Ahmar plays Samorost
I had heard of Amanita Design before. This summer, a few days before classes began, I bought a copy of their game Machinarium after playing the demo on their website (it was also on sale). I didn't get very far in the game before classes began, but I did get a general feeling for the game.
Machinarium eschews the photorealism of the backgrounds in Samorost, so it was interesting to get a chance to play something which not only looked significantly different, but also comprised a much shorter adventure. As much of an odd comparison as it may seem, Samorost actually really reminds me of Metroid.
Aside from the obvious connection of exploring an uncharted world in the depths of space, both games also instill a really gripping sense of solitude and exploration. In Metroid, this involves avoiding and defeating the inhospitable creatures of the planet while exploring the dangerous caverns and discovering the remnants of the lost civilization. In Samorost, you don't try to survive and overcome the planet so much as explore and interact with it.
It is within human nature to use our surroundings to overcome problems. Our civilizations are basically giant operating structures that attempt to regulate and address these basic needs. Samorost taps into that by letting us explore the environment and utilize our ingenuity (albeit pre-determined by the game designer) to solve the basic problem of protecting ourselves (from a head-on collision with another meteorite...). The landscapes and bizarre setting may not make sense in the traditional way our world works, but they do operate logically enough (whether by the structure of our world or it's own internal logic) to create a feeling of discovery and connection when manipulating its fictional world.
Machinarium eschews the photorealism of the backgrounds in Samorost, so it was interesting to get a chance to play something which not only looked significantly different, but also comprised a much shorter adventure. As much of an odd comparison as it may seem, Samorost actually really reminds me of Metroid.
Aside from the obvious connection of exploring an uncharted world in the depths of space, both games also instill a really gripping sense of solitude and exploration. In Metroid, this involves avoiding and defeating the inhospitable creatures of the planet while exploring the dangerous caverns and discovering the remnants of the lost civilization. In Samorost, you don't try to survive and overcome the planet so much as explore and interact with it.
It is within human nature to use our surroundings to overcome problems. Our civilizations are basically giant operating structures that attempt to regulate and address these basic needs. Samorost taps into that by letting us explore the environment and utilize our ingenuity (albeit pre-determined by the game designer) to solve the basic problem of protecting ourselves (from a head-on collision with another meteorite...). The landscapes and bizarre setting may not make sense in the traditional way our world works, but they do operate logically enough (whether by the structure of our world or it's own internal logic) to create a feeling of discovery and connection when manipulating its fictional world.
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