QBEH-1 is a first person puzzle platformer game that was created by Liquid Flower Games. QBEH-1 is a prequel to their other game QBEH, and is a beautiful concoction of puzzles and intriguing environments. Although the puzzles often lack challenge, the beauty and harmony of the game will keep you going back for more time and time again.
QBEH-1: The Atlas stands out with its amazing visuals; from intricate textures to grand and gorgeous sky scenes below your feet. My experience of QBEH-1 immediately struck me with memories of both Minecraft and Portal simultaneously, with the block-building nature of it, and the carrying around of companion cubes in order to solve environmental puzzles.
Progression in QBEH-1 requires the completion of puzzles in order to unlock higher levels and further stages. These puzzles involve traversing a small but beautiful ancient temple structure suspended in mid-air, and finding particular cubes which can be picked up and collected. These blocks can then be placed on panels in walls, and against one another in order to make bridges, ladders or steps to aid your exploration of the temple. Checkpoints are dotted around; owl statues which glow into life and spread their wings on your approach. To complete a level, you must find and walk through a glowing portal (oh hi again, Portal).
As you progress, you find that there are more than one kind of cube that can be manipulated, and which serve specific purposes through a level. Some panels or spaces are a different colour to the rest, and require a different colour cube. You must then find your way around the temple to find this cube and unlock the abilities of the panel that requires it. In this way, puzzles get a little more time-consuming and ask you to think outside the box, although they largely remain without any particular challenge.
For example, energy cubes can move a platform on which you are standing. As well as moving from one point, over a gaping chasm through which you see the endless sky below, you must sometimes leap over obstacles in mid-air, and land back on the platform. The most exciting and stimulating part of the game becomes jumping tasks, and it adds a welcome dimension.
All the while, a mesmerising and atmospheric soundtrack plays behind your gameplay. Although relaxing, the music is far from in the background, instead taking centre stage and becoming an emphatic feature of the game itself. It is perfectly at home in the mystical sky temple setting, and leaves you feeling relaxed and utterly immersed in this world. Even falling from the temple and having to restart the level fails to leave you feeling frustrated, as the music simply massages your stresses. You find yourself calmly beginning again, dream-like. There are jarring moments when approaching an area causes it to dramatically explode, and the bricks that had been before you one moment are now drifting dreamily off into the air. These violent moments jerk you out of your QBEH trance for just long enough to be astonished, before you descend back into cube-placing bliss.
There are six levels overall, all with different themes, ranging from open-sky to ice world. The soft and careful textures used throughout the game really lend themselves to creating a beautiful and alluring environment. The colour of your companion cubes – I mean, blocks – changes to suit the theme of the current level; for example, your blocks in the frozen world are blue. My favourite aspect of the game is that there are so many different ways you can utilise your blocks to complete a level. Whether you have more blocks than you can need, or barely enough to work with, it is the imagination of the player which will determine whether you need a ladder up to the ledge, or a bridge to the other side of the temple, and how you will position your equipment to achieve your goals. I fully expect that no one person will do the same thing.
CONCLUSION
QBEH is a beautiful game. The environments, music and puzzles combine to form an immersive and relaxing experience. Although the puzzles are rarely challenging, I can’t help but feel that a true challenge would contradict the dreamy, mystical nature of the world of QBEH. Progressing into new worlds and themes keeps you interested enough to desire to continue, if only to see how Liquid Flower Games will have constructed the next artistic world. The music is the highlight of the game. I could fall asleep listening to it, and you’ll find yourself wandering the suspended maps with calmness and a total lack of frustration that you don’t find in puzzle games.
QBEH-1: The Atlas Cube is well worth a buy. For casual play especially, this is the puzzle platformer for you.
Qbeh-1 on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/252550/
Official Website: Qbeh-1.com
Qbeh-1 on DTG: http://digitaltribegames.com/qbeh-1/
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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