Machinarium

Machinarium is a ‘straight off the lot’ point-and-click puzzler that excels through some wonderful world building, clever storytelling and adorable characters. Whilst never straying far from the standard formula, there’s still plenty to enjoy, not least the fantastic, rust-covered visuals and well constructed soundtrack. This is one I’d recommend to newcomers and veterans of the genre in equal measure - while old school fans might not get much brain stretching out of it, it’s worth everyone’s time for the chance to experience this wacky welded world for yourself.

Machinarium is a puzzle game that transports the player to a world of metal and fantasy. From a desolate scrapyard, our protagonist will have to escape overcoming various adversities and completing puzzles of all kinds. All this through landscapes that look like hand-painted paintings.

Machinarium may be simple in concept, but just like other point-and-click puzzle games, the solution can be a bit mind bending. I do very much appreciate that there is an option to help you find the solution. No one wants to throw a controller across the room simply because they didn’t think to add a magnet to a fishing rod in order to tank a dog across a river.

A robotic-themed adventure game composed of well-oiled and rusty parts.

Czech developer Amanita Design has succeeded in creating a breakthrough in point-and-click adventures; one which doesn’t look like it will be surpassed for quite some time.