Yeah, I kind’a lied to you. But not without good jest! Today, at PAX, Square Enix and Airtight Games unveiled their ‘brand new’ puzzling IP – Quantum Conundrum. Now, as you read on, you’ll begin to notice why I compared it to Portal in the title. It comes from Portal creator Kim Swift, so resemblances were expected, but, not this much.
The game starts with you, a child, being unwillingly dropped off at your Uncle Fitz Quadwrangle’s house. (Sound familiar yet? Like, Chell and Cave Johnson familiar?) Soon after your arrival, you discover that your Uncle is actually a deranged scientist living in a giant laboratory, yet, he’s nowhere to be found.So you set about yourself to find him, with the help of the ISD –  Interdimentional Shift Device, which, is totally not the portal gun. It grants you the ability to switch between four dimensions, once they are active, each with different aesthetic and effect.
As you start on your explorations, you begin to notice that progressing is not as easy as it seems, and you need to complete a lot of different puzzles in order to progress into the next room (chamber).  Alongside you throughout is the not so trusty, malfunctioning robot DOLLI, again, totally not like GLaDOS, right? From the early demo, most of the puzzles consist of moving boxes, safes, chairs and more in the aim to block lasers to disconnect contraptions, press down switches, smash glass and more. Now, is it me, or is that just three types of cubes and this is the biggest Portal rip possible?
However, the dimension switching mechanic seems very interesting. The first dimension shown was the fluffy dimension, which made everything baby-pink and very light, allowing you to move previously overweighted objects. So, the puzzles could actually turn out to be fairly challenging, and somewhat impressive. But I know I won’t be able to shake the Portal vibe it gives.
Quantum Conundrum is slated for XBLA, PSN, and PC in early 2012. And you can watch the walkthrough of an early level below.
