Manifold Garden

“In William Chyr’s Manifold Garden, the player’s world is not our own.” – Jacob Geller, 2020.

Manifold garden is a game about infinity. Every ceiling a floor, Every direction stretching out in a looping manner, only terminated temporarily by the repeating floors, and in this game you get to navigate this infintite world to solve problems and adventure through many more infinite and non-euclidean worlds.

I first learned of this game through a video essay by Jacob Geller, who I quoted above. An essay talking about Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel, Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, and Manifold garden. It’s an insightful and deep essay on the meaning of infinity and nonsensical structures. Architecture for the sake of architecture. But listening to the essay and experiencing Manifold Garden yourself are far far different experiences, and I’m glad I spent my time with the game.

You learn quickly that every iteration of the world is the same, that entering a door is exactly the same as entering the same door one floor below, that manipulating the world manipulates all worlds, and that falling is the same action as climbing. Thiis world is not our own, after all.

All I’d say is that if you get motion sick easily, or struggle with heights in video games, this might not be the game for you, as this game is only heights. Infinite heights, in all six directions.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/473950 £15.99
Itch.io: https://williamchyr.itch.io/manifoldgarden $19.99
Switch: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Manifold-Garden-1823129.html £16.19