By Nathan Grayson on June 1st, 2012 at 12:44 am.
Too much or too little. It seems like game trailers can never show just enough. I’m dubbing it the Quantum Conundrum Conundrum in honor of today’s absolutely unhinged trailer for Kim Swift’s brain-twister. I mean, I suppose it’s understandable, given that Square and Airtight (Squaretight?) had to condense four dimensions‘ worth of stuff into one video. But goodness, there’s a lot going on here. Boxes fluffifying, safes swooping in meticulous, war-like formation, and images shifting every two seconds – as though powered by my web-browsing habits. It’s all a bit much. Watch the full thing after the break. Then re-watch it to figure out what was actually going on.
Right then. That was a bit all-over-the-place, wasn’t it? And while Portal’s key strength was arguably the simple elegance of its central mechanic, Quantum Conundrum isn’t Portal. The puzzles I’ve played at various trade shows haven’t short circuited my synapses either, so I’m actually fairly hopeful for this one. It’s super silly and incredibly inventive, so – at the very least – I desperately want it to be good.
It’s still dated for “this summer,” though I wouldn’t be surprised if we got something a bit more specific next week. (Edit: It’s hitting Steam on June 21!) Until then, though, we’ll just have to make do with our crummy, thoroughly used regular dimension. Then again, I suppose it’s not all bad. Most doors, for instance, just open. I hardly ever have to drop safes on pressure plates or anything. What a strange world we live in.
01/06/2012 at 00:52 Hideous says:
Hey Nathan! Steam says “June 21″: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200010/
01/06/2012 at 01:19 Nathan Grayson says:
Fixed it! Square put out the press release while I was getting my hair cut. The nerve, right?
01/06/2012 at 02:02 ZIGS says:
They’re actively trying to undermine your work, the bastards
01/06/2012 at 03:02 Highstorm says:
If the avatar is any indication, I’d say they took a bit too much off the top there.
01/06/2012 at 07:03 noom says:
Bazinga
01/06/2012 at 01:11 Quarex says:
I cannot help but wonder if this will be the “playground-style” puzzle game to Portal’s “sandbox-style” puzzle game. Not that Portal was a free-roaming world, obviously, but I cannot imagine how something that looks as insane as that does not have pre-programmed set pieces that are only useful in specific ways. But it would also be exciting to be proven wrong!
01/06/2012 at 01:15 ColOfNature says:
I does look a bit hectic, verging on frantic. I can tell already I’ll hit the wrong button approximately half the time. No doubt much hilarity will ensue. And swearing.
01/06/2012 at 02:02 Chibithor says:
“Most doors, for instance, just open. I hardly ever have to drop safes on pressure plates or anything”
What? What kind of a country are you even living in? Do you use couches instead of safes or something?
01/06/2012 at 02:12 orionstar says:
I have a sad feeling that this will shorten out as you near the end – so once you’ve kind of finally mastered everything, the game ends.
Looking forward to it though.
01/06/2012 at 02:50 Urthman says:
I just had this horrible vision of Kim Swift leaving Valve because she pitched this game and Chet and Erik glanced at each other and said, in unison, “Get ready to stack crates…”
01/06/2012 at 03:22 gwathdring says:
More games need to involve fluffy things. Like kittens. And comfy chairs. And … safes. And whatever this is:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5OfQy7lYM-I/TbCU7Z5vSlI/AAAAAAAABTU/vIpjd__3vJE/s1600/very_fluffy_bunny1.jpg
It is claimed to be a rabbit, but I’m not sure I believe said claims.
01/06/2012 at 06:03 Shadowcat says:
Which end of the rabbit is it?
01/06/2012 at 06:17 qrter says:
The pissed off end.
01/06/2012 at 08:00 c-Row says:
Somebody needs to photoshop a guitar into that picture.
01/06/2012 at 07:38 Mr. Mister says:
Already said that: they’re not different dimentions; “dimention” hasn’t this meaning. They’re more like different points of an extra dimention.
01/06/2012 at 08:53 lordcooper says:
Pretty sure it’s spelled ‘dimenshun’
01/06/2012 at 08:54 CaspianRoach says:
Pretty sure it’s “dementia”
01/06/2012 at 08:18 Yachmenev says:
It looks great, it´s seems like a fun game, the price is good. But the use of “seasonal pass for DLC” on the store page leaves a very bad taste in my mouth when I read it out loud.
01/06/2012 at 08:34 beekay says:
Oh dear.
01/06/2012 at 11:48 Klarden says:
Actually, i think it’s a quite cool idea. When they know they plan to make DLCs, but those are not ready yet and not worked on yet, why not pre-sell them and: a) give them to people cheaper and b) have more financing for actually making them?
If those were ready on release, then yeah, it would be not cool at all
04/06/2012 at 02:18 Hatsworth says:
Also 1$=1€ bullshit.
01/06/2012 at 09:08 Famout says:
As a note, the voice actor of the professor is none other then John de Lancie who played “Q” in Star Trek (and possibly voice actor in some other shows…) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M161dkBtXoM
01/06/2012 at 10:57 Bhazor says:
But can you also think inside the chimney?
01/06/2012 at 12:49 MajorManiac says:
This looks brilliant. The idea of just walking around the environment and changing dimension to see how it affects the details, will be a similar joy to jumping inside people’s minds in Psychonauts to see how their personalities warp their reality.
01/06/2012 at 17:35 Smarag says:
This is such a great game. I’ve been waiting for it so long now and it will be finally released in a few weeks, but holy shit why did they make such a horrible trailer for it?
01/06/2012 at 18:35 Didero says:
Is this the first time that green monster-thingy is shown, or have I just not been paying attention?