What Lies in the Multiverse

What Lies in the Multiverse is a 2D puzzle platformer built around one core mechanic that keeps finding new ways to surprise you: a button that flips you between two versions of the same world. Same level, different geometry. A wall in one dimension is a gap in another. A platform that exists here vanishes there. Studio Voyager wrings an impressive amount of variety out of this single idea, layering in timing challenges, environmental hazards, and logic puzzles that require you to hold two maps in your head simultaneously. It never overstays its welcome, and for a smaller indie release it has a surprisingly confident sense of when to escalate and when to breathe. The story is where this one genuinely earns its keep. It follows a young boy named Evan and a morally questionable scientist named Phin, and the writing walks a tonal tightrope that very few games attempt: bleakly comic, occasionally melancholic, and self-aware without being smug about it. The dialogue is punchy and weird in the right ways. Some of the humor lands like a gut punch dressed up as a joke, and the game is not afraid to let a quieter emotional beat sit for a moment before cutting back to absurdity. For a short-to-medium length experience, the character work is more developed than you would expect. Visually, What Lies in the Multiverse leans into a hand-drawn aesthetic that feels intentional rather than budget-constrained. The dimension-shifted versions of each environment have their own distinct palette and mood, which does a lot of narrative and atmospheric heavy lifting without any additional text. The soundtrack supports the tone well, shifting registers between playful and quietly unsettling in a way that matches the story's tonal swings. It is the kind of score you notice without it demanding your attention, which is exactly what good game music should do. There are rough edges. Some of the mid-game puzzle sections repeat their own logic a beat too long before introducing a new wrinkle, and the controls can feel slightly loose on a keyboard, making a controller the recommended input. Pacing in the back third accelerates noticeably, which works for momentum but means a few story threads feel concluded faster than they were built up. None of this significantly damages the experience, but players expecting a tight polish across every seam will find the occasional frayed edge. This is a game for people who like their puzzle platformers to have something to say, and who find the combination of dark comedy and genuine emotional stakes more interesting than reflex-heavy challenge runs. It is not trying to be the hardest puzzle game you have played. It is trying to be one of the stranger, warmer, more unexpectedly affecting ones. At its length and with its pedigree, that is a fair trade.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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