Cube Escape: Arles Makes Art Out of Escaping
In October of 1888, Vincent Van Gogh paid a visit to the city of Arles, France, where he painted some of his most celebrated works. These include The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, which depicts a little eatery known today as the Café Van Gogh, as well as possibly his most recognizable piece, Starry Night Over the Rhone (or just Starry Night for short). This fruitful sojourn was the inspiration for the new escape game Cube Escape: Arles.
The game is the newest offering from the folks at Rusty Lake, who are prolific developers of room escape and puzzle games. It’s the third installment in their well-received Cube Escape series, and puts the player in the role of Vincent. He’s not identified by name, but his appearance is unmistakable – as is his art, which can be seen during the course of the adventure.
Vincent famously painted his bedroom in Arles, and it’s there that the story begins to unfold. Through point-and-click mechanics, the player will solve a number of puzzles to help him get out of his bedroom. Activities include reassembling fragmented pieces of Vincent’s art, gathering colors, and applying those colors to a canvas to recreate his work. Clicking on items, or tapping them on mobile devices, allows the player to interact with the environment, and an inventory holds found objects which form the solutions to certain parts of the mystery.
Like the other offerings from Rusty Lake, Cube Escape: Arles is free to play. PC gamers can try it on the web at the Rusty Lake website. Android users who have version 2.3 or higher can get it at the Google Play Store. Those of the Apple persuasion will find it in the App Store, where it has been optimized for iPhone 5 and is also available for the iPad and iPod Touch. It’s available in several languages, including English, French, Czech, Turkish, Japanese, and two forms of Chinese, and is recommended for players ages 12 and up. See what else is floating around in Rusty Lake by checking out their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
