Cube Escape Seasons: A Comprehensive Overview and Hints

If Cube Escape Seasons is not the first game you play developed by the Rusty Lake Studio, you may find yourself fascinated by the family story of the Vanderbooms, and eager to play more of the room escape games. Cube Escape Seasons is among the very first games created by the studio, and is one of the chapters in Cube Escape Collection. The story takes the players to the last seven years of Laura Vanderboom’s life, of her deteriorating mental status, and her will to go back to the past. This post will introduce the background information of the game, interpret the complete story, and give hints on how to unlock all the achievements!

What Is Cube Escape Seasons?

Cube Escape Seasons is the first chapter in Cube Escape Collection, which is a series of room escape and point-and-click games developed and published by the Rusty Lake Studio.

The studio published the game in 2015 as an independent game, and later included the game in the Cube Escape Collection in 2020. Now players can access the games developed by the studio at its early stage easily through the collection.

The collection is the very first game, building up the foundation of the intricate Rusty Lake Universe. The game introduces the key character, Laura Vanderboom, and works as the cornerstone for later games to keep building on her life mystery and her family’s stories.

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What Is the Rusty Lake Studio?

Rusty Lake is the name of the publisher and developer of Cube Escape Seasons. The studio has created and released the Rusty Lake series in addition to the Cube Escape Collection.

Rusty Lake is an indie game production studio founded in 2015 by Robin Ras and Maarten Looise in Amsterdam. Developing puzzle games with the “escape room” theme is the studio’s primary focus.

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The games of the Rusty Lake Studio shed light on the mysterious and fantastical life experience and relationships of the Vanderboom families and their characters related to them.

They share a unison style of narrative, theme, graphics, music, and genre, promising the players a consistent gaming experience as they play through the games of the Rusty Lake Universe.

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Where to Play Cube Escape Seasons?

Cube Escape Seasons is available on multiple platforms in the Cube Escape Collection game. Rusty Lake’s official website offers multiple ways for players to access the game.

Steam has listed Cube Escape Collection with a price of around $4.99. itch.io has uploaded the game pack as well, with the same price as the one on Steam.

What’s more, the game is playable on mobile devices and iPads as well. Mobile device users can download the game from the Apple Store and Google Play Store.

It is a very accessible game compatible with different devices and systems. While playing on computers offers a larger screen for the experience, playing on mobile phones and iPads is easier from replacing clicking with tapping.

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Who Is Laura Vanderboom, the Main Character of the Game?

Before tapping into the details and interpretation of the story, it is necessary to get to know the main character of Cube Escape Seasons, Laura Vanderboom.

Rusty Lake Universe encourages players to play through different games developed by the studio and to piece the information and evidence together to delve deep into the story of each character. Cube Escape Seasons is no exception.

By playing this game alone, players will not get a complete picture of who Laura Vanderboom is and what is her relationship with Rusty Lake. However, by going through other games, such as Samsara Room, Rusty Lake: Roots, Underground Blossoms, players can obtain a more thorough profile information of Laura.

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Laura Vanderboom is the daughter of Rose Vanderboom, and the reincarnation of William Vanderboom. William is an alchemist back in 1859. He invented the Elixir of Life and Death and drank it. But because the elixir bears a 50% chance of death and a 50% chance of eternal life, William dies from drinking it. He sends messages to Rose through the Ouija board and requests three timepieces and ten offerings from the family to bring his corrupted soul back to life.

Rose, together with Frank and Leonard, reincarnates William as Laura Vanderboom. Rose brings Laura to the city and parts ways with her when she is still a child.

From then on, Laura, due to the loss of the timepiece at the subway, has lost her protection and her connection to the past, resulting in her deteriorating mental status and a lasting sense of loss.

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What Is the Story of Cube Escape Seasons? [Spoiler Alert!]

The story of Cube Escape Seasons is the interlocking world of Laura Vanderboom’s real life and inner consciousness throughout the last several years of her life and the years after her death.

The timeline spans from the spring of 1964 to the winter of 1981. However, Laura commits suicide in the fall of 1971. The game does not stop at her death, but continues the story to 1981, when the players can change the time and the past.

To properly interpret the whole story, it is clearer to categorize the story into two parts, the reality and the yearning desire. That is, drawing a line to the story structure with 1981 Winter Chapter as the demarcation.

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The Reality – Before Changing the Past

The players need to find clues and solve puzzles to go through the four rooms representing the four stages of Laura’s final years. These rooms are from the spring of 1964, the summer of 1971, the fall of 1971, and the winter of 1981.

Following the timeline of the game, players will walkthrough the reality first, of what happens to Laura, when they first enter each room.

In the springtime, Laura is still alive, trying to figure out if Harvey’s egg is edible. However, she has already started taking Prozac, a prescription drug for depression. In summer, the vision of herself being killed is reflected on the moon. In fall, the room is covered in her own blood, and Harvey is killed, too. It is in this season of this year that Laura committed suicide, as suggested by the note on the wall as well, which says, “I am afraid I will do something horrible”. In winter, both Laura and Harvey are no more present.

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The Inner Struggling – After Tracing Back the Time

It is suggested in the winter and fall rooms that Laura has committed suicide out of depression, and possibly has taken Harvey’s life as well. Compared the notes on the board of the winter room with other rooms, clearly it is nothing akin to Laura’s writing, but is more likely to be an objective message to the players.

In the winter room, players follow the instructions and find all the materials to change the past. They need to go back to the previous room to plant the seed, save Harvey, loosen the pipeline, and burn the candle. In this alternate universe, Laura appears again in the spring room at the end, and recognizes herself as the shadow. Harvey is freed from the cage. But is this the reality? That is a big question mark.

It seems like changing the past is only Laura’s wish and yearning after her death. Despite the depression and the haunting past, Laura still wishes to have a better outcome for herself and her feathered friend, Harvey. This theory can be tested by the clues in the game. The strongest evidence is the ending cutscene, when Laura stands in front of the window in winter. Does she survive the winter? “The End?” with the question mark showing on top of the picture suggests otherwise.

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Is Cube Escape Seasons Worth Playing?

Cube Escape Seasons is not the best game among the Rusty Lake series, considering that it is a game developed at the early stage of the founding of the Rusty Lake Studio. But it certainly lays a solid cornerstone for the later development of the Rusty Lake Universe. All the signature elements and styles of the later games can be found in Cube Escape Seasons.

Puzzle and Time Travel

As a puzzle game, it delicately designs the tools for usage and introduces the time-travel concept. To list a few, the clock, seeds, pictures of Laura, Rusty Lake’s flier, matches, Harvey, are repeatedly used elements in the later games. The game has transformed items into meaningful symbols to the Rusty Lake Universe and bestowed them with meanings beyond the ordinary tools only for solving puzzles.

The time travel design both complicates the puzzle solving and challenges the very time travel itself. Time travel is not a way to actually change the past in the Rusty Lake Universe. It represents the inner struggle and hope of the characters. The very notion of it tells the unfulfilled wish of the hero. Take Laura as an example. She does not save herself from committing suicide in reality. On the contrary, she is trapped in the past and her hope for a better reality. She hopes to survive and saves her friend Harvey as well. Going back to the past is the journey of inward looking.

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Graphics and Music

The graphics of Cube Escape Seasons is not as smooth and delicate as later games such as Underground Blossoms, Rusty Lake: Roots, etc. But the coloring and details uphold the same high standards of fully reflecting the theme, the environment, and the characteristics of the main character.

The music and sound effects are more suspenseful and scary compared to other games in the series. The main tone of music for the Vanderboom family is sorrow and haunting. Compared to that, the background music tone for this game sometimes has a touch of urgency and imminence. One of the signature songs, “Harvey’s Favorite Song”, is also introduced into the series through this game.

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All in all, Cube Escape Seasons is an outstanding puzzle game on its own. The level of the puzzle is not as difficult as the later games. The elements of the game successfully build up the theme and tone of the Rusty Lake Universe.

Infographics of How to Unlock All the Achievements!

There are eight achievements in Cube Escape Seasons. Here is an infographic of how to unlock all the achievements! The infographic is a useful guide for players who want to have all the achievements but do not want to go back and play the game again. Check before play!

FAQs

Where can I play Cube Escape: Seasons?

The game is available on Steam, itch.io, Apple Store, and the Google Play Store. Keep in mind that Cube Escape Seasons is the first chapter in Cube Escape Collection, so players should search and download Cube Escape Collection instead.

Is Cube Escape: Seasons scary?

Yes, to a certain extent. The room of the fall is particularly scary, with the blood on the wall. The background music in the fall room and winter room is suspenseful and depressive, too. In summer, the sound effect of the moon can be scary as well. There is no jumpscare or horrifying graphics like in the horror games, but players should be prepared to see some suspenseful elements in the game.

What is the secret code in Cube Escape: Seasons?

The secret code to type onto the TV is 25641. The code is from The Lake, another game in the Rusty Lake Universe. Typing in the code will unlock the achievement, Young Laura.

Conclusion

Cube Escape Seasons is the first chapter of Cube Escape Collection. It is like embarking on a journey to the mysterious Rusty Lake. We know the end of the journey, before we understand what is going on during the journey. Likewise, Cube Escape Seasons is the end of the journey. It is the result and the end of the last descendent of Rusty Lake.

The game leads to more curiosity and questions, and the answers can only be found in the later games. Despite how short the story is, Cube Escape Seasons brings Laura to life. It successfully impresses players with the lasting connection of Laura and her blossoms.