Q.U.B.E. 2 was a little frustrating for me.

I mean, it works well as a sequel, and it is a good game, but there were a few things that took me off of it.

Story-wise it is not amazing, with a good plot twist but a not-that-bright concept overall. And, the thing that most bothered me, the puzzles are unbelievably easy. There were great new mechanics added to the game and most of the level design choices were great, and the variety of the puzzles was surprising, but they were really weak. I’m not a puzzle game enthusiast and solved every single one of them on the first try.

But I did like the game. The voice acting is good and the visuals are astonishing, the gameplay is good, and as I previously said, the mechanics (the ones that came from the first game and the new ones) are really good and interesting, making the gameplay really fun. Considering that the game goes for almost nothing on steam sales I’d say it is easy to recommend, even not considering it that much better than the first one.

Expands on Qube in every way, but remains steadily seated within the generic indie puzzler. Puzzles are still good, the graphics are nice eye candy, and the story is bleh including le epic final choice. It's thin line to walk on, between trying to making your game more interesting beyond its gameplay, and putting too many resources into things that ultimately don't matter. Making some interludes visually impactful instead of the dialogue and general story might have been a better choice, because it doesn't present anything unique (and certainly not in a unique way), so why bother? The Turing Test might be a better and comparable example.

The story is admittedly not that interesting, but these puzzles are unbelievably fun. This is the closest you'll get to Portal 2's highs, while still maintaining its own identity. It has the right amount of challenge without ever feeling too frustrating or overcomplex. The game is really pretty too and the way chapters are structured makes it feel you are constantly making progress towards a larger whole which is super rewarding. Great 6-hour game for Portal fans to distract themselves from the painful reality we'll never get a Portal 3.

I really liked the original Q.U.B.E. and wanted to like this one. It did not live up to the bar that the original set. Don't get me wrong Q.U.B.E. 2 has some decent puzzles. But there's too much walking and backtracking to get to each puzzle. Most of the puzzles are in separate rooms connected to a hub. You can tackle the puzzle rooms connected to the hub in any order. In theory I like this idea. In practice I hated it. The hubs made it feel like I was not progressing as quickly as I wanted. The game also separates some of the levels with way to much walking. Sometimes the game forces you to get on a really slow elevator to get into another room with more puzzles behind a door. Then when you enter that door you're forced to ride ANOTHER really slow moving elevator. And since everything is a hub, you now have to backtrack back through both slow elevators to get to the next room. It's unnecessary and completely un-fun. The linear sections of the game where they introduce a new mechanic in a series of puzzle gauntlets to teach you how to use that mechanic were great.

Also the story is pretty meh. Most of the time its out of the way and when it isn't its pretty bad.
QUBE 2 isn't bad. It has some decent puzzles, its the perfect length, and if you enjoy 3D puzzles games its definitely worth it on sale. But it only comes close to how good the original was.