Machinarium

I think this is the first point and click game I ever completed in my life. Given that I always liked the premise of the genre but could rarely actually get into it, that alone makes me like Machinarium a lot.

The mechanics are, I believe, very traditional, you got puzzles to solve, various objects to collect and combine to solve these puzzles, so on and so forth.

What made the game click for me was the art style, which is all hand drawn (or at least hand drawn looking) and minimal storytelling, without an emphasis on dialogue or, god forbid, psycological development.

The difficulty was also on point, not too easy, but the puzzles weren't too obscure either, I surprisingly managed to do everything by myself, with just the exception of one self contained puzzle that I used the in-game walk-through for.

All in all great little game that makes me want to give the whole genre a spin again.

It's so pretty and pleasant and aesthetic, but the main flaw is that the puzzles look interesting, but are so difficult to understand and even harder to solve that without a walkthrough there's like 0 chance you'll ever finish this game. I love the music and ambiance, but it also feels too empty and non-dynamic, there's not much motion besides the extremely linear story

Update upon finishing: the ending is so underwhelming, I feel like a little sound design could have elevated it even though it's kind of boring anyways, I had 0 emotional investment in saving Berta either

My difficult relationship with Amanita Design continues: I'd want to like their games more than I eventually end up doing.
This one has a charming story and look, but somehow the puzzles seem completely unintuitive to me, and eventually I just gave up and went through the game with a walkthrough (it is not without enjoyment that way). It's probably more my fault than theirs but there is nevertheless a fault.