Provided by Amanita Design
On October 8, Amanita Design announced Machinarium 2. Serving as a sequel to the 2009 title Machinarium, it comes 17 years after the release of the original game.
The premiere trailer was revealed during The Triple-i Initiative showcase. According to Amanita Design, the original game is a puzzle adventure enjoyed by millions of players. Amanita Design will also handle development and publishing for the sequel, which will support Windows and macOS via Steam. The release date has yet to be determined, with additional platforms and schedules to be announced at a later date [1.1.10].
In this installment, players can freely switch between controlling Josef and Berta at any time. Players utilize the unique abilities of both robots together to solve puzzles that cannot be cleared by a single character alone. As in the previous game, the story progresses without any readable text; instead, the robots communicate through comic-style animated thought bubbles, symbols, and gestures.
The story continues as the two protagonists crash-land in the barrens after escaping the city of Machinarium. While descending a cliff, the two robots discover a hidden valley. In the valley, separate robot tribes inhabit the Elektrona monastery high atop the rocks and the city of Oilton down below, with both tribes gradually running out of power.
The game supports both gamepads and mouse controls. With a gamepad, players can move the robots directly without using a cursor, which the development team highlighted as the recommended way to play. Players who prefer traditional adventure-style controls can still play with a mouse.
All background art is entirely hand-drawn, drawing inspiration from old master drawings and Renaissance landscape paintings. The robots feature rich animations throughout. The soundtrack is composed by Tomáš Dvořák, also known as Floex, who scored the original game. It retains the original's robot universe and acoustic textures while adding symphonic arrangements.
Amanita Design is a Czech independent game developer founded in 2003 by designer, artist, and animator Jakub Dvorský. The studio currently operates multiple small teams developing new titles across various platforms.
