There's a temptation to describe Manifold Garden only by comparing it to its spiritual forebear: Antichamber. Many reviews of the game have done so, and while I resent the idea that the first game to implement a certain mechanic or aesthetic becomes the default by which all that come after must be compared to, I found that when I started looking closer, the comparison became more and more interesting.
There's just no getting away from it. Manifold Garden looks and plays like an Antichamber 2 that never came to pass. The game is built on similar non-euclidean geometry, coloured block puzzles and coated in near-identical stark white visuals. But where Antichamber felt claustrophobic and confusing, purposely so, Manifold is enormous and breathtaking. The structures differ entirely too, with the latter game taking place over a series of fairly linear levels interspersed with gorgeous, geometric vistas, where the former was a tangled mess of interlocking corridors. The goals of both games are completely different, even if their methods are very similar.
I don't like Antichamber very much. I think it's main puzzle mechanics are completely antithetical to its MC Escher gimmick and on the whole, it's largely charmless. I do really like Manifold Garden though, for many of the same reasons I dislike its predecessor. It's not a particularly difficult game, I breezed through it in less than four hours and never found myself stuck for more than a minute or two at a time. It's lacks narrative too, but I don't regard that as a drawback, as the simple, gameplay and visuals driven story is a surprisingly beautiful one. Despite the complete absence of characters or words, I found myself feeling quite emotional as the ending played out. The world may not make sense, but there is a clear goal and in achieving that goal, I felt accomplished and like I had done something good and worthwhile. Antichamber's ending just left me confused and disappointed, like a teenager's failed attempt at sex. Manifold also hides a secret, non-linear second playthrough too, which I greatly look forward to experiencing in the future.
Manifold Garden is by no means an amazing game. Its puzzles are at times too simple and I would have loved a DLC that would just push its puzzle mechanics to their extreme, but what's here is undoubtedly great. If you found yourself disappointed by Antichamber or you're a fellow Portal fan with a penchant for the strange, absolutely give Manifold Garden a play.
There's just no getting away from it. Manifold Garden looks and plays like an Antichamber 2 that never came to pass. The game is built on similar non-euclidean geometry, coloured block puzzles and coated in near-identical stark white visuals. But where Antichamber felt claustrophobic and confusing, purposely so, Manifold is enormous and breathtaking. The structures differ entirely too, with the latter game taking place over a series of fairly linear levels interspersed with gorgeous, geometric vistas, where the former was a tangled mess of interlocking corridors. The goals of both games are completely different, even if their methods are very similar.
I don't like Antichamber very much. I think it's main puzzle mechanics are completely antithetical to its MC Escher gimmick and on the whole, it's largely charmless. I do really like Manifold Garden though, for many of the same reasons I dislike its predecessor. It's not a particularly difficult game, I breezed through it in less than four hours and never found myself stuck for more than a minute or two at a time. It's lacks narrative too, but I don't regard that as a drawback, as the simple, gameplay and visuals driven story is a surprisingly beautiful one. Despite the complete absence of characters or words, I found myself feeling quite emotional as the ending played out. The world may not make sense, but there is a clear goal and in achieving that goal, I felt accomplished and like I had done something good and worthwhile. Antichamber's ending just left me confused and disappointed, like a teenager's failed attempt at sex. Manifold also hides a secret, non-linear second playthrough too, which I greatly look forward to experiencing in the future.
Manifold Garden is by no means an amazing game. Its puzzles are at times too simple and I would have loved a DLC that would just push its puzzle mechanics to their extreme, but what's here is undoubtedly great. If you found yourself disappointed by Antichamber or you're a fellow Portal fan with a penchant for the strange, absolutely give Manifold Garden a play.