Cube World Alpha

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  • Post category:PC / RPG
Cube World Crocodile Mount
Tame pets to fight for you, and even act as mounts.

Keen and I picked up Cube World yesterday. Like Minecraft you can purchase now and gain access to an alpha build. So far from what I’ve played, and have heard about, it seems like Minecraft: RPG edition. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

When you start the game up you get to create a character and pick your race/class combo. There’s a nice variety so far like Human, Elf, Orc, Goblin, Dwarf, Undead, Frogman, etc. Actually I think I might have named all of them. You also get to pick out some visual options for each race like hair and face. The classes right now are warrior, rogue, mage, and ranger. Supposedly more are going to be added but that’s it for now. Each class can also specialize in two different ways. For example, a mage can use water or fire magic and a Rogue can be either an Assassin or Ninja. The skill tree is pretty tiny right now, but they say advanced trees are planned. Each spec basically gets one ability line with three different abilities in it. Other than that you can put skills into swimming, climbing, and pet mastery which later upgrade into sailing, hang gliding, and riding, respectively.

Cube World Hanglider
Soar the skies with a hanglider.

The combat is fairly simple right now. The Rogue (Ninja spec) attacks with left mouse button and generates mana, or whatever they call it, and can utilize right mouse button for a special attack. I think the different attacks are dependent on not only your spec but what weapon you are using. Keen is playing a mage and when he was fire spec he shot fire and when he went water magic he shot water. However, when he held a staff his attacks created small vortexes but when he used a wand he shot bolts out. I haven’t found a new weapon yet for my character so I haven’t been able to test the extent of melee diversity.

The biggest problem with the combat right now is how easily you can get trashed. You will die a whole lot, even with health potions. There is an active dodge and some classes can use shields to block, but even then you can get easily ganged up on and demolished. Keen and I had made our way into a castle dungeon and we only were able to finish it because he changed to water magic and could heal us. Even then we died a couple times because there is just no way to sustain the amount of damage done to you. There doesn’t seem to be any death penalty yet, so dying is mostly just an inconvenience. When you revive you appear at one of the several revive statues littered all over the landscape. The frustrating part, however, is you and your buddy can die right next to each other but for some reason you go to different respawn locations far apart. It doesn’t always happen but it does happen way too often.

I haven’t delved much into the crafting side of the game but it does look intriguing. It’s not like minecraft where you mine some blocks and shape it into a sword. I’m not even sure you can mine blocks away in this game, only nodes. Instead you combine ingredients you find to make useful items like potions or new equipment. One thing that I thought was really cool was the ability to forge your weapons and actually change their. You can add more blocks to your sword to not only make it looked awesome but also increase the damage. The grander stuff like house building isn’t in yet but it looks to be pretty promising as well.

cubeworld fire biome

The generated worlds are really fun to explore. There are lots of cool geographical features and unique biomes. Keen and I just found some kind of barren wasteland/lava kingdom earlier with entirely different monsters, dungeons, and towns. We actually stumbled upon a giant pyramid which had some pretty cool mobs inside. Our next major goal is to find an ocean and try sailing it and then maybe try out hang gliding and animal taming. The game is only in alpha and is a little rough around the edges, but Cube World looks like it’s shaping up to be a really fun game. If you haven’t been following Cube World then you should really start now.

  • Looks fantastic. I know its beyond the scope of the developer but I’d love a game like this with actual ecosystems and factions that change the game world in the background. NPCs. taming lands, fighting wars. Herds of animals grassing the grass then moving on when they eat it all. Etc. So basically a world simulator I get to adventure in.

    I don’t need fancy graphics I just want a world that feels alive while exploring it. We’re getting closer…..

  • The developer is messing around with the idea of a “massively multiplayer” server that supports large numbers of players, PvP ladders and arenas, and some other goodies that really extend the scope of the game.

  • “Our next major goal is to find an ocean and try sailing it”

    I found an ocean and excitedly bought a ship, then realized I need to put 6 skill points into swimming in order to unlock it. Oops. So it’s off to more leveling.

    Even sparse as it is, the game is pretty fun so far. I really hope they add more “Minecrafty” building type features. As I explored I found tons of areas that just screamed for a village to be built.

  • From the videos the dev put out showcasing building, I think it will be fantastic. Lots of customization.

    Graev and I just found an ocean biome and we’re buying a boat right now. I have a pet that I can ride. It’s amazing! 😀

  • Game-play might be cool, but that blocky, pixelly look — hell no. Why does everything have to look like Minecraft now???