboard keys for movement, jumping, and using 4 powerup types![/b][/u]
[*] [u][b]Having 4 powerup types with 3 per type to use per solor run increases choice and decisions on whether to use it or not, and being able to act on activating the powerups when in a critical moment.[/b][/u]
[/list]
[h3]MY NEGATIVES[/h3]
[list]
[*] [u][b]Being able to reach the farthest distance in solo runs is more dependent on max upgrading powerups and using powerups that require in-game currency to buy them to keep a steady supply, encouraging playing the two side-modes for the opportunity to earn more in-game currency, which breaks the pacing too much due to deviating too much from the main game's gameplay;[/b][/u] when first playing the game, there's 4 powerup types to use, with 1 available each, but they're not max upgraded for longer durability. Realizing these powerups help make encountering obstacles easier in certain situations to get better distances during attempts, and that upgrading and buying powerups requires in-game currency, the only other way to earn additional in-game currency are playing the two side modes, which have a 5 minute cooldown after attempting them. However, it feels like I have spend time away from the main game to work on something that feels too unrelated, as if I have to maintain a steady supply of in-game currency, especially after I max upgraded all powerup types. I feel that if the game ceases to have those two side modes, and just has full powerup supplies and upgrades for each attempt without having to play the disconnected side modes, it would remove my biggest complaint of this game that I find to be fatal to my overall enjoyment overtime.
[*] [u][b]There's multiple Steam achievements that are only obtained that require players to play online versus racing multiplayer;[/b][/u] from my experience, since this game is around a year old, it's impossible to legitimately earn these Steam achievements due to a lack of sustained popularity at this point.
[*] [u][b]The movement and collision physics with your block character sometimes feels off[/b][/u] the jank is kinda more or less something you'll have to get used to, as if it's unintentionally part of the game.
[/list]
[h3]MY EEHS/NEUTRAL FEELINGS[/h3]
[list]
[*] [u][b]The background music during playing isn't original music, as it's a song named 'Lens' by Bobby Richards;[/b][/u] I found this out from checking some gameplay footage of Sqube Darkness, and from the YouTube video description, it shows that [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BGlX9KHxZA]the 'Lens' song[/url] was used for this game. I don't really have strong positive or negative feelings on whether this is a good or bad thing. I can say that the song fits well for being a song not made exclusively for the game, echoing a slightly creepy uncertain vibe where survival and stealthing through endless landscapes is the overall key mood.
[/list]
Sqube Darkness is an endless stealth platformer which would've felt like an alright game to play from time to time, but the major issue of having to gather in-game currency from the two mini-games to max upgrade and continually have a steady amount of powerups felt like too much of both of a pace-breaker and too detached from I feel is the flow of the game on single player.
I saw this game from a mobile game advertisement where there's an [url=https://apps.apple.com/app/id1591396836]iOS version[/url], and later searching it online, an [url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details/Sqube_Darkness?id=com.RHPOSITIVE.squbedarkness]Android version[/url], but both of these games are published by Unico Studio, which I'm not sure if they're RH POSITIVE but under another name. I tried playing it on my iPad but it required online, even though the description says it's playable offline.
I bought this game on Steam because of the lack of advertisements compared to the mobile versions, because I think more mobile games should be ported on Steam, with various adjustments and accommodations, since I feel there's so many unique games to play that are only on mobile, without a native PC version. However, the more I play Sqube Darkness, the more of this one big issue becomes obvious and grating over longer periods of time post getting in-game currency to max upgrade powerups, which feels bad, and as such, I can't really recommend the game.
