Antichamber PC
  • Publisher: Demruth
  • Release Date: Jan 31, 2013
User Score
8.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 296 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 251 out of 296
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 296
  3. Negative: 30 out of 296

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. kingplain
    Feb 11, 2013
    2
    I'm not as charmed with this game as others have been. The basics are you move from one room to the next solving puzzles in a minimalistic 1st person world. There's no goal other than connecting the different rooms and seeing all the hint messages along the way. After "beating" an area you'll find yourself either in a new room or right back where you started. After failing a room, the same thing will happen, making it unclear when you should feel like you've accomplished anything. Sometimes the reward is a dead end. Or maybe it's not. Who knows? The controls and physics within the game often lead you to wonder if you passed an area the way you were supposed to or if you stumbled on some exploit they didn't consider or correct. This also robs you of your sense of accomplishment. Most of the puzzles don't take thought or planning, rather experimentation. You just do things until something works and move forward. Sometimes you'll reapply what you stumbled on previously, but most of the puzzles are just mindless poking around. As soon as you understand, the game will move on and introduce something else that will be equally confusing on first inspection. These cheap tricks are what passes for difficulty. The mind-bending stuff is hardly ground breaking. I mean, the original zelda and super mario had repeating mazes. You're not going to mouth the word "wow" unless you're easily impressed and have already prepped by others who swear this is a mind-blowing work of art. I can assure you it's not. The end game plays like an empty/texture-less Doom level. You just stroll along an ill-defined catwalk for 5 minutes and watch an end sequence that nowadays could have been animated by a 10 year old. It is an addicting game. I'll give that. I didn't put it down until I beat it but the same could be said for most browser games. Was it fun? Not really. I feel like most that recommend do so because they think it validates their intelligence and because calling games where nothing happens "art" is in fashion. It feels like someone entirely foreign to video games had a cool idea but lacked basic video game theory to make it rewarding or enjoyable. Everything in the game is smeared with vagueness to cover its shortcomings. It sounds like a bunch of reverse-engineered cop-outs when I hear the game designer explain what's going on. I would recommend if it were a free browser game (because all they need is the addiction part) but as it's not, I cannot. Sorry guys.… Collapse
  2. Tpocth
    Feb 5, 2013
    4
    The game was advitised as messing with your brain, sadly for me it missed abit and only seemed to mess with my stomach. Having games for the best part of 24 years, this is the first game out of the hundreds that I've played that has made me feel physically sick. That coupled with the need to manually edit a configuration file as I don't use WSAD makes me give this game a poor score. This game seriously needs a health warning, a BIG ONE.

    I'm sure the puzzles are truely asume and mind blowing sadly, but between the the FOW and the colors they have chosen I don't think I'll ever play it through as for me a game should not send you running to the toilet to throw up. Of the puzzles I've seen they are not difficult, however given I could only play for 10 minutes, in comparison to the first 10 minutes of most games it certainly starts at a harder level, so I can definately believe what others have written.

    I really wish I could give this a higher score.    … Expand
  3. dumle
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    Antichamber is an interesting game. It tries really hard to be different which might really please some people. It certainly feels different from other first person puzzle games which might be a reason to pick this game up if you are getting bored of other games in the same genre. I am not entirely in love with everything about this game though. First of all i should mention that i got really badly dizzy and nauseated when playing this game. I have never experienced this before despite gaming for quite a long time and this might be a total deal breaker for people more sensitive than i am. It did certainly affect my time with this game negatively. Puzzle-wise it is quite varied. The game do have some really interesting puzzles that feels smart and fresh, But it also have some quite odd puzzles that just is not all that fun to solve. I am also not a big fan of the non-linear progression system in the game. In theory its sound cool to be able to solve different puzzles at different places at your own pace. However since some puzzles are unsolvable without the proper tools gained trough solving a different puzzle you might find yourself trying to solve a unsolvable puzzle which is not all that fun. Antichamber is not a bad game but its not a game that will appeal to all kinds of players. It certainly didn't appeal to me and being kind of clever from time to time doesn't excuse the fact that the general gameplay wasn't all that enjoyable for me.… Expand
  4. tron_paul
    Apr 16, 2013
    0
    Does not work. The game crashes at launch.

    I see the Unreal Engine logo, and then the game dies. It does not work, do not buy until this game is patched and stable.
  5. Riflenator1234
    Feb 14, 2013
    4
    While this game was at first enticing I quickly grew tired of extremely repetitive mechanics that we have seen in many puzzle games. This game also lacks any guidance whatsoever and is essentially a waste of time. I am quite befuddled when I see people praising this game. While it does have SOME originality it is only at the start of the game. The only thing I really liked about the game was the nice minimalistic art style, although; this game is certainly no work of art.… Expand
  6. Ottoplay
    Feb 8, 2013
    0
    This game is unfinished. You are limited to only using the A, W, S, D keys and the spacebar. You are not allowed to configure your keys. The creator of this game and all of you whom approve this kind of half-az work to be released are asking for the world of pain. What you've shown is it's perfectly okay for people to release games that are not finished. Well Done.
  7. SuperConnor99
    Apr 30, 2013
    4
    I don't like this game. it is a puzzle game You move from one room to another room by solving puzzles on the way. It's fun for the hour but after that, BORING. i recommend you skip it.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 49 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 49
  3. Negative: 0 out of 49
  1. CD-Action
    Apr 5, 2013
    85
    I just finished Antichamber. I feel satisfaction I haven’t experienced after completing any game in many years and for the first time in ages I learned something about myself while playing. It’s hard for me to expect anything more from a game. [CD-Action 04/2013, p.82]
  2. Riot Pixels
    Apr 1, 2013
    55
    Antichamber is an intriguing little experiment. It is both a humble imitation and an attempt to avoid all the trappings and clichés of the genre. Alas, it fails to excite. Unlike Echochrome and Braid, where we bending realities to our will, in this game its creators simply tease us whenever they feel like it.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    Mar 24, 2013
    82
    Complex and beautiful. [Apr 2013, p.84]
See all critic reviews »