Quantum Conundrum

Puzzles get increasingly more complex as new areas are explored, and Quantum Conundrum takes great pleasure in spinning the solutions across various dimensions. One challenge tasks us with retrieving a safe past some lasers; getting to the safe is easy, but we need to bring a fluffy dimension battery to a terminal next to it, and the lasers are assigned to vaporise it. 

The solution involves using slow motion to suspend a box in midair to block an activation beam in the previous room, cutting off the laser's power in the room with the safe. Retrieving the safe requires picking it up and throwing it in fluffy dimension, then switching back to slow motion to disable the lasers again before the safe gets fried.

Eventually we have to use all these powers in conjunction with one another. Switching to the fluffy dimension allows us to throw a safe in the air, and a quick switch to the slow motion dimension allows us to jump atop it as it flies through the air. Finally, toggling between the anti-gravity dimension and the normal world keeps the safe airborne as it bobbles up and down, allowing us to surf it to our destination.

Aside from continuing Portal's penchant for puzzles, Quantum Conundrum maintains a sense of infectious fun. In a cute touch, the paintings on the wall change based on what dimensions you're in. Portraits of Professor Quadwrangle look noble and dignified in the normal world, but in fluffy dimension he's wearing a bunny suit.

In anti-gravity only his feet are shown near the top of the frame, while in the slow motion dimension he's impatiently looking at his watch. Paintings of his monocle-sporting cat, goldfish, and an adorable Shih Tzu-like creature named IKE (an anagram for Inter-dimensional Kinetic Entity, who can see every dimension at once) change as well with increasingly preposterous results.

If there's one thing missing from Quantum Conundrum it's any signs of life. Portal had GLaDOS mocking us throughout, and its sterile environments and vaguely apocalyptic setting complemented Chell's isolation. Quantum Conundrum's loneliness feels a bit at odds with its warm colours, though Swift ensures us that Professor Quadwrangle will find ways to communicate with us. Sadly, when I asked if we'd get to meet the professor's cat she said no. 

Swift has revealed there will be no combat or violence in the game as she wanted Quantum Conundrum to be appropriate for everyone, citing some of her fondest gaming memories of playing videogames with her father as a child. When I asked if that meant there'd be any co-op she admitted that while they have plenty of ideas they'd love to explore further, a co-op mode won't be present at launch.

Quantum Conundrum may not have the immediate face-palming simplicity of Portal, but its deceptively complicated puzzle design and cutesy humor appear to be a worthwhile follow-up. For all we know, next year everyone will complain that what Gordon Freeman really needs is a fluffy gun.