Antimatter Dimensions

What it is

Antimatter Dimensions is a free incremental game served from a plain GitHub Pages address, and its source code is published openly under the MIT licence. The Steam release lists a team of developers and calls it "a highly unfolding Idle Incremental game" with multiple layers of prestige and achievements. According to that page, the big update that brought the game to Steam arrived "over 4 years" after the previous one, which says something about how much it has grown.

The core idea is a chain. The first dimension produces antimatter. The second produces first dimensions. The third produces second dimensions, and so on up to eight. Because every tier feeds the one below, growth compounds in a way you can feel almost immediately.

How a session goes

You start with ten antimatter and buy a first dimension. Tickspeed upgrades make everything run faster. Once you own enough of the fourth dimension you can perform a Dimension Boost, which resets your dimensions but makes them stronger and adds the fifth tier. Later, Antimatter Galaxies reset even more in exchange for better tickspeed. These small resets are the game teaching you its language.

The real goal, as the Steam page puts it, is "to reach Infinity and receive an Infinity point". Reaching Infinity resets almost everything and introduces a new currency with its own upgrades. Beyond Infinity there are further layers; the game's own shop text mentions Replicanti, Eternity, Dilation, Reality and Glyphs, each a new set of rules sitting on top of the last. Automation grows alongside: the Steam page promises "an obscene amount of automation, including a custom scripting language", and the later game really does let you write small scripts to run your resets for you.

Between the numbers, a news ticker scrolls along the top with jokes that range from silly to oddly literary. It is a nice touch in a game that is otherwise all maths.

How much time it asks

The pattern is bursts. Each new layer arrives with a phase of active play while you learn it, followed by a long idle stretch once automation catches up. The game also has options for how it saves, a statistics page and a large set of achievements, so you can measure progress across weeks if you like. If you enjoy the click of a new system snapping into place, the time feels well spent; if you dislike resetting progress, the core loop will frustrate you.

How it is paid for

The browser game is free and complete. There is a Shop tab, and its first line is unusually candid: the items "are not required to progress in the game, they are just for supporting the developer. The game is balanced without the use of any microtransactions." On the web version the shop shows "In-app Purchases: Disabled" until you change it, and buying requires logging in with a Google account. The shop offers multipliers, chunks of offline production and cosmetic sets. It also notes that purchases on the Android, Steam and web versions are separate. The Steam version is listed as free to play with in-app purchases.

Who it suits

• Players who enjoy prestige resets more than anything else in idle games.
• Anyone who likes automating their own play, up to writing small scripts.
• People curious about open-source games.

Who might skip it

• Readers who want a theme or story; this is numbers first.
• Players who hate losing progress, even temporarily, for long-term gains.
• Anyone uncomfortable with any shop at all, even an optional, switched-off one.

Fair winds

• A clean, fast start that teaches resets gently.
• Remarkable depth across many layers.
• Free and open source, with an honest note on the shop.
• Automation that grows into real programming for those who want it.

Headwinds

• Long-term play is dense and can feel like homework.
• Some layers need reading or community guides to follow.
• An optional shop exists, even if it is off by default on the web.