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 Professor Quadwrangle. As you arrive you realise that Quadwrangle had completely forgot about your arrival and you get caught in one of his strange experiments that goes wrong. This results in Quadwrangle being stuck in a strange pocket dimension leaving the job of rescuing him up to you.
While Quadwrangle doesn’t fully remember the series of events that led to this adventure into the pocket dimension he is able to communicate and watch players to provide some direction on how he might be saved. Notably this is not the only impact to the game world with Quadwrangle’s mansion left in a state of flux as different sections are subject to the rules of four different dimensions. Using an experimental glove to move through the large number of unique rooms to ultimately power a handful of generators to potentially create an escape for the professor.
Gameplay in Quantum Conundrum revolves around players moving between the rooms impacted by dimensions and avoiding the various dangerous game elements that this brings. This includes lasers, toxic elements and deep pits which will all kill the player and require them to start from the beginning of the level or the most recent checkpoint.
Players primarily manipulate their surroundings by using a glove that they acquire early on that can eventually move between four different dimensions entirely. This includes the fluffy dimension where objects are lighter making them able to be carried, the heavy dimension where objects can protect the player from lasers and provide enough weight to push buttons, the slow dimension that passes game time slowly while allowing the player to move at normal speed and finally the reverse gravity dimension where as the name suggests the gravity is reversed although players are unaffected.
Importantly players can only use dimension at a time and all objects in the game world will change with even the paintings in the game receiving a makeover which is a nice touch. This requires players to think strategically in how they move through dimensions and the impact each will have on their current predicament. As an example many of the puzzles in Quantum Conundrum will involve moving objects in the fluffy dimension and then changing to the heavy dimension so that their weight will activate a switch or block a laser for the player character. Quantum Conundrum has a heavy Portal like feel with the constant talking from Quadwrangle overseeing your efforts in an often dramatic and sometimes even snarky manner. The puzzles also use an interesting dimension mechanic that will have you scratching your head at some of the later levels in particular.
Summary:
- From the same brain that worked on the original Portal.
- Voiced by John De Lancie, which gives the game an added element of mystery beyond the setting.
- Unique dimension mechanic that requires some literal fourth dimensional thinking to overcome the puzzles.
- An enjoyable and interesting adventure through Professor Quadwrangle’s mansion that will change with the dimensions players activate.
- Released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows.
Links:
- Buy Quantum Conundrum (Humble Store)
- Buy Quantum Conundrum (Microsoft Store – Xbox 360)
- Buy Quantum Conundrum (Microsoft Store – Xbox One)
Videos:
Review Platform: PC