REVIEW: Samorost 3

Samorost 3 is a beautiful adventure point & click game developed by Amanita Design, also known for their game Machinarium.
If this review is too long for you, I suggest you to only read the first paragraph about the game’s content and the final verdict at the end.

Developer: Amanita Design

Publisher: Amanita Design

Genre: Exploration/Puzzle Adventure

Release date: 24 Mar, 2016

Type: Single-player

What is happening in the game:

You are a cute little space gnome traveling the universe trying to unveil its secrets. You have to solve puzzles, explore alien worlds and use your magic flute. However, rather than a strong story, this game brings you a wonderful artistic experience.

Pros:
  • Art | Seriously, just look at the landscape. Look at the gnome. Look at it. It’s just amazing. It’s even better when you see the whole thing in action, the animation, the little details … it’s just so pleasant to look at. Although there is a story, you aren’t being reminded too much of it during the gameplay and, honestly, I never felt like this aspect is missing. Just looking at this game is enough.
  • Puzzles | This may sound weird, but puzzles in this game really make sense. In other games, they’re often too complicated, rely on bruteforcing item combinations, luck and other things, but Samorost 3 serves you nothing but puzzles that are fun to start solving and keep being fun for the whole solving time. However, this game doesn’t useany words at all, so you have to think a bit to understand what does the puzzle want from you, but this is really just a part of the fun, since you are served with a bunch of speech bubbles filled with pictograms that explain what you should be doing with the puzzle.
  • Music | Another great thing is the music. Amanita Design’s games always have this aspect covered well and Samorost 3 doesn’t disappoint as well. The music isn’t something you would dance to (obviously), but it’s a great background to the gameplay. If you’re into such things, there is also a Soundtrack DLC available, which also includes the art book. Do check it out.
  • Secrets and Achievements | There are all kinds of little secrets hidden across this game. They’re mostly really cute and require a higher level of dedication, especially if you want to get all of them. My favourite one (minor spoiler ahead)is when you make the deer carry you on its back. It’s such a cute moment!
  • Controls | You move the li’l gnome by clicking where you want him to go. His movements are fluid and, which is really great, fast. There’s nothing worse than going somewhere, changing your mind and having to wait for the character to get to his original position. In Samorost 3, you can forget about these troubles as you can focus on puzzles instead of being frustrated when having to move.
  • Wordlessness | I’m kind of surprised how much can this game tell the player without using a word. You’re not blasted with flashing cutscenes with screaming voices. Instead, you’re provided with cute pictures which let you interpret the story yourself. They don’t force you anything, they set the atmosphere, show you some key points and let you enjoy the story your way. This game is a perfect example of the idiom “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Nothing can tell an enchanting story like some good pictures.

Cons:
  • Simple puzzles? | To be completely honest, I’m usually the person that complains that puzzles are too difficult, not too easy. I mean, they’re not too easy, but I solved most of them without really thinking very very hard like in some other games. It’s good that puzzles are not extremely complex (which is the case, in my opinion, with Deponia and Machinarium), but they should bring a certain degree of challenge and Samorost 3 doesn’t quite reach that level. In shorter, the puzzles are not easy, but they could be harder.
  • Controller Support | Playing point & click games can be very pleasant when you play them on your bed, just enjoying without having to be sitted in front of your computer. Therefore, this game could use controller support. It does work with my Steam Controller, but that doesn’t really count since Steam designed it for playing games that are meant to be played with a keyboard and a mouse.
  • SteamOS Support | Although this game does support Windows and MacOS, this game will most likely not support systems that run Linux. The main reason for this is that this game uses Adobe Air, which is not really Linux-friendly. Too bad, there are a lot of people who would love to play on Linux.

The final verdict:

As all other games by Amanita Design, Samorost 3 is an absolutely amazing game. It looks marvelous, it sounds great and it’s also really adorable with all these little animations and details. Playing this game is really a calming experience, it brings you to a completely different world, which not many games can do. The graphics are really charming (again, Amanita D. is a specialist when is comes to this) and it really keeps you playing for longer sessions. The puzzles are not very hard, which is good for some people and not for others, so I’ll let you decide on that one.
So, if you love point & click games, this one is a no-brainer. Buy it. You rarely come across a game that is as good as Samorost 3 is.

RATING: 83/100

With love,
BirdCute, Reviews

Written by
BirdCute
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