Developer Picroma has announced that Cube World, its very-long-in-the-works voxel-based action-RPG, will be making its way to Steam in the next month or two, six years after its controversial alpha release.

Cube World first surfaced all the way back in 2013, and immediately dazzled thanks to its striking, procedurally generated world. It promised to deliver a unique, exploration-focussed take on the action-RPG genre, with players able to adopt a variety of different classes and embark on an open-world adventure that would be different with every play-through.

Cube World didn’t fall through the cracks, or suddenly see a cancellation. It just sat there in suspended animation. Emails and calls to the developer went unanswered, all social media associated with Picroma and Cube World stopped pushing updates, and the game’s community were forced to speculate about the status of their new favourite game.

Interest was strong enough that developer Wolfram von Funck agreed to release his hobby project Cube World as a paid alpha, with players able to pick up the game for $15 USD. Following a rocky launch, in which purchases were temporarily suspended as a result of DDOS attacks on the developer's servers, only one further update was released.

Although Cube World's alpha was an enjoyable experience in its own right, purchasers, who were expecting regular updates to the game, understandably grew wary when von Funck embarked on an extended period of radio silence not long after launch. Since then, although the developer has resurfaced intermittently to confirm that development is still progressing and to guarantee eventual release, communication has been sporadic at best, with whole years passing between social media posts.

Occasional blog updates and development videos, as rare as they've been, have gone some way to reassuring fans that progress on Cube World has continued behind the scenes, no matter how slowly, so the only real questions seemed to be if and when the community might get to experience the fruits of those six-year labours first-hand. And the answer, according to a new tweet from von Funck, is October or November this year.

When Cube World comes to Steam, it'll be the first chance to see what's changed in the years since alpha release. According to the game's recently launched Steam listing, the new version will feature four classes - Warrior, Ranger, Mage, and Rogue - plus, combat, spells, magic artefacts, weapons, armour, potions, elixirs, and food, as well as tameable pets that will fight alongside heroes and can be used as mounts.

The procedurally generated world itself will feature quests that task heroes with helping residents, exploring dungeons, and fighting huge monsters, and the whole thing is playable solo or via online co-op. There are a few more details on Steam.

Notably, and probably wisely, it looks like this is being pitched as a full release, rather than another early access launch, and von Funck has confirmed that everyone that purchased the Cube World alpha in the halcyon days of 2013 will be given a Steam key. Guitar guru files mgt message 2017.

Speaking as one of those players that bought and thoroughly enjoyed their time with Cube World's alpha back in the day, despite its mechanical limitations, I'm genuinely intrigued to see if the intervening years have resulted in a completed experience that fulfils its early promise. We'll know more when Cube World's very-long-awaited release occurs soon.

Cube World is an action role-playing game developed and published by Picroma for Microsoft Windows. Wolfram von Funck, the game's designer, began developing the game in June 2011, and was later joined by his wife, Sarah. An alpha version of the game was released in July 2013, but saw sparse updates and communication from von Funck, with many considering the game to be vaporware until he officially released it on September 30, 2019.

Gameplay[edit]

In Cube World, the player explores a large voxel-based world.^[1][2] It contains dungeons, including caverns and overworld castles, as well as biomes including grasslands, snowlands, deserts, and oceans.^[3] Players can use items such as hang gliders and boats to traverse the world more quickly.^[4][5]

The game features character creation, which involves the player first choosing a race and sex, then customising the look of the character.^[3][6] The player then chooses one of four classes: warrior, rogue, ranger, or mage, each of which have access to unique armour, weapons, and abilities.^[7] The world is populated with monsters and creatures that can be killed for better armor and weapons, which results in stronger stats and abilities and allows players to choose specializations which best suit their playstyle, such as warriors being able to choose between focusing on damage or defensive abilities, or mages focusing on damage or healing abilities.^[8] Players can also tame animals, such as sheep or turtles, which fight alongside them, or, in some cases, can be ridden to traverse the world more quickly.^[3][6]Crafting is also a part of the game; it allows players to create food, potions, weapons, and armor, as well as cosmetics.^[6][9]

Development[edit]

Cube World began development in June 2011, with designer Wolfram von Funck describing it as a 3D voxel-based game with a focus on exploration and role-playing game elements,^[10] citing games such as The Legend of Zelda, Secret of Mana, and World of Warcraft as inspiration.^[11] He was later joined by his wife, Sarah von Funck, who contributed the game's sprites and assisted in implementing new content.^[1][11] In January 2012, it was erroneously reported that Minecraft's developer Mojang had hired von Funck to help support him in developing Cube World.^[12][13][14]

An alpha version of Cube World was first released on Picroma's website on July 2, 2013, but was eventually made unable to be repurchased.^[15][16] At the time, the game's download server suffered a DDoS attack, which von Funck later admitted was an unexpected event that 'traumatized' him.^[17][18][19] During its alpha release, many players were concerned about further development of the game due to the general lack of updates from von Funck, with many considering the game to be vaporware, despite him stating several times during development that the game was still being worked on.^[20][21][22] In September 2019, Wolfram announced that the game would be officially released via Steam on September 30, and that purchasers of the alpha release would receive a Steam key for free.^[23][24][25]

Reception[edit]

The game has been criticized for its region-based progression system and balancing issues.^[26][27] James Davenport of PC Gamer criticized the repetitiveness of the game, calling it 'shallow' and 'boring'.^[28] Luke Plunkett of Kotaku wrote that although the world was 'very pretty', it is 'badly in need of a tutorial' and 'somehow worse than its alpha'.^[29] Some reviewers commented that the game could not live up to fans' expectations after an extended wait.^[26][29]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abRossignol, Jim (July 15, 2013). 'Some Time With: Cube World (Alpha)'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
2. ^Owen, Phil (July 7, 2013). 'The magical Cube World gets alpha release — good luck'. VG247. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
3. ^ ^abcHernandez, Patricia (July 18, 2013). 'I Can't Stop Playing Cube World'. Kotaku. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
4. ^Senior, Tom (September 18, 2012). 'Cube World: indie exploration RPG gets hang gliders, dungeons and mega bosses'. PC Gamer. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
5. ^Sykes, Tom (May 8, 2013). 'New Cube World video shows the indie RPG's approach to crafting, magic, sailing and stealth'. PC Gamer. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
6. ^ ^abcHernandez, Patricia (July 23, 2013). 'Tips For Playing The Cube World Alpha'. Kotaku. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
7. ^O'Connor, Alice (July 4, 2013). 'Cube World public alpha now on sale'. Shacknews. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
8. ^Smith, Adam (October 11, 2012). 'Classified Information: Cube World'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
9. ^Pearson, Craig (May 9, 2013). 'Vox Rox: Some Cube World Video To Make You Happy'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
10. ^Rossignol, Jim (June 14, 2011). 'Cube World Looks Chunky'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
11. ^ ^abCorriea, Alexa (July 30, 2013). 'Cube World: where Minecraft meets Warcraft'. Polygon. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
12. ^Smith, Adam (January 5, 2012). 'Mojang Hire Cube World Developer'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
13. ^Smith, Adam (January 23, 2012). 'It's Hip To Be Cube World'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
14. ^Grayson, Nathan (July 1, 2014). 'Worth The Wait? – Cube World Getting New Quests'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
15. ^Grayson, Nathan (July 3, 2013). 'Cube World Released And, Er, Unbuyable'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
16. ^Neltz, András (3 July 2013). 'You Could Briefly Buy and Play Cube World. Very Briefly'. Kotaku. New York City: G/O Media. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
17. ^Grayson, Nathan (July 9, 2013). 'Cube World Woes Continue With DDoS Attacks'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
18. ^Hernandez, Patricia (June 8, 2013). 'Cube World Developer Says His Game's Servers Are Under Attack'. Kotaku.
19. ^Peel, Jeremy (July 9, 2013). 'Cube World alpha launch scuppered by DDoS attacks; 'Someone is trying to systematically damage our business''. PCGamesN. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
20. ^Hernandez, Patricia (21 October 2013). 'The Current Status Of Cube World, And Why Fans Are Worried About It'. Kotaku. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
21. ^Klepek, Patrick. 'Despite 23 Months Without Updates, Cube World Devs Say Game Isn't Dead'. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
22. ^Hernandez, Patricia (May 8, 2017). 'Cube World Hasn't Been Updated In Years, But Some Fans Still Play Every Day'. Kotaku. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
23. ^Chalk, Andy. 'Cube World ends a half-decade of silence, announces imminent launch on Steam'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
24. ^Schreier, Jason. 'After Disappearing For Six Years, Cube World Is Finally Coming Out'. Kotaku. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
25. ^Wales, Matt. 'Long-in-the-works voxel-based action-RPG Cube World is out at the end of September'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
26. ^ ^abHernandez, Patricia (3 October 2019). 'Cube World was never going to live up to the hype'. Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
27. ^Deppe, Martin (4 October 2019). 'Cube World im Test: Der einstige Youtube-Hit legt nach 6 Jahren eine Bruchlandung hin' [Cube World in the test: The former YouTube hit made a crash landing after 6 years]. GameStar (in German). Munich: Webedia Gaming. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
28. ^Davenport, James (30 September 2019). 'Cube World's infinite fantasy landscape is infinitely boring'. PC Gamer. New York City: Future US. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
29. ^ ^abPlunkett, Luke (30 September 2019). 'Cube World Wasn't Worth The Wait'. Kotaku. New York City: G/O Media. Retrieved 10 December 2019.

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