Color-a-Cube review: the simple joy of slowing down

Games don’t have to be about scoring, succeeding, exploring, advancing, conquering, winning. They don’t have to tell stories. They don’t need characters or enemies to overcome. Sometimes acts of playing don’t even feel like playing. In the case of the simple but deeply pleasurable Color-a-Cube, playing is more or less decorating, or more specifically, applying colour to a series of voxel models. These are Minecraft-esque three-dimensional objects composed of small cube, each cube bearing a number that corresponds to a particular colour. You select that colour, then use a virtual pencil to apply it to the artwork.

So it is, essentially, a colouring-in exercise. The process of applying colour to blank canvases or objects is a pastime almost as old as humans, and something we all grow up with via the good old-fashioned colouring book—here given a new-tech, mixed-reality, spatial twist.

The colouring element imparts a sense of creativity, adding textures and tones, while the numerical element provides a sense of order: a formula to transform the barren and bland into something vivid and full of life. How long each model takes to complete depends on how many cubes it contains, and how fervently you approach the task, each new splash of virtual paint bringing you closer to the finished picture.

Upon completing all the cubes of a particular colour, you’ll hear a small ding, the frequency of these satisfying chimes generally increasing as the model fills out. I say “generally” because it depends on the style of play you adopt, the game never pushing you towards any particular methodology. You might, for instance, choose a single colour and hunt down every matching number; you might focus on completing a particular section of the model before moving on; you might carefully point at each individual cube, or take a looser, almost spray-paint-like approach. There’s no one way to play and certainly no right way.

You’ll have ascertained by now that this is a low stakes affair: those worlds to explore, those zombies to kill, those coins to collect belong to a more stressful corner of the virtual universe. Here, it’s all about quiet reflective rhythms. In the opening moments of each stage, I felt not overwhelmed by the sea of white blocks in front of me (displayed in your living space, through mixed reality), but certainly aware of the magnitude of the task ahead, conscious that there are no shortcuts: no blazing forward, no full steam ahead. This is a game that, pace-wise, brings you down to its level, inviting you to engage on its own terms.

I think this is the core reason I find it so enjoyable: it offers a reprieve from the stresses of the modern world. At the time of writing, I’ve completed around 10 of the models across three separate play sessions. Between each session, I found myself looking forward to returning to Color-a-Cube, happily anticipating the slowing of the clock and the quiet reflection I knew would come with it.

Perhaps it’s a stretch to compare the experience to meditation, but it certainly encourages a mindset in which contemplation feels almost inevitable. In terms of tone, I’d place it alongside Puzzling Places, Land’s End, and Walkabout Mini Golf—all experiences that feel, well, nice; that settle you into a calmer headspace. Sometimes, slowing down is the game.