Machinarium

Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure set in a world of rusty robots, in which the player guides a small robot named Josef on a journey to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend and his home city from a gang of street thugs threatening the city with a bomb. The game is built on the classic principle of finding items and solving logic puzzles, but stands out for its sensitively crafted, hand-drawn environment full of detail, humor, and melancholy, where technology and organic decay blend into one visually unforgettable whole without a single line of spoken text.

For the PlayStation 3 version, the controls were adapted for both the gamepad and the Sixaxis controller's touchpad, without sacrificing the precision needed for delicate puzzles involving the moving of small objects. The puzzles are varied, ranging from classic item combining through minigames to logical sequences and brainteasers hidden in the background of scenes, and the game also offers hints in the form of comic-strip bubbles as well as an elaborate hint book for players who get stuck. The music was composed by Slovak musician Tomáš Dvořák, performing under the name Floex, and his melancholically electronic score, blending ambient sounds with live instruments, is among the most memorable things the game has to offer.

At the time of release, Machinarium was praised as an exceptionally artistic adventure game and became one of the most visible successes of the Central European independent scene on the international stage. On the PlayStation 3, it was among the titles that demonstrated the digital PlayStation Network market could also find room for distinctive auteur adventure games outside the mainstream of major publishers, and for many players it was their very first encounter with the work of a Czech game studio at all.

The melancholic, unhurried atmosphere — in which the player is never rushed anywhere and instead explores and experiments — contrasted with the console market's emphasis at the time on fast-paced action experiences, and it was precisely this different pace that won Machinarium a loyal audience. The game is still cited today as one of the most approachable introductions to the adventure genre for players who otherwise avoid classic point-and-click titles.

Why play it: With its melancholic, unhurried atmosphere and being one of the most approachable introductions to point-and-click adventures, Machinarium suits even players who otherwise steer clear of classic adventure games.