Manifold Garden is an impressive but also a hollow game. Many compare it to Antichamber, and while there are some similarities like the focus on abstract space Manifold Garden is far less then Antichamber. Antichamber tried to link abstract space into it's puzzles and due to it's non linear nature was able to tie abstract space to exploration. In Manifold Garden two puzzles use abstract space in the most basic way possible and the linear nature of the game means most abstract space is just, walk through an arch with nothing behind it and end up in a room. Manifold garden's architecture is an extension of the finale of Antichamber where the player is let loose in an endlessly looping space of strange buildings, but while in AntiChamber it was a surprise in Manifold Garden its everywhere. The similarities go even deeper despite Antichamber and Manifold Garden's artistic ambitions they quickly resort to banal block puzzles and repeated solutions. Puzzle solving is ceases being a puzzle and becomes a chore of endlessly inputting the same solutions with slight variations, but while Antichamber had some ambitious puzzles like the tower climb Manifold garden trades ambition for a light and fluffy difficulty.
As you stare around at the skyline of endlessly repeated buildings and the music swells to a crescendo the game is delight to behold. Manifold Garden truly wants to dwarf the player, but really its a cheap trick. What you are looking at is the same area you are one repeated adnuasium. Sometimes you can even see your invisible self carry blocks in the distance. The sprawling infinity of Manifold Garden is simply a hall of mirrors the same hollow location refracted to infinity. This makes the game ideal for budding journalists, writers, and video essayists. When you step into the hall of mirrors the player becomes a part of the infinite and the reflection can projected inward. With the proper state of mind the hollow expanse can be filled with all sorts of thoughts and themes. The ending is a beautiful stargate lightshow that twists and turns is it a building? The eye of a monster? A planet? Its the most beautiful part of the game but what is added to it by being at the end of Manifold Garden? Would it be changed if it was at the beginning of the game? In the middle? A teaser trailer on the official YouTube channel? The grandness of infinity! The meaninglessly of human life! The beauty of modernity! The fear of modernity! The importance of natures/joy/life/space/everything! Yet there is nothing lining the expanse but simple sub 10 element block puzzles.
Manifold Garden isn't a puzzle game its an art exhibit. The puzzles are seemingly easy so anyone could solve them and get back to gawking at the next set piece. As Polygon's Nicole Carpenter said, "I often feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, but I never feel despondent or troubled by that confusion." Puzzles so simple they solve themselves without thinking. I wonder if Manifold Garden would be better if it was more like Nassinance and simply let the player explore the environments with no puzzles? Is that the worst critique you can levy at a puzzle game, that it would be better with no puzzles? That the game would be better if it had no gameplay? That the game doesn't wanna be a game?
As you stare around at the skyline of endlessly repeated buildings and the music swells to a crescendo the game is delight to behold. Manifold Garden truly wants to dwarf the player, but really its a cheap trick. What you are looking at is the same area you are one repeated adnuasium. Sometimes you can even see your invisible self carry blocks in the distance. The sprawling infinity of Manifold Garden is simply a hall of mirrors the same hollow location refracted to infinity. This makes the game ideal for budding journalists, writers, and video essayists. When you step into the hall of mirrors the player becomes a part of the infinite and the reflection can projected inward. With the proper state of mind the hollow expanse can be filled with all sorts of thoughts and themes. The ending is a beautiful stargate lightshow that twists and turns is it a building? The eye of a monster? A planet? Its the most beautiful part of the game but what is added to it by being at the end of Manifold Garden? Would it be changed if it was at the beginning of the game? In the middle? A teaser trailer on the official YouTube channel? The grandness of infinity! The meaninglessly of human life! The beauty of modernity! The fear of modernity! The importance of natures/joy/life/space/everything! Yet there is nothing lining the expanse but simple sub 10 element block puzzles.
Manifold Garden isn't a puzzle game its an art exhibit. The puzzles are seemingly easy so anyone could solve them and get back to gawking at the next set piece. As Polygon's Nicole Carpenter said, "I often feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, but I never feel despondent or troubled by that confusion." Puzzles so simple they solve themselves without thinking. I wonder if Manifold Garden would be better if it was more like Nassinance and simply let the player explore the environments with no puzzles? Is that the worst critique you can levy at a puzzle game, that it would be better with no puzzles? That the game would be better if it had no gameplay? That the game doesn't wanna be a game?
2 Comments
For my money I think a good direction would have been to let the player change gravity to any direction at any time but have all the play objects respond to gravity. Having gravity only apply to objects on one plain felt like a gross simplification. If the team couldn't think of a good puzzle design then I think they should have gone the exploration platforming route or just have been a walking sim, so the environments aren't broken up by such gameplay.
Pickross
2 years ago