ⓘ Amanita Design
Presented in stunning hand-drawn animation, Machinarium takes you on a potentially nostalgia-inducing trip to the early days of gaming.
Developed and released by Amanita Design in 2009, Machinarium is a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure game in which the player must solve puzzles using environmental clues, and, in a departure from the norm, can only interact with what the character can reach. The game was very well received upon launch, being touted as a ‘labor of love.’
Machinarium was very well received upon release, and is currently ranked Overwhelmingly Positive with over 18,000 positive reviews on Steam, garnering an 85% score on GameRankings and an 85/100 on Metacritic. One of the game’s interesting features is that it lacks any dialogue; it is almost completely devoid of written or verbal language. It accomplishes coherence through two kinds of hints, accessible to players once per level. The second hunt system is a sort of walkthrough that can be achieved by completing a minigame. The walkthrough depicts the puzzle and its solution with drawings; however, it only reveals what’s in that area, not the entire game.
Gamers will assume the role of Josef, a robot named after the Czech painter, writer, and poet Josef Čapek, who coined the term ‘Robot.’ Players are thrown into the world in pieces, put themselves back together, and begin exploring the city. Players will experience a deep and immersive story, where politics and greed play a pivotal role, in the criminal underworld
Positive reviews range from praising its gameplay to its art style and have even entertained a second generation of gamers. “My mum’s favorite game when I was a child, and tbh it’s still really good,” said a review.
The stunning hand-drawn art is another common theme amongst reviewers:” It has a wonderfully whimsical charm, and the art style is absolutely beautiful,” said another review.
Some negative reviews highlight players’ frustrations with the puzzles not being to their liking. “I really liked the puzzles in Samorost, but man… a lot of these puzzles are just not intuitive at all!!!” stated an unsatisfied reviewer.
The puzzles seem to be a common theme amongst negative reviews; even those praising the game for other features eventually claim their experience was affected by some of the harder puzzles.
Machinarium is available on Steam with a limited-time 80% discount to $3.99.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
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Rahim Amir Noorali – Tech Writer – 897 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2025
I am a UAE-based tech writer who likes to build and benchmark PCs both professionally and as a hobby. I contribute to multiple tech publications, including TechRadar and Notebookcheck, as well as Game Rant, where I focus primarily on news, commerce, and buying guides. When I’m not scouring the internet for the latest in tech stories, you will find me playing a game of Civilization or DotA with friends and frenemies alike while dropping recommendations for Apple TV+’s Foundation to everyone I come across.
Rahim Amir Noorali, 2026-04-15 (Update: 2026-04-16)