Samorost 3

Samorost 3 from 2016 is another point-and-click adventure from studio Amanita Design, this time with a much larger and more elaborate world than its predecessors. The player takes on the role of a small forest gnome who, thanks to a magical flute, travels aboard a spaceship between strange planets to uncover the origin of a mysterious object affecting his home forest. Each planet visited has its own visual style, fauna and puzzle logic, so the game feels like a collection of small, carefully crafted worlds connected by one story of searching for and righting an old wrong. The transition between planets is accompanied by short travel sequences that give the player time to absorb the chapter just completed before diving into the next one.

As in the studio's previous games, there is no spoken or written text of any kind here either — all understanding of the world and its inhabitants arises purely from visual and audio cues, gestures and facial expressions of the small creatures the player encounters, whether a trusting bug or a mysterious trader in strange artifacts. The hand-drawn graphics, combined with organic, almost biological shapes, create a unique surrealist atmosphere, complemented by ambient music that supports the contemplative pace of play. The puzzles are more intuitive and exploratory than strictly logical, which sets the game apart from classic adventures based on combining objects, and the player is often rewarded simply for carefully examining the scenery.

Samorost 3 confirmed Amanita Design's reputation as one of the most distinctive European independent studios, and even years later it is praised above all for its visual inventiveness and its ability to create a sense of discovering an unknown world that no other game can quite claim for itself. Players remember the game above all for the feeling of calm and wonder it can evoke without a single line of dialogue.