For my critical play, I chose to play Cube Escape: Paradox on iOS. I chose this since I had previously played other entries in the series and I wanted to go back to see what was new in their latest one. I found the references to other games in the series to be nice yet subtle enough for newer players.
The narrative in this game is done really well; you wake up with amnesia, which is a compelling start to the story since you the player also know nothing about this world. The setting is this single room, where you progressively need to discover tools and clues to help your information progress. You learn more by interacting with suspicious things, but sometimes it feels difficult to know exactly what you are supposed to be doing since the game doesn’t explicitly tell you where to explore next. At times I needed to use the walkthrough to know what exactly I was supposed to do, since the game’s clues and control flow can be quite cryptic and there are a ton of things to interact with. I think having the main story take place in one room does lend itself well to having nice architecture design with the story and game mechanics, as there are many fun things that are done really well in this (literal) confined space. The projector projecting directly across the room is a nice touch, the mirror where you get to discover what you look like is also nice, and the supernatural elements of this ghost haunting you is really well achieved through the presented dialogue. Starting from nothing is a great way to introduce these characters which actually do have a lot of depth and lore in this game and others, since it presents a somewhat completed storyline between this trapped detective and the woman from a past case. You eventually get to learn more about why they are here, what is going on with these other characters and their memories, and so on.
While there are not explicit settings for accessibility, there is closed captioning turned on by default for all in game audio. While I am not hard of hearing, I was at one point playing this game in a room with several friends where I couldn’t use my phone’s audio without being rude. I think this is a good example as to why accessibility features can be beneficial to a wider range of players than initially imagined. Players may need accommodations at any time and in many different ways, so maintaining a minimally viable set of features to play an escape room game is a very good way to design one. I would imagine that this game would be incredibly difficult to play without being able to see what’s happening or how to interact with the different objects, but I imagine that replicating all of the features and puzzles to be accessible to those with visual impairments is a much tougher challenge, as many elements would need a full redesign. I do imagine it’s possible, but I do not see the support for it in this version I am playing currently.
