Survive! Mr. Cube, developed by the Korean team Intragames, is yet another little roguelike released for PS4. I’ve had a weird but positive streak with games like this one in the past. I’ve never found any of them to be groundbreaking and usually disliked their presentation, but I’d always end up having a lot of fun with them and usually recommend those games at the end of the day, like Devious Dungeon and One More Dungeon. Survive! Mr. Cube, just like those examples, is another game that didn’t impress me in terms of presentation, but provided me with enough fun for me to recommend to fans of the genre.

Mr. Cube plays like your typical roguelike. Your main objective is to traverse small maze-like levels filled with RTS-esque fog of war and find a portal hidden beneath a destructable tower. You’ll face dozens of enemies along the way and you’ll also collect lots of powerups along the way. The game randomly provides you with a new warrior (holding a specific weapon) at the start of each round.

I don’t remember seeing a game being as generous with potions as Survive! Mr. Cube. Every map is completely packed with treasure chests, each one containing either a health, stamina, speed, or strength potion. The game showers you with so many potions you’ll always have a full inventory.

The combat is extremely simplistic; it’s just mindless hacking and slashing. I would say the combat is based around button mashing, but you don’t even use buttons in order to attack. Be it while holding a sword, mace, lance or a ranged weapon, you’ll always use the right stick in order to attack foes. Did that feel weird in the beginning? Yes, a lot especially due to the additional fact your character moves and attacks at a very slow speed (unless you use one of the ten bagillion speed potions scattered throughout the map). Did I get used to it? Yes, after a while. The controls aren’t bad, they are just mapped in a weird way.

Mr. Cube isn’t a very pretty game, nor it does sound exciting. In terms of its artistic department, it’s pretty basic and you can see its mobile origins. As previously mentioned, I did enjoy the game’s smart usage of “fog of war” though, something that was previously assigned solely to RTS games.

Survive! Mr. Cube is far from perfect, but it’s a game with its heart in the right place. It’s a cute little roguelike that’s a lot more forgiving, relaxing, and accessible than most of its peers. If you can look past the simplistic graphics and repetitive music, you’ll most likely have a moderate amount of fun with. You’ll probably get an easy platinum while doing so, by the way.

 

Graphics: 5.5 The graphics are simplistic, but the usage of RTS-like fog of war is actually pretty neat.	Gameplay: 7.5 The usage of twin-stick shooter mechanics on a melee-focused game might look odd at first, but you will quickly get used to it, as well as your character’s slightly slow movement.
Sound: 5.0 There are very few tracks, making the game’s overall soundtrack very repetitive.	Fun Factor: 7.5 As far as roguelikes go, this game is a lot easier and a lot more accessible than its peers. It gets quite repetitive after a while, but it’s great in short bursts.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Reviewed on PS4.
Also available on: Switch.
A copy of Survive! Mr. Cube was provided by the publisher.