Just when you think a genre or mode of presenting entertainment has seen its day, something comes along to challenge that thought. Take the case of Machinarium. This is a total throwback, a point-and-click adventure game. I can hear the eyes of a legion of hipper-than-thou RealTime 3D twitch game fanatics rolling their eyes, but this thing is really cool. Besides, Machinarium won the Independent Games Festival, so even the gamesnobs recognize that it has merit.
This game was made by the same folks who brought you Samorost and Samorost2, which were very successful indie games distributed online. But Machinarium jettisons the Photoshopped graphics of its predecessors in favor of beautiful, hand-drawn art (in the words of Peter “Tokzic” Hargreaves, who shared this link with me) “As God intended”. Amen.
Machinarium has charm, simplicity, and an engaging world you can get lost in. This is the kind of thing that turns my gears.
UPDATE: Tokzic writes in to inform us – They have a short demo of the game HERE.
The company will be redoing the site soon as they will release this puppy today. HINT: Download it now.
UPDATE, 10/19/2009: I’ve bought the game, and it’s really fun. I must admit at first I thought it was just sort of scribbly and charming and European, but the more I look at the drawings the more beautiful they are. I’m in awe. I’ve drunk the Cool Aid, but OK. It’s really a good game and certainly worth the $20. HINT: Buy it at the company’s website through a secure Verisigned transaction and you even get Thomas Dvorak’s soundtrack for the game in MP3 format, so you can listen to the game even when you’re not playing. For instance, I’m listening to it right now. Yup. I’m typing to you. But I’m thinking about Machinarium…
Yeah! I saw this a few months ago and got pretty excited. I thought Samorost was brilliant. What beautiful design this stuff has. I haven’t bought a game in ages, but I might get this one.
I havnt seen this one… it looks great. I love seeing these great indie games coming out. The styles are great… Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is another I am looking forward to.
Thanks for the post Steve.
Yup. Some really great non-traditional, non-realtime3D games coming out. Quite a refreshing break from the status quo.
Glad you liked it!
Wow, this looks like one amazing point’n'click adventure.
I’ve been hooked on adventure games since I played The Secret of Monkey Island back in 1990-1991.
This looks completely different from traditional graphic adventures. I like the hand-drawn art, but the way you interact with the game elements seems the most innovative.
They have a short demo of the game at
http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/10/01/machinarium-demo/
but will be redoing the site soon as they will release this puppy today. Nice mind bending puzzles at your own pace so you can soak up the hand-drawn goodness.