Machinarium

Machinarium is a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure by Czech studio Amanita Design. You accompany the little robot Josef, who lands on a scrapyard outside a machine city. He has to puzzle his way back into the city, rescue his girlfriend Berta and thwart the plans of the Black Cap Brotherhood.

Instead of combat, the focus is on observing, experimenting and combining items. The story unfolds through images, gestures and the reactions of the machine city's inhabitants.

Released October 16, 2009 for PC. Standalone versions followed for iOS, Android, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.

The Switch and Xbox One releases came out on November 1, 2018 and April 16, 2020 respectively. Sony released the European PS4 version on October 17, 2016.

Machinarium has been released for PC, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, iOS and Android. On PC, Windows and macOS are supported. The mobile versions have their own touchscreen controls.

On Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox One version can be played via backward compatibility. On PS5, the PS4 version runs via the compatibility feature. Neither case is a separate release for this console generation.

Machinarium is controlled by clicking objects, characters and paths. Josef examines individual locations, finds items and sets machines in motion. Often the solution only emerges when you connect clues from several parts of a scene.

Progress leads through different areas of the city, including workshops, corridors and rooms with self-contained mechanical tasks. Quick reactions are less often required than attention and logical thinking.

For PC, Machinarium Soundtrack + Art Book is available as a separate digital add-on pack. It contains music by Floex and a 121-page PDF artbook with drawings by Jakub Dvorský. The pack does not add any extra levels to the storyline.

The Collector's Edition offered via Steam combines the base game with this add-on pack.

For the Windows version, Steam lists a processor with 1.8 GHz, 1 GB RAM and 1 GB of free storage. The older Windows versions listed there come from the original requirements profile. The Steam client has only supported Windows 10 or later since January 2024.

On Mac, macOS 10.12 or later, an Intel processor with 1.8 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 1 GB storage and Metal support are listed.

The puzzles revolve around switches, cables, gears, doors and devices whose function you deduce from your surroundings. Sometimes an item first has to be used in a different place before a mechanism can be activated.

The tasks alternate between classic inventory combinations and short mini-games. This keeps the machine city itself the most important part of the puzzle design.

Josef collects tools and found objects that are later needed for other tasks. Individual scenes can be re-examined repeatedly to find overlooked items or control panels.

The game world is divided into manageable locations. Each place has its own clues, sounds and technical details that can help you move forward.

Josef tries to rescue his girlfriend Berta from the Black Cap Brotherhood. At the same time, he meets other robots in Machinarium whose problems open up new paths through the city for him.

The story almost entirely does without written dialogue. Short picture sequences and animations show memories, intentions and relationships between the characters.

Machinarium is set in a densely designed robot city. Pipes, cables, towers and old machinery form the backdrop for an adventure that uses technical objects both as scenery details and as puzzle tools.

The locations look like individual illustrations, but recurring characters, machines and sounds link them together.

The hand-drawn backgrounds and small character animations define the visual style of Machinarium. The soundtrack comes from Tomáš Dvořák, who releases music under the name Floex.

Calm electronic sounds and mechanical noises accompany exploration. Since the characters rarely speak with words, music and animation contribute a large part of the atmosphere.

The PC version supports mouse controls and now also controllers. On Nintendo Switch, touchscreen controls are also available. The PS Vita version uses the front touchscreen and the rear touchpad as well as buttons and analogue sticks.

For PS Vita, a zoomable view and leaderboards for selected mini-games were also added.

Machinarium is a purely single-player adventure. The story of Josef is played without co-op partners and without competitive online matches.

On Steam, achievements, cloud saves and controller support are part of the PC version's features. On other devices, comfort features and input options differ.

Machinarium tells most of its story through pictures and animated speech bubbles. The Steam version supports 16 interface languages, including German. The German PlayStation Store lists German, English, French and Spanish, among others, as on-screen languages for the PS4 version.

Language details may vary depending on the platform version.

The standard version includes the full adventure featuring Josef and Berta. The Steam Collector’s Edition adds the soundtrack and the digital artbook. Game bundles with other Amanita titles such as Creaks, on the other hand, are collections of separate games.

Which device the edition runs on is what matters most when choosing a platform.

Amanita Design developed and published Machinarium. The studio combines hand-drawn environments with characters whose personality comes across mainly through movement and sound.

Machinarium was the studio's first full-length adventure and was released in 2009.