Antichamber Screenshot 5
82

Antichamber review

Our Verdict

Clever, but sometimes a little cold, this is an accomplished headscratcher of unusually philosophical ambition.

PC Gamer's got your back Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.

Review by David Valjalo

Unlike Portal, there's no test-subject narrative behind Antichamber, an austerely intellectual first-person puzzler from indie dev Alexander Bruce - but that doesn't mean you aren't under the microscope. As you wander the blinding white corridors of a space-bending facility, unpicking the cryptic clues within, you're encouraged to think that your own psychological state is the real barrier to progress in the game's interweaving, claustrophobic tunnels.

Wall-mounted plaques punctuate each new area and challenge, delivering existential wisdom of a seemingly glib kind. "The path of least resistance is a valid option," says one. Another reads: "A few steps backwards may keep you moving forwards." But these are also crucial hints, some a good deal more opaque than they first appear, to puzzles which intentionally avoid conformity. One challenge might simply task you with following signs to the exit, another may secretly encourage you to ignore them, while others play with space and perspective in ways which defy traditional game logic: walk up to a window, fill your monitor with the world inside and, like magic, you're in it.

The first section of the game is a breathless parade of new ideas that approach puzzling laterally, forcing you to muddle your way past non-euclidian geometry and other brain-bending architecture. The latter half introduces more traditional mechanics in the form of four handheld gun-things that fill in voids, pick up and shoot blocks, and clear matter out of your way. Even though these tools offer new methods of traversing earlier environments, it's a somewhat anticlimactic transition from the relentless invention of the game's opening - but that doesn't make the tests here any less agonising to fathom or a triumph to conquer.

When you nail a solution - often best achieved by taking a time-out and drinking a cup of tea, very calmly, as your nails grow back - you feel like a cross between Hercule Poirot and Socrates. Hercules, if you will. That said, there are some puzzles in here guilty of simple obscurity, and this undermines the satisfaction of their completion as well as throwing off the pace of the game. Luckily a hub room (instantly accessible by a tap of ESC) allows re-entry to any of the game's main areas, alleviating the need to pummel yourself against the same puzzle, and allowing you to re-evaluate the messages you've encountered so far.

For some, Antichamber may prove a little draining. It's a title that aspires to challenge your way of thinking and problem-solving and it's a slightly chilly and solitary experience with it. If that doesn't sound like much fun - there are certainly times it isn't - that's likely part of Bruce's point, suggesting life is a struggle in which you get out what you put in. But Antichamber isn't all earnest chin-stroking theory - it also hosts moments of transcendent beauty and vignettes that engage your brain on a level few games attempt.

Price: $20 / £12.50

Release: Out Now

Publisher: Alexander Bruce

Developer: Alexander Bruce

Website: http://www.antichamber-game.com/

The Verdict
Antichamber

Clever, but sometimes a little cold, this is an accomplished headscratcher of unusually philosophical ambition.

PCGamer

PC Gamer is the global authority on PC games—starting in 1993 with the magazine, and then in 2010 with this website you're currently reading. We have writers across the US, Canada, UK and Australia, who you can read about here.

Latest in Puzzle
A sign reads "HATRED IS POWER"
A demo for a lost videogame based on George Orwell's 1984 has emerged from the memory hole
London Bridge during snowfall
This is the coolest pricing gimmick I've ever seen: the temperature in London determines the price of this videogame
Wordle today being played on a phone
Today's Wordle answer for Sunday, March 16
Wordle answers
Today's Wordle answer for Saturday, March 15
Today's Wordle being played on a phone
Today's Wordle answer for Friday, March 14
Wordle today puzzle on a smartphone
Today's Wordle answer for Thursday, March 13
Latest in Reviews
Fragpunk FPS
Fragpunk review
Rise of the Ronin review
Rise of the Ronin review
SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pads overlapping on a desk
SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pad review
Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro earbuds on a black desk with various handheld gaming PCs.
Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro review
Alienware 27 AW2725Q QD-OLED
Alienware 27 AW2725Q QD-OLED review
Audio-Technica ATH-R50X headphones
Audio-Technica ATH R50X review