Cube

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

17th July 2018

“CUBE is a first-person, single-player puzzle adventure game based on Source Engine and set in a huge and constantly moving maze of different test chambers. The character you play as has been placed inside this cubic labyrinth and now must find a way out. But what is more, he has to remember his past and understand why he ended up as a test subject in this strange place! As you progress into the Cube, you get answers bit by bit with the help of your character’s fragmentary memories and even visions as well as hidden messages from those who had been here before.

The game offers a unique setting and a dark, mysterious story, which bears some connection with Half-Life and Portal universe. Moreover, CUBE can boast of new gameplay elements and almost non-linear, “forked” walkthrough with different options for further events. The result of everything that happens in the cubic complex will be directly influenced by your actions while playing!”

WARNING!

“This project is NOT a full-fledged game based on the original film trilogy Cube, because this series is copyright-protected (as of 2015-2016, all the rights belong to Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation). Only the basic concept of main location is similar; however, it has been modified. The game uses its OWN storyline and content, which do not correspond to the film canon. If you thought this is a game based on CUBE (1997) or CUBE2: Hypercube, that is not the case. We mention these films on the project’s page only to pay tribute to the initial source of our inspiration.”

Basic Details
  • Title: Cube – Version 2
  • Filename: hl2-ep2-sp-cube-v2.7z
  • Size : 482MB
  • Author: AASC / E-40
  • Date Released: 04 May 2012
Important Note

Cube was Greenlit in 2016 and is due to appear on Steam in 2019. I have added it here for historical purposes and if you are the kind of person who does replay mods, I highly recommend waiting for the final version.
You can find more details on the Cube Workshop page.

Gauge Users

The file is too large to use directly with Gauge. Please download it first.

Download Options

Download to your HDD [482MB]
You can still use it with Gauge once you have downloaded it.

Manual Installation Instructions

If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.

  • Copy the cube folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\sourcemods\ folder.
  • Start or restart Steam
  • CUBE should now be listed in your LIBRARY tab.

Videos

Coming Soon.

Panoramics

Coming Soon.

Screenshots

WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
These images are taken from the very first part of the mod and I am led to believe that it doesn’t all look like cubes!

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Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

5 recommendations, average score: 3.6 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.64 (what's that?)
Total Downloads
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 2 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users

Time Taken:
Average: 6 Hours, 45 Mins
Shortest: 5 Hours, 30 Mins by Bendy
Longest: 8 Hours by vancanucksfan
Total Time Played: 13 Hours, 30 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
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10 Comments

  1. Avocado

    Thanks for uploading this. The moddb page had not been hosting the mod for a few years, stating to wait for a v3 that never came.

  2. Unq

    Trying to play through this. Getting some consistent crashes (map04) but have gotten past them by averting my view until past certain areas.

    1. When I read this, I imagined you looking out of the window while playing.

  3. “This project is NOT a full-fledged game based on the original film trilogy Cube”

    I think the idea of making something similar to that movie passed on the head of every level designer.

  4. Maybe?

    Alright, this is a longer mod, so let’s get some stuff out of the way.

    Modder/Modders is probably Russian, clear via heavy use of Cyrillic, somewhat sub-par English translations, and a chunk of the latter half of the half definitely keeping the Russian theme strong.

    Secondly, the “forked playthrough” thing in the description is completely false. The game is fully linear, although finding where to go can sometimes be confusing.

    Now, to be honest, i’m incredibly split on this mod.

    On the one hand, the amount of work, effort and assets that went into this thing is clear. It has great and somewhat unique visuals. It’s akin to Portal, but with it’s own touches.

    The story being told is actually somewhat interesting, although it doesn’t wrap up well, the use of Half-Life story elements was done fairly well.

    Now, as for the gameplay…. well….

    It’s the main reason i’m split.

    The entirety of the game is a Portal-like romp, going from puzzle to puzzle using various elements, and later navigating your way through a more industrial facility in the latter portion.

    Your main tool is a Gravity Gun (or “GMP” in this instance). However, the weapon seems gimped. It’s pickup range is near point-blank, and most objects can’t be punted.

    That, and the puzzles themselves can be confusing messes with funky mechanics that don’t always work, such as a wonky version of Portal 2’s Aerial Faith Plate which doesn’t work half the time, lasers that send boxes flying and you insta-dying, lifters that mostly work, but at one point crash the game consistently (around Test Chamber 3) and so on.

    That, and there’s plenty of trial and error. Laser rooms reminiscent of Resident Evil make their appearance, and these things do not play fair whatsoever, moving up and down at random intervals while still moving fast, along with making these sections last a long time.

    Other examples of trial and error include: Requiring sets of fuses from halfway across the level that you didn’t know you had to use, then finding out you left said things behind, leaving you effectively stuck. Mazes of rooms which can cause insta-death, a room where you have to guess your way through a maze of neurotoxin, and a terrible, terrible very final section of the last level.

    Tests can also easily be broken with some parkour, and there’s also a few areas where you essentially have to guess to find the exit, or go on a scavenger hunt.

    So, with all these bad points, why did I even bother finishing it? Well, for one, I had to noclip and godmode at points, but honestly, I was just interested in where things were going.

    The atmosphere is excellent and tension and fear found itself creeping up at me at some points. Luckily they didn’t resort to jumpscares, but there’s definitely some heavy creep-factor at play.

    Plus the tidbits of story you get really drew me in, and I wanted to see it to it’s conclusion.

    And I did. The ending was… well, it wasn’t good and I feel if should have continued. Like it kinda just stops when you think it should keep going. It kinda irritated me.

    It’s a mod that has serious, serious potential, but I really think sections should go back to the drawing board and it should really improve on the ending.

    Honestly, I can’t fully recommend it now due to it’s numerous deep flaws, but maybe look out for when it comes out on Steam later. Maybe they’ll fix some of it’s problems.

    Maybe.

    PS: I’m not entirely sure, but I think they might’ve stolen an asset or two. If you remember Research & Development, you might remember that little puzzle where you had to guide a fuse through a maze without touching the walls. That’s here. And it’s repeated. 5 times. With no variation. And only one fuse. The amount of saves was astonishingly high.

  5. Play It Later

    Note: I don’t know if Chapter 10 truly is “the ending”, but that’s the point where I stopped playing.

    This mod isn’t bad, but it’s not without its issues. To start with the good things first, these people TRIED. And they tried A LOT. You can see that from the length of the mod to the whole lore (yes, lore) of the whole thing. Speaking of which, it sounds very interesting, and I like the fact that it’s connected to the Half-Life and Portal universe.

    I’ve also noticed many references to TV shows, specifically – and quite obviously – Fringe (the whole “one icon corresponds to a letter” thing, P. Bishop who is a character in the show) and Lost (SARMA is similar to DHARMA, and you can see the numbers everywhere).

    There are a LOT of things to do in this mod. You can not only try to decrypt the icons, but there are also these bonus chapters which I wasn’t really in the mood to play (except for that Fringe-like intro, that one I enjoyed).

    Techincally, the mod is great. The maps have great lighting, they’re long and – mostly – polished and the music was fitting when it was present.

    The biggest flaws with this mod are with design and gameplay. The most noticeable problem is the grammar and spelling errors, which I can excuse to be honest. But, I have to say that later on, the gameplay got really repetetitive. The puzzles were enjoyable, but I think they were way too similar to be fun. The beginning I really enjoyed because I really like the concept of the Cube (and from the movies too).

    Overall, I think that this mod has great potential, and it could be something huge in the future. I encourage the developer team behind this mod to make it even better than it is now!

  6. Hec
    Play It Now!

    Well, I played this one very way back in time!! To be precise between April and March in 2012!! 6 Years ago! Back in those days, I didn’t get used to writing reviews or recommendations so I barely did it when I played this one and post it on the proper mod DB page.

    This is what I wrote: “I love the creation and the original plot within HL2. I LOVE THAT STUFF IN MODS!!”.

    As you can see that line is not very handy if you’re looking for a recommendation. But after watching some videos and remembering most parts of the mod. I can actually say, at least for me It was not an unpleasant mod to play.

    Sure it looks like portal and the main weapon is a modified Gravgun, but the whole story is evolving at many points in the course of the mod. And the atmosphere though very similar to the portal game at some points, it has a very peculiar tension only relatable to the mod itself.

    And then the ending it was just awesome once you realize you are properly into City 17 inside the very HL2 Universe I just loved that in the mod. And I remember I waited for maybe some sequel it never came. But is still great to think in continuing the story from the point we left it in this mod. Maybe the author is not interested anymore in keep going with the story, but it would be pretty great if he some time retake it and deliver a second sequel mod this time fully focused in the CMB story arc inside HL2 Universe or maybe some point ahead after that period. Although I see that is not probable, could be very cool to play it.

    In conclusion, I know I am not a very big fan of this kind of puzzle mods, I actually kind of hate them sometimes, but this is definitely worthy if you want to try some new story inside the vast ocean of possible stories HL2 Universe could bring, and that some talented developers could just deliver to us, the always loyal Half-Life gamers.

  7. Maybe?

    I had a love-hate relationship with this mod. I thought parts of it were terrific, while other parts made me downright angry.

    First the good stuff. The storyline is quite good, the environments are interesting, and there is a lot of playtime to be had. I liked the modified gravity gun, jumping platforms, and the health centre.

    I didn’t like the fact that the mod was often quite repetitive. You keep flashing back to the same point where you have to go through the door into the white light just to get back to what you were doing. There was too much of this IMO.

    Certain sections were not fun to play. For example the fuse puzzles where you die if you get it wrong. What was the point in killing the player there? Also the rooms where you get gassed and only have a few seconds to run around to find the solution were too much. I didn’t mind the room where you had to investigate each tile to see if it was going to spew out gas by testing it, but the other gas areas I didn’t like.

    The overall quality was pretty good. The only 2 problems I encountered were that I could not solve 1 jumping puzzle in the area where you put the cube through the little port and then go back and do a huge jump to land on the walkway beyond it. I tried and tried but could not get that one. Also on map 11a I could not find the 3rd fuse no matter how hard I looked.

    I appreciate the effort was put into this very large mod, and I’m glad I tried it, but I was really happy when it was over. I don’t think I’ll be replaying it.

  8. Maybe?

    Played it through once. Gets aggravating as I’m not really a puzzle fan. It looks great but gets repetitive. Reminds me of the movie. That wasn’t great either.

    1. KirikkSiSq

      I don’t know what is this version because there is a fan fixed v2.3 https://vk.com/aasc_studio?w=wall-42281135_1251

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