The blocks aren’t only there to be pretty either, levels with water allow you to direct the stream with the indents within the blocks, pushing the water in new directions and even freezing it when you alter the gravity, so you can walk on it like Jesus. Every puzzle is the same yet different, requiring you to rethink what you need to do and sometimes explore the surrounding area for alternative solutions. Later levels, ones I’ve seen, also include facilities to change the colour of the blocks you’re holding, blocks with two colours that move in multiple gravitations positions, and there’s even a massive sliding puzzle in the air with Tetris-like pieces that move as you change the gravity. This allows you to lock blocks in place to use as shelves for other colours or so doorways remain open without the block simply sliding once you attach your feet to the wall like Spider-Man. Similarly, the block becomes frozen in time, even if it’s hovering off the ground – like in Minecraft when you destroy the lower parts of something yet blocks remain hovering in the air, as if by magic. The coloured blocks have arrows on them, showing their instinctive gravitational pull – if you’re not moving on a floor whose gravity is in the same orientation, you can’t lift or move that block. You’ll also learn that pushing R2 when facing a wall shifts the gravitation force to that orientation, allowing you to freely walk on the walls and ceiling as if that’s actually the floor. Initially, you’ll discover that solving puzzles involves picking up colourful cubes and placing them in their designated sockets, unlocking doors so you can proceed. Manifold Garden is essentially one big puzzle game, there’s no narrative, no enemies, no hazards, and no death, it’s all about solving puzzles and having your mind blown by the way the world works. This isn’t a simple re-launch with a higher resolution, multiple PS5 features have been used to enhance the experience and immerse you within the lonely, isolated, magical world of Manifold Garden… I would have found myself reaching for my phone and following online guides for some of the more cryptic solutions, but instead, the developer has utilised the PS Plus help system on the PS5 (which I’ll talk about later). I’ve not yet fully completed the game, but I’ve solved a decent chunk of the game. Have you ever played Portal? A game in which you have to travel through portals and use cubes to push switches, block lasers, and weigh-down platforms? Manifold Garden reminded me of this classic game, only instead of trying to escape a test chamber with a bunch of cubes that supposedly contain the rotting remains of the previous test subjects, you’re plucking colourful cubes from trees and using their unique gravitational attributes to unlock doors, activate switches, and invert the world. However, the game never feels repetitive or stale as new mechanics are introduced which takes the single concept and delivers new and interesting ways to find the solutions. There doesn’t appear to be a story, you’re simply a faceless being that is trying to escape this strange and wonderful world by solving a collection of increasingly difficult situations based around a single concept – coloured blocks. The developer and designer, William Chyr, is both a game developer and an artist, implementing his love and skills as both into the game in order to create one of the most minimalistic, artistic, and beautiful puzzle games I’ve ever seen.Īfter playing the game for many hours, scratching my head and talking to myself when I became confused and unsure of what to do next, it’s time to tell you just how brilliant Manifold Garden is and how every single person who loves puzzles should be playing it right now…įorget what you know about physics, relativity, and gravity, Manifold Garden rewrites them all with its very clever and thought-provoking puzzles. It seems to be their first commercial release, launching on all platforms in 20, including PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. Manifold Garden was both developed and self-published by William Chyr Studio, after being in development for over eight years. Have you ever had your mind blown by a puzzle game? Perhaps you’ve sat there in awe at the simplistic beauty of an artistic game? Or maybe found yourself confused and stuck because a game contains many challenging solutions that require you to sit back and think outside of the box? Well, today’s review is for a game that does all three, the visually stunning Manifold Garden which just received its native PS5 upgrade, nine months after the initial PS4 launch last year.
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