When comparing Q.U.B.E. 2 vs Dark Souls III, the Slant community recommends Dark Souls III for most people. In the question“What are the best adventure games on Steam?” Dark Souls III is ranked 44th while Q.U.B.E. 2 is ranked 56th. The most important reason people chose Dark Souls III is:
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story. Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you. Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Simple, but entertaining cube puzzle mechanic
The game throws some curveballs from time to time like switches that have to be pressed, oily floors that can move cubes, or pressure plates that require a cube to depress, but overall it's the simplicity of the easy to grasp base mechanics that makes the puzzles shine.
There are blank spaces on walls and floors where you can place 3 different colored cubes, with each having a different effect. For example, orange cubes can be pulled out to form a ledge, and blue cubes act as a jump pad.
As you move from chamber to chamber, it's up to you to figure out how to best use the cubes in each room to reach the exit. It's fun to experiment creating ledges and jump pads, and trying various color combinations as you figure out how to best navigate the room.
Pro Unique and immersive atmosphere
There's a distinct sense of feeling alone and isolated immediately as you wake up on the surface of a dusty planet with no memory of how you got there. The landscape is empty and alien, but before you lays a giant cube fortress. Once inside, the pristine cleanliness, seemingly endless chambers, and strange technology can be a bit unsettling and adds to the overall mystery. The feel and polish of this unique, almost surgical environment will have you believing you're actually in some strange alien fortress manipulating odd cube technology.
Pro Great graphics
This game uses the Unreal 4 engine and looks gorgeous. Everything is shiny and glistening in a pristine, almost surgically clean environment. The lighting effects as it reflects and shines off smooth metal surfaces is a treat to look at.
Pro Minimal UI that allows the puzzle solving to take center stage
The UI is very minimal, only showing the color cube you currently have selected in the lower right corner. This allows the game world itself to fill up the entire screen and makes puzzle solving the main focus. Looking around and exploring while solving the various puzzles within the alien world is clutter-free with no distractions.
Pro Enticing, mysterious narrative
You play as Amelia, and you've woken up alone with amnesia on a strange alien world. Soon, your earpiece crackles to life and you are informed by a woman named Emma you were on some sort of space mission. Guided only by the voice of Emma in your headset, you'll take shelter in a large structure and move from room to room using a mysterious suit to manipulate cubes and solve puzzles.
The game is peppered with dialogue between Amelia and Emma that reveals pieces of the story, a little bit of a time. It gives you just enough to keep the mystery alive, and actually develops into a plot with some thriller elements. You'll be wondering what in the world you're doing on this strange planet, what Emma's real motives are, and how you're going to escape. The story doesn't feel tacked on, and it serves as a great way to keep you invested during the puzzles.
Pro Extensive lore that's presented in unconventional ways
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story.
Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you.
Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Pro Stunning environments
The world of Dark Souls 3 looks amazing, so you may often feel the need to stop and take in the beautiful sights. This can be the sheer size of structures, mountains, or caves. It can also be the decorations, inscriptions, or details in a room. There's always so much to look at, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in its world.
Pro Can give a great feeling of accomplishment
The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty and Dark Souls 3 is no exception. It's filled with difficult enemies and tough boss battles, able to cause you grief on more than one occasion. However, every time you progress to the next safe spot or defeat a boss you'll often be filled with a mix of joy and relief. Beating this game will almost certainly feel like an achievement.
Pro Unpredictable boss battles
The boss battles in Dark Souls 3 consist of several phases, changing up how the bosses fight over the course of the battle. They will gain new abilities, become more aggressive, or reveal various nasty surprises. This creates an enjoyable experience that is different from most modern games where bosses are just glorified pincushions.
Pro A great variety of equipment for almost any playstyle
You'll be finding new pieces of equipment quite often, giving you many options to choose from. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to pick the equipment that best suits your playstyle.
For example, heavy armor will make you move slower, but you'll be better protected. Greatswords have a wide reach, but you swing them really slow. Conversely a dagger is very fast but it has a horrible reach.
Pro Solid controls
This game feels and plays really well. Your character responds to button inputs immediately and it almost never feels like you're losing control over it. The control scheme can also be customized, giving you the option of a more personalized experience.
Pro Great combat system
Dark Souls 3 is a very fast-paced game but it's not just about having quick reflexes. A lot of the combat comes down to exploiting your enemies. To do that, you have to learn their patterns and attack the moment they pause or perform a telegraphed attack. This creates a combat system, which rewards awareness and patience, and is satisfying to master, even if you don't have extraordinary reflexes.
Cons
Con Puzzles get repetitive
While the puzzles do gradually get more complex and add some new mechanics from time to time, the same 3 cube mechanics are in play for most of the game.
Con Mistakes are overly punishing
Some puzzles can require manipulating over a dozen cubes, and if you mess up at any point, you have to start the puzzle over from scratch.
Con Poor support for mouse+keyboard control
The default DS3 key/button bindings actually prevent full use of certain weapons by requiring the shift key to be pressed and not-pressed simultaneously. Rebinding is possible, but limited by issues like the left mouse button overriding all others and certain bindings not actually working in game (e.g. Shift+MiddleClick).
Con It's hard
You should try avoiding the trap of great review scores since most of them fail to mention the difficulty. It's simply put - hard. A lot of the combat requires quick reflexes, good mechanics, and the mental fortitude to carry on after failing for hours. If you're new to the Souls-like genre or simply want to enjoy a relaxing evening playing a video game, you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls III.
Con Poorly tuned dynamic visiblity
You may notice some texture pop in while sharply turning the camera. It can be somewhat distracting if you notice it, but most of the time you won't because it happens in the distance.
Con Occasional performance issues
There are portions of the game that will have noticeable framerate drops, which can negatively affect the gameplay. Most of the fault lies with the game engine, so getting better hardware won't help that much.