Machinarium

Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure game about a robot named Josef navigating a bizarre world filled with metallic machines and rust. The game is split into a series of screens that contain objects to be picked up and matched with their appropriate counterparts. Characters and backgrounds were hand-drawn in a distinctive, gritty style which adds a candid quirkiness to the steampunk aesthetic.

The story begins in a gigantic junkyard, where Josef wounds up unceremoniously. Controlling the robot, you can pick up items and store them in an inventory—Josef actually swallows them and keeps them in his body. Sometimes you’ll need to leverage the robot’s ability to extend his body, because items can be picked up only if Josef can reach them. Specific objects can also be combined to create new inventions.

In order to explore the city of Machinarium, you’ll need to overcome environmental obstacles such as locked doors or falling water. Sometimes it takes a fair amount of experimentation to figure out how the objects from Josef’s inventory can be used to get past these roadblocks. Odd machines with buttons and levers are also scattered throughout the world, all with different mini-games. And some areas play out much like escape rooms.

These puzzles can be difficult, so the game presents several layers of clues. Ideally, illustrations of Josef’s thoughts and conversations with other characters should guide you toward a solution. You may also access a more explicit sketch of the current objective by pressing a hint button in specific areas. Finally, the most detailed resource comes in the form of a locked walkthrough book. Every level has a dedicated page showing how it should be solved. However, in order to encourage reasoning and prevent abuse, the walkthrough book is only available after completing a short arcade-style mini-game.

Josef and the other bots occasionally communicate with each other, yet there’s no written dialogue in the entire game. Conversations and thoughts are actually displayed as sketches in callout bubbles. Most of the narrative is laid out through these sketches. The plot centers around Josef looking for his girlfriend Berta while standing up to the bullies from the Black Cap Brotherhood. Don’t be afraid to take your time with the puzzles; the game may reveal hidden pieces of the narrative while you’re being idle.

This description was written by Cay Macres.