11 Games Like Antichamber
This assortment of games like Antichamber features a range of other experiences that will challenge your mind with puzzles, exploration and psychology.
Antichamber offers players a first person puzzle and platforming challenge that utilises an environment full of bending psychological puzzles that will alter your perception of the game world and video games in general. Resetting your perceived notion of video game norms it can take some adjustment before players make progress through the seemingly impossible maze that is Antichamber.
In Antichamber players assume control of an unnamed character in a first person perspective with the ultimate goal to advance from your starting location to the exit. From this starting room players can see the game controls, obtain hints and utilise the map to transport themselves to areas they have previously visited. Central puzzle elements include a series of coloured guns to interact with the environment, laser beams, platforms and spatial awareness.
The puzzle orientated games like Antichamber found here will challenge your brain in similar ways with a range of different mechanics to master. This list focuses on other first person adventures with self-driven exploration and endless hours of brain teasing puzzle scenarios.
The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable offers a meta-fictional interactive adventure that will mess with your mind as it takes you through a series of increasingly strange and wonderful events. While the game lacks traditional video game gameplay it more than makes up for with mind messing narration that will have you guessing video games and even your own existence in the real world. First born in 2011 as a free Half Life 2 modification this self reflecting experience saw a full release in 2013 which in turn adde...[Read Review]
Tag: The Power of Paint
Tag: The Power of Paint is a free to play adventure that embraces the power of colour and combines it with a first person perspective and shooter based elements. Originally designed as a school project in a similar manner to Narbacular Drop the students behind the game contributed some of their puzzle concepts into the popular puzzle adventure, Portal 2 where they were transformed into the Gel mechanic of Portal 2. Made with a team of 7 students in the game was originally created over a decade a...[Read Review]
Fez
Released in April 2012 Fez is a puzzle experience like no other with its focus on game world manipulation (rotation) to solve puzzles rather than direct interaction from your avatar. With this unique premise combining with a fantastic art style and story Fez is a puzzle game that is more about the experience and overall design than delivering extreme brain teasing puzzles. For those that do consider themselves hardcore puzzle gamers that desire insanely difficult puzzles the anti-cube system mor...[Read Review]
Quantum Conundrum
Quantum Conundrum is a first person game that blends puzzles and platforming with the ability to shift between dimensions as a central game mechanic. At the head of the game was Kim Swift who previously worked on Valve’s Portal game while the famous actor John De Lancie voices the character that oversees your progression with his familiar mysterious tone. Players assume the role of a silent character in the story of Quantum Conundrum with a young boy who is sent to stay with the strange Professo...[Read Review]
The Swapper
The Swapper is a puzzle game that is all about cloning yourself in an endless cycle in order to explore the eerie abandoned space station that you find yourself trapped within. With this dark atmosphere of The Swapper the visuals and atmospheric elements are just as strong as the unique core puzzle mechanics and adventure experience. In The Swapper players get the chance to explore a futuristic research facility and space station known as Theseus without much initial context and who, what, where...[Read Review]
Magrunner: Dark Pulse
Magrunner: Dark Pulse is a first person puzzle game with a number of similarities to the popular Portal series due to both the first person perspective and unique setting it aims to create. Magrunner was released in 2013 for Windows and made its way to consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) later that year. The plot in Magrunner: Dark Pulse takes LoveCraft inspiration and while it has many moving parts that can make you feel stretched in multiple directions players that stop to take it all in will discover...[Read Review]
A Boy and His Blob
A Boy and His Blob for the Nintendo Wii revisits the 1989 NES adventure game with a refreshed look and refined gameplay which once again allows players to own a blob pet who loves to eat jellybeans. While fundamentally similar to the original the leap in hardware allows the Nintendo Wii edition to be a vastly superior re-imagining. Not content with limiting this experience to the Nintendo Wii the game was eventually ported to additional modern day consoles and computer platforms. Focusing on a s...[Read Review]
QUBE
QUBE (Q.U.B.E.) is a puzzle game based around physics and platforming and combines them both in a unique and challenging gameplay framework. With similarities to other first person puzzle games such as Portal QUBE builds on the fundamentals established in these titles with its own variation of mechanics. QUBE was developed as an indie game and a finalist in the 2011 Indie Game Challenge. QUBE stands for Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion places the player into a strange mostly white environm...[Read Review]
Echochrome
Echochrome is a PlayStation exclusive title with unique puzzle elements that uses a rotatable world and physics to alter your perception of each level. Launched in Japan in early 2008 and the North American shores a few months later the game is only available on the PlayStation Network, for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. In Echochrome players will direct a character that is reminiscent of an artist’s wooden mannequin through simple black and white coloured game levels. Players won’t dir...[Read Review]
Vessel
Vessel is a puzzle game with steampunk elements that focuses on physic puzzles based around liquid and challenges players to overcome a diverse roster of challenges. The game was released in 2012 and has proven to be popular among puzzle fans and the media for its unique mechanics and simulation of fluids. In Vessel players will be jumping into the shoes of M. Arkwright who is an inventor of Fluro which is also one of the core mechanics in your puzzle adventure. This Fluro was created in order t...[Read Review]
Narbacular Drop
Narbacular Drop might look like a Portal predecessor at first glance and that’s because it is. Originally a student project of game development the popularity of this unique idea led to students from the development team being invited by Valve to work on the Portal series which adopts similar mechanics. Narbacular Drop is available for free through the official website with several dozen user created puzzle maps for the game also available online to extend the gameplay beyond the original ...[Read Review]