Samorost 3
ESPRESSO SHOT REVIEW
For an entirely original adventure game with no dialogue that consists of quirky characters, a beautifully composed score, and worthwhile puzzles, Samorost 3 delivers. Explore the hand drawn worlds and discover this little gnome’s grand adventure. Score: 9/10
PROS
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no language barriers, anyone can enjoy the game
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memorable scenes made in a very original art style
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amazing musical score
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a built in walkthough system in case you get stuck
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hand drawn back-story visuals
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Relaxing Games.
Samorost 3 was one of my most anticipated games for 2016. When I finally played and finished it, it left me a tad bit dissapointed
Right off the bat, I instantly fell in love with the presentation. Like Amanita Design’s previous games, the world is weird and wonderful, with all of the vibrant colours and impressive locations. The world is constantly full of life and energy; often at times, I just stared out into the distance and saw weird creatures in the background and observing their behaviours, and each time doing so felt like observing strange animals in David Attenborough documentaries. It is not hard to fall in love with the off-beat world of Samorost 3. The atmosphere is pushed forward with the beautiful score by Tomas Dvorak, the same composer for the music from Samorost 2 and Machinarium. The sound design, much like Amanita design’s previous entry, Botanicula, is very bizzare and maybe even out of place at times, but that made the world even more weird and charming. The presentation is definitely where Samorost 3 really shines.
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game
Machinarium
I, a robot?
Adventure is only a point-and-click away as Irreverend Opinions reviews Machinarium!
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The Blurb
A puzzle adventure in a stylised world of robots and amazing music. A robot that has been abandoned by his city in pieces must pull himself together and return to not only confront some rather bad robots, but save his robot girlfriend in the process.
The Good
The first thing I noticed about Machinarium, as a first impression, is the music. The soundtrack by Czech composer Tomáš Dvořák really stands out in the task of impressing a strange new world without alienating the player from what they are engaged in.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Puzzle Games.
A little robot man living in a mechanical world must save his friends and neighbors from a group of nefarious local thugs. It has a simplistic yet beautiful art style with a lot of attention to detail. Despite being comprised entirely of robots, the game is quite expressive and has a lot of charm and heart. It’s decently varied and somewhat challenging, and would likely appeal to seasoned point and clickers or casual gamers. It’s now an old classic of the genre.
I would describe Machinarium’s art style as a mix of sketchbook outlines with water color details. Most backgrounds are static paintings with a handful of moving components. It also has a surprising amount of character animation, mainly in the form of simple tweens and hand-drawn animatics. There’s not a lot to say here, at least not much more than you could see in the videos and promotional material.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
The Dream Machine: Chapter 1 & 2
This is a review of the full game
Artstyle
Unusual, intricate, sometimes strangely beautiful, sometimes downright weird (towards the end). The main protagonist is stop-motion animated clay, the backgrounds are all handcrafted from a variety of materials. It takes some getting used to but it really grew on me.
The music and sounds are very well done and enhance the atmosphere of the game. There’s no voice acting, you have to read the dialogue which sometimes is a bit tedious but on the whole is well written and not too long.
– Real player with 27.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Point & Click Puzzle Games.
Just add this to the list of things that prove that video games are art.
This game has some of the most intriguing, gorgeous, adorable (and in many instances disgusting) designs ever contructed. The art style is like if the film “Mirror Mask” were made into a game. And the plot is just as gorgeous and surreal. “The Dream Machine” is like the ultimate indie game.
You play as Victor Neff, a self-proclaimed “handsome” man, who has just moved into a strange new flat with his pregnant wife, but things get strange very quickly when your wife notices the landlord acting really weird. I will not spoil any of the plot. It is a game you must see to believe, but if you can believe it, there is in fact a Dream Machine in the game.
– Real player with 25.8 hrs in game
The Tiny Bang Story
Short Version:
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Recommended, but only if on sale, and mainly for the great art.
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Seasoned P&C/HOG players will not be impressed by gameplay.
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If you’re colorblind, skip this altogether - the minigames rely too much on color-matching.
PROS:
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Beautiful art
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Nice soundtrack
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Smooth mechanics
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Some unique puzzles
CONS:
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No real story
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Repetitive tasks
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No instructions for puzzles/minigames
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No choice to skip puzzles/minigames
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Includes 2 short but stressful 8-bit ‘obstacle-avoidance’ action minigames (not what P&Cers are looking to play)
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Plenty of bang, not much story!
Tiny Bang Story makes it pretty clear from the start that it is a puzzle game, as the world itself is shattered into a jigsaw puzzle. What we get winds up being a bit of a mixture of all kinds of puzzle games that really aren’t bad, but really aren’t much of a challenge.
The execution of the hidden objects part of this game varies quite a lot between really easy and a bit cheesy. A barely visible outline of a puzzle piece is hidden like a speck in a busy background, feeling cheap and artificially difficult. Most of the rest of what you will find stands out enough that you won’t miss them, but in some cases will want to remember where you’d seen them.
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Framing Dawes
A cursed teenager is thrown into a forgotten recursive wonderland where the last twenty-four hours are a mystery, her Mother’s been kidnapped and she’ll be framed for the murder of a missing boy if she can’t find him. Oh, and her pet rabbit has risen from his grave…
Framing Dawes is an atmospheric adventure game following teenager Bay Dawes on her journey to find and bring a missing boy to the asylum where her mother is being held captive before the end of the day. If she doesn’t, she will be framed for his murder and never see her mother again. Accompanied by her dead pet rabbit, Dink, they explore the hidden world beneath her town of Foresight in a flying bathtub to recover missing memories and rescue her mother.
But can she break the curse before it’s too late?
Gameplay
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Story-Driven, Point and Click Adventure.
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Players will interact with Dawes' world, collecting and combining inventory, solving puzzles and casting spells.
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There are occasional instances where the player can switch to Dink the rabbit and Dawes' mother.
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The game is composed of three parts combined into the full game.
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The control options are Mouse and Keyboard.
Highlights
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Over 90 beautifully hand-drawn environments to explore
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Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, mythological stories, Jan Švankmajer, Tim Burton, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and old dreams
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The provocative narrative will surprise and immerse you
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Navigate to different locations in a magical flying bathtub
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Bizarre characters, talking dolls, missing socks, space exploration and more!
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Experience occasional possessions and paranormal activity
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Original soundtrack
Apocalipsis
The title and the beginning of the story already make the truly apocalyptic mood of this masterpiece clear: Apocalipsis is a point-and-click game that lets you slip into the role of Harry, who truly regards the death of his beloved Zula as the end of his world and who, on his journey, literally goes to the end of the world in order to perhaps bring her back to life through a magical ritual.
As in the Book of Revelation, however, the hoped-for resurrection of the dead might only happen at the end of the story. Before that, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (tyranny, war, hunger and illness/death) are attacking mankind: Harry wanders, depressed and sickly coughing, through scary landscapes, where he encounters the scourges of medieval mankind: cruel torture, devastating war, emaciating hunger and merciless illness/death. Death dances its macabre dance in almost all of the pictures: either there are already many bodies or skeletons in the picture, or the grim reaper can hope for a rich harvest in view of the condition of the living creatures or the actions of the people involved. Especially in the first half of the game one often encounters monsters that seem to come directly from the hell of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. Can Harry save his beloved by dark magic?
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Apocalipsis:
Sitting together on the top of a hill like two love birds, Harry and Zula were enjoying the beauty of the night when suddenly a falling star illuminated the sky on its way down to Earth. Zula stood up, mesmerized by this incredible spectacle, and decided to share with Harry an old legend she had heard. It says that only a woman can follow and find where the falling star has landed, and when she reaches it, she will be granted eternal love. As she walks down the hill by herself, it will be the last time Harry sees her safe and sound. This is how Harry’s world falls apart, and he’ll do anything to have her back!
*– [Real player with 5.4 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198003030375)*
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## Bad Dream: Stories
This game is amazing! I highly recommend if you haven't tried these games out already!
*– [Real player with 8.9 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199010646669)*
Bad Dream: Stories is a collection of older games in the Bad Dream series, in a new, remastered form.
Pros
1\. Runs in 60FPS with option for 30FPS.
2\. UI looks better and is less cluttered.
3\. Graphics are cleaner and sharper.
4\. Atmosphere is dense and claustrophobic.
5\. Soundtrack is A++.
6\. Achievements. Still as bone hard to unlock as they were in BD: Coma.
All in all a really nice remaster, and I can easily recommend this to anyone who likes a point and click game with a very twisted atmosphere.
*– [Real player with 6.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198003482183)*
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## Just Take Your Left
I super wanted to give this game a positive review, but it's not quite ready for prime time yet. Even though I ultimately felt I had to give this game a thumbs down, please still consider supporting the developer by picking it up, perhaps on sale, especially if it looks like the kind of game you might be into.
Just take your left is a very short mouse-driven game by Mehrdad Rezaei, who seems to be a solo Iranian developer. Your character is an agent of some sort who is sent to steal a diamond from a castle, but is antagonized along the way by a small mouse who is determined to stop him.
*– [Real player with 1.7 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198116211741)*
this game has nice artwork and great character animation, a lot of though has gone into how the character reacts to objects, which is great to see.
I managed to get stuck a few times but not so stuck you'd give up or start hunting down a tutorial,
A little moan is quality control and grammar but English isn't the guys first language, and considering its the cost of a burger the character animation is so much nicer than some dearer games, no aimless wandering about and dodgy "use" animation here!
*– [Real player with 1.4 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198125093304)*
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## The Third Day
Very intriguing recital,waiting for the continuation.
*– [Real player with 12.6 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198015972042)*
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## Alexey's Winter: Night adventure
I enjoyed playing this short point and click game. The hand drawn scenes have a great sense of place and the snow gives shivery cold feeling so I really felt sorry for the main character locked out of his apartment. The music was a good match for the game. The dialogue was very funny and endearing.
I had a small technical problem with my computer before I could play this game but the devs were really helpful and responsive so that the game works as it should now.
I hope the developers add some more episodes as I would definitely play them.
*– [Real player with 20.5 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197995906397)*
_Alexey's Winter: Night adventure_ is a very short point & click adventure set in the 1989’s USSR. The game was initially launched in 2017 on the mobile platform and gained positive feedback from the players. At a later date, it received a second episode (and as of Sep 26 2021 a third one) and underwent several design changes. This version was now ported to Steam as a paid item, while the mobile one remains free but was reverted back to one episode only.
The story follows Alexey’s troubles during one cold winter night, trying to get back his lost apartment keys. After a series of intricate puzzles he manages to regain access to his home, only to find out that in the meantime his TV was stolen. This sets the plot for the second and third episodes, which are slightly longer than the first one.
*– [Real player with 11.1 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198063574735)*
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