Manifold Garden

Genre: First-Person Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Manifold Garden is a First-Person Puzzle game that is about two things, gravity and infinite repetition. Players find themselves in a sparse environment seemingly dreamed up by M.C. Escher, and they must find a way to proceed, and to do so, they are able to change the orientation of gravity to essentially make any wall they can touch into the new floor. Furthermore, many areas in the game feature geometry that repeats infinitely, and since this game doesn’t do the “fall damage” thing, that sometimes the best way to reach the roof of a building is to jump down off of the edge of the first floor. Wow… Ender Wiggin was right, these words start to lose their meaning when “up” and “down” are no longer universal constants…

Visually, this game doesn’t seem very impressive at first. Simple geometry, not much color, with everything sporting cel-shaded black outlined edges. However, as you proceed through the game, this simplicity takes on a beauty of its own through the endless repeating patterns, the subtle way colors burn into the edges of the lines, and the way this game uses simplicity to help fuel its mind-warping aesthetic. This simple visual presentation is accompanied by a pleasant minimalist soundtrack that underlines its tranquility. Given what this game is going for, it works very well, even if this isn’t what we tend to think of as technically impressive.

The gameplay itself is fairly simple. Players can walk, run, grab objects, rotate what they’re holding, set down what they’re holding, and change the orientation of gravity to a nearby wall. That’s it. However, from this simplicity comes some very clever puzzles. Players unlock doors by pressing buttons, but can only press those buttons when standing on the floor with the same orientation as the button. Likewise, some doors need to be activated by bringing a colored cube to a switch. However, these cubes only obey gravity, and can only be moved, when you share their orientation. So players need to consider not only how to get from point A to point B, but they also need to figure out how to get a cube from one place to the other as well when that cube can only be moved when gravity is oriented a certain way.

I don’t know if I’m making it sound overly-complicated. It really isn’t, it’s extremely simple once you get the hang of how the game works. However, because you’re tinkering with one of the core parts of existence, it will make for some truly brain-bending situations. I guess what I’m saying here is that this is an excellent premise for some unique puzzle design, and the game uses that premise very well.

Having said that, there is one major problem with this game that keeps it from being truly timeless. This game doesn’t bother with any of that “signposting” stuff, it refuses to tell players where to go or what to do, and with this game’s scenery repeating infinitely and constantly reorienting as you shift gravity, it can be extremely easy to get lost or not know where you’re expected to go next. Just to be safe, whenever you get to a new area you may want to save just in case you get lost once you start exploring.

Beyond that one flaw though, it’s hard to find much fault in Manifold Garden. This is an excellent premise for a Puzzle game that’s well-executed. The minimalist presentation may not appeal to everyone, and the mind-warping nature of the gameplay may be something that some players will have difficulty wrapping their heads around, but for fans of Puzzle games who are patient, observant, and willing to challenge their preconceptions of reality, Manifold Garden should absolutely be a game you check out.

tl;dr – Manifold Garden is a beautifully sparse First-Person Puzzle game where players can re-orient gravity and fall through infinitely-repeating areas to reach their goals. It can be frustrating at times when it’s unclear just where those goals are, and the reality-warping nature of the game may confuse some players, but those looking for an inspired Puzzle game that will make you rethink how you perceive reality will find plenty to love here.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Puzzle Game, Most Underrated, Most Original, Best Graphical Style

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