Sunday, May 19, 2024
Amanita Designs is celebrating its 20th anniversary, so now is a great time to talk about the game that started it all, Samorost.
‘Samorost’ in Czech means "objects sculpted from discarded wood (roots, trunks, branches, etc., usually for decorative purposes."
Originally Samorost was created as a thesis project by Jakub Dvorský, while he was a student at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The original mini-game is now available as a free download on Steam. It's a cute little adventure about a gnome who needs to alter the course of a planetoid on a collision course with his home. It's a very simple graphic interface, point and click adventure.
I was immediately captivated by the game. The gnome lives on a knot of wood covered in lichen, with a rusty bolt visible on one side. His spaceship is an old can that used to contain hot dogs. The planetoid that's on a collision course with his home is a piece of driftwood, covered in moss. The sound effects are cheerful, and the music is undemanding and contemplative.
After Jakub Dvorský graduated, he founded Amanita Designs in 2003, a game studio featuring hand-crafted games. In 2005 he released a sequel to Samorost, Samorost 2. It featured the further adventures of Gnome, who has to rescue his dog, who was stolen by aliens. Just like Samorost, it features planetoids that look like natural objects. Total playtime was about an hour, which is a little short for a point and click adventure, but it was still intriguing for gamers.
In 2016 Amanita Designs released Samorost 3. Unlike 1 and 2, Samorost 3 was a full-length game with high-definition graphics. This was after the successful release of Machinarium, another point and click puzzle adventure.
Samorost 3 starts with our hero, the Gnome, in the front yard of his home. A golden instrument falls to the ground from the sky. He picks it up and discovers that the instrument has hidden abilities. Dragging the instrument from the main menu onto the sound symbol unlocks animations to help solve the puzzles in the game. He travels from planetoid to planetoid in his trusty tin can rocket ship, fixing the things that are broken in his corner of the universe.
There is no dialogue in this game. Characters show emotion, but all of the stories in this game are told through simple animations, usually line art in thought bubbles. The puzzles aren't especially difficult, but it will take you a few minutes of poking around before you figure it out.
What I like most about this game is how organic it is. Bugs are crawling on the ground, and little leaves are shaking on the trees. All of the creature noises are done by humans. Many of the textures are inspired by horsehair, fur, leaves, rocks, bark, and driftwood.
There's something about this game that feels very kind, in a way that's hard to define. There is no death. The character's motivation is to fix and repair whatever he finds, to make his universe better. The final battle is one of order against chaos. Gnome saves his corner of the galaxy, and returns to his house with his faithful dog.
If you're looking for something that your child will enjoy playing, I recommend this game highly. It's not violent, the music is interesting, and they'll enjoy solving the puzzles and watching the animations. My child liked going back to different planets to solve certain puzzles again, because the characters in the game will sing a song as a reward.
The soundtrack is done by Thomas Dvorak, and features him on clarinet and other wind instruments. I have this on my phone, it's great music to work by.
Samorost 3 by Jakub Dvorský is available on SteamOS for $19.99, or you can get the entire Amanita Designs package for $49.53.
