Manifold Garden

Manifold Garden, available on PC and PS4, is a puzzle game with exploration elements developed by a small debuting indie developer, William Chyr Studio. Its lead game designer, William Chyr, is an artist whose art installations were presented in, e.g. Lawrence Arts Center and Concept Laboratories.

Mechanics

Manifold Garden takes players to an irrational world where laws of physics are constantly being broken. The core of the game is exploration of unusual surroundings, unraveling its mysteries and rules but also solving numerous puzzles that requires players to think unconventionally.

The game is presented from first person perspective. The environment consists of architectural creations that defies laws of physics, e.g. seemingly never-ending steps or 3D labyrinths are something normal here. The gameplay focuses on exploration of those constructions. Although the first few stages aren't that difficult, their complexity rises accordingly to our progress.

During the game players have to solve various environment puzzles that usually require them to think beyond the established patterns. This allows them to unlock new paths that can take them to new levels. It should also be mentioned that gravitation isn't always the same, which means that we can walk not only on ground but also on walls and ceilings – this increases the complexity of the puzzles.

Technical aspects

Manifold Garden runs on Unity engine. The graphics are cartoony and don't have a lot of details, however, thanks to that the PC Windows version has rather small system requirements but it can also offer players unique aesthetic experience – the levels look like 3D architectonic projects. The game also uses an original, ambient soundtrack.

Last updated on 19 August 2020