Samorost 2

Samorost 2 took everything that worked in the first little game and gave it more room. This time aliens kidnap the gnome's dog, and he sets off after it across the universe — which is the whole story, again without a single word. The first half could be played for free in the browser, the second had to be bought, and this model was the studio's first time making money from it.

Visually it's the same approach as before: photographs of natural materials and rusty metal assembled into a world that feels organic and mechanical at once. Compared to the first game, though, you can tell there was a budget and time behind it — the animations are smoother, there are more scenes, and Tomáš Dvořák's soundtrack got the room to grow that later became the foundation for Machinarium's music.

The puzzles remain gentle. If you're stuck, the solution is usually something on the screen you haven't noticed yet, not some complicated combination of items. The game won a Webby Award and was, for a lot of people abroad, their first encounter with Czech game-making.

Why play it: A more mature Samorost, one that shows how a one-off little game was turning into a craft — and the first half is still free.