Cube Escape: The Lake – Insightful Reviews and a Comprehensive Achievement Guide

Will we ever drop by and fish at Rusty Lake? Players who have played the Rusty Lake series before must still remember seeing flyers about Rusty Lake as a mental health facility and fishing spot. Finally, in Chapter 2 of Cube Escape Collection, the game is taking the players to an abandoned cabin of Rusty Lake for puzzle solving and “fishing.” What is the mysterious story this time? Who is “I”? Which character are players impersonating? How to unlock all the achievements? This post will unveil the opaque story of Cube Escape: The Lake against the background of the Rusty Lake Universe and offer a comprehensive guide to collect all the achievements!

What Is Cube Escape: The Lake?

Cube Escape: The Lake is the second chapter of the Cube Escape Collection. The Collection consists of nine chapters, revolving around the story of Laura Vanderboom and Rusty Lake, where the Vanderbooms are from.

Cube Escape Collection includes the early games developed by Rusty Lake Studio. With that said, Cube Escape: The Lake is one of the early-on games as well.

Compared to later games in the Rusty Lake Universe, such as Underground Blossom, Rusty Lake Hotel, Rusty Lake: Roots, The Lake is relatively short and compact. It focuses on escaping the cabin, which consists of multiple rooms. The game does not have overly complicated designs on time-changing, time traveling, or large amounts of mini-puzzles.

Explore: Click here to explore more recommendations regarding the Rusty Lake Universe!

The Developer of Cube Escape: The Lake

The publisher and developer of this game is called Rusty Lake.  In addition to the Cube Escape Collection, the studio has produced and distributed the Rusty Lake series.

Robin Ras and Maarten Looise established the independent game production company Rusty Lake in Amsterdam in 2015. For the studio, creating puzzle games with an “escape room” theme is the main goal.

The enigmatic and fantastical relationships and life experiences of the Vanderboom families and their characters are illuminated by the Rusty Lake Studio’s games.

As players progress through the Rusty Lake Universe’s games, they are guaranteed a consistent gaming experience because of their shared unison in narrative, theme, graphics, music, and genre.

Explore: Cyberpunk 2077 Blackwall: What Is It & How to Get Blackwall Quickhack

What Game Genre Is Cube Escape: The Lake?

Cube Escape: The Lake is a puzzle, point-and-click, and room escape game. Similar to other games developed by Rusty Lake Studio, the game centers on puzzle-solving and room-escaping. The control system is point-and-click, and tapping (if it is played on mobile devices or iPad.)

As a puzzle game, The Lake is relatively simple and straightforward. The goal is clear, which is to collect all five tributes. The puzzle-solving mechanism heavily relies on clues and tools instead of finding patterns and solving mini-puzzle games. The steps of solving the puzzles are very clear, including looking for keys and fishing baits.

The point-and-click controls are easy to get used to as well. There is no dragging required in this game, saving a lot of trouble. As to the gnawing problem is misclicks. But in this game, the only chance of having misclicks is when adjusting the passwords for the box. This is easy to adjust compared to the clock adjusting in Cube Escape: Seasons.

Explore: Underground Blossom: Unraveling the Story and Its Achievements

How to Download the Game?

Firstly, mobile and iPad users can download and install Cube Escape: The Lake only or install Cube Escape Collection, which will cover The Lake as well as eight other Cube Escape games. Both options are free on the Apple Store and Google Play Store.

Secondly, Windows users can download Cube Escape Collection on the Google Play Store and Steam. Unfortunately, the Google Play Store does not provide the Windows version for The Lake, so players need to search and download Cube Escape Collection to gain access to The Lake. Cube Escape Collection is free on the Play Store but costs 4.99 USD on Steam.

Thirdly, iOS users can download Cube Escape Collection or Cube Escape: The Lake from the Apple Store for iPad, iPhone, and MacBook, free of charge. Another option is to download Cube Escape Collection from Steam, which costs 4.99 USD but is free from ads.

Additionally, players can have access to the Apple Store and the Google Play Store links from the Rusty Lake official website.

Explore: Sims 4 Basemental Drugs Mod: Purchase, Production, Settings, and Buffs

What Happens in Cube Escape: The Lake? [Spoiler Alert]

The Rusty Lake Universe

To explain the story of Cube Escape: The Lake, we first need to delve into the background of the Rusty Lake Universe. In the Rusty Lake Universe, all the games are combined together to enrich the stories of the characters related to the Vanderboom families. Cube Escape: The Lake is no exception.

It may be confusing that for the games developed by Rusty Lake Studio, some bear the names with “Rusty Lake,” such as Rusty Lake Hotel and Rusty Lake: Roots. Some have the name “Cube Escape,” like Cube Escape: Seasons and Cube Escape: The Lake. And some stand out with their own names, for example, The White Door and Underground Blossom.

However, no matter what names they bear, all the games are dedicated to the mystery and story of the Rusty Lake Universe. That is, all the games developed by Rusty Lake have interconnected characters, symbols, and stories.

Therefore, to tell the story of Cube Escape: The Lake, players need to play through other Rusty Lake, Cube Escape, and independent games as well and piece the puzzles together.

Explore: Monster Hunter Wilds Release: What’s New and What to Look Forward To😻

Cube Escape: The Lake

One prominent characteristic of Cube Escape Collection is that the stories told by its games are more enigmatic and opaque. Its games put more emphasis on room escaping and puzzle solving and explore only a very small part of the story of the main characters.

For example, Cube Escape: Seasons covers only the final years of Laura’s life and does not fully explain her death. Likewise, The Lake tells only a short episode of visiting a cabin at Rusty Lake.

The written clue for players is the opening quote:

I found an abandoned cabin at Rusty Lake.

Who is the person arriving at this cabin? Laura Vanderboom? Dale Vandermeer? Or someone else, because the flyer of Rusty Lake as a mental health facility and fishing spot appears in both of their storylines. Wiki suggests that the visitor is Laura Vanderboom before she commits suicide. It also seems to be more convincing if it is Laura visiting, because Laura’s inner being is often depicted as the shadow (the corrupted soul) in the Rusty Lake Universe.

If so, then Laura has returned to the Rusty Lake to seek answers and mental healing before she commits suicide. In Cube Escape: Seasons, players can find the flyer about Rusty Lake on Laura’s notice board. It could be that this flyer is what leads Laura to the abandoned cabin at Rusty Lake. At the cabin, she is captured by the corrupted soul from the lake. Another possibility is that she encounters her lost self at the lake, in the form of the corrupted soul.

Explore: Love in Pixels: Top 5 Best Video Games for Couples🫰

Is the Game Worth Playing?

Cube Escape: The Lake is a smaller and more compact game compared to others in the Rusty Lake Universe. It will only take about 1 hour to play through.

In terms of the story, even if players ignore it, they will still get the major fun of the game because it plays such a small part in The Lake. The game does not go deep into the mystery of Laura or other Vanderboom family members. The game simply drops a clue that someone (possibly Laura) comes to the lake and encounters the corrupted soul.

As to the puzzle designs, Cube Escape: The Lake is definitely friendly to puzzle newbies. The game has a clear goal – collecting all five items for the tree, obvious obstacles – locked cabinets and boxes, and simple clues for solving the major problems – fishing from the lake using different baits. The only daunting part is opening the box containing the diamond and collecting all the achievements.

All in all, the game will not put too much pressure and challenge on players who are new to puzzle games or to the Rusty Lake Universe. Players will find themselves intrigued by the enigmatic story and the immersive experience built up by the music, graphic style, and symbolic items in the game.

Explore: Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau: What Is It and How to Slay It🐲

How to Collect All the Achievements?

There are eight achievements in the game. Playing through the whole game will unlock six achievements. Therefore, players only need to play through the game again for the rest of the two achievements – Hoarder and The Pentagon.

1. Hoarder: Unlock this achievement by storing more than 13 items in the backpack. Players can try to minimize the use of tools and clues and hoard as many items as they can in the process of gaming to unlock this achievement.
2. The Pentagon: Use the magnet as the bait and fish three times. Players will be able to find two boxes from the lake. Type in 1487 for the box with the words “remember the seasons” to get the emerald. Place the emerald in the slot for the diamond at the tree, and unlock The Pentagon ending. (1487 is the code appearing on the moon in Cube Escape: Seasons.)

Explore: Monster Hunter Wilds Lala Barina: What Is It and How to Slay It🌹

FAQs

What is the code for the safe in Cube Escape: The Lake?

There are two safe boxes in Cube Escape: The Lake. The code to the normal safe box is 1422. The strange codes on the box are numbers with their mirrored image, so the password is the result of 6 * 237, which is 1422. The code to the “remember the seasons” box is 1487, which is from the code at the moon in Cube Escape: Seasons.

How to get the eye in Cube Escape: The Lake?

There is a crack next to the green two-door cabinet on the floor. Use the crowbar to open the crack. The eye is right inside the crack of the wall.

How do you get the shell in Cube Escape Lake?

Use the crowbar to open up the crack on top of the two-layer cabinet. There is a key inside the wall. Use the key to open the glass-door cabinet to get the mold. Go to the fishing spot and set up the spot with a fishing rod, lines, and a hook. Attach the mold to the hook and click on the fish rod twice to fish for the shell in the lake.

Conclusion

As the second chapter of Cube Escape Collection, Cube Escape: The Lake appears to be a simpler game, both in terms of storytelling and puzzle solving. It sets clear goals, obstacles, and clues for players, and does not delve deep into the enigmatic story of the Vanderboom family. Players can enjoy the fun of puzzle solving and the mysterious vibe of the game without having to make sense of the story or any character.

The game is a good beginning to dive into the Rusty Lake Universe. However, for players who crave more complicated puzzles or want to know more about the stories and characters of the Rusty Lake Universe, this game does not provide too many answers other than that there is a visit to the lake and an encounter with the corrupted soul.