Cube Life: Island Survival

Review

Explore islands, craft and build while you try to survive from day to day in this open world sandbox game from Cypronia.

You’re in a shipwreck and find yourself on a small deserted island; you haven’t a clue if you’re alone or if someone has survived but looking around it seems you’re all on your tod (Cockney for “on your own”). You start to explore the island in search of fresh water.  Luckily for you there are coconut trees which you can use as a drinking source; they’ll also stave off your hunger a little bit. There are also mango and oak trees on the island, and again you can use the mangos to sustain yourself awhile. It’s not a big island you find yourself marooned on, but it does have some wildlife in the shape of chickens and boars, with fish in the sea. All of which can be used for food or crafting items depending on what they drop as you kill them.

While searching the island I came across a hidden cave, which I thought would be a great place to rest, as well as for storage. I watched the sun go down over the horizon on my first night thinking of what the next day might bring; as I do, I spot a shadowy figure making its way up from the shoreline. Thinking its another survivor I run over to greet them, but my hopes of some company were quickly thrown out of the window because as the sun goes down and darkness descends over this picturesque island, cannibals come out to play. With no weapons and no chance to hide I had to fight, so I put up my dukes and squared off for a fight to the death.

As dawn broke I started collecting and chopping trees down, so I could turn my cave into a fortress.  One of the first things I did was make a crafting table which then allowed me to make basic weapons, tools, wooden planks and anything else if I just had the right materials. I also collected oak leaves and placed them around my cave entrance to keep it hidden, which worked a treat, especially as the following nights more and more cannibals came to my island. Instead of trying to fight them all I placed barricades within my cave in case they found the entrance, first using logs then later with stone blocks, which also hid the light from the torches I had placed about, allowing me to find my way around.

This allowed me to collect in the daytime and craft at night.  I’d also dig further into the cave, making room for chests to store my food, weapons, etc and even a bed which would allow me to sleep at night if I needed to. Day after day, night after night I’d collect items and craft things to help me survive, buckets to hold water when it rained, bowls for mango juice, swords, axes and armour. Every night while I was safe inside my cave I’d hear the boars and chickens being killed above me by the cannibals.

I had almost finished building a boat, but I needed two important pieces to complete: a shark fin for a rudder and shark skin for part of the sail. There is a survival guide which helps you a little bit in giving you some tips and helping you with what you need to craft certain items.  Upon reading this I found that I needed to head north, into shark-infested waters. This wouldn’t be so bad if I had a boat, but I’m swimming, so off I set. Shortly after swimming out into what looks like open water you can traverse to the next area.  When doing so, I spotted a new island, one which is much bigger than the island I’d just come from; it’s then that I noticed a shark, so with sword in hand I tussled with the beast!  After killing it, I swam straight to shore to check out this new island paradise. Sadly, it wasn’t as much as a paradise as I’d thought; once night fell the cannibals were out.

Eventually though I managed to get the shark parts I needed, and built my boat, which was so much faster and safer than swimming. Now I have my boat I can sail in all directions in the hope of finding new materials and maybe a safe place to build a more permanent home. My adventure is just getting started; where will yours take you? There is a lot more out there for you to discover.

There are two different game modes, Survival and Creative; the Creative mode has a map editor and skin editor, so you can build your own perfect paradise in the sun if you wish. There’s lots of crafting which can be done and while you’re crafting, building etc you’ll gain experience and will level your player up. The longer you survive, and more experience you get, the further you will move you up the global or friends’ rankings, which shows your Name, Level, Experience and Days lasted.

In the settings you’ll find Gameplay - Invert X/Y, Look/Fly speed, Auto Aim/Jump and Show hints - you’re able to also remap the keys to anything you’d like. Graphic settings are Auto Quality - Very Low to Ultra. There are also quite a few graphical settings to setup the game to your own individual liking, with Shadows On or Off, Water Resolution etc. Sounds has Music/SFX and Mute. Start game will give you the options for Continue, New Game, Statistics and Internet Ranking.

I went into this game with an open mind, as I’ve never wanted to play a game like this before.  I found that it grew on me as I survived day by day; frustrating a few times when I died and hadn’t saved, but I’m not always perfect … well I am, but I can’t blame the game for me not saving regularly.

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!