Update from the Samorost world

No, Machinarium isn't finished yet. But it's coming along, and while we wait, there are a couple new Amanita side projects to explore, plus some other Samorost-style games from new talent (and some older talent I've never gotten around to linking).

First up is Questionaut, a game Amanita created for the BBC. Designed for 11-year-olds, it's an academic quiz game with questions on math, grammar, science, and so on, wrapped up in a whimsical adventure quest through one of Amanita's signature enchanted worlds. The groovy, chill music you hear is by Floex, the musical project of Tomas Dvorak, who did the soundtrack for Samorost 2. It's pretty and sweet and fun and maybe, if you've forgotten everything from school, just challenging enough, too.





The other project Amanita has going on on the side is Podvedomim, a flash art/local installation project that you can unfortunately only experience half of unless you happen to be near Brno, Czech Republic. If you are, then you can take up the challenge and go discover a series of interesting objects and secret spots in and around the city, like an Aeolian harp or a bit of sylvan sculpture; the rest of us will have to settle for interacting with them through the site's lovely flash app, which is a pretty good consolation prize.





Choice is a beautiful experimental flash art game by a student from Taiwan's Ting Lung University. The combination of strange, fantastical imagery and photography of abandoned and distressed places, with a moody soundtrack to match, creates an eerie, evocative aesthetic reminiscent of games like Gwen and 99 Rooms (for more on which, see previous posts here and here). It's a wonderful journey and not to be missed.

The text is all in Chinese, though it is not necessary to read it to complete the game. Should you desire, here is a translation and walkthrough. If you get stuck, before resorting to the walkthrough, you might want to first try clicking on the book in the corner of the screen -- one click will provide hints (in Chinese), and the second will reveal any clickable hotspots. One more tip: remember the number you are shown at the beginning of the game. Really. I wish someone had told me that. I didn't even recognize that it was a number.





Pricilla Gone Missing is a nicely executed game by Swedish designer Johan Törnkvist, the first of a planned multi-part series. A basic Samorost-style flash adventure with inventory puzzles and some very nice scenery.
Walkthrough at Jay Is Games.





Lenses is a short Japanese game in which you must craft and manipulate lenses for various purposes. Due to the language barrier, your task is not always clear; I found some help in a walkthrough, but I'm not sure if there's a more organic way to the solution. Gameplay issues aside, there are a few nice moments and elements in this quickie offering.