Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (2014)

Overview: An adventure game that centers around exploration and discovery. There's no right way to play, but there are achievements which can be earned.


(Classic View)

20170705:
I played the game with the Classic View (angled) for 4.3 hours. Then I checked out Spindle View (curved, globe) and Data View (top-down).

Steam Game Time: 4.6 hours

Before I retired for the night, I read that the power-up usage rate affects the type of buildings and the color.

(Spindle View)


20170706:
Today I played some more, but I also fell asleep at some point.

Steam Game Time: 1.0 hours (Session Game Time, including sleep)

20170707:
Addicted, I continued playing more today over random intervals, but I also tried to hack the game a little by examining and editing the save file. Unfortunately, editing the save file was a lot of trial and error, and the consequences of hacking the save file remained unclear. Of course, at this point I still didn't entirely understand the game itself; this made my hacking attempt an obstacle.

(Data View)


Steam Game Time: 9.9 hours

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Relaxing
+ Mysteriously fun and addicting

World Map.

Cons:
- Lack of transparency; while the game is built around discovery, I wish there was a log that tracked an association between colors and actions.
- Eventually tedious; can be avoided by knowing the proper strategy ahead of time.


Summary:
Wow, I didn't expect such a weird, simple game to be so addicting.

My first hack attempt resulted in a world that had all dark gray panels.
Oddly, the world map remained unchanged.

With that being said, there was a moment along the gameplay experience where the game ceased being fun and started feeling tedious. On the one hand I wanted to achieve some of the remaining achievements and on the other hand I was ready to uninstall the game.

Overall, casual and patient players are likely to enjoy this game. Alternatively, players who don't care about accomplishments and enjoy a good story might also enjoy this game.

Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (2014)

I went through about 10 to 15 different changes of the save file and didn't take enough notes to make heads or tails of the changes. However, the output of the change as seen in this screenshot is gray trees.

Relevant Links:
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love Website
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love (Steam Store Page)

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