Riddle me this, if Samorost 1 is so good, then how come there's no Smaorost tw- oh... there is?... Well I got no jokes then, it was either that or making a Starfield pun.
My experience with Amanita Design's catalogue is limited to having beaten Chuchel some two years ago and very little else, which is a shame considering how much I enjoyed that game and the good things I've heard about Machinarium and Botanicula; all of their work has a consistent and unique sense of style, be it detailed or more cartoon, serious or more comedic, even if you haven't played any of them, you know an Amanita Design game when you see it. And if there's one thing I can say confidently, is that they nailed that personality from the very beginning, Samorost may not have been the first game the studio ever released, but while playing it I could clearly see the roots of what would end up becoming the full fledge experience that is Chuchel, and it a ton of ways it kinda felt like a bite-sized version of it.
Pure controlled absurdism captured and summarized in about 15 minutes, a quick space odyssey that managed to be surprising consistent on its presentation. It's also a game starring a funny gnome with a funny voice where you encounter singing goats and an owl with human eyes, so yeah, it was also stupid, the good kind of stupid.
The hand-drawn characters, some with human features plastered onto them, fit in this realistic little planet full of moss and rust almost perfectly, for as little as I was able to stay, I was left captivated by Samorost world and its nonsensical machinations, every screen was seemingly made with the purpose to be both perplexing and easy to the eye, while also having pretty easy but creative little puzzles thrown in. You really get to interact with this weird-ass planet and it is so incredibly cool, and seeing things made out tins and small objects be the same size as mountains or normal buildings made it even more charismatic than it already was. Also, the OST and sound design are oddly fantastic? Like, I wasn't expecting anything bad, but this blew me away, even if most songs and mere ambience, the few full-blown pieces are great, they blend the ethereal with the surreal, and I can't say that I've heard nothing like it in a long while... and the sounds everyone makes here are just really funny, everybody here are little gremlins and I love them all.
The things that hold it back, like its lack of a real story or more complex puzzles, can't be really considered as ''flaws'', it's just a game that wants to be a simple little adventure, and in that it delivers in spades, it's just that because of its own nature, it can't really be more than a fun little space trip; the only thing I would point out as a real flaw is how it sometimes can be a bit difficult what you need to exactly click to find the puzzle or progress; it will never take too long to find out, but sometimes some things mesh with the background too well, especially in the second to last screen.
It was fun to play one of the very first story-book adventures handcrafted by this rather small but talented studio, and it was even more cool to see how many of this game is on later works made by them, or at least in Chuchel. It is no masterpiece, and it isn't anything mind-shattering, but... that's nice, it doesn't have to be, from time to time, it's good to have a simple and short surprise, and this was definitely it...
Also, it had an anteater. If there isn't an anteater in any of the sequels, I riot.
My experience with Amanita Design's catalogue is limited to having beaten Chuchel some two years ago and very little else, which is a shame considering how much I enjoyed that game and the good things I've heard about Machinarium and Botanicula; all of their work has a consistent and unique sense of style, be it detailed or more cartoon, serious or more comedic, even if you haven't played any of them, you know an Amanita Design game when you see it. And if there's one thing I can say confidently, is that they nailed that personality from the very beginning, Samorost may not have been the first game the studio ever released, but while playing it I could clearly see the roots of what would end up becoming the full fledge experience that is Chuchel, and it a ton of ways it kinda felt like a bite-sized version of it.
Pure controlled absurdism captured and summarized in about 15 minutes, a quick space odyssey that managed to be surprising consistent on its presentation. It's also a game starring a funny gnome with a funny voice where you encounter singing goats and an owl with human eyes, so yeah, it was also stupid, the good kind of stupid.
The hand-drawn characters, some with human features plastered onto them, fit in this realistic little planet full of moss and rust almost perfectly, for as little as I was able to stay, I was left captivated by Samorost world and its nonsensical machinations, every screen was seemingly made with the purpose to be both perplexing and easy to the eye, while also having pretty easy but creative little puzzles thrown in. You really get to interact with this weird-ass planet and it is so incredibly cool, and seeing things made out tins and small objects be the same size as mountains or normal buildings made it even more charismatic than it already was. Also, the OST and sound design are oddly fantastic? Like, I wasn't expecting anything bad, but this blew me away, even if most songs and mere ambience, the few full-blown pieces are great, they blend the ethereal with the surreal, and I can't say that I've heard nothing like it in a long while... and the sounds everyone makes here are just really funny, everybody here are little gremlins and I love them all.
The things that hold it back, like its lack of a real story or more complex puzzles, can't be really considered as ''flaws'', it's just a game that wants to be a simple little adventure, and in that it delivers in spades, it's just that because of its own nature, it can't really be more than a fun little space trip; the only thing I would point out as a real flaw is how it sometimes can be a bit difficult what you need to exactly click to find the puzzle or progress; it will never take too long to find out, but sometimes some things mesh with the background too well, especially in the second to last screen.
It was fun to play one of the very first story-book adventures handcrafted by this rather small but talented studio, and it was even more cool to see how many of this game is on later works made by them, or at least in Chuchel. It is no masterpiece, and it isn't anything mind-shattering, but... that's nice, it doesn't have to be, from time to time, it's good to have a simple and short surprise, and this was definitely it...
Also, it had an anteater. If there isn't an anteater in any of the sequels, I riot.