Machinarium 2009

Is it still worth playing?

Amanita Design's 2009 puzzle adventure, in which Josef, a robot dumped on a scrapheap, reassembles himself and heads into a city to uncover a plot by the Black Cap Brotherhood. The game has no spoken or written dialogue apart from a few tutorial prompts, and the story and goals come as animated thought bubbles. You click on objects within Josef's reach, and puzzles range from abstract logic puzzles, such as rotating ringed dials, to inventory puzzles and a couple of arcade style minigames. Most are confined to a single location. You get one free hint per level, shown as a thought bubble that gets vaguer as the game goes on. The environments are hand drawn, and some items are dark and blend into dark backgrounds, so you have to look closely. Puzzles stay in one place and the world is told without words, so each room is a self contained riddle that is easy to dip into now.