Machinarium

Machinarium is a single-player point-and-click adventure game set in a decaying mechanical city populated entirely by robots. The player controls a small robot named Josef, who has been dismantled and discarded on a scrap heap outside the city. After reassembling himself, he sets out to return home, confront the Black Cap Brotherhood gang that torments other robots, and rescue his kidnapped companion.

The game unfolds through a series of static, hand-drawn screens that are navigated by pointing and clicking. Players interact with objects in the environment to solve puzzles, gather items into an inventory, and combine them to progress. Josef’s abilities include extending or contracting his body to reach different areas, a mechanic often required to complete environmental challenges. Communication is presented visually: instead of written dialogue, characters use animated speech bubbles that convey thoughts and goals through small illustrations.

Puzzles range from traditional inventory-based tasks to stand-alone logic problems, such as manipulating switches, aligning circuits, or solving sliding-tile boards. Many screens contain layered solutions, requiring the player to observe patterns and test interactions carefully. Unlike many adventure games, there are no fail states or deaths, allowing players to experiment freely. To assist with difficult puzzles, the game includes two forms of optional help. A hint system provides a single visual clue per screen. For full solutions, players can access a walkthrough presented as a sketchbook, but doing so requires completing a short side-scrolling shooter mini-game, preventing players from consulting it too easily. As the game progresses, players move from single-screen challenges into a more open structure with multiple interconnected areas available at once.

The Definitive Version and later ports refined the experience with updated visuals, higher-resolution support, improved touch and controller interfaces, and performance enhancements across various platforms, while retaining the original content and hand-drawn art style.