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[Zia]

"Botanicula is a point'n'click exploration game created by the makers of award-winning Machinarium, studio Amanita Design and Czech band DVA. Five friends, little tree creatures, set out on a journey to save the last seed from their home tree which is infested by evil parasites."

Developer: Amanita Design
Director: Jaromír Plachý
Platform: PC, Mac and Linux
Genre: Point-and-click adventure
Price: $9.99 (GOG.com), Pay What You Want (The Humble Botanicula Debut)
Release Date: April 19, 2012

Videos:

Botanicula - Pre-release Trailer
Botanicula (teaser)
Botanicula at Cafe Nová syntéza

Reviews:

Giant Bomb Quick Look

John Walker (Rock, Paper, Shotgun):

There’s no question over whether you should play this. Your $10 will buy you a few hours of utter joy, and flipping heck, why wouldn’t you want that? It’s infectiously lovely, smartly inventive, and plastered happiness all over my face. And even my game-ignoring wife’s face, whom it was a pleasure to watch play. That’s a high compliment.

Kirk Hamilton (Kotaku):

There aren't all that many games that make me feel really, truly joyful. Botanicula is one of them.

Argh, this game. This game! It's basically a government-created smartbomb designed to deliver a payload of exuberant joie de vivre from your hard drive straight to your brain. Except it wasn't made in some government lab—it was made by actual people who put their actual selves into it. The result is a gorgeous, hilarious, endlessly creative, warm-hearted thing.

Edge:

Though it occasionally goes pear-shaped as an adventure game due to the stinginess of its feedback, Botanicula is never less than a breath of fresh air. Such a cheery fantasy in fact, it’s as if the Galápagos authorities have finally got around to opening a petting zoo.

Christian Donlan (Eurogamer):

All of which makes Botanicula another one of those weird little offerings that is as much a place as it is a game: an old tree filled with strange life, in which dazzling secrets lurk under every stone. Click!

 

[zoku88]

How are you enjoying this compared to Machinarium?

 

[DaFish]

Oh hi, enjoying game so far. Music is nice too

 

[Feep]

Downloading now! /excite

I wish Steam added duplicate copies of games into your Steam inventory for trading/gifting, but c'est la vie.

 

[Berto]

I played for about an hour. I'm loving it, it has a lot of heart and personality. It's more like Samorost than Machinarium, you click on random objects and each one does something, like i said a bit like Samorost. Art style and music is top notch.

 

[milesdm]

I've had a stupid grin on for what I've played so far. Yoohoo!

 

[Messofanego]

This "puzzle" is fiendish!

Is it purely trial-and-error?

I'm charmed as fuck by the game, it's so out there and reminds me of Neverhood where you just click on stuff to see funny results. I love the musicality.

If someone could capture and gif the moment where you keep on clicking the grey blow horn creatures, the more they show up, and then the HUGE blow horn shows up to swallow you guys, I'd be most grateful!

 

[B-Genius]

Out yesterday!? Oh goody! Love what these guys do... weekend sorted!

 

[Zia]

This "puzzle" is fiendish!

Is it purely trial-and-error?

There is a visual pattern.

Spoiler

If I remember correctly, the answer is: Right, Left, Left... or maybe Right, Left, Right.

 

[commissar]

I'm stuck.

It's a few hours into the game (about four areas in maybe?). It's the

Spoiler

underground

part with the

Spoiler

neural looking white orbs floating in space.

I can get to the far right of the screen after

Spoiler

bouncing over the orange creatures

, but while the arrow to go right highlights, it's unclickable.

Dunno where to go from here :S

 

[epmode]

I'd really like to see these guys go back to a more traditional adventure style since their first go at the genre did it better than just about everyone post-Lucasarts. Botanicula is still super-charming though!

 

[Haunted]

Disgustingly empty thread.

Got it with the Humble Bundle, too good a deal to pass up. It's definitely closer to their Samarost games than Machinarium (which I personally enjoyed more), and compared to those it's a clear evolution in style and polish. Great looking stuff.

 

[DaFish]

Oh hi, enjoying game so far. Music is nice too

Edit: okay I was enjoying the game untill

Spoiler

The "bacteria" level with the 4 floating thingys (3 small 1 large). I don't really want help, just wondering if anyone else if having trouble getting the key on this one too?

okay got it....

 

[Shawsie64]

Almost finished Machinarium on my ipad.. Bought it on steam ages ago but couldnt get into it, now Its one of my favorite games.. Bought the bundle this morning, cant wait to play it tonight.

 

[SparkTR]

Game is pretty great so far. Needs more attention though, especially since it's so damn cheap currently.

 

[mattiewheels]

Is it a limitation of the engine that they use that it can't go fullscreen 1080p? You'd think they'd be on that stuff by now.

 

[Zimbardo]

there's a part with a bunch of round sheep covering an object. i'm assuming i have to click and drag them off?

anytime i try to click and drag them off, i'm lucky if they even move at all.

is there a trick to this or is the game busted somehow? its really weird ...the game was great up till now.


edit: i did it ...really had to move the mouse around in order to get them off.

 

[Nert]

This game was completely off my radar until about half an hour ago, but I couldn't resist the generosity of the developers releasing it in a bundle. I'll definitely check it out tomorrow and post some impressions.

 

[SparkTR]

This and Trials are perfect companion games, playing this just washes the rage away.

 

[Corto]

Beautiful OT to a beautiful game. Just started today but loving it so far.

 

[djtiesto]

Buying the humble bundle after work today (I am also looking forward to trying Machinarium and Samorost)... but this is the star of the show for me. Very great graphic style and interesting premise. Will be nice to play when I get bored of XB.

 

[mjc]

I'm digging the style.

As an aside, I read this thread title as Bunnicula.

 

[V_Ben]

Done, I grabbed the bundle. Excited to play it once it eventually downloads.

 

[Berto]

I'm having a great time with Botanicula, however i did have some issues with a particular puzzle. It's something present in all Amanita's games. Sometimes i don't know that it's possible to do some actions and mouse movements. In one puzzle i got stuck for a while because i had no ideia i had to

Spoiler

shake a pepper jar

, the game never told me i could do that. Other than that it's great, it's like a bigger and more refined Samorost.

 

[Rufus]

Okay, the bit with the red ball is driving me insane. I somehow managed to bounce it near one of the openings to knock the key to the next one. I cannot replicate that for the life of me.

 

[Kinky John]

I really enjoyed that. I managed to collect 110/123 cards — anyone get all 123?

 

[Nert]

I've only played this for about half an hour, but I'm already really impressed. The characters and their clever animations are really endearing (Mr. Twig is a total badass). I also love how just mousing over different things is enough to interact with some of them, often resulting in some great ambient noises. The soundtrack is no slouch either.

I will definitely keep playing this despite my usual indifference to the adventure genre. Hopefully more people will be willing to give this a shot.

 

[Dog Problems]

I really enjoyed that. I managed to collect 110/123 cards — anyone get all 123?

How long would you say it took you to finish?

 

[Tenck]

Okay, the bit with the red ball is driving me insane. I somehow managed to bounce it near one of the openings to knock the key to the next one. I cannot replicate that for the life of me.

Have to slowly move your mouse underneath it. Was driving me insane too because I thought I have to plug the air holes with those little round things with eyes. Almost did a face palm when I finally got it.

Some of the puzzles are tough because you have no idea what to do, but as long as you just keep messing around with them you'll find the answer.

 

[kami_sama]

For the red ball puzzle, if you set the windows size to 60%, it works flawlessly. I also got stuck for almost half an hour.

 

[Cydonian__Knight]

I played about an hour this evening. My goodness is it gorgeous. I was in a slightly bad mood earlier, but this just made me smile. The animations, the characters, the setting....everything is amazing.

 

[Max]

Humble bumble bought :>

Installing right now!!

 

[commissar]

Finished it this evening. Loved it. So much charm. The little "yoohoo" is so satisfying

I got 112/123 I know of two I missed because I didn't go back to get them but the others are a mystery.

 

[mannerbot]

This game is fantastic. Basically it's the organic complement to Machinarium.

 

[Kinky John]

How long would you say it took you to finish?

I didn't keep track of time played, but I'd guess around 4 to 5 hours.

 

[aeolist]

Stuck on one of the first puzzles

I really shouldn't play adventure games

 

[Misguided]

My backlog consists of this and pretty much a bunch of other adventure games...(Machinarium, Samarost 2, Sword and Sworcery EP, Myst, Riven...)

 

[gingerbeardman]

Bought.

 

[Berto]

Finished today. I loved it, Amanita is now one of my favourite developers, Machinarium and Botanicula are both god tier games.

 

[TouchMyBox]

For the red ball puzzle, if you set the windows size to 60%, it works flawlessly. I also got stuck for almost half an hour.

Oh wow, thanks for the tip.

It seemed impossible at 100%.

This thread definitely isn't long enough, btw.

 

[Rufus]

For the red ball puzzle, if you set the windows size to 60%, it works flawlessly. I also got stuck for almost half an hour.

Yeah, assumed the same thing and I think that's what made it work finally. The red ball just wouldn't react to my mouse at all, so I thought I had to use the other balls to bounce it around, but those were near impossible to control, so I had a bit of a fit there...

Finished the game yesterday. Cute experience all around. I loved the cheery music.

 

[la_briola]

[...]
Platform: PC and Mac
[...]

PC, Mac and Linux

 

[HoosTrax]

I'm having a really hard time getting those cherry creatures to hop into the inverted trumpet. I can get them to launch horizontally a decent distance, but not so much vertically.

edit: nvm, finally got it

 

[DaBuddaDa]

PC, Mac and Linux

Does PC not include Linux?

 

[la_briola]

Does PC not include Linux?

Sure, but PC also means *BSD and many other operating systems. Maybe he should change it to: Windows, Mac and Linux.

 

[nny]

I'm enjoying this game so much! I'm trying to take it slow to make it last.

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

So is this as good as Machinarium then? I am currently playing that for the first time and enjoying it quite a bit!

 

[Utako]

I really wish these guys would start doing their stuff in HTML5. It's the natural route for a Flash developer.

 

[Berto]

So is this as good as Machinarium then? I am currently playing that for the first time and enjoying it quite a bit!

It's as good, but i prefered Machinarium. Machinarium is a traditional point and click adventure, Botanicula is like Samorost, it's point and click but with that Amanita Design twist. I like how opposite both games are, Machinarium is thematically mechanic, Botanicula is organic. Like two sides of a coin.

 

[tsab]

can somebody give me a save file right after collecting all

Spoiler

14 chicken

? or right before will do too.
I lost my save unfortunately