![]() The way the gun controls is probably the weakest part of the game, as it is often fiddly and slightly inaccurate. Later you will find upgrades for the gun, allowing you to fire a steady stream of blocks through smaller gaps, and eventually allowing you to drag groups of blocks around the environment. The blocks are used to fill in switches which will open doors, or can even be used to form a makeshift bridge across a gap. The first one you get simply allows you to pick up blocks, store them in the gun and then place them somewhere else. ![]() Your “gun” is used to manipulate small coloured blocks around the chambers. There is no tutorial beyond small hints which blend into the environment, you learn by doing, which is always the sign of a good puzzle game. In fact the game purposefully puts you in an impossible situation early on, to teach you this mechanic. Sometimes you do not have the required tools to complete a puzzle, and will be forced to return to the antechamber. The game is fairly free form, and there are usually a few puzzles you can choose between at any one time. You can return to this room at any time by simply pressing the escape key. You are in the antechamber of Antichamber, and on the other three walls are a map, the collection of posters you have seen so far, and the controls for the game, next to a giant digital clock counting down to zero. Someone must have made this place though, because scattered around the chambers are posters depicting simple sketch drawings, which can be clicked to reveal a cryptic message relating to the puzzles around them. It can occasionally be quite chilling, as you walk through this strange place with no other life around, save for a floating black shape which moves around but is always seemingly out of reach. The sound design is equally stark, with silence filling many spaces, and haunting drones resonating through others. For the colour-blind amongst you, I am told that Antichamber works around this, despite using colours for many puzzles. The visual style is very clean and basic, but it uses striking colours to highlight points of interest while the rest of the walls, ceilings and floors are pure white. Escher, and I was reminded of some of his works while playing, with never ending staircases and the like. Antichamber, much like Portal, is very smart, and makes you feel very dumb until you figure out what it wants you to do. This leads to bizarre situations where you can often only solve a problem by coming at it from a certain angle. Each side of the cube allows you to see inside it, showing three dimensional objects in the centre, but move around to the next face of the cube, and you will see something completely different. An easy example of this occurs in one of the rooms where there are some large, apparently transparent, cuboid display cases. What this means, is that your perception of a situation can change based on your perspective. You have probably not solved any like this before though, as Antichamber is a game which takes place in non-Euclidean space. You run around a pristine, chamber-like environment in first person, and soon get a gun, which is used for puzzle solving rather than killing. At first glance, you will probably be reminded of Portal. It was made by a single man, Alexander Bruce, which is an impressive feat given the mind bending challenges on offer. A gun that can create, destroy and manipulate matter, allowing you to discover new ways to overcome your surroundings.It is hard to explain Antichamber without actually demonstrating it in game, and even then the puzzles in this game take some serious getting used to. Lifelike soundscapes developed by Robin Arnott and an ambient soundtrack composed by Siddhartha Barnhoorn. An enormous, seamless non-Euclidean world to explore. Mind-bending challenges that will subvert your expectations at every twist and turn. Antichamber was also supported by the Indie Fund.Key Features A deeply psychological experience that will make you question everything you know about how a game works. Discover an Escher-like world where hallways wrap around upon each other, spaces reconfigure themselves, and accomplishing the impossible may just be the only way forward.Several years in the making, Antichamber received over 25 awards and honors throughout its development, in major competitions including the Independent Games Festival, the PAX10, IndieCade and Make Something Unreal. Antichamber is a mind-bending psychological exploration game where nothing can be taken for granted.
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