Games like Portal and Antichamber have captivated the minds of puzzle gamers for years now. Granted, with that love for first-person puzzle solving, we’ve also gotten a lot of games that haven’t really…innovated the genre. Superliminal is an example of a first-person puzzle game that took things in a new direction. Manifold Garden, however, takes some of the mechanics you may have seen before and twists and tweaks them for mind-blowing effect.

Unlike a lot of first-person puzzle games, Manifold Garden doesn’t really have a story per se. You play an unnamed protagonist of some description, exploring infinitely generated structures. Each structure has a puzzle in itself, and you may have to jump off of one side of a structure to fall infinitely to a different part of the same structure in order to progress.

The main mechanic that you have control over though, is gravity. By facing a wall or surface, you can change gravity’s direction. This allows you to traverse levels from a different perspective, reach new rooms, and solve puzzles. For example, if you put a red block with an arrow pointing down on a switch, when you change the gravity it turns white and cannot be moved.

There are also other types of puzzles you may encounter, such as water-flow puzzles and labyrinthine puzzles that require you to traverse maze-like areas. Most levels have multiple color towers (the game doesn’t actually name them) that you must activate by solving their puzzles. Once you activate all the towers, you can bring the dark cube that is unlocked, to a specific tree in order to cleanse the corruption from an area.

In truth, Manifold Garden takes a very minimalistic approach. There isn’t any dialogue or tutorial information beyond the very first section which tells you how to gravity shift. Everything else you’re required to figure out on your own. This is both a plus and a minus in terms to enjoyment of the game. There is a large amount of satisfaction that comes from figuring out new puzzles and new mechanics. However, there is no guidance to tell you where the puzzles are.

I spent a large amount of my time in Manifold Garden wandering around and trying things out to try and see where they wanted me to go. They don’t need to hold my hand, but a hint system of some sort would be nice. Even just a tooltip reminder of, “You can do X or Y here,” to stimulate my memory on what I should be trying to do would help.

That was my main complaint with Manifold Garden. In truth, the visual design is gorgeous. The puzzles are clever and interesting once you figure out where to go as well. The music isn’t obnoxious and actually carries a relaxing, meditative sort of quality to it. In some ways, Manifold Garden isn’t as satisfying as some more narrative-focused puzzle games I’ve played. In other ways, it sets itself apart, standing out as an experience to help you relax and focus your mind on something new and different.

Taking Manifold Garden with you on the go is the best part of the Switch port. If you get stuck on a puzzle, set the game down for a while, and try it again on your next commute. Sometimes taking a break from it will let your brain rest and uncover things you might have been missing.

If you like puzzle games, Manifold Garden is a fun one you’ll enjoy. If you’re new to puzzle games, however, this is probably not a good entry point to the genre. Either way, the Switch version is a delight, and if you want to train your brain a bit to think outside the box, Manifold Garden will put you through your paces.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Manifold Garden was provided by William Chyr Studio for this review.

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Manifold Garden

$19.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Challenging Puzzles
• Beautiful Visuals
• Smooth Controls and Gameplay
• Relaxing Audio

Cons

• No Guidance/Hints