Antichamber has blossomed from an Unreal Tournament 2004 project into a deceptively minimalistic puzzle game. It is an excellent addition to any gaming library thanks to its challenging puzzles and its psychological manipulation of common expectations.

While the basic cell-shaded graphics may be down to the game's budget, Antichamber pulls them off brilliantly. Bright primary colours blanket areas where other games might use high quality textures, and interesting particle effects stand out as a visual cue rather than as something to be expected. This adds to the game's poignant art style, as well as making it run smoothly on less capable computers.

Antichamber's gameplay mechanics switch between bending the fabric of reality and rule-oriented cube placement. Many puzzles' currencies are doled out as these collectable cubes, with different colours representing possible hints towards a solution. Other puzzles involving movement, physics, and even view orientation are welcome additions that are interspersed regularly. The pacing flows nicely between areas, and each puzzle is unique enough to stay fresh. Rooms that seem inaccessible earlier on will eventually be attainable once new techniques of manipulating cubes are discovered. While this does make for a lot of back-tracking, Antichamber's theme revolves around revisiting the impossible.

Aside from teaching the basics of how to utilize its tools, the game leaves interaction with its cubed building-blocks up to the player. The imposed experiential learning leads to many “Eureka!” moments during Antichamber's journey. The game balances them perfectly with some of the more difficult challenges; each solution is just enough of an ego boost to keep spirits high before perplexing players with a new situation. Even the more stupefying tasks never seem arduous, in part because of their basic elegance but also thanks to the omnipresent musical atmosphere.

Excellent sound effects are probably the main reason why Antichamber maintains such a calm ambiance. Whether splashing through a shallow pond or standing on a windy mountaintop, the sounds of nature are always present and never get tedious. This contrast between the game's claustrophobic interiors and its superb outdoor soundscape is very mentally stimulating and adds to Antichamber's aloofness. Thankfully, the oddly juxtaposed soundtrack avoids over-complicating itself, which keeps the focus on exploring and solving puzzles.

Depending on how thoroughly it's completed, expect this journey to last between eight to twelve hours. Although certain puzzles are inevitably stumping, pulling through them is what makes Antichamber so satisfying to play. Its engrossing atmosphere and frequent instances of disbelief combine to form one of this generation's most appealing puzzle games.