Cube Escape: Theatre

Cube Escape: Theatre is the eighth game in Rusty Lake’s Cube Escape series, released on 11 April 2016. Playing as Dale Vandermeer, you continue your lift journey and arrive at a theatre, where you must help complete six plays and question Bob, a suspect in Laura Vanderboom’s murder.

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.

Mr. Owl’s introduction

Open the lift door and click the black cube that appears.

Go to Bob the barman and speak to him; he suggests giving Robert a drink. Speak to Robert, who simply wants a drink.

The Screwdriver

Turn to the drinks cabinet and study the recipe for a Screwdriver. Pour two measures of vodka and two of orange juice into the shaker, mix, and pour into a glass. Take the SCREWDRIVER and give it to Robert.

• Achievement 1/8.

Take the photograph from his jacket pocket and read the text on the back. Click the glass in his hand to make him drink, then take the COCKTAIL GLASS and the SCREWDRIVER tool.

The Gin and Tonic

Turn to the drinks again and make a Gin and Tonic: two measures of gin and two of tonic in the shaker. Mix and fill a glass.

• Achievement 4/8.

The tonic recipe can be learned in the Collection’s Birthday, by reading the recipe in grandfather’s pocket.

Serve it to Robert and take the GLASS.

Talk to Bob, who says the performance begins with the lights on. Turn around and try to switch the spotlight on: there is no plug. Look left.

The puzzle cabinet

Zoom in on the cabinet of puzzles and solve the arrow puzzles, taking the PLUG and the PLUNGER. Zoom out and look right.

Zoom in on the spotlight cable and screw the plug on with the screwdriver. Put it in the socket and zoom out; the spotlight works.

Turn to the programme on the side table and study it. Zoom out and look right. Go to the curtain and draw it open. Click the figure of Mr. Owl and listen to the introduction. He announces the start of the performance and the curtain closes.

Play one: The Lady of the Lake

Open the curtain. Click the singer until her throat is cut. Listen to the Lady of the Lake: “Balance the substance of my past lives.” Zoom out and look left.

Study the hint drawing hanging on the wall. Zoom out and look left.

The piano

Zoom in on the piano and play the melody DEAD FACE. Click the empty space where the keys collapsed and a hand appears. Play the notes the hand plays, but one octave higher. Take the KEY. Zoom out and look right.

Unlock the toilet door with that key. Look inside, use the plunger on the toilet and take the EMBRYO. Open the cabinet doors and take the HEART. Take the GLASS from the cabinet and zoom out.

Turn to the mirror and click the reflection. Reassemble the shattered reflection and you glimpse a dark entity for a moment. Remove the three shards of the broken mirror and note the symbols. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the lower section of the puzzle cabinet and enter the symbols you saw. Take the SHELL, zoom out from the cabinet and turn around.

Balancing the substances

Zoom in on the stage and take the HAT from the first bowl. Lay the objects out on the bowls in this order: shell, embryo, heart, hat. Click the Lady of the Lake and a white beam bursts from her mouth. Click the beam and take the FLOWER.

Play two: Signs

Open the curtain. Move the parts of the figures hanging on the cables to form symbols. Remember them, zoom out and turn around.

Zoom in on the lower part of the cabinet and set those symbols, then study the recipe for a Harvey Wallbanger. Zoom out and look left.

Talk to the barman, who suggests pouring Robert another drink. Turn to the drinks and mix: two measures of orange juice, one of Galliano and one of vodka. Offer the Harvey Wallbanger to Robert.

• Achievement 2/8.

Click Robert to make him bang his head on the table. Collect the BLOOD running from his forehead in a glass. Turn around.

Study the recipe for a Bloody Mary on the wall. Turn around, zoom in on the drinks and mix: one measure of vodka, one of Tabasco and two of blood. Fill a glass and serve it to Robert.

The four white cubes

Make him drink the cocktail, then look into his brain through the bullet hole. Take the WHITE CUBE.

At the next step, go into the left opening and take the second WHITE CUBE, coming out at Laura.

• Achievement 5/8.

Find the third WHITE CUBE and leave through the patch of light. Speak to the barman and listen to his remark.

• Achievement 7/8.

Turn to Robert again and enter the bullet hole. At the fork take the right opening and find the fourth WHITE CUBE. Come out at the coded door and return to the bar.

Play three: The Fish and the Parrot

Zoom out and look left, then open the curtain.

Zoom in on the pot and plant the flower in it. Zoom out.

Turn the third rotating pipe to the position top to right, and the fifth pipe to left to down. Turn the red lever to water the flower.

Zoom in on the flower and collect the BIRD SEED that falls out of it. Zoom out.

Turn the second pipe horizontal, the fourth to left to down, and the sixth vertical. Pour the bird seed into the left funnel to feed the parrot. Zoom in on it, press it and take the EGG. Zoom out.

Zoom in on the flower again, take more bird seed, feed the parrot and take another EGG. Throw an egg into one of the funnels, go back to the parrot and take another egg. Repeat this several times.

• Achievement 6/8.

Turn the first pipe to right to down, the second horizontal, and the fourth to top to left. Throw an egg into the left funnel. Zoom in on the frying pan and pick up the WORM. Zoom out.

Turn the first pipe to top to right, the second vertical, the fourth to top to right, the fifth to top to right, and the sixth horizontal. Throw the worm into the right funnel and click the fish; it starts to hover in the air.

Play four: Mr. Crow’s interlude

Open the curtain. Light the lamps Mr. Crow indicates, showing their number from 1 to 3 with his fingers:

1 2 3 1 2 1 3 2 2 1 3

Do the same to the count of his cane taps:

2 3 1 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 1

Then light the lamps the crow’s eye indicates:

3 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 3 2 1

Play five: Remember the Seasons

Open the curtain. Lower the frame and set the tree and the moon into the positions shown in the photograph from Robert’s jacket pocket.

Click Laura and five frames come down. Fit the four white cubes you have into them and pictures appear in the frames. Match the pictures to the real objects, and lay the fifth frame over Laura’s face.

Zoom in on each frame in turn and clear away the overlay to get the code 7285. Look right.

Enter the hole in Robert’s head, go to the coded door and enter 7285. Take the BLACK CUBE, climb back out and look right.

Put the black cube into the frame on Laura’s face, go closer and click the face. Zoom out.

Play six: The Mill

Open the curtain and talk to Mr. Owl. A mill with coloured sails appears on the backdrop, each sail carrying a word in Devanagari. Zoom out and look left.

Go to Robert, now sitting in the toilet. Click him to summon a dark entity. Turn around and look at the stool Robert was sitting on, reading the writing on the backs of the three labels. Zoom out and look right.

Zoom in on the piano and play the requested melody BAD EGG. Listen to Harvey’s song and click him. Take the envelope that appears.

• Achievement 8/8.

Take out the SHEET MUSIC, which is the hint for Cube Escape: Harvey’s Box. Look right and you see that words in Devanagari have now appeared on all six pictures on the wall. Turn around.

The mill sails

Zoom in on the mill sails and arrange the Devanagari writing to match the pictures and the wheel. The correct order is the six realms of rebirth:

1. deva, the gods, yellow
2. asura, the demigods, pink
3. preta, the hungry ghosts, red
4. naraka, the hells, orange
5. tiryagyoni, the animals, light blue
6. manusha, the humans, white

A white beam bursts from the mill.

Talk to Mr. Owl. Zoom out and click him twice. Press the lift that appears twice and enter the car. Close the door and press the upper button.

The eighth game in the Collection is complete.