Pros:

+ great music & sound effects
+ graphic style
+ weird, bizarre world
+ atmosphere
+ cute main character
+ funny ending scene

Cons:

- way too short (one hour of gameplay)
- weak plot
- non-intuitive interaction
- mediocre puzzles
- very tiny play area

One word review: Bizarre

6/10

Time to save your dog from an alien abduction. Samorost 2 is a cute flash animation adventure game. Its puzzles are fairly simple and the game is relatively short. The graphics are well done and fit the genre quite nicely. I wouldn't say it's worth the price tag at full price, but if you're an Amanita fan (Botanicula, Machinerium), then this is a must have in your collection.

Wonderful little game. Fun to look at and play. Puzzles were pretty intuitive on the first "planet," but not on the second. In all, awesome, but if you're going to get it, buy the bundle with Botanicula and Machinarium, because those are fantastic.

Funny. Short. Fun. Great ROI at .49 cents.

Had a great time with it then played the free version (episode 1) online.

The only correct word to describe this game is "Charming." In this age of advanced graphics and immense budgets, it is difficult to find a game that is atmospheric enough to immerse you in its world or setting as well as Samorost 2 does without the aid of state-of-the-art 2010's cuputing technology (That is not to devalue such games; there are masterpieces among them).

I must begin by stating that, although, for all intents and purposes, it is a "G-rated" game, it is NOT just for children. In theory it is suitable for them, but young children would become frustrated by it's difficulty. In hindsight, it probably isn't suitable for children, as it does contain a man who smokes wild, touch-sensitive mushrooms. So there. Not a children's game. You can play it. No-one will laugh at you.

I rarely play point-and-click adventure games, but I must concede that this one is making me re-consider the credibility of the medium as a whole. As you can see from the screenshots, the game's visuals are comprised mostly of backgrounds created from stitched-together phoographic elements with meticulously hand-drawn aimated elements in the foreground. The game is not wholly 2-Dimensional, however, as certain interactions will cause the characters to move further away or closer. This art style in combination with the varied and highly atmospheric ambient music gives the game an excellent "feel" when played for the first time, and the clarinet in particular is put to good use in portraying the mood of the characters.

The puzzles are challenging but not impossible, and most require you to think "outside the box," with a few involving the need for careful timing or requiring you to complete steps in a certain order which, although often unclear to begin with, will have real consequences, causing you to have to repeat an often difficult section if you fail to execute the steps in order or in time. The solutions are often amusing, and the cut-scenes that follow equally so. However, I must admit to consulting the walkthrough occasionally. Mostly this was due to my own inability to see a solution, but sometimes it was because it is not clear what can be interacted with and what cannot.

This leads me to my one real complaint: The fact that it is not always clear what can be interacted with and what cannot results in same "pixel-searching" on the part of the player, whereby one clicks systematically on every object visible on the screen before proceeding to click on every five-millimetre-square section of screen-space boustrophedonically starting in the top-left corner, regardless of whether or not it contains an object or not.

What surprises me the most is that both this game and it's prequel managed to be so art-like, atmospheric and high in quality, despite being made so long ago and utilising only the capabilities of Adobe Flash Player.

To summarise:

+Unique appearance
+Excellent soundscape
+Amusing solutions to some puzzles
+As much as it pains me to say so, the characters and story can be described accurately as "cute"
+Happy ending
+Price (I bought the Amanita package on sale, but even even at $5.00 for 2-3hrs per play it's still better value than a rollercoaster or a movie. And it can be re-used.)

-Some pixel-searching
-Small game-window size on high-resoluton screens
-Every time you start the game you are reminded of the unwelcome but necessary presence or Adobe Flash Player on your computer http://www.orison.biz/blogs/chall3ng3r/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/flash_update1.png
-at one point you have to push a baby animal off a branch (It hurts inside)
-it's way easier to think of criticisms than praise

Disregard those Pros and Cons and take my word for it: If you have any appreciation for subtlety of design, art or music, you will enjoy this game. It is good in the same way that the French short films series "Minuscule" is good.

Really interesting to look at and hear. Unpleasant to interact with. It's unclear what you can interact with. At some points, even if you know you can interact with something, you won't know what part of it to click on. This becomes bad especially towards the end. A simple effort to make it more obvious what can be clicked on without making players resort to pixel hunting would've made me recommend this, but I can't because of this issue.

Most of what makes this game great is its style. It is a very simple point and click adventure game with no dialogue and its puzzle are mostly just a small roadblock to getting to the next area and seeing the new scenery. You can play the first Samorost here for free: http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/

That should give you some idea of the style (though the second game is longer, rather more polished and with more sensible puzzles). The demo for Samorost2 is here: http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/

Very short, very charming. It's worth the hour if you've played other Amanita games and like them.

Highly recommend this Point & Click adventure!

It is short, sweet and nasty and from the makers of Machinarium and Botanicula. Nice sound and at minimum (if you know it all) about 30mins, but took me well over an hour, even with the occassional cheating, I must admit.
I found Machinarium easier than this one, but it hasn't got such a sad ending than the former.
You got no hints as in Machinarium and this time you are a little dwarf on your mission to save your dog from alien abuse.
Some people rightly complain that too often objects seem to fall out of thin air rather than having an understandable mechanism behind it (unlike Machinarium and the first half of Samorost2).

Intelligent game, not only for kids - but a must buy for the own kids. Funny and witty and not too expensive for showing support to an Indie Game, if people spend big Dollars on cheap Multiplayer Map Shooters (which act as nothing but cash cows for the big brands).

One of Amanita Designs earlier games. Their great talent of sound/music immersion and telling a story without a single word said/written ever present.

It's super short, but remember that the first part of the Samorost story is free. If you enjoyed the first, you'll certainly enjoy the second!

Interesting and creative take on the point-'n-click formula. My only complaint? Waaaay too short. Beat it in well under 1 &1/2 hours? What?! With that kind of life-span the $5 price tag isn't exactly reasonable. However, that being said, this is a dev team worth supporting. So if you consider the fact that you're supporting a job well-done, as well as likely jobs well-done in the future, it doesn't feel like such a rip-off.
OR...
You can buy it on sale, fully justified, like I did (for ~$1.75) :P

Samorost 2 is short. It's going to resonate differently with each individual. I personally found nothing particularly fantastic about it. The original Samorost sets itself apart by using close-up photographs of various objects, mostly forestial, to create the illusion of large landscapes. Samorost 2 relies more on a traditional hand-drawn approach, and struggles to be as visually interesting as the first game, which is available for free on the Amanita Design website.

Samorost 2's music, as usual for an Amanita game, is top-notch, and one of its highlights.

There are only a handful of puzzles in the game, and the design is problematic in certain areas. For example, the point-and-click interface allows you to click anywhere on the screen to interact with any object - yet for certain objects, it requires your little hero character to be standing in a certain area, making it easy to dismiss something as non-interactive when in fact you were just incorrectly positioned.

And the very last puzzle of the game is a frustrating chore - it's a timing-based puzzle, already something I don't care for, and if you get it wrong, which is highly likely as it takes a bit of trial-and-error to figure out, you have to grind out the game's previous puzzle to get back into the situation needed to try your luck again. The previous puzzle involves collecting animal farts. Of the 90 minutes I played the game, I spent maybe 30 minutes collecting animal farts. That kind of pisses me off.

So I can't really recommend the game. It's not exciting, challenging, or visually appealing enough to merit even a short playthrough, and spending money on it seems silly. It should have been a free flash release. Skip this and play the excellent Machinarium.


4/10

[See the English version below]

Персональный рейтинг - 7,5 из 10

Samorost 2, как ясно из названия, является продолжением небольшой адвенчуры за авторством Якуба Дворски, художника и дизайнера из Чехии, основавшего в свое время студию Amanita Design, из под пера которой впоследствии выйдут и Machinarium и Botanicula.

Первая часть Samorost является бесплатной, благо является дипломной работой автора, и поиграть в нее можно совершенно свободно на сайте разработчика. Описывать сюжет первой игры не стану, лучше поиграйте в нее сами - уверен, вам понравится! Да и не о ней сейчас речь...

Samorost 2 следует букве и стилю оригинала и те, кто знаком с творческим подходом автора, тут же почувствуют себя как дома. Это по-прежнему маленькая, уютная и в то же время очень необычная игра, что подкупает причудливостью игрового мира. Это история об одиночестве, об уединении, о незримой связи с окружающим нас миром, чуть меланхоличная, нарочито неторопливая. Просто представьте - вы живете один на целой планете, пусть крохотной, и в друзьях у вас лишь только верный пес! А вокруг - непонятный мир, полный чудес и загадок. Samorost 2, как и первая часть, больше похожа на интерактивную сказку, чем на игру. Не хочелось бы проводить прямые параллели с "Ежиком в тумане" Норштейна, но почему-то именно это сравнение приходит в голову.

Ценители прекрасного, где вы? Эта игра для вас.
__________

Personal rating - 7,5 out of 10

Samorost 2 is basically a sequel to small, cute and quite popular adventure game made by Jakub Dvorsky, czech artist and designer, founder of Amanita Design development studio, whose latter works include Machinarium and Botanicula.

The very first Samorost is free, thanks to being author's graduation thesis so if anyone's interested you can proceed to developer's site and play it right there free of charge. See no reason in describing it's plot, guess it would be much better to see for yourself - I am sure you will enjoy this experience! Nevertheless, that's not what we're focused on now...

Samorost 2 follows the line and style of the original and those who are familiarized with Dvorsky's art and vision will not notice any significant differences. It is still tiny, cute and peculiar game which steals your attention and time by it's unusual setting, visuals and grotesque. It is still a story about loneliness and solitude, about privacy and seclusion, about unseen connection to environment and world around us, melancholic and slow-paced. Just imagine... you are living on a planet, even though it's a tiny planet, and you're alone out there... and got no friends but a dog! And surrounded by strange, unexplored, dangerous, yet so alluring world full of mystery. It feels like an interactive fairytale...

Any art-house lovers/dreamers in the house? This game's made for you.

Get this game only in the situation of:
1) It's on sale, AND;
2) You like point-and-click games.

Otherwise, frankly, it's not worth USD 5. It's a flash game that's over in about an hour. The puzzles can't be figured out short of pixel-hunting or guide-checking. For this style of game, check out Machinarium (by the same guys, Amanita Design), which I highly recommend.

Pros:
+ visuals
+ music
+ story (it's cute, and well communicated without words)

Cons:
- too many timing-based puzzles
- non-intuitive interface
- final puzzle is annoyingly punishing

I did enjoy my play-through, though I admit that I needed the guide to get through it (I don't have the patience any more). Again - get their next game, Machinarium - it's far superior.

Samorost 2 is a point-and-click adventure game that is worth playing because of its level design, music and puzzles. On the other hand, the plot isn't intriguing (you're a sort of Little Prince living in a tiny planet and your mission is to rescue your dog, given that it was kidnapped by some aliens that stopped by to catch some fruits) and the game is too short (I bet you won't take longer than two hours to beat it). Besides that, Samorost 2 may be remembered mainly because of its atmosphere: both the classy soundtrack and the environment overgrown with wild roots and strange creatures are moving and unique. So, if you're into point-and-click games and feel like enjoying some art work, even though for a couple of hours, this game will surely be a hell of a ride for you.

A game that is finished quickly, but that you remember fondly.
Beautiful art style, and sweet story.

If you like point'n'click, buy it when it's cheap.

I think finding out some things is way too hard since nothing really gives you a hint what you have to do and the point you have to click is tiny.
I didn't really enjoy this game.

Samorost 2 is a wonderful, short and sweet point-and-click adventure game that has great music from Amanita regular Tomáš Dvořák/Floex, and art that looks just as earthy as it does extraterrestrial. This game's atmosphere is absolutely stellar. Story is simple, but there are tons of interesting details in the game's settings. Like Machinarium, but in a smaller dose!

You might be better off buying the game direct from the developer's site, though (same price, but you also get the soundtrack--which you will want!).

Really too short to recommend buying, especially since half the game is free online. And it's a bit more archaic than the superior Machinarium and Botanicula. You could probably safely ignore this one but it's fun enough if you have an hour to kill, I suppose.

An early flash game from the makers of Machinarium and Bontanicula. Not as good as either of those games, but it has some of the same charm. It only takes an hour or so to play. TIP: To see full screen, right-click, Zoom In, right-click again, Zoom Out. Things are much easier to see that way.