Samorost 3 9+

After playing the fantastic Machinarium I had no hesitation in downloading Samorost 3. This is a stunningly beautiful game and the soundtrack draws you in to the strange alien world. But it feels like a series of intricate set pieces involving puzzles that often defy logic, requiring quite a bit of help from the innovative in-game guide.

Where it may exceed Machinarium in its scope and ambition, Machinarium wins hands down because of its sheer charm and the fact that you really care about the robot and his plight. If Samorost 3 had that level of emotional engagement, it would be one of the best indie games ever created.

I’m a huge fan of Samorost 2, this is bigger and mostly better. It has an edgier, cool, broody vibe.
Overall, IMO most puzzles are not quite infuriating! A lot of in-game help is given.
Good points:
* Art: Most of the artistic set pieces are *great*, others are *stunning*, and a few unbelievable (below);
* Interactive: The team has also spent time making each screen interactive;
* Music: There are some very, very funky tunes and the music “cards”("achievements") make funky sounds;
* “Achievements": There are 30 to collect and gives the game added dimension, by solving puzzles to acquire them.
* A few of the characters are really cool;
* Story line: pretty good.
Advise: I like the soundtrack before clicking the first planet, don’t use a trackpad for a few puzzles (need a quick mouse) and there is an ingame help book.
So, in comparison to Samorost 2 its a better plot, art, additional depth (“music cards”) and funky tunes, but ambient music IMO is often absent.
Bad points:
* Music: a significant minority of screens have a funky tune, but there is a lot of silence and its important for atmosphere and easy in an upgrade;
* Music: Samorost 2 had great ambient music in most screens, i.e. funky atmosphere whilst figuring out the puzzles;
* The dog: Sam’s dog is doesn’t get involved in version 3! Sam without his dog? Oh no, bring back the dog!
Neutral points:
* Puzzles: I find them fairly easy with the hints, some are too easy, but there are definitely hard cookies. The entire tree planet puzzle was very good indeed. However, the final puzzle although artistically stunning was a push over.

The team hires a very good, professional artist, here’s a rough guide to the style they use:
* Samorost 2 - very Pre-Raphaelite, it simply means lots of details, but very 2D (no “perspective”);
* Botanicula - Expressionist (Van Gough) and in places surrealist, elsewhere "cartoons" (think Picasso);
* Samorost 3 - similar to the 1600s landscape art of Claude Lorrain (not Claude Monet) with Pre-Raphaelite detail (3D landscape, dark, & broody).

S3 definitely has the vibe, but the gang needs to limit the silences! There’s enough music in the game to do this.
For modern accessible art, these guys are making a point, we should respect it. It is standard to pay £££ for oil on canvas.
BTW to me a comment such as “AAAhhhh illogical and infuriating!” means its a good puzzle.

A wonderful game, beautifully made and a joy to play