Thanks to Forever Entertainment for the review code

Title:
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $4.99
Release Date: 01/18/2018

Presentation

Using a simple menu for selecting the current chapter and configuring the game, along with a touch screen interface, QBik goes for a very basic presentation that consists of a lot of blue and yellow. There’s really not much else to comment on in that regard, although it should be noted that the cube you control has a habit of spouting random gibberish noises at random, which could be a bit annoying for some players, (Although muting the sound effects will mute this noise along with the other sound effects) along with the fact that the musical score manages to be a lot more eerie than you’d expect from a game like this, mainly due to how it ties into the very subtle story that unfolds. (so subtle that it really can’t be described much at all without spoiling the little bits of info given, hence the lack of a story section in this review)

Gameplay

The main goal of QBik is to guide the one-eyed cube through seven chapters consisting of 63 stages in total, clearing each and every single one by making sure to devour every yellow block in your way. Since the game can be played with both the touchscreen and the controller, this game therefore has two control styles, which can be mixed in handheld mode and restricted only to the buttons in docked.

Once you find a control setting that works for you, the game makes the objective very clear. Simply pick a spot for the cube to move to, and have it eat every single yellow block found in a stage, which he can do by simply bumping into one of those blocks or by going underneath a stack of them. (which will prompt him to look up and clear them out that way) The cube can’t jump in any way, shape or form, nor is he even capable of climbing onto a block that’s only one space above his head, so to make up for the lack of a jumping skill, special blocks come into play as you progress through the level, from brown blocks that stay in place and act as a platform for you to land on, green blocks that can be pushed around to fill in holes in the ground, to a nifty teleporter that moves you around the stage, and these levels do have some value to them that can lead to some pretty difficult puzzles.

Luckily you’re allowed to skip up to five times if a certain puzzle drives you insane, so unlike Puzzle Adventure Blockle, (A game that I found more engaging, but the lack of a skip feature being the biggest flaw of that title) this game does give you some leeway while also continuing to challenge you. Of course, if you happen to mess up at any time and get stuck in an unescapable pit in a stage, you can easily rewind time with the X button in order to pull yourself back to an earlier move. I must say though, that while playing this game I had a strange glitch where using the rewind feature softlocked the stage, prohibiting me from moving or doing anything as the rewind sound looped over and over again, forcing me to restart the level manually. It only happened once during the hour or so I spent with this game, but it is something to keep aware of.

Conclusion

In conclusion, QBik is a decent little budget title for the Switch, being a simplistic puzzle game akin to the sort of stuff you’d find on the GameBoy in the earlier years, such as Catrap. It doesn’t really do much to stand out though, and the fact that the included level editor is pretty much worthless due to it only supporting local wireless sharing, unlike the Steam Version’s workshop support. So while both versions of the game cost the same, the Steam version has a bit of an edge due to the fact that the workshop provides more levels for you to enjoy after you solve the tricky puzzles included from the developers.

I give Qbik a 6 out of 10, and only recommend it to Switch players who have tried every other puzzle game of this kind on the system, and are looking for something more.