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Undermine secret room puzzles3/27/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() But as I said, this isn’t like a Zelda or a Portal, in which puzzles unfold in logical sequence and require the use of the tools provided. There are no enemies in these white, empty hallways I eventually find a pair of guns that shoot blocks, which I can use to solve puzzles, build bridges and stop automatic doors from closing. A weirder idea.Ī player’s “reward” for beating sequences of a game is usually a feeling of progress or power. In Antichamber, Bruce makes it clear that he knows the path I’m used to taking as a player … but he has a better idea. As a player, I trust that the developer wants me to take a particular path, and that this path will hold my hand and sign-post me to the end. Bruce’s game doesn’t just count on your expectations about how real-life spaces work and subvert those assumptions his game also relies on the player’s expected knowledge of videogame paths. Antichamber isn’t a commentary on real life it’s a videogame about videogames. ![]() This is no grand emotional statement about how the true value in life is re-evaluating your chosen path. In Antichamber, going backwards often results in discovering a totally new area. In most videogame-and in, y’know, actual rooms in real life-turning around will take you back to the place you just were. Turning around will not take you back down the hallway that you used to get to the stairs it will take you to a new room entirely. The way to “beat” this set of endless staircases is to turn around. It’s a trick, and that first trick teaches you the key to winning this game, insofar as the game can be won at all: Do not trust Antichamber, because Antichamber is not what it appears to be. No matter how many stairs you climb, you end up back at the foot of the stairs again. It doesn’t matter which set of stairs you choose both lead nowhere. You start in a hallway with two sets of stairs one goes up, one goes down. But in Antichamber, going in circles is the game. Getting stuck in this game leads to walking in circles, just as it does in more straightforward adventure games like The Legend of Zelda or Portal. The only way to beat Alexander Bruce’s Antichamber is to go backwards. ![]()
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