The folks behind the excellent, surreal point-and-click adventure games Machinarium, Botanicula and Samorost have just released Chuchel, which is more focused on making you laugh than asking you to solve tough puzzles.
Chuchel is an angry ball of dust with an orange hat and a pet that looks like a cross between a rat and a potato, called Kekel. The pair want nothing more than to hunt for cherries, and it's your job to help them along the way.
Phil's review of the game is now live here—he said that it's rarely laugh-out-loud funny but that "there's a joyfulness to its scenarios that I couldn't help but smile at".
The trailer, below, was released a few months ago but gives you a decent idea about what to expect. It looks plain silly, and the squelchy sound design is immediately charming. That's no surprise: the studio's previous games, particularly Botanicula, have some of the best audio around.
It will offer up puzzles, but don't expect them to be real head-scratchers. The point is to prod its characters, enjoy the animations and giggle at the gags, occasionally slipping into arcade segments inspired by classic retro games.
If it sounds like one for you, then it's $10/£8 on Steam, GOG, and itch.io.
The wonderfully colourful and funny Chuchel, the new adventure game from Samorost and Botanicula makers Amanita Design, is now out. Our John gushed praise in his Chuchel review but who can remember as far back as yesterday? “A tour de force of animation”, he said. “Daft happiness at its purest, titrated into gaming”, he said. For a game this great, a reminder is warranted. Ah, I laugh just seeing this angry little squiggle. Look: (more…)
Chuchel is a tour de force of animation, every scene so vibrant and hilarious, colourful and manic, the slightest tweaks in character facial expressions eliciting guffaws. Every new scene is a glorious delight just to look at, before you even start playing with it. And then, as you click on every element on the screen, delightful, silly and gorgeous things happen. This is a game where I find myself trying to work out what is the correct solution to any given puzzle, just so I can avoid clicking on it before I’ve clicked on everything else. I exhaust every repeated joke until it loops, don’t mind when they do, and call people in from other rooms to see the funniest moments. Chuchel is, beyond belief, wonderful.