Meanwhile, Botanicula‘s tribal, ambient soundtrack ranks for me among the best videogame music this year. The weeks and months that must have gone into concept design pay off in a host of background extras that will have you entranced and wanting to bring your favourite ones home. And while there are gorgeous, almost mystical qualities to the background, it’s the truly baffling variety of characters that take center stage. Amanita’s growingly signature hand-stencilled flare leaves its mark on every doting frame. Since I’m never one to leave an analogy in the wind, the supporting cast here is equally stellar. Some devilish pattern play exists, but mostly you’re an anthropologist, studying and harnessing behavior. Where some adventure games satisfy by putting only your right brain to the test, Botanicula is far more Monkey Island than Myst. Forging paths forward through favours and – in some cases – trickery. Coaxing things coveted away to craft tools. Finding things lost and trading them for things owned. In the spirit of this game’s focus on relationships, advancement seems to be about satisfying needs. If the game had a star, it would most definitely be the puzzles. And while you may get twisted around now and again, the addition of a world map means that most of your head scratching will be done on the puzzles. Instead, Botanicula is divided in its own way into zones with often very clear objectives. Gone is the occasional obtuseness of being left to figure out where you’re supposed to be puzzling before you can even begin to solve something. In fact compared to Machinarium, I’d say this is less confusing. This isn’t to say the game is haplessly open-ended. Teeming with life, yes, but a reminder that straying from the beaten path to watch a colony of fantastical dragonflies hatch from eggs can be its own reward. In an age steeped in achievements, leaderboards, and reward points, Botanicula feels refreshingly pared down. A constantly updating, avante garde Wikipedia of movement that chronicles the laundry list of minor and major players you encounter – for no other reason than to do so. One of my favourite features is the game’s deck of playing cards. The result is something truly exploratory, and full of moments and characters that often exist just to exist. The world’s many insectile inhabitants are your only keys to understanding what’s gone wrong, and helping them with their problems is your only hope of making things right. With no formal convention to hold your hand, Botanicula quickly becomes about the curation micro-relationships. To that end, you control a group of five bug-plant crossovers the likes of which Roald Dahl would cook up, on a mission to find out why their treetop home is suddenly losing life.Ī mission that – like Machinarium‘s – is without words, and is all the better for it. It would be a disservice to the experience of Botanicula to describe the whole story, because like Amanita’s first outing, the narrative here is a thing to untangle: a puzzle within a puzzle. More excitingly, it feels like part of an ongoing ode to wonderment and discovery a game which once more pushes the boundaries of the modern point-and-click adventure. The Machinarium developer’s latest seems to celebrate tiny creatures, unseen machinations, and the beauty of the natural world. It’s more than a love letter to bugs, however. So it’s perhaps the highest compliment that I can give to say that Amanita Design’s Botanicula makes me want to give the collective insect world one massive hug. Normally, I’m curling slowly into the fetal position while my girlfriend poisons the beasts with a bottle full of shower cleaner. I’m the kind of person for whom “scared of spiders” is a huge understatement. More than 150 detailed locations to explore.īotanicula is also available on iOS.Overflowing with TLC, Amanita’s latest is sure to grow on you Relaxed game perfect for hard core gamers, their partners, families and seniors. * A bold, bright, and brilliant adventure. * Botanicula is so damned good that it probably won't even wind up on Metacritic. * IGM Readers' Choice Award in Best Sound / Music * IndieCade: Best Story/World Design Award Read Moreīotanicula is a humor-filled adventure game from Amanita Design, creators of award-winning Machinarium and Samorost series, and Czech band DVA.įive friends, little tree creatures, set out on a journey to save the last seed from their home tree which is infested by evil parasites. Five friends, little tree creatures, set out on a journey to save the last seed from their home tree. Botanicula is a humor-filled adventure game from Amanita Design, creators of award-winning Machinarium and Samorost series, and Czech band DVA.
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