Maybe some of you have noticed – summer has come. Very rich in dubious events.
And also extremely changeable in terms of weather. Yesterday it was very hot. Today – not so much. And the day before yesterday I was frozen.
However, with the arrival of summer I have more free time. It’s hard to say whether this is good or bad. It’s hard to be alone with yourself.
That’s why I work. Or I’m playing something.
Each season has its own games.
the DRZJ
And sometimes such games find you themselves.
Disco Elysium I took it in early autumn, when the Russian translation came out.
In March, under the rains and gray skies – Night in the Woods.
And in the coldest frosts I turn on Spec Ops: The Line. Perhaps to feel the heat better. Maybe it would be scarier.
But I didn’t have any games for the summer in my collection. Until I watched the video at lunch Buljatya about the formation of browser projects.
Among other things, footage of the first Samorost flashed there for just a couple of seconds. And I decided to try it.
In fact, there were several such videos. However, they are all worth watching.
Today we’re taking a look at the work of Amanita Design – and explaining why you should dive into their games this summer.
What does mushrooms have to do with it??
Amanita muscaria – aka red fly agaric, or Amanita of the order of agaricaceae. Belongs to basidiomycete fungi. It is the most famous representative of its genus, and the most recognizable poisonous mushroom. Has psychoactive properties.
Batek in a white stretched T-shirt and Zhigulevsky’s baklakha rises from the sofa and joyfully shouts: “Here! They’re all drug addicts, these developers of yours!»
Sorry to disappoint you, dear imaginary character, but in the Czech Republic people drink more beer.
And through the name, essentially, the DNA of the studio is revealed.
Mushrooms are creatures not from our world. They are not animals, but they are not plants either. They have a completely different structure. They reproduce differently. And they also treat, kill and feed people at the same time. And also live on them.
And the fly agaric is an extremely noticeable and memorable mushroom. Like the creativity of Amanita design.
They’re still video games, but different. They don’t follow trends, or they do but are a couple of decades late. And they use completely different solutions from those common in the industry.
Despite all their uniqueness, mushrooms are part of living nature.
And emphasize its uniqueness and beauty.
So the studio’s projects, being a consequence of the development of technological progress, take as a basis the beauty of the forms and structures of various natural and everyday objects. And reveal them in a creative way.
Well, in some of the studio’s games, mushrooms also helped create the soundtrack.
We have to thank Tarun Nayyar for the appearance of such a sound solution.
The guy studied music and biology for a long time, and when he arrived in the Gulf Islands in the summer, he figured out how to make various living objects sound.
The experiment is based on bioelectricity and the natural resonance of liquid in living cells.
By connecting electrodes to mushrooms and various plants, Tarun ran the resulting signal through a synthesizer, producing a completely unique sound.
And he also has very cool videos)
Already during editing I remembered something else. Not very important for understanding the context, but entertaining.
GoblineCore
In most cases, GoblineCore is defined as aesthetics, but such terminology seems crooked and rather awkward to me. It’s more of a fashion, united by stylistic preferences. As well as a selection of visual images from which inspiration is drawn.
Goblinkor celebrates aspects of nature that many find ugly and dirty. In fauna these are snails, snakes and frogs. Materials include moss and tree bark. Mushrooms occupy a special place, in particular fly agarics.
GoblineCore representatives often enjoy collecting herbs, hiking in the forest, or photography.
In Russia, they began to actively talk about this direction in 2021. And it’s quite interesting to understand that many Amanita Design projects, pursuing exactly the same principles, were created much earlier.
And yes, I understand that not all of the studio’s games were inspired by the aesthetics of wildlife, forests and flora. However, we cannot deny that this is the main creative line of most of their projects. And even those works that pursue a different visual style feel part of this direction.
GoblineCore representatives are very fond of classic tropes from fairy tales and fantasy. Their sources of inspiration are folklore, as well as modern works: "Graffiti Falls" and "Alice in Wonderland".
Amanita games are still about something else.
But there are Pilgrims. And we’ll talk about it later
Where it all started?
Czech Republic, 2003. City of Brno.
Young and ambitious Jakub Dworski studies at the local Academy of Arts. While completing training assignments, he masters the increasingly popular Abobe Flash for convenience.
I think this software doesn’t need any introduction.
“Zombotron”, “Fire and Water”, “Dangerous Weapons”, as well as your first porn games – everything that was opened in Google upon the request “play online for free without registration” was most likely made in Flash.
Having mastered the program, Yakub makes several experimental videos in it – “Psyride”, “Nusle”, as well as the currently lost “Robo” and “Hupka”.
A little later he will develop his very first game – “Pantry”.
It’s a very small story that takes place in a closet. At the moment, it will no longer be possible to launch it due to the departure of Flash, but the author’s style was already clearly felt in it.
Locality, a feeling of comfort and at the same time something inexplicable. Unusual visual style.
And also the desire to do a lot with your hands. Draw on canvas, take photographs, model from clay and scrap materials.
However, Dvorsky’s semester is gradually ending. And now the time has come to defend your graduation project.
To surprise the teachers and move away from the usual format of work, Jacob decides to make a small game. To do this, he takes a camera and goes into the forest.
There, for several months, he photographs cobwebs, driftwood, tree roots, branches and everything that interests the student with its shape and texture.
Returning home, Yakub opens Photoshop, Flash and gets down to work.
By the date of defense of the main project, Jacob completes the development of his first project – Samorost. Which, by the way, is translated from Czech – Snag.
For this game, Dvorsky receives a “4” from the examination committee. Teachers remain very puzzled by the final work.
Samorost Series
We all already know that the graduation project eventually grew to three full-fledged games. Let’s try to sort them out separately.
Samorost 1
A Dwarf lives on a small planet. That’s how Jakub Dvorski simply called him. The gnome wears warm boots. And also pajamas with a pompom. His home planet looks like a huge irregularly shaped stump, with roots turned outward.
One day, while peering into the endless starry sky, the Dwarf notices an asteroid approaching his house. Climbing into a rocket from a rusty can, he sets off towards the threat to prevent a collision.
Gameplay
Samorost is a point&click quest. And it appeared at a time when the genre suddenly became relevant again.
Flash walked across computers around the world. Office workers had the opportunity to have fun and they needed something understandable and familiar. Like quests like Monkey Island they used to play.
As a Dwarf, we explore a small world consisting of isolated locations and interact with objects and inhabitants to move forward.
You can complete the first Samorost in what feels like less than an hour. However, it is an enjoyable experience with fairly challenging puzzles and a pleasant atmosphere.
What’s the trick??
Of the three parts of Samorost, the first is the roughest, with the broadest strokes and the most experiments. Which were clearly born from crutches. For example, a couple of characters have real, human faces instead of drawn ones. One of them is the smiling face of Jakub Dvorski.
It’s easier than animating faces and adds surrealism and fun to the action.
Perfect Shot and Visual Ideas. Shot at high magnification, footage of the nature of Czech forests with the necessary processing really becomes absolutely alien. As if they came from dreams or childhood memories.
When a tick was removed from your grandmother in the village, and then you played Allods while waiting for an ambulance.
And watched the bird cherry grow outside the window.
In addition to macro photography and texture work, Jakub also plays perfectly with the addition of elements drawn in Flash.
As a result, Samorost’s visuals resemble an old children’s game. When you need to add something to an ordinary thing, turning it into something new.
And over all this there is a young, student spirit of excitement, a desire to have fun and offer something new – albeit not very meaningful. There is no clear plot in Samorost – but at the same time, everything that happens seems to be subordinate to some big and incomprehensible, but funny joke.
This will be missed in the next games in the series. However, they will acquire many other wonderful qualities.
It is worth highlighting the music of Tomasz Worzak.
Initially, Tomas was going to connect https://gamblingsitesnotongamstop.co.uk/ his life with the film industry, and even started working in this direction. However, Dvorak suddenly appeared in his student life, and here he is – the permanent composer of Amanita Design.
The music in all parts of Samorost is full of unique solutions and manual labor. Most sounds were created using tapping, scratching, mushrooms and plants.
As a result, the soundtrack perfectly complements the atmosphere of a small fairy-tale space, very far from people – both fantastic and familiar at the same time.
Samorost 2
The dwarf managed to save his planet from a collision with an asteroid. He also started growing berries near his house and got a dog with a very long nose.
But one day alien pirates decide to rob the Gnome. The dog wants to stop them, but they kidnap her to their planet. And they start cooking something terrible from the Gnome’s berries!
The dwarf will have to travel on a rocket again.
What has changed?
In fact, the second part is a logical stage in the development of the studio. The first Samorost, although it is Yakub’s graduation project, still remains a concentration of great ideas.
Which, in order to achieve commercial success, had to be directed in the right direction and properly developed. And the studio, in general, succeeded.
We still have the same old school quest formula, but with a more complicated story.
Yes – this is still a story about a brave little tailor who, with his ingenuity, defeated big fat robbers from another planet.
But it is a big step compared to the previous part. And also gave a development vector for Amanita Design.
It was then that the realization came that they were best at simple stories that taught something relevant and eternal.
Stories about kindness, friendship and the desire to help. And also – explore the world around you, use your head in time and not give up in difficult times.
The visual has changed. The developers now have the means, and most importantly, time. Therefore, now we no longer have locations made from photographs – but photographs that are taken to create a location. More work in Photoshop, more hand-drawn details and animations.
As a result, the style of Samorost 2 still remains unique and related to the first part. However, it moves forward, becoming more understandable to the common player.
Well, the hookah-smoking character with Dvorsky’s face is also in place.
It is also worth noting that the color palette of Samorost 2 is less bright, so that the details the player needs stand out more clearly. From bright green colors we moved to gray, bluish and turquoise. If you like, from the more southern forests to the northern ones.
Later, the developers will find a balance in the color palette so that the game is clearly readable by the player, but is not faded.
Music is the same, beyond all praise. From frivolous and experimental, tied to rhythms and its changes, the soundtrack moved to a calmer one, with echoes of folk music and reverberation.
Samorost 3
The gnome was able to bring his dog home and is living peacefully on his home planet again. Until one day a magic flute falls right in front of his house. Deciding to find out where she came from, the Dwarf sets off on a long journey to five very different planets. Along the way he will have to help their residents, meet the Monks, and even defeat the big and evil Dragon.
Final chord
Samorost 3 is the most famous and most critically acclaimed project in the series. It is also the studio’s second most recognizable game.
About the first one – a little lower.
This time it took a long time to develop, taking into account all the accumulated knowledge, skills and creative ideas of Amanita Design employees. And it’s very noticeable.
While working on the previous parts, the team developed its own, original approach to work, which is very well revealed in the documentary about the creation of Samorost 3.
How does Amanita work?
Further in the article, screenshots from the documentary film “Growing Samorost” will be presented. This is to demonstrate the creative environment in which the developers at Amanita Design work, as well as an attempt to illustrate their vision.
The first thing we notice when watching the team that created Samorost is comfort. It’s even becoming enviable.
At the time of the creation of the third part, they are all located either in Prague or its environs – in cozy, albeit slightly shabby apartments, and some in a private house. Which looks like it was used as a set in a fairytale movie.
And in these frames we see numerous sketches of Dvorsky, which he draws up for all his projects. It is very important for him to think through every detail and formulate an overall picture of what is happening in the game in his head.
And the drawings are subsequently included in the collector’s editions of Amanita Design games.
But the house of the artist and graphic designer of the project, Adolf Lachmann, rather resembles the consequences of the explosion of a very strange bomb or a garbage dump for patients with schizophrenia.
Okay, the metaphors are too dark, this is actually a hell of a fun place.
It’s damn nice to watch how Adolf fantasizes, waving in the air a variety of and most unobvious objects, which he then implements in his projects or new games from the Amanita studio
Also in the documentary, Adolf shows his paintings. Through them, another principle of his work is revealed: in the visuals he refers to the memories and emotions of childhood, adding something from his own irrepressible imagination.
Tomas Dvorak, composer and sound designer, seemed surrounded by more formal walls and worked in a conservative, austere apartment. However, this feeling quickly dissipates as soon as he climbs into a makeshift cell made of mattresses and begins to roar like a dragon.
He tries to carry out his duties not in all seriousness, but he never becomes irresponsible. All his music and every single sound works perfectly, fits the atmosphere and goes on time.
As already mentioned, in music Dvorak is a proponent of unusual ways of producing sound, and therefore a more surreal musical atmosphere in the world of the game itself.
Even the project programmer, David Oliva, does not work in a standard office environment, but with his family, in a spacious kitchen, behind the door of which there are huge shelves with books.
His task is to monitor the technical condition of the project – after all, previous games did not disappoint fans.
I’ll be honest. I would give a lot to collect such team.
What’s the end result with the game??
And the game is great. The many nominations she deservedly received are proof of this.
An ideally verified and balanced visual style, a simple but voluminous and deep plot touching on the themes of the cyclical nature of everything in the Universe, amazing music and new, interesting puzzles tied to interaction with the world (worlds) and its inhabitants.
Samorost 3 is very diverse. We will also visit lush, green places. And on dried up planets consisting of bark and rotten matter. And also in the world of roots, mushrooms and even in a place reminiscent of hell.
At the same time, the visual style has finally found the border between laconicism, necessary for a game of the quest genre, and variety.
The gameplay still surprises with the complexity of the puzzles and their funny, non-obvious way of solving them. Rhythmic tasks have been added: for example, you need to wake up the beetles by playing music on their whiskers.
The music now combines psychedelic, folk and children’s elements with a simple rhythm, thereby creating a very cozy, but at the same time charming and unusual atmosphere.
In short, Samorost is a series that has managed to become a new classic, winning the hearts of millions of gamers around the world with its simplicity and immensity.
Machinarium
Definitely the most famous project of the Amanita studio. I heard about this game back in school, thanks to its release on Android. This is how, by the way, she received the attention of people who had never heard of Amanita Design.
Development
The process of creating Machinarium is worth mentioning because of how well it highlights the hard work and diligence of Amanita Design’s staff.
These are the people that mothers of lazy game designers cite as examples, wagging their fingers edifyingly.
The project was developed for three years – for a small team this was, at that time, a huge period of time. Moreover, the project was financed exclusively from our own pockets. The advertising budget, for example, turned out to be just under a thousand dollars.
However, fortunately, the release took place in 2009 for computer systems. Despite the small impact, the game began to quickly spread among the quest audience through word of mouth.
Realizing who else could be interested, Amanita Deign spent three long years supporting their brainchild, releasing it on a large number of mobile platforms, thanks to which Machinarium became their most widespread and recognizable project.
However, an unexpected surprise was the “final version” of the game, which the developers released in 2017. And here are its main differences:
1. New engine, replacing the no longer relevant Flash. Moreover, the engine was written independently, from scratch.
2. The game could now be easily run in full screen. At the same time, there were black stripes along the edges of the monitor for some time, but this was corrected quite quickly.
3. The gameplay has expanded, 12 new achievements have been added that can be earned by performing obvious and not so obvious actions. As a result, a leaderboard also appeared.
4. And finally, Amanita translated Machinarium into 14 languages - not without outside help. Although I’ll assume that this is not a very difficult task, given that Machinarium, at its core, is a silent cartoon.
Even after a long time, supporting the project in order to improve it for fans and not lose a large base of interested people is extremely respected and worth a lot. Especially compared to modern industry.
Plot
When I developed the world of Machinarium, I also created its history – for myself, in order to understand this world better and be able to think through it in detail. This story is not in the game itself, but I will tell you briefly. It all happened on one distant and forgotten planet, where people were used to sending the garbage they produced – old cars, mechanisms, computers, etc. Several simple robots were formed from this mechanical scrap. Some time later they built other, more advanced robots, and then a settlement. This is how the city of Machinarium was created.
Jakub Dworski, interview with GamesLife
Well, life in the Machinarium flowed quite calmly and measuredly. But after a while, a gang of Black Hats began to rampage on its streets.
It all started quite innocently – the guys broke glass with a slingshot, and once stole a gramophone.
However, over time, their misdeeds became more evil and dangerous. One day they climbed into the tower of the mayor of Machinarium himself, and infected his big brain with a virus. He called the Cleaner for help, but he mistakenly sucked in not the bandits, but Joseph – the main character of the game – and threw him into a landfill. And the Black Hats also kidnapped Josef’s beloved!
Now the little robot has to get to the city again to restore order.
Gameplay
Amanita Design, since the release of Samorost, decided not too radically, but to change the classic quest gameplay.
And trying to turn their ideas into reality, they made both cool and not so cool choices.
The main character is a robot, and his key feature is a body that looks like a collapsible glass. It can both shrink, becoming compact, and stretch, reaching the top shelves. This character feature is an integral part of almost all local puzzles.
The second step towards complicating and systematizing gameplay was mini-games. This is extremely dangerous soil, and it is difficult to say whether the developers drowned on it.
But there are also fans of mini-games? Probably there is. I haven’t met.
But I believe that mini-games in projects of this genre should rely less on luck and a certain combination of circumstances. Or don’t rely at all. And local entertainment often suffers from this.
For example, with this old man we have to play a slightly modified version of “tic-tac-toe”. Place five nuts in one line and win. If we miss the same line of bolts, we lose.
For some unknown reason, Grandpa always starts walking first, immediately gaining an advantage. And it moves differently each time, while quite easily catching an unlucky player. Like me. As a result, I spent about an hour on this game, fighting the urge to break the monitor.
And the old man is still burning loudly at us after another loss.
Well, the second dubious segment is the hall with slot machines.
With all due respect to Amanita Design, this room looks like a desperate attempt to stretch out the running time and inflate the amount of content. To advance further and earn achievements, we will need to win by playing all the machines installed in the room.
Moreover, there is essentially one game here – an analogue of Space Invaders. In which you have to score a thousand points. It sounds scary, but for each attempt you, thank God, get several hundred of them.
Other machines contain new variations of puzzles – with the need to correctly position the figures, for example.
The problem is that it looks pretty sparse and mediocre. And it plays about the same.
At the same time, the game contains correctly redesigned puzzles. For example, the tags that bore everyone in quests must be collected here with two, and not one, free cells. Very convenient and simple.
Perhaps my memory or perception is failing me, but there was a clear overkill with the mini-games in Machinarium. They are literally everywhere.
We switch the color of light bulbs, connect the dots and even solve the classic pipe puzzle. For me, during the passage, all this, of course, merged into a huge and awkward pile of obstacles blocking the path to the ending.
And no. I don’t remember such a problem in Samorost, although it may have been there. But there is a feeling that the puzzles in it were much more tied to what was happening. We studied the world, figured out how it worked, in what order, then found out from the characters what they needed, and completed the task without emerging from the atmosphere of strange space.
In Machinarium you behave in much the same way, and I remember the interactions with the local characters well – as they are well done, pleasant and charismatic. Escape from prison – interesting. Saving your beloved – too.
But in order to accomplish all this, you periodically need to play the pearl game, which is quite abstracted from the context.
One can, of course, assume that all these riddles are part of the environment, and not just a way to entertain the player. Like, they were created by old robots even before the events of the plot.
But it’s all the more ironic to understand how much the residents of the Machinarium themselves suffer from such intricacy.
There is an elevator in the game. And to make it move, you need to make a certain figure on the display. And someone at a certain moment, apparently, was so tortured that he scribbled clues right next to him on the wall.
OK. In this context, puzzles even take on an ironic character.
It turns out I was angry in vain. And that’s very good, actually.
Well-oiled mechanism
And, in general, it wouldn’t be possible to call Machinarium anything else.
At the time of its creation, Amanita Design employees were already a strong, close-knit team that perfectly understood each other’s desires, ideas and capabilities. That is why various experiments and improvisations fade into the background during development, giving way to a clear concept and a step-by-step algorithm for its implementation.
The developers allowed themselves to step aside only in small things – and also if it would benefit the project.
At some point, Adolf Lachmann realized that smooth, neat, machine-made robots should, for the sake of contrast, be surrounded by the opposite, slightly crooked, chaotic and blurry locations. However, the problem was that Adolf is a perfectionist, and he could not draw carelessly. The problem was solved simply – by transferring the pencil to the left hand.
It was after this that the background acquired the necessary negligence that distinguishes the main characters.
History has become more complex, but at the same time more superficial, mass. However, it still gives a rather ambiguous ending and is able to make black jokes, while catching a large audience, and not just a group of aesthetes stuck in search of the non-obvious.
In music, no one began to reinvent the wheel – they simply carefully integrated working concepts into a new project. I sincerely like the local soundtrack, which usually starts with primitive, folk motifs. Which gradually grow and expand into something close to jazz. And all this is shouted over by the hum, clanging, roar and howling of various mechanisms and equipment. And this, to me, perfectly reflects the life of a big iron city.
The music in the game is quite maximalist, but still remains pleasant, melodic and soothing.
As a result, Amanita Design’s most popular game turned out to be a strict, selective demonstration of their corporate style, ideas, as well as a set of new solutions related to gameplay and mechanics. It is thanks to this approach that the project is remembered by many. However, I personally miss something unique, experimental and wild, as was the case in other Dvorsky projects.
Who knew that my unfulfilled desires would come true very soon, and, as always, unexpectedly?.
Pilgrims
As I said, this is not only my favorite game from Amanita Design, but also my favorite game in general. Why – I don’t know myself. Now I’ll try to figure it out.
The story of this game began with one of the puzzles in Samorost 3.
The idea is simple – connect the cards in the correct sequence to make a comic with a good ending.
But if you connect the cards incorrectly, the story will turn out to be tragic – and funny.
This puzzle received wide approval among fans of Samorost 3, and at the same time led the developers to a new, unusual idea.
And so, in the fall of 2019, without any announcement, a game made over two years simply appears on Steam. And also Pilgrims becomes one of the first projects distributed on Apple Arcade.
Plot and context
Pilgrim Fathers – English settlers (colonists) who arrived to create the Plymouth Colony in North America.
The name of the project refers us to the times of great travels and geographical discoveries. To the times when dozens of desperate people abandoned their usual lives and went to the most distant lands to explore them, get rich, and return home as heroes.
Or maybe cut down the settlement and stay there forever. Come up with your own rules, don’t depend on anyone, hunt and warm yourself at night by the fire.
Warm up and tell a variety of fairy tales and fables about your adventures. Add details to them, embellish your role so that they are respected, and with a good, strong story, go to the local tavern. Where this story will become the property of the entire settlement. They will tell it to their sons and grandchildren. Will remember.
That’s what Pilgrims is about. Or not really?
We start the game as a lonely wanderer – aged, but with a luxurious mustache. Having rested at the rest stop, he is going to cross the river without unnecessary stops and move on, towards adventure, but the problem is that the boatwoman needs a rare, elusive bird as payment for the crossing.
There is nothing to do – you will have to study in detail the area where the traveler ended up and get to know the local inhabitants. And who knows what adventures this will lead to??
I know. To the funny, and as fabulous as possible.
Gameplay
Remember Inscription? Or that add-on for Resident Evil 7?
Both of these games fall into a category that I have a lot of respect for – playing cards taking a step forward.
As a result, we get not just entertainment for a bored office clerk, but an interesting setting and story – a high-quality shell of a game, seemingly with known rules.
Pilgrims goes a little further, making the game itself as simple as possible, and allowing us to build the story ourselves.
Moving along the nicely drawn map, we discover new areas on it – very small, but voluminous. We could see a similar promotion in Cuphead.
Having arrived at such a location, the first thing we do is collect everything on it that is not nailed down. Found items and characters we are lucky enough to meet are immediately added to the deck.
After playing a character card, you can choose him to go through the location. And when interacting with an item card, the character will pick it up and try to use it. Which can lead to a variety of consequences.
For example, here we can choose who will cook over the fire, and then whether to hang a pot over the fire. You should also pick up a rope and a fly agaric from the map.
The player’s task is to choose the right character and the right combination of items to solve the puzzle, get new items and advance further in the story.
In general, that’s all. But at the same time, such a simple mechanic generates a huge number of different situations when you use random characters and objects in order to see what happens.
All scenarios, by the way, are carefully shuffled into another deck of cards with a unique design. Honestly, I would buy them as merch.
Don’t worry – if something bad happens, the game will simply restart the episode. It’s physically impossible to lose here.
The only drawback of the project is that from time to time solving a certain situation is a completely crazy combination, which is extremely difficult to come up with on your own.
On the other hand, this is an absolutely classic problem with all Point&click quests, so it’s even a little embarrassing to criticize the game for this.
A strange fairy tale with a good ending
So, on the creative path of the Amanita Design studio we have:
1. A modest but ambitious and bold creative project.
2. The sequel, which turned into a full-fledged game and set the vector for the development of the studio
3. The third part, which is the concentration of the author’s unique vision of the developers and the calling card of the studio.
4. A commercial project, polished to a shine so as not to scare anyone away, but at the same time possessing the most attractive charm
With fun infused into the project at the DNA level.
If the visual of Samorost is a laboratory or a kitchen, and Machinarium is a drafting table, then Pilgrims looks like illustrations in a very old, but very good children’s book.
There are many colors here, but they are all closer to pastels, and ultimately create a feeling of comfort. There are a lot of simple images, stupid faces and thick outlines, but this very well motivates the player to see and explore everything that is in the game.
The plot here is small but branchy. In some ways it resembles a short fairy tale or anecdote, which can have many variations. But at the same time there is a main one – the funniest and most logical.
Well, the music once again emphasizes the good and most important aspects of the project. It has become simpler, but some still contain interesting flirtations with rhythm, unexpected inclusions of percussion instruments or sound effects. There are also a lot of simple and fun tracks that you can even awkwardly dance to.
In my humble opinion, Pilgrims was a reflection of what Amanita Design has been striving for for many years. And this is exactly the project that is worth running in order to truly understand Dvorsky and his strong friendly company.
We’re leaving at dusk
It was Pilgrims that became the last project of the Dvorsky team, released to the public. Further, other people will work on games on behalf of the studio. And these other people’s games.
I don’t even know what to say about them. Perhaps there will be another article about them.
In parting, I would like to recommend to you a video from a person who made a full review of all the collector’s editions of games from Amanita Design. It was he who inspired me to tell more about this team in this blog.
Now I want to say a huge thank you to the circumstances for the fact that such creative, crazy in their own way, but most importantly – organized and purposeful people still appear and exist in our world.
Without them, and also without their strange but charming creations, our lives would be much sadder and worse.