Rusty Lake games are weird. If you've ever clicked on that small square icon featuring a minimalist room, you know the vibe immediately. It’s unsettling. It’s cryptic. Honestly, the Cube Escape Seasons walkthrough is usually the first thing people search for because this game—the one that started the entire Rusty Lake surrealist horror saga back in 2015—doesn't care about your feelings or your logic.
You’re trapped in a room. There's a phone, a stove, a bird named Harvey, and a lot of trauma.
Most people get stuck because they think they're playing a standard escape room. You aren't. You’re navigating a fractured psyche across four distinct time periods: Spring 1964, Summer 1971, Fall 1971, and Winter 1981. To get out, you have to do more than just find keys. You have to change the past to alter the future. It’s basically a lo-fi, point-and-click version of Inception but with more creepy shadows and dead animals.
Spring 1964: The Beginning of the End
It starts simple. Spring 1964 feels cozy, maybe a bit lonely. You need to gather the first fragments of the photo. Check the curtains. Open the drawers. You'll find a spoon and some matches.
The bird, Harvey, is just sitting there. Feed him. Grab the birdseed from the cupboard and put it in his bowl. He'll give you an egg. This egg goes into the pot of water on the stove. Turn on the gas, use the matches, and boil it. Once you crack that egg open with a spoon, a shrimp pops out. This is the first "Wait, what?" moment of the game. It won't be the last.
The main goal here is the fireplace. Pro-tip: Use the wood and matches to start a fire. Every season ends with you clicking the cube in the frame after completing the photo.
Don't ignore the clock. It's stuck at 12:00 for now. Later, the clock becomes the most annoying part of the entire Cube Escape Seasons walkthrough because you have to backtrack across decades just to change a hand by five minutes.
Summer 1971: Things Get Dark
The room is the same, but the vibe is rancid. Everything is tinted yellow. It's hot. The plants are dying.
You're looking for photo fragments again. One is behind the picture frame. Another is tucked away in the light fixture. You'll need a screwdriver. If you look at the moon through the window, you'll see a silhouette. It's the "Corrupted Soul," the recurring shadow figure that haunts the entire Rusty Lake universe.
You have to find the key in the flowerpot. Use it to open the cabinet. There’s a cassette tape. Put it in the player. The music is eerie, but it’s a clue.
The weirdest part of Summer? The shrimp. You have to put the shrimp on the stove. It doesn't cook; it turns into a sprawling, surreal landscape that you have to click through to find another photo piece. It’s a metaphor for memory, probably. Or maybe the developers just really like seafood-based trauma.
Fall 1971: The Blood Season
Everything is red. Fall is when the game stops pretending to be a normal puzzle.
The bird is gone. Well, not gone, but Harvey has seen better days. You need to find the knife. Check the sink. You'll find a piece of the photo in the drain.
The sequence here is tight. You have to interact with the TV. This is a recurring mechanic in Rusty Lake games. You click the buttons to change the channels. 6, 1, 4, 1... just follow the numbers that appear. Eventually, a hand reaches out of the screen. It’s unsettling.
Actually, the most common place people fail in the Cube Escape Seasons walkthrough for Fall is the ceiling. Look up. There’s a bloodstain. You have to poke it until a piece of the photo falls down. It’s gross. It’s effective.
By the time you finish Fall, you realize the woman in the photos—the one you've been seeing glimpses of—is dead. Or she’s going to be. Or she always was. Time is a circle in this game, and you’re just a speck on the rim.
Winter 1981: The Cold Truth
The room is a mess. It's blue, frozen, and mostly destroyed. The furniture is gone.
Winter is different. You aren't just looking for photo pieces; you're looking for the way back. You have to use the blue cube. The mechanics shift here toward a "meta" puzzle. You have to use the clock to travel back to previous seasons to change small details.
For example, you need to go back to Spring 1964 and Summer 1971 to plant a seed or fix a pipe.
Changing the Past
This is where people lose their minds. To get the "True Ending," you have to manipulate the earlier seasons.
- Spring: Get the pro-actie items. You need the hatchet and the trowel.
- Summer: Use the wrench on the pipe behind the oven.
- Fall: Take the candle.
- Winter: The items you "planted" or changed in the past will now appear as fully realized tools.
You're building a machine. A machine to stop the murder. A machine to clear the memory. You'll need the fuel, the spark, and the correct time on the clock.
The clock time is almost always 1:10 or 9:05, depending on which season you're trying to influence. If you're stuck, look at the sketches on the wall in Winter. They literally show you what time to set the clocks to in the other years.
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The Secret of the Golden Cube
You’ve probably seen the black cubes. They represent bad memories. But to finish the Cube Escape Seasons walkthrough properly, you need the gold cube.
The gold cube is the "healed" memory. To get it, you have to complete the final sequence in Winter where you activate the machine using the four items: the flower, the cactus, the mushroom, and the pill.
Once the machine is powered, you click the phone. It rings. You answer.
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." Faulkner said that, but Rusty Lake lives it.
You'll see the shadow figure again. This time, you use the light from the machine to disintegrate it. This is the moment of catharsis. The room changes. The colors return. You aren't in 1981 anymore; you’re in a place that feels like peace. Or at least, as much peace as a Rusty Lake game allows.
Why This Game is So Frustrating (And Great)
The logic in Seasons isn't linear. It's associative. If you find a screwdriver, don't look for a screw; look for something that looks like it needs prying.
A lot of players complain about the "pixel hunting." Yes, sometimes a photo fragment is hidden in a corner that is only three pixels wide. It's annoying. But it forces you to look at the environment with the same obsessive detail that a person trapped in their own trauma would.
The developers, Robin Ras and Maarten Looise, built this world to be uncomfortable. The "walkthrough" isn't just a list of steps; it's a map through a nightmare.
Actionable Tips for Your Playthrough
If you're currently staring at the screen wondering why the bird won't lay an egg or why the stove won't light, keep these things in mind:
- Look Up: Almost every season has a crucial item or clue on the ceiling. People always forget to look up.
- The Clock is Key: If you see a time written on a note or a wall, go to the clock immediately. Changing the time in one season often unlocks an item in another.
- The Radio: In Summer, the radio frequency is vital. If you can't find the code, look at the matches or the notes found in drawers.
- Inter-Season Interaction: Remember that what you do in 1964 affects 1981. If you kill the fly in the past, it won't be there in the future.
- The Phone: Always answer the phone. Even if you're scared. Especially if you're scared.
The final step is the most important: don't rush. The game is short, but the atmosphere is the whole point. Once you use the gold cube and see the forest, you've completed the first chapter of a much larger, much weirder story that spans over 15 games.
Now, go back to Spring. Check the flowerpot again. You missed something.
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Next Steps for Players:
- Check the Clock: Go to Spring 1964 and set the clock to 9:05 to find the hidden shovel.
- Verify the Code: Re-watch the TV in Fall 1971; the sequence changes if you've altered the past.
- Complete the Collection: Ensure you have all four items (Flower, Cactus, Mushroom, Pill) before attempting the Winter 1981 machine puzzle.