Cube Escape: The Mill

Cube Escape: The Mill is the sixth game in Rusty Lake’s Cube Escape series, released in September 2015. Playing as Mr. Crow in 1972, you try to make cubes from Laura Vanderboom’s memories in order to feed Rusty Lake.

How the game plays

• Controls: mouse only.
• Menu: the gear icon in the top right corner.
• Inventory: down the right-hand side of the screen.
• Saving: automatic. The save folder location differs by operating system and game version.

The living room

Go through into the living room. Turn around and pick up the FIREWOOD from the floor.

Zoom in on the table and take the MATCHES. Note the key mould lying on the table.

Zoom out and turn to the stove. Open the upper left door, put the firewood in and light it with the matches. Close the door and take the PAN OF HOT WATER from the stove. Zoom out from the stove and look up at the ceiling.

Burn the cobweb with the matches and take the KEY. Look back down and to the left.

Unlock the built-in cabinet with that key and find an old woman inside.

Puzzle: the golden tooth

Go closer and look into the old woman’s mouth. Press the upper and lower teeth so the sums of the dot-numbers balance, then take the GOLDEN TOOTH. Zoom out and look right.

Zoom in on the stove, open the upper left door and put the golden tooth on the burning firewood. Close the upper door, open the lower one and take the LIQUID GOLD. Zoom out and turn to the table.

Pour the liquid gold into the mould, close and open the mould lid, and take the GOLDEN KEY. Zoom out and look up at the ceiling. Unlock the attic hatch with the golden key.

• Achievement 1/8.

The attic

Climb the ladder and zoom in on the parrot. Click the bird and take the BIRD DROPPINGS.

Turn around, go down and look right. Go up to the old woman and offer her the bird droppings.

• Achievement 6/8.

Go up to the attic and look right. Open the cabinet and take the KNITTING NEEDLES and the TELESCOPE. Turn to the television.

Press the button twice and zoom out; Dale Vandermeer appears on the screen. Zoom in and press the button; Dale picks up a telephone receiver and your own telephone rings.

Zoom out, go to the telephone and lift the extension receiver. Click it and talk to Dale, telling him his place is already taken.

Zoom out and zoom in on the television. You see Laura hanging upside down. Press the button and Laura disappears. Zoom out and note that somebody is shut inside the grandfather clock. Look left.

Look out of the right-hand window and use the telescope on the chapel. Note the date, 1384. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the page on the wall and read the letter from Mr. Owl. Zoom out and turn to the pot of earth.

Take the SCISSORS from behind the pot, pour the water from the pan into it and add the bird droppings. Zoom out and zoom back in, then cut the GRASS with the scissors. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the page on the wall and study the instructions for milking a cow.

Turn to the framed photograph on the right. Note the order of the symbols shown at the top. Tear the photograph off and read the letter from Mr. Owl.

Puzzle: milking the cow

Zoom out and turn to the cow. Give it the grass and click its head to make it swallow. Turn to the cow’s udder and hold the pan underneath. Pull the teats in the order the instructions and the symbols on the frame give: 4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4. Take the PAN OF MILK.

Zoom out and go down.

The cellar

Look right and zoom in on the old woman. Cut her HAIR off with the scissors and put the needles in her hands.

Zoom out and zoom in on the coded door on the right. Enter the code you saw earlier, 1384.

• Achievement 2/8.

Open the door and go down to the cellar. Look right and note the time written on the wall, 6:10.

Turn around and turn the valve to fill the cellar with water. Look left and click the duck so it eats all the plants, regulating the water level with the valve. Take the FAT DUCK, shut the water off and go up to the attic.

Zoom in on the spinning wheel and put the hair in it. Press the pedal several times and take the WOOL. Zoom out and turn around.

Zoom in on the grandfather clock face and set the time to 3:25. That time can be seen on the typewriter in Case 23, as a small clock face in the corner, if you type the word crow. Look right and you see the crow.

• Achievement 8/8.

Look right, zoom in on the clock face and set the time to 6:10, zoom out and open the clock. Click Laura until she comes down, then follow her down.

You find Laura hanging by her feet. Press the arrow buttons on the mechanism in a random order.

• Achievement 5/8.

Then press the arrow buttons up, left, down and lower the woman’s head into the mechanism.

Feeding the old woman

Look right, go to the old woman and give her the wool; she wants warm milk.

Zoom out and look right. Put the pan of milk on the stove and take the PAN OF HOT MILK, then take it to her. Having drunk it, she knits an OVEN GLOVE. Now she would like roast duck.

Zoom out, look right and go to the stove. Open the oven, put the fat duck in, close the door and open it again, then use the oven glove to take out the ROAST DUCK. Take it to her and receive a NET. Now she would like baked fish.

Go down to the cellar and catch a FISH with the net, then go back up. Put the fish in the oven, close and reopen the door, and use the glove to take the BAKED FISH. Take it to her and receive a STRONG ROPE. Zoom out and look left.

Use the strong rope as a belt drive. Turn around and go up to the attic.

The two cubes

Zoom in on the television. Click the button until the BLACK CUBE is in place, then click the channel switch until the television comes on. Click the button until the WHITE CUBE is in place. Zoom out, look left and look out of the right-hand window.

You see a white beam. Aim the telescope at Dale and click him; Mr. Owl appears. You return to the attic automatically and see that the mechanism is working.

• Achievement 3/8.

Go down. Click the screen and you see Laura’s brain. Zoom in on the screen, double-click the brain and solve the memory puzzle, repeating pairs of objects; the pairs are set randomly. Take the WHITE CUBE and go down to the cellar.

Open the valve again so the water starts filling the cellar. Put the cube into the device by the window and click it. Look out of the window and note the number 257. Go back up.

Zoom in on the mechanism and enter the code 257. Press the button and solve another memory puzzle, again random. Take the BLACK CUBE and go down to the cellar.

Put the cube into the mechanism, with the water valve closed, and turn the handle.

• Achievements 7/8 and 4/8.

The last achievements

Go to the attic and look at the cow’s head, then click it.

Find the dark entity holding the parrot, go closer and click the parrot several times.

The sixth game in the Collection is complete.