Cube Escape: Seasons
Cube Escape: The Lake
[Note: Please be warned that these games contain content some may find disturbing.]
Things aren't what they seem in Rusty Lake's deceptively serene and surreal escape game Cube Escape: Seasons, also free for iOS and Android, and the start of a new series alongside Cube Escape: The Lake. In Seasons, you'll take a trip through your memories in a small, quiet house that holds a lot more secrets than you expect. In The Lake, the water is calm outside your little fishing hut, which doesn't seem to have very much in it apart from some old cabinets, a fishing rod... and a knife. Click around to interact and pick things up, though be warned that the cursor won't change if it passes over something you can use, so you'll need to be diligent. Items with a magnifying glass in your inventory can be clicked to view close up, while others can be used where you like by clicking them once to pick them up, and then again wherever you want to try to use them. Some items can be used more than once... occasionally in the same fashion. The small arrows at the edges of the screen will let you move and look around the room, and the white arrows on the right side of the screen will let you scroll up and down through your inventory. You may want to play Seasons first, as there's something you can find (and make a note of) there that will change the ending of The Lake.
It's safe to say that Cube Escape is shaping up to be a seriously captivating series, thanks in no small part to its striking visual style and unsettling effects. Part of the enjoyment comes from catching all the little details as you explore, and Rusty Lake knows how to mix the otherworldly with the mundane in a way that sticks with you. Seasons is significantly longer than The Lake, and thus a lot more complex. Some of its puzzles definitely operate on their own sort of logic, forcing you to think outside the box, and at times you might be stymied thanks to some fiddly hotspots to click on, or have visual clues in the scenery that might blend in a bit too well. Despite that, the way it unfolds with its blend of moments shocking one moment and skin-crawling the next, gives an intriguing sense of wrongness that compels you to unravel it. The whole thing feels like a dreamy slowly going wrong, and if you apply dream logic to it, you'll be much better off with its more creative mechanics. Though The Lake is significantly short, it still packs a punch with its atmosphere, though even with the special code from Seasons it still feels like it ends rather abruptly without developing the overarching plot significantly. Together, however, they make a big impact, and fans of dark horror where most everything is up to interpretation will find themselves eagerly awaiting more.
Cube Escape: Seasons (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
Android:
Get Cube Escape: Seasons
Cube Escape: The Lake (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
Android:
Get Cube Escape: The Lake
Totally stuck in Fall 1971 now, but completely loving this one
PurpleLogic...
I found Fall to be pretty easy...
The TV is full of clues - there is a progression to the numbers you hit.
Note that when you hit '3', it shows you '6' on the screen
So start with '3', then hit '6' - each screen shows you what to hit next
At the very end, if you entered them all correctly, you get the black cube
That, and the 4 photo pieces, is all you need (the photo pieces are all pretty obvious)
I am now trying to "change the past"
Made several changes, and seem to need 1 more.
GREAT GAME
I'm stuck on winter.
I have the clock open and see myself and the blue cube - but I can't do anything.
Also don't know what to do with the water in the glass and the blender. I can blend the water - but I suspect I need something else to blend with it
Look at the bulletin board
The shapes are what to find to blend
go back and forth
PurpleLogic...
How are you able to make changes?
I have the clock open, and I see the dots on the tubes on the wall - which correspond to the clock times and the note... but I can't seem to make any of them do anything. I've tried to put the time on the clock and flip the corresponding tube switch, pull the handle, etc - nothing seems to do anything.
Right before the end the game crashed on me a couple times :( Both times happened when I was going to another year. The first time it reloade where I left off before, but the second time it gave me just the first year. When I clicked on it I had all my inventory but no scene.
Really, really good game though.
I've determined that Seasons is broken for me (Winter).
I looked at the walkthrough - and I've followed it exactly but the blue cube will not come out when I click on it. I get a sudden whitish 'doughnut' above the clock face when I click - but the cube never comes out.
I'm playing The Lake now and there's a box that will allegedly only open with a code from Seasons. Since I wasn't able to complete that game (a 2nd try at the game, starting from the beginning, one of the photo pieces seems to be missing from the 3rd level and AGAIN I can't continue) -- I was wondering if someone could spoil the code.
For those of you playing The Lake, the code from Seasons is:
1487
I really like how the transitions have the layering 3D effect. It makes the games much more immersive.
Thank you bluemoose, you saved me a ton of frustration!
This series reminds me so much of Samsara Room, in fact I think it's from the same developer and all of them are in the same universe.
If you're talking about that same box, then how do I close it?
Newermind,
fished out yet another box
There's a lot of stuff in that lake
I was having such a fine time, then it crashed. I had just started changing the past. I want to rate it a 5, but crash makes me want to rate it a one. Tomorrow I'll try again before I make the rating.
These were pretty damn good!
In Seanons, how do you
get the bird to come back with a flower, or whatever you need to do to get a flower.
@cthuljew
In winter, have you tuned the radio yet?
In Lake, I had an extra gem at the end. Not sure what I was supposed to do with it, but maybe if I had used it somehow, I wouldn't have got the message at the end saying I could change my fate by using the code from Seasons, which I had done.
in seasons - winter - i'm stuck too. i got mixed up with what to do to escape memories or change time, and ended up activating the blue cube before i realized oops i have to change time first. and now, no way to get the blue cube out, or at least or to begin only the 4th level again...
sorry.. i guess i got it wrong. seems my above comment makes no sense, i can do both ~
Shoot, got a glitch midway into the game.
That's exactly what's happening with me too.
barbara,
I did the same thing - the game gives you two gems, one with each ending. I accidentally used the wrong gem, the one that's not from the safe with the Seasons code. If you go back to the main menu and hit play, it'll take you back to the scene right before the ending. Turn around and swap the blue gem for the green one and then see what happens.
I enjoyed the heck out of these. Really interesting and well-designed. That faux-3d effect is very effective.
I had a little trouble, probably not enough memory for my tablet to load the background properly, but at least it still played. It was all black with some digital blurring, so I couldn't see the black objects. This was not the programmers fault, I have had this happen on a few other games buy other authors. I had to consult a walkthrough to find them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Oj4HqIS0E
The ones I could not find were (and location)
fishing line
by the bottom of the left table leg
hook
by the bottom of the right side of the short cabinet
barbara
to change your fate
first play the other game (seasons)
Get the code
On the moon
1487
solution
Use the other gem (green), the one that you need the code from the other game to open
Thanks Harrington,
The "seasons" ending is a much better ending, although now I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see a bit more of my altered fate.
Can anyone explain why I can
set a bird free from its cage in Spring 1964, but it's able to fly back and lock itself up again in Summer 1971?
Dora, could you put, perhaps behind a spoiler tag, the nature of the content that you warned for in the article? Thanks!
Stuck on Fall. Have three of four photo pieces. Pretty sure the fourth is just bugged for me. :-(
I have the knife but can't kill the bird. When I try to stab the bird I get a squishy noise but the bird still lives.
Sure thing. :) The content some players may find disturbing is
scenes of graphic violence, a necessity to kill living creatures in order to proceed (you have to cut open a bird at one point, for instance), a view of a woman being murdered. There is a lot of blood, but mostly it's the violence you're required to commit, as well as what you see, that some may find overboard for their personal tastes.
On another contemplative note, regarding some of the game's themes,
some may find it a little troubling to find another game with a plot concerning mental illness inciting someone to violence. There's a post board in Seasons that has notes about therapy, a mental health facility, and a Prozac prescription. I know some people are bothered by the recurring trope of mental health and violence being linked so often in horror games, so caveat emptor.
Seconding this request. I have a suspicion but if I'm wrong, I would be needlessly avoiding what could be a fun set of games.
Thanks for the warning on material. This looks like it should be fine for me, and I'm gonna download it later :) Before I do tho, any jumpscares?
Hi there! Please read my response if you're concerned. :)
Yes, absolutely. :)
I couldn't finish Seasons, the content touched a little too much on a particularly sensitive experience for me. I managed to make it all the way to the 1981 before I really had to close it, so I got to play a fairly large chunk! It's a shame, because I do enjoy the style room escape where you have to uncover the mystery of why you're there, and overall it was very clever and novel. Also, going by some of the spoilers, it looks like I missed out on the more interesting/intricate part of the game. Well, I enjoyed the art style and the great atmosphere it created!
Same boat as Kay; loved it, ready to rate it 5, and just as I was making a final change, it crashed.
I enjoy it enough that I'll try again, but not right now.
Dora is that "yes absolutely" a yes there are jumpscares, or a yes to something else? I just wanna make sure.
Troy,
There are moments that are more, uh, jumpy, but I wouldn't call them jumpscares per se - it's stuff like a black figure suddenly appearing, but not up close to the screen, and the player's never in any danger. I'm really not a jumpscare fan but muting the game during tenser moments was enough for me.
This is definitely from the creator of Samsara room.
One word: brilliant.
Surprised that the lake was as short as it was, after the length of what could be considered an 'epic' of an escape game, the Seasons.
I loved Samsara Room when it came out, and it was amazing-cool tonight to see that this programmer got an amazing idea for a game years ago and polished it into something top-notch like this, which the game deserved. I was suspicious too for a couple of seconds, and then as soon as I saw that pink grandfather clock I knew I was right...and the SECOND thing I thought was how I hoped the pink grandfather clock DIDN'T open to reveal a very overweight...and very under-dressed corpse, as we were oddly subjected to in Samsara Room. LoL
Heh, I'm with you on the corpse.
This game had it's fair few shocks though, too. ;) At first I found the game slightly surreal, and had no idea why it was given an R rating, until I, let's say, took a look at the night sky.
Any thoughts on what to do right at the end when I accidentally filled up my water cup again?
I think I broke the game by pouring the water in the blender and then refilling the cup, because now I can't put the contents of the blender into the cup. =(
Just kidding, I had to click a weird part of the sink but it worked.
I think it is possiple to empty the cup in the sink or the fireplace.
In Rusty lake, there is a box:
it says 'mirror' and has 4 symbols.
Did anyone figure out how to open it? I have no idea what it's referencing.
Rusty lake mirror box hint through:
Poke at the input wheels.
Write the symbols down, and number them.
Think about mirrors.
One thing in the hint is not mirrored, even though it could be.
Do the math, enter the result.
1422
Walkthrough if anyone is interested
Every room you are in have four sides, so I didn't deal much with the navigation. It won't be a problem for you anyway.
Spring
You are facing a clock. Open the drawers, pickup the matchbox and spoon.
Face the window and the cage. Open the curtains, look outside. Click the window again to reveal a photo piece. Back out, turn on the lights.
Look towards the ceiling. Pick up the photo piece stuck inside the lamp.
Face the sink. Get bird food, wood, pan from the closet.
Feed the bird. Click the bird to make it eat the food.It will leave an egg. Pick it up.
Fill the pan with water from the sink. Turn the knobs of the stove, light it with the matches, put the pan to boil the water. Put the egg in the pan, click the pan again to get a boiled egg. Put the egg in its cup, and crack it with your spoon (click multiple times). You will get a black cube. Zoom out and back in, then get the pot back.
Go near the fireplace.Light the candle.Insert the cube in the black spot beneath the picture. Lower the picture, and add the photo pieces. The other piece is under the radio just on this side of the wall. Put that in its place, put the wood on the fireplace, light it and click the box on the picture several times. This is how you will navigate through rooms.
From now on, I will call the last step we just did "activating" the picture. Also note the picture in the frame, you will need to remember the picture later on (or you may return to Spring later.)
Summer
Gymnopedié plays on the background :)
This room will be creepy. Brace yourself.
Click the pot repeatedly to get a photo piece. Check the drawers for the matchbox and the screwdriver. On the lower left corner of the drawers, there will be a photo piece.
Face the window. Turn on the lights.
Pick the key from the ceiling.
Use your binoculars on the moon from the window. Note the code after the sequence.
1487 - it is also needed in the sequel.
Face the fireplace.Light the candle.Zoom into the picture, there will be a cassette. Take the plug near the tape player,try to play the cassette on the tape player,click it multiple times, it will break it and give you the broken tape. Use the plug on the cable on the light on the left side of this part of the room. Use the screwdriver to tighten it.
Turn of the lights, go back to the lamp, turn it on. It will reveal a photo piece. Unlock the cupboard near the fireplace, use the code on the safe, get the shrimp.
Face the sink, force the oven open with the screwdriver, put the shrimp inside, turn the knob on and light the oven, then close the lid and wait. Open the lid again, pick up the cube.
There is a photo piece stuck on the top of the clock, take it.
Activate the picture. You will use the tape as fuel.
Note that every room has pictures of the previous rooms on the kitchen wall.
Fall
Get the knife from the drawers.
Kill the bird, get a photo piece from its interiors.
Zoom in on the sink. Pick up the photo piece.
There is another picture piece on the bulletin board (near the fireplace)
Turn on the TV. Press the buttons as given on screen. (the red view of trees refers to channel 2 if you aren't able to see it.)
Activate the picture.
Winter
Matches, hatchet in the drawers.
Zoom in on the pump near the fireplace. It has a blueprint piece on it.
Another piece stuck behind the oven
The kitchen wall frames have a piece behind them.
The pump on the kitchen wall has a piece behind it.
Use the hatchet on the barricaded window. Click until it cracks the window open. You will collect some wood in this progress.
The time is 13:10. It is displayed on the radio's clock. Move the grandfather clock's arms to display the correct time. It will click open. You can now collect a cube. You also see your own shadow.
Activate the picture, using wood as fuel.
Back And Forth In Time
Note the times near the pictures at Winter kitchen wall. 9:05, 3:55, and 11:25 in order of seasons.
Spring
Fix the clock. Get the key, coathanger and the shovel.
Unlock the cupboard, use the code from before to get seed.
Use the shovel and the seed on the flowerpot.
Use the coathanger on the radio, then scroll for channels. Find the good reception. You will get a key.
Use pot full of water on the burning log, get the log, free the bird with the key, open window with log.Get the log back, the bird will fly off.
Summer
Get a wrench from the clock. Use it on the gas pipe near the stove. There should be a cactus growing.
Fall
Get matches from the clock. Light the candle. There should be a mushroom growing near the stove. You can't pick it up yet, but if it is growing you will see hallucinations when you try to do so.
Winter
Find the channel on the radio. The bird will bring you a flower.
Pick the cactus fruit.
Pick the mushroom.
Pick prozac from the remains of the candle.
You will need to follow the instructions on the bulletin board.
The numbers on the pumps correspond to the item we will use. The numbers are on the board.
Flower: 1 Fruit:2 Mushroom:3 Prozac:4
Fill the glass with water, then put in the items FIRST into the blender, add water and blend them. Some items won't need water at all. Pick them up by the glass, then carry them to the pumps.
Put the juices into the pumps, then pull the lever near the phone.
If it is in the correct order, the phone will vibrate.
Spring
Pick up the phone, watch the cutscene.
This looks lovely, but the performance (on Seasons) is so slow as to make the game unplayable. I'll try again some other time.
What a total shame! In Seasons I made it to Winter 1981 and one of the blue photo pieces disappeared from the inventory, so I had an incomplete photo and could not proceed any further. When I tried restarting the game, it took me back to where I was. I tried clearing my browser history, and searching for a cookie, but to no avail. Very, very disappointed.
Thank you, Braxium. If it weren't for your complete text walkthrough for the Cube Escape: SEASONS game somewhere down this comment thread, I would've never been able to appreciate this game at all. I want to know the story behind it without much stress; I'm that kind of a gamer. Life is already stressful enough. :3
Actually, your item didn't disappear: did you notice the arrows above and below your inventory? You can have more items than will fit on the screen at once.
(Of course, this is way too late to be helpful to you, Chiktionary, but just in case anyone else thinks they're in the same boat...)
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