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Machinarium & Demo Now Available

[Oct 19, 2009, 1:21 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Amanita Design (Samorost and Samorost2) announce the availability of Machinarium, their first full-scale game project. There's a web-based three level playable demo of the point-and-click puzzle/adventure game on the Machinarium Website, where the game is also available for purchase via digital distribution. The Windows edition is also for sale on Direct2Drive, Impulse, and Steam, and the Mac edition is being sold on Direct2Drive.

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Re: Machinarium & Demo Now Available

Oct 19, 2009, 14:13

spindoctor

The game is fabulous. I'm about half way through it and I'm loving it.

From a purely gameplay perspective, there are some weak points. There is a distinct lack of structure and flow to the game. It is often unclear what needs to be done in a particular scene. This is compounded by the fact that there are no dialogues in the game (neither text, nor voice). Which means that the player has to rely on visual clues to do everything, and those are not always apparent (at least to me) without using the inbuilt hint/walkthrough system. Sometimes the item required to solve a puzzle will only be available to you later on in the game and it requires some backtracking as well.

Having said that, these shortcomings pale into insignificance when one sees just how enchanting this game is. It is a labor of love in every sense of the word. The music is fabulous, the artwork is gorgeous, the atmosphere is brilliant. The puzzles are generally hard, but solving them is immensely satisfying. Some are random, but most are absolutely delightful. There are little touches that will bring a smile to your face every time... like how the robot starts dreaming of his girlfriend every time you leave him idle. Or how he starts dancing away when he's in a scene with music playing. Or something as simple as sliding down the railings instead of using the stairs to walk down. It's just adorable.

Indie Game of the Year as far as I'm concerned. Or close enough.




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Subject

Comment [quote="spindoctor"Oct 19, 2009, 14:13]The game is fabulous. I'm about half way through it and I'm loving it. From a purely gameplay perspective, there are some weak points. There is a distinct lack of structure and flow to the game. It is often unclear what needs to be done in a particular scene. This is compounded by the fact that there are no dialogues in the game (neither text, nor voice). Which means that the player has to rely on visual clues to do everything, and those are not always apparent (at least to me) without using the inbuilt hint/walkthrough system. Sometimes the item required to solve a puzzle will only be available to you later on in the game and it requires some backtracking as well. Having said that, these shortcomings pale into insignificance when one sees just how i[enchanting]i this game is. It is a labor of love in every sense of the word. The music is fabulous, the artwork is gorgeous, the atmosphere is brilliant. The puzzles are generally hard, but solving them is immensely satisfying. Some are random, but most are absolutely delightful. There are little touches that will bring a smile to your face every time... like how the robot starts dreaming of his girlfriend every time you leave him idle. Or how he starts dancing away when he's in a scene with music playing. Or something as simple as sliding down the railings instead of using the stairs to walk down. It's just adorable. Indie Game of the Year as far as I'm concerned. Or close enough. [/quote]

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