Antichamber

[MidKnight]

This game...
This game is totally different. Pretty trippy, a little pretentious, but definitely different. I've had my eye on this game since last year, when it was called Hazard, and from what I've seen of it, when it comes out it's going to be awesome.

I honestly think this game is going to be the next big thing in the industry, like Minecraft and Portal before it.

There's still not much out about it, unfortunately. You'll probably find more info if you search for its previous name (Hazard: The Journey of Life).

Here's the website (pretty sparse):
http://www.antichamber-game.com/

Better yet, here's a demo from mid-2011:
http://udk.com/showcase-hazard
Play it!

[Azhukar]

Hazard is a philosophical first-person single-player exploration puzzle art game

I honestly think this game is going to be the next big thing in the industry, like Minecraft and Portal before it.

Ha. Hahahahaha. Delusional much?

[AF]

The problem is people can get their heads around minecraft and portal, they understand what they are presented, whereas multidimensional planes maybe not so much......

[smoth]

seems like a puzzle game with stylized art in a style I don't care for. I hate puzzle games to.

so why is it that this will be awesome?

[Google_Frog]

Portal had humour and publicity and Minecraft is a completely different game. In the extreme best case I see it being as big as Braid.

I'm interested in the game (so thanks for the link) but I like Manufactoria too and it probably has a similar level of general appeal.

[rattle]

reminds me of the movie cube, a little bit. do I have to feel bad not having played any of the games mentioned?

[dansan]

This will let my pot consume sky rocket :D

[SwiftSpear]

It's not going to touch minecraft. Minecraft has absurd longterm playability. I could see it being the next indie portal, which like said before, would probably make it about as big as braid.

Honestly though, I think the design ideology bothers me. To me, a puzzle game should rely on intuitiveness of the puzzles, and familiarity, to give us those puppy tails to grab onto that get us started on understanding the logic behind the puzzle and make us feel smart when we have an intellectual break through. From the gameplay footage I've seen of this game, it's more you use immense trial and error and eventually via dumb luck stumble on a totally non-intuitive solution, because the game follows very few rules on which the mind can latch onto.

I could be wrong, but that's how the game will turn out, in my opinion, if the design ideology was "how can we cram non-Euclidian geometry into a game? well, I guess a puzzle game works..." I think we're in for a bad time in terms of puzzle game quality.

This game has really good previews so far, and I'd be happy to be wrong... I certainly do think there are some smart non-Euclidian puzzles possible that games haven't made use of yet... I just don't think I see it as the fertile ground this game is trying to make us believe is ready to be mined.

I'll be waiting for user reviews to base my purchase decision on most likely.

[AF]

It annoys me that we keep seeing 'portal killers' and fine there are some pretty half decent puzzlers out there, but that's all they are, and Portal was never 'just a puzzler'.

Minecraft is virtual lego, and lego has a habit of winning peoples hearts

[MidKnight]

Bump, as it's now out! I haven't finished the game yet, but I know at least one person in our community has. Any initial opinions? Personally, I was a little disappointed that the game didn't do more weird space-time warping than it did, but it's still a fantastic game IMO, and entirely unique in some aspects.

Also, responses!

philosophical

next big thing

Ha. Hahahahaha. Delusional much?

The author's being pretentious; the game's actually pretty easy to approach, just confusing, in a good way (I'm not kidding! That's possible!).

The problem is people can get their heads around minecraft and portal, they understand what they are presented, whereas multidimensional planes maybe not so much......

Fair point, I guess.

seems like a puzzle game with stylized art in a style I don't care for. I hate puzzle games to.

so why is it that this will be awesome?

The art style kinda fades away after a while, at least for me. it's interesting because it does weird spatial things, but if yo don't like puzzle games, then it'll probably be super boring.

[Google_Frog]

I got it based on the demo and it is enjoyable. It is by no means "the next big thing" but is a good puzzle game and does quite a few interesting things. I have just about completed it and it isn't long (although I did do the demo).

[KDR_11k]

I just wish it was trippier. I beat it 100% (well, whole map explored and all signs seen, probably didn't get all purple cubes but couldn't be arsed anyway) in 4 hours. After a crazy opening it becomes rather mundane and full of block puzzles.