I'll admit it: I'm not much of a gamer, these days. But every now and then, when I need a break from thesis-writing, I look for games that can tell me stories, that can engage other parts of my brain in creative and refreshing ways. Botanicula does this in spades; the entire universe the game is set in is completely alien, and must be explored and interacted with to yield understanding. The creatures are delightful, surprising, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, and always touchingly sweet and innocent (which is something of a hallmark for Amanita Designs' work -- I also recommend Machinarium unequivocally). The scenery is exquisitely beautiful, the colors rich and saturated, the interface easy to figure out with a satisfying number of totally unique puzzles, and the soundtrack is so much fun I went and bought it from iTunes as soon as I'd finished the game. If shoot-'em-up is not your style, and you're looking for a puzzle game that is like nothing else you've seen, this is the game.

This is a worthy follow up to Machinarium, even if it is not quite as long and the music is slightly less amazing. The art is uncommonly mesmerizing, the design consistently suprising and challenging (but never too challenging). The sound effects are just delightful, and music has a lot of great moments. Unlike Machinarium, however, there are a couply screens where the music quickly becomes irritating, and if you don't solve the puzzle right away, you find yourself wanting to turn the sound down. But this is a minor complaint. Also, I really liked the five-protagonists-idea. It is good that they reduced the number of games-within-games in Botanicula. There were a few too many in Machinarium, which distracted at times from the narrative experience.I admire Aminita for trying to make something new. If they just went for Machinarium all over again (a la Hollywood), it would have probably been less worthwhile.

I purchased this game as I loved Machinarium. There was no expectation that Botanicula would be like Machinarium but I wanted to give it a try as it was developed by the same group. In many ways I think Botanicula is a great complement to Machinarium. Machinarium has great logical puzzles that make sense and have a very logical sense to them, which goes with the theme of the robots and industrial city, etc.. I fell in love the first time I played it. These developers took a great risk to move away from that formula and in Botanicula to bring a lighter more natural interaction and exploration of your environment with many different creatures. It is very fitting to have the more organic puzzels and thinking with this game being based around creatures and plants.If you buy in to the first scene and realize that your team of creatures are the last hope for this dying world being sucked away by a “blackhole” creature, this game can reveal a lot of beauty. Play this game if you just want a few minutes or hours of happiness in your day. Play this game if you want some sense that living beings of many different shapes and sizes and colors can work towards overcoming destruction.Thank you for brining this game to us! I thouroughly enjoyed it and it made me smile.

After being reignited in my game playing with Machinarium, I was excited for Amanita next game and I'm happy to say I'm very pleased with Botanicula…My 5 year old watched me machinarium and loved it. This time with Botanicula he felt compelled to get over his fear of using the touch pad on my Macbook and experiment in the wonderful world of Botanicula to help the little tree spirits on their adventure. I agree the music for Machinarium is better, but still nice, especially the intro song. The graphics are stunning and the game play felt very natural and intuitive. The game was shorter than Machinarium and puzzles felt easier. No technical issues at all.Very impressed and I can't wait for the next one!