The Cub Reviews
The Cub is releasing early in 2024, but it's starting the year with a masterpiece and playing this has made me want to explore more games from this developer, Demagog Studio.
Gorgeous from start to finish, The Cub is a short but hugely entertaining 2D platformer that has been crafted with love to be not only a fun game to play, but a fantastic piece of satirical art that does not pull its punches in its critiques of contemporary reality.
The Cub is a really good platformer with an excellent use of the soundtrack to really immerse you into the world. While some platforming bits are a little frustrating, overall the experience is tight with a smooth flow. The story is engaging, the world interesting to explore, and the themes touching on climate change and how society deals with it relevant.
A beautifully striking 2D platformer, The Cub is a challenging title that is well worth fully exploring. An easy recommendation for fans of platformers past and present.
The Cub was developed in a unique way, in which it works like a platform game, a storybook or an animation, in which each chapter is an isolated story. It was created to convey a message and it manages to do so with flying colors, respecting all its references, but without using them as a crutch and creating a very rich and touching experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While THE CUB isn’t the next game of the year, it is an absolutely wonderful time, but it won’t likely get the attention it truly deserves simply because of how modern gaming works in terms of the mass public. Smaller games deserve to be shown off just as much as those massive triple-A titles. Everything here is of complete quality and is really fun; it's something that just deserves a spot in the light for a little while. Here’s hoping that THE CUB gets what it deserves and its praise.
The Cub is a brief, energetic and beautiful thrill ride that already has me jumping back in for a second run. Expanding on the world introduced to us in the indie darling Golfclub: Nostalgia, there is so much to love about this charming, apocalyptic storybook platformer.
The Cub is a good game, a good platform, a pleasure to play for the five or six hours that it lasts. It's nice that Demagog Studio is continuing to explore the same universe game after game adding pieces to this puzzle, even though in Golf Club the impact was stronger. The team has done many step forward from the gameplay perspective, but unfortunately the game is not perfectly polished. All things considered, The Cub is a really good experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Cub is a delightful adventure that develops Demagog Studio’s universe in new and interesting ways. As a platformer, it’s solid. The movement is fluid and responsive which allows you to effortlessly traverse the environment. Each step has been animated with flair and helps to enhance the beautiful backdrops that accompany your journey. Combining this with the slick beats that blast through the radio station makes the overall presentation both unique and unforgettable. While the game is on the short side, taking only around 2 to 3 hours to see the credits roll, each part of that is meticulously designed to create a truly memorable experience.
The Cub is a short but sweet little tribute to licensed Mega Drive platformers that revisits the fantastic world set up in Demagog's previous game, Golf Club Wasteland, and comes out just as striking and memorable. Crucially, the warm tones and cool tunes of Radio Nostalgia from Mars are back to have you vibing in your seat for a handful of hours as you throw a small, mutant child into mortal danger over and over again.
The Cub is simple and has an excellent story. Despite the limitation, it is committed to keeping the player entertained, contemplative and focused in challenging moments, always wrapped in the illusory peaceful feeling. The unique art style and sound elements inserted into an experimental narrative are enough reasons to play the title.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Cub fits in well with the rest of the games developed by Demagog to showcase the Great Climate Catastrophe story arc. Once again it is a game that carries a deep message, while not failing to entertain as a videogame.
Taking the world established within Gold Club: Nostalgia and pivoting to the platforming genre, The Cub is a continuation of a stunning visual style and a contemplative narrative that feels more topical than ever.
The Cub is a very exciting platforming romp that never slows down thanks to its rich variety of gameplay and manic set pieces. It looks gorgeous too, whilst the radio station that plays throughout your journey adds a dash of realism to the catastrophic plight that Earth faced prior to your adventure. It isn’t perfect, with a few little issues with the controls early on and the occasional frustration here and there, but I found myself completely hooked in from start to end. You’ll probably beat it in one sitting, but those few hours playing will be a hell of a lot of fun.
Though failing to break new ground in platforming adventure, the scenery and general feel work while it lasts
The Cub might not be as responsive as it should be when jumping and climbing, it's still a fun game to play with fantastic audio throughout.
The rich took off to Mars quite some time ago and now the toxic Earth is ruled by the orphans of the apocalypse. But one of these cubs is extra curious in the ways of humans compared to the others. Raised by the wolves, equipped with a dead astronaut's helmet with Nostalgia radio and well skilled for parkour traversal of this dead man's land. Are you brave enough to embark with him on this short yet dark adventure across the dangerous surfaces of our planet, overtaken by the forces of sci-fi nature and ready to face-off any unwanted intruders?
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Cub is a fascinating romp through post-apocalyptic Earth. Balancing dark themes with delightful levity, the game finds a way to showcase both the best and worst of humanity with biting wit, vivid visuals, and impeccably implemented audio. It's all let down somewhat by gameplay sequences that can't maintain the same quality as the game's other elements. However, even with that rather big caveat, The Cub still manages to present a lovely package worth opening.
It’s a short experience and while the content is satisfying, a longer gameplay experience could have allowed for a more in-depth exploration of the narrative and character development. That said, the game’s positive aspects contribute to a satisfying and thoughtful gaming experience and I look forward to seeing what the developer does next.
It’s too bad that the platforming can’t also be described as near-perfect, since that would’ve made The Cub a must-play. As it stands, it’s a surprisingly appropriate sequel to a game that wouldn’t have seemed like it needed one, and if you want more of that apocalyptic Earth, you won’t regret revisiting it here.