Review: Antichamber

If there was ever a case of a game hating you for playing it, it would be Antichamber. It does a great many things to confuse, confound and twist your perspective, all the while presenting itself in the form of a very accessible and simple-looking puzzle game.

The goal is simple, escape the Antichamber. Overcome its blockades, looping corridors and psychological torments to find the tools you'll need to solve the puzzles. Despite its simplicity, it is one of the most confusing and difficult puzzle games I have played in a very long time. The puzzles themselves are difficult enough, but the game is out to throw you off at every turn. Hallways change when you're not looking at them, doors move, stairs loop back on themselves; not everything is as it first appears to be; but sometimes it is.

The main element of this game is the way you interact with the key element, the cubes. You'll obtain a tool that can pick up and place cubes, then it upgrades as you progress to grant you new abilities, which are essential to complete specific puzzles. The game starts of frustratingly difficult at first and is very intimidating. I stopped playing for a while after the first session because of just how mind-numbing it was; it's like an explorable M.C. Escher world.

When I returned, it became easier to comprehend, but no easier to complete. With so many red herrings and multiple paths to a specific point, much of this game is spent retracing your steps to find the paths you missed. Not that that's a bad thing, there a few little Easter eggs hidden around for you to discover.

This game is not for the faint-hearted nor the queasy stomachs, but the trill of actually making progress is truly fantastic. Antichamber puts the puzzle back into insanity.