Ever wondered what it would be like to explore one of those
impossible pictures? The type where the staircase always goes up, where doors
are on every surface? Well Antichamber answers those questions whilst
delivering a truly unique puzzle experience.
Right from the start, Antichamber throws out the traditional
rules of level design. As you explore down each corridor, you’re never quite
sure what you’ll find next. You could end looping back on yourself, finding a
secret path or witness the level changing before your eyes. The game pushes the
boundaries of what is possible with geometry; completely breaking traditional linear
level design. An early example you encounter is a room full of cubes. Looking
into the cube from each side shows you something different, which should be
impossible, but isn’t in this world: and with a bit of searching you find one
side of a cube turns out to be a path into an entirely different part of the
game.
It may sound mind bending and it certainly looks it, yet its
complex design is delivered in a simple way we all understand. You learn the
game through play. Exploring areas teaches you the game mechanics, you learn how
to overcome each obstacle and then use that knowledge to progress further when
faced with more complex challenges.
The controls are kept simple. You can run, walk and interact
with pictures found on the walls. The pictures often compliment the puzzles you
just solved, showing how they can be a metaphor for an aspect of life. These
moments can be quite thought provoking and left me wondering why the designer
didn’t keep the original working title, “Hazard: The Journey of Life”.
Some
complexity is added to the game as you progress; giving you more tools to
approach problems that previously seemed unsolvable. As you travel, you come
across some gun like objects. These allow you to manipulate coloured blocks if
different ways and each adds new controls on top of the previous one. And with
one simple instruction on the wall, the game has given you everything you need
to get past the puzzle in front of you and carry on.
For me,
playing Antichamber swung between a few emotions. I’d start off intrigued,
discovering the crazy areas ahead of me, understanding where and how far I
could progress. Then I’d switch to frustration as I’d fail to solve anything
and get stuck. Finally, a few minutes later I’d have a moment of inspiration
and break through the barriers in front of me with a real sense of triumph, and
start the cycle all over again. In many ways, that’s a familiar description of
any puzzle game. But I’d say Antichamber can often linger too long in
frustration as it’s not an easy game and it doesn’t offer much in the way of
hints.
Due to
the game’s non-linear design; you will have to remember how the various paths
you can travel connect to each other in weird ways. There is a map in the hub
area that highlights where you currently are and the path you just travelled.
Both useful pieces of information, but it doesn’t clearly show which bit
connects to what, which means you’ll end up mousing over a lot of it to display
the more detailed information. It does helpfully show branches off areas you’ve
been through, so a glance at the map will show if you haven’t fully
investigated an area or remind you that you may need to come back later.
Occasionally
you will see some arrows appear in the game to give you a hint in what
direction you’re meant to be travelling. You will need good peripheral vision
to spot them though as they’re quite subtle. These helped me out on a couple
occasions as I got lost on more than once, often finding bonus rooms that
revealed how some of the game design worked, which was a nice touch, yet a
little disappointing when I thought I was making real progress. A possible
improvement would have been an easy mode that gave a more prominent guiding
hand to steer you in the right direction.
Of
course as a puzzle game, the difficulty is subjective. If your logic is in
synch with the game, you could find it to be an easy game. I did end up having
to consult a guide towards the end as I had decided the path I was meant to be
following was a dead end. In fact it was the same puzzle twice in a row, I just
had to repeat the solution as I didn’t realise the location I was in changed.
The
clear positive of Antichamber is its design. There are all sorts of nice
touches that make it such an interesting title. You can quick travel between
any areas you’ve accessed simply by hitting the escape key. This takes you back
to the hub room and you simply click on the chamber you want to go to. The hub
room also contains all the game’s options on the wall. It seems a bit trivial;
yet interacting with an options menu in a first-person view is a little novel.
The
aesthetic choice is stimulating throwing a lot of vibrant and varied colour at
you to break up the clinical white corridors. It’s used to highlight various
puzzle elements adding consistency into the world. This is complimented by an
ambient music soundtrack that includes various intriguing sound effects to
emphasise certain puzzle elements.
This is
definitely a game that was difficult to make a decision on. A big part of its
appeal is the experience playing it, exploring and understanding the
curiosities around you. But if you get stuck, then that’s taken away from you,
leaving you looking for a solution. For myself, I got a lot of enjoyment from
Antichamber and if you’re looking for a puzzle game, this should top your list
after Portal and Portal 2. It’s incredible to think that this title was
developed by one person, Alexander Bruce. He’s created what can be honestly
described as a truly unique experience.
