Manifold Garden

Great game, but iOS version not the best

Absolutely loved this game, the puzzles and the art and the rest were just fantastic. Playing on iOS is extremely difficult to do though, be it with touchscreen controls or with a controller. I have an iPhone 7+, but the graphics were just very hard to see through with the grainy resolution implemented to reduce processing stress. Dunno if someone with a newer phone wouldn’t have the same problems or not, but frequently the game would slow down and stutter, which made it difficult to find my way around sometimes. Nothing that can be done about that for me. There’s a lot of obvious secrets that I want to find, but with the way the iOS version is, I’m afraid I’ll have to wait till I purchase the PC version. Will help me enjoy the game even more than I already did and its graphics a lot better too.

What? Love it, but what?

I’m used to puzzlers with malleable laws of physics. Portal and Antichamber are some of my favorite games, even. However, I have learned that I have a breaking point with my understanding of the non-euclid, and that breaking point is this game. A complaint could almost be made that it works TOO well. It’s difficult to wrap your head around in all of the right ways, and combining the game’s poor relationship with Newton with the age-old “box-on-button” puzzle results in something entirely new. I will say, though, I don’t believe IOS is the best platform to experience this. The framerate is pretty sluggish by default, and it gets worse whenever looking at particularly complicated geometries. It’s not a huge damper on the game, though, and given that this game is multi-platform, it’s forgivable. My only real complaints with the actual game are mostly found in the options menu; the lack of look-sensitivity and FOV sliders is a bit upsetting. It would also help if there were more options than “slowly rotate the camera upon changing gravity” and “instantly teleport to the wall”. Other than that, it’s headache-inducing and I love it very, very much.

A wonderful, mind-bending puzzle

I will admit, I haven’t yet completed the game. But I must say, I am very impressed so far. They give you a handful of tutorials at the beginning, how to move and place and such, and then after that you’re on your own. This makes the game challenging, know that you’d have to ask around for help if you get stuck. Luckily, the puzzles included are difficult enough to make me think or take a break for the day, but not so hard that I give up on the game in total. The idea and story that you follow through the game is quite fascinating in itself. It appears you’re helping to push away the darkness with the cubes of color and life that grow on trees. While working with the dark cubes, I have to remind myself that nothing is going to jump out at me since it has that sort of feel. I will definitely continue playing this game through, and highly suggest it to people who enjoy puzzle games such as “Monument Valley.”

Amazing

This is one of the best puzzle games of the last few years. It’s also a technological wonder; it’s amazing how well it runs on mobile devices. The puzzles will bend your brain but hopefully won’t break it. I made it through the whole game without needing to seek outside help, but I did have to put it down a few times when I got stuck. It can help to do something else for an hour or two and come back to a puzzle after letting your brain relax. I only had two problems with this game: 1. Syncing cloud saves between devices isn’t particularly graceful. One wrong tap could lose significant progress. 2. Early in the game (perhaps 10% of the way through it) I fell through the void into an unfinished area where I was trapped with a ball puzzle that I couldn’t complete. (The ball shaft went through a wall and it was difficult to see it through a window.) eventually I decided that something was wrong and I started the game over. The second time I avoided falling in that particular spot and never came across that (seemingly unused) puzzle in my subsequent play-through. (And I did finish the game.) I still have a save file from that spot though, so I might have to try it again and see what happens if I solve it. It does seem odd that the ball mechanic never showed up in the final part of the game, given that they revisited all the other major game mechanics.

One of the best puzzle games I’ve ever experienced. Not played, I ~experienced~.

I have really only finished the first major level so far, and have a long way to go, but I have never been as impressed and stunned as I have been playing this for the first time. The game is headache inducing, with the hard to wrap your head around and floor flipping mechanics, but it is an absolute joy to play. A couple of things to note. It’s very graphics intensive. I love the art style and it played perfectly on my iPhone 12 Pro Max, but not everybody has an iPhone 12. There are a ridiculous amount of things to render and the level of detail on light and shadows are incredible. Not to mention the sound effects, from the eerie to grand music and the pings and pongs of boxes on various materials. The controls aren’t as bad as other people say, in fact, I felt it played quite smoothly, although I am an experienced iOS gamer. Very minimal controls, tap to do an action, camera movement with the right side of the screen and a small dpad for character movement. Overall, I am really satisfied with this game. I was actually about to unsubscribe from Apple Arcade but this game blew me away and will keep me playing for awhile longer. Nothing cooler than going through a small door to see an incredible view just beyond.

I fixed the cubies

This was a lot of fun to play. It was a challenging puzzle game that added new little changes and options at each level to give it new perspective. Some steps to a while to complete either because of my mistakes or slow movement. I would have liked having a map sometimes of discovered areas. I almost got stuck once because I hadn’t completed an earlier piece I skipped. This was good to play and come back later and encourages new thinking. The birds and trees are a nice touch, but something more personable would have made it feel less lonely. I think that was intended, but I still would have liked a traveling companion or something to make it feel like I was interacting with a character. The infinite multiverse gets lonely sometimes. This was a great challenge for a puzzle addict, and I really like the ending.

Amazing game, but the ending is bugged

I love non-Euclidean puzzles, and this is no exception. The puzzles are fantastic, and I found on a few of them (most notably involving river directing puzzles) there’s actually more than one solution. Overall, a great game to sink an afternoon into. For some reason, once I’ve collected the final tesseract-looking block and run through the entrance that spawns, I’m met with just a solid wall at the other end of the corridor, with nowhere to go. After spending a few minutes wondering if this was a final puzzle, I ended up throwing up my hands and taking to the Internet — the one and only time I did so during my play through — to find that where I was getting a solid wall, other players were getting a staircase. I ended up having to quit the game from multitasking and restart it for the stairs to render properly and the ending of the game reachable.

yes yes yes again. Exactly what I needed

This game. Ugh this GAME. it literally is everything I’ve ever wanted in a game. The mind ending ness just increases as the game goes on. At first it kinda directs you through the “levels” and then once you’ve established that it’s like Kay here’s the “map” now go and figure out how to do what you need to do. And what you need to do changes so frequently it’s constant entertainment. And then the whole jumping off the map and arriving back on the map thing… I love it. The way the game is challenging but not stressful is what makes it a to die for game. Sure some things are a little bit difficult to figure out at first but once you’ve figured it out oh the satisfaction. The only complaint I have is my game would glitch out and then not save my data but it’s ok, because yeah it’s ok.

One of the best games I’ve played

Just beat this game. So satisfying. Had no clue what I was getting into when I downloaded it. I usually dislike FPV controls on a touchscreen, but I was so drawn in that it didn’t matter. I would even say I’m definitely more open to FPV on the touchscreen after having played this game. ... But how the level design and mechanics are intertwined makes for one of the best gameplay experiences I’ve had. I can’t even imagine the care that went into it. The music, sound design, and art direction totally hooked me immediately. It’s easy to compare this game to Portal for all of the right reasons, but this is NOT A CLONE. It is a totally unique and authentic experience. I can’t say enough good things. Thank you so much for creating a new favorite.

Very annoying glitch 👎👎👎

Don’t get me wrong, the developers really thought it out while making this game and I love that part. But this major glitch is really annoying and made me lose my progress. I’ve overall played this game for about a week and towards the beginning everything was fine and dandy, I was progressing well. But on day 2-3ish I’d sign in and I’d go back 1-2 puzzles. It wasn’t too bad because it was simple then but just yesterday I accomplished the purple section(and was half way through the next level) and SAVED the progress I had in my log. So today I decided to play a little and I got back tracked a whole 2 levels in a really random location. So I checked my log and all my progress moments were gone again! (And I am the only one to use my device/account so no one else can access it). Very annoying and completely ruined the fun of this game, do not recommend unless you love losing progress

A screenshot from Manifold Garden William Chyr Studio. Filed under: Reviews. I got lost in Manifold Garden's surreal puzzle of impossible...

Polygon Sat Nov 23 2019

... upgrade your equipment, and more as the game progresses. As is the case with many ... Manifold Garden. Genre: Puzzle; Developer: William Chyr...

VG247 Thu Nov 02 2023

Manifold Garden is finally out now on PlayStation 4. Enjoy! manifold gardenplaystation gamesps4william chyr studio. Did you like this? Like...

PlayStation.Blog Sun Aug 23 2020

5 Manifold Garden. William Chyr. 3.07K subscribers. Manifold Garden ... Manifold Garden creates an environment that is both integral to the...

CBR Wed Aug 23 2023

William Chyr. 3.07K subscribers. Manifold Garden - Now Available ... Manifold Garden. The first-person adventure game is disorienting at...

The Verge Sat Nov 23 2019

We still don't know much about the game, but if you're looking to be more illuminated before going in, creator William Chyr regularly streams...

PC Gamer Tue Aug 23 2016