▼ Not recommended
0 hrs
Zen Cube is barely a game, it's just a 3D rendered Rubik's cube. You're given a few unsolved cubes and a few moves to try solve them, so maybe this could teach you how to solve cubes, but then you can just do that on the internet for free if you want, there's plenty of them that run in a web browser. This might be an asset flip as there's readily available Rubik's cube simulators on the Unity Asset Store, but I couldn't see any when I looked that are a 1:1 match for this. So let's pretend this is a sincerely made game.
From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics.
The game features lazy low-polygon "retro" assets, making this look like a barely functional 3D game from the 1990s. It's unclear why the developers weren't able to arrange high quality, high polygon count contemporary assets for the game, and also irrelevant... what matters is that this looks bad as a result of their decisions, a compromise PC gamers shouldn't have to put up with.
Bewilderingly, the game doesn't include proper audio controls, so you can't turn off the annoying background music, you'll need to alt+tab out and stop the music using the Windows sound mixer. This is obviously not okay and it's unclear why the developers chose not to include this basic feature.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers.
This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all). Regardless, for all intents and purposes this is a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such a game to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones.
The developers appear to be involved in suspicious data harvesting as they eschew SteamWorks (because SteamWorks does not facilitate privacy invasion in the ways the developers prefer) in favour of demanding users hand over their email address and other private, personal details. Presumably this is so they can profile you, collect data on you, combine that data with other sources and sell your private information off to the highest bidder (and, in fact, anyone else who is willing to pay for it). That's reprehensible and must not be tolerated. I'm sure they'll swear black and blue they don't, so "just trust them", but I wouldn't trust these shady developers as far as I could throw them. An ethical developer would use SteamWorks. At least you can bypass it, but this is still highly suspicious behavior. Stay safe out there.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is reflected in the general public reception. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the game only ever reached a peak player count of only ONE player. That's right, only one person ever played this at a time. When I played this for the purposes of reviewing it, I equalled the peak player count for the game. OUCH. The only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam, the overwhelming lack of interest in the game is remarkable, but also to be expected. This complete and utter rejection of the game from gamers should be a keen information point for anyone considering buying shovelware like this. Gamers just didn't take this seriously, and for good reason.
You're forced to sign a highly questionable yet legally unenforceable End User License Agreement. This agreement includes questionable (and possibly law breaching) privacy requirements that no gamer should ever have to engage in. Developers must learn they are here to serve gamers, not control them. I had my cat walk over the keyboard while the EULA was displaying, which fixed that problem for me.
Zen Cube is relatively cheap at $1 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price and the questionable ethics of the developer, this is impossible to recommend. Because this is the kind of game you can just play for free on mobile phones, it's impossible to recommend anyone should pay money for the same experience on Steam.
▲ Recommended
0 hrs
This is a fun little gem.
It is inexpensive and has bright colorful graphics.
Like in the description, you have to quickly make the last 2 moves to solve the cube
( don't expect a full cube simulation here ).
This won't hold your attention for long, but playing it with cubist friends will help.
It took a while to get used to making the moves. You have to switch faces to get different slice moves
( whether it's an up/down move or a left/right move ) and then click the arrow in the direction you want.
I am used to ( and would have rather seen ) a click and hold and drag mechanic.
Different cube types would make for more variety but that would definitely be out of scope for a game that only costs a dollar ( full price ). Enjoy this game for what it is !
