Samorost 3-Game Review

Samorost 3 is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design.. Samorost 3 follows a curious space gnome who uses the power of a magic flute to travel across the cosmos in search of its mysterious origins.

No. of players: single player game with the protagonist gnome available for mobile android/IoS and tab format.

Description of gameplay

The game contains no comprehensible dialogue, only a system of animated thought bubbles and gibberish. The player controls Gnome on his journey through space full of planets, equipped with an inventory and a flute. He explores the environment, solves puzzles and collects items required for the obstacles that come in his way. He can also communicate with creatures he meets during his journey. These creatures include ghosts who need Gnome’s help. The player can also use a flute that is required to solve some puzzles.

Samorost 3 features a clue book that can be accessed at any time by playing a minigame if the player gets stuck. The walkthrough is not in written or spoken form, but instead a series of sketches describing the puzzle at hand and its solution.

Plot

Samorost 3 starts when a magical flute falls near the Gnome’s house.The Gnome decides to find out where it came from and sets out on a journey through the cosmos. He speaks to an engineer and asks him to build a rocket, which he builds by reusing parts found scattered on his home planet.The Gnome flies from planet to planet and meets multiple creatures whom he helps with their problems using the flute.

The Gnome eventually discovers two illustrated books and learns that the flute belongs to four monks. Not long ago, the monks were all at peace, until a giant orange space octopus arrived from a black wormhole and started consuming planets. The monks saw the octopus coming and consulted an engineer (the same one from the Gnome’s home planet) to build a three-headed watering spaceship controlled by the flutes on the back of which they can fly, and a mechanical knight powered by a black orb with which to fight the octopus and save the universe. The knight dismembers and kills the octopus, then the knight goes to sleep on a moon, and the orb is locked away and protected by a guardian monk.

In the second book, one of the four monks uses his flute to create evil spirits, and the other three monks banish him for doing so. He secretly takes the spaceship and converts it into a three-headed fire-breathing mechanical dragon. Flying on the dragon, he snatches the other three flutes from the monks and casts the monks out of their mountain castle. However one of the flutes flew away, and this is the flute that landed on the Gnome’s planet. He then uses the dragon to consume good spirits which he finds on other planets and then seizes the black orb so that the knight cannot be awakened.

The Gnome eventually reaches the planet of monks, sneakily steals the black orb from the evil monk, and uses it to revive the mechanical knight who then slays the dragon and presumably killing the evil monk in the process.The Gnome celebrates by playing music with the remaining three monks, who reward him with the power to travel instantly across all the planets and returns the black orb to its guarded storage.The Gnome finally returns to his home planet to greet his dog.

Game-world rules and simulation:

The game-world is an imaginative universe with the presence of gravity. The game simulates a Gnome caste away from the home planet. Gnome has a human like behaviour and simulates an intergalactic quest full of creatures that simulates the earthly beasts.

The actions taken on most of the objects are direct simulation of the day to day work/physics, for example pushing the lever, applying glue to the vase, pulling the pulley chain, operating the air trolly etc.

The pictorial clues in the form of bubbles is an abstraction of the reality in the game and are derived from the story book.

The quest of Gnome has some defined elements and rules such as:

Defined path:Though the spaces looks wholesome but allows user to explore the defined paths, with few things respond to touch.The defined path takes the user to different parts of the game where exist the different clues as well as action that are needed to perform the task. The path is defined for the pedestrian movement of the Gnome as well as for the intergalactic movement between the planets.

There is no way one can upgrade or go to different stage of the game until the present one is completed. The stage UI shows the number of stages covered and the number of puzzles left in the particular stage.

Though the path for a certain clue is defined, there is a freedom of movement between the spaces across the landmass once its explorable.

Fixed clues: clues are either obtained via the book, or with bubbles while communicating. There is no way one can upgrade the level of the existing clues.

Defined win/end: There is no end to the game with the death/ kill of the Gnome. The game saves itself and continues till the end of the quest according to the story.

Defined interaction with objects:In these defined paths are few unusual hidden clues which the gnome need to figure out in order to level up.The hidden clues could be objects which interact if they are a part of the quest.

The objects simulate characteristics of vintage mechanical age with which can pushed and pulled. The objects moves only with an interaction of swiping, dragging and tapping.

Defined communication type: Gnome can talk to human forms but need a flute for non human type creatures and objects. The flute activates when the gnome comes in the vicinity of such a creature.

Communication is restricted to non verbal but pictorial representation of bubbles, which can be triggered multiple times by doing the same action (ie. playing flute). The pictorial representation usually tells the story of either historical or the future.

Fixed sequencing of puzzles: In few scenes the main goal is connected to the number of puzzles which the gnome needs to perform in order to complete the whole stage. These puzzles have a defined set combinations and set. For example, this card game where one has to make combination of sequences for completion.

Defined asset collection: The Flute is available to play when it’s triggered otherwise its in the asset collection.Other assets that are being collected are props to complete the task in hand.While most of the things are direct simulations from the earthly things, there are few mystical creatures as well.

Game mechanics:

The game mechanics of the game is derived by the plot/story as written in the book about the banished flute monk and three-headed fire-breathing mechanical dragon. The overall story is broken down into different sequences each of them having few puzzles to be solved to escape and get into another sequence until the game ends.

Puzzles being the building blocks of the sequence and the story, puzzles is where the user is engaged and spends the most time. Few characteristics of these sequences and puzzles are

Playing and movement

1. Point and click to move in the defined path. Also to one screen from another. This is the primary task of the game.
2. Game requires observations to find the things which are peculiar and mechanical to create some kind of change in the explorable universe.
3. Pull, swipe and touch to interact with the objects to modify and collect them.
4. There can be more than one puzzle for one screen in trail with each other.The collected items are moved with click and point to the right destination.

Win/rewards

1. The path to success/win is singular and there is no other way to solve the puzzle until unlocking the defined clue and path.
2. No deaths or lost state: The main protagonist doesn’t kill or die, it transforms the life and the environment around it. The game is continuously saved and ends according to the story in the book.
3. Small gratifications: Breaking the monotony of the scene by exploring different ways to move ahead by modifying, collecting and rearranging sequences. Any non redundancy in the environment is a win and helps in the eventual reward(big win). Game gives the user small wins/gratifications after the completion of the intermediately goals. Wins are demonstrated with both sound and visuals.
4. Big win: A stage complete is a larger win with the Gnome leaving the planet for another one closer to the final win.

In this screen user performs 3 tasks in order to procure the glue to be used in the screen before.

Gameplay Strategies

1. The story or the clues also exist in the book with pictorial sketches. example playing the strings of the bug in order to activate the creature.The sequence of which is present in the book.

4.Reach the clue point which is usually indicated by the vibrating interface.

5. Use the flute to listen and communicate with the creature/object to release the pictorial clue.

6. Communicate with human forms without the flute, use flute for other mystical creatures.

7. Remember the clue in order to perform the task. While most time the task is intermediate to the clue generated sometimes it takes a series of events or puzzles to complete the task.

8. Collecting an item, remembering a sequence, modifying environment are few ways of solving these puzzles.

Difficulty level

1. With point and click interaction, the basic movement is intuitive.
2. There are few on-boarding signs which showcases the basic actions that needs to be taken such as zooming, pinching, and usage of flute for clues.

3. The pictorial clues in the bubble are something unusual from the existing mental model and have a steep learning curve. The users have to randomly interact with almost everything in exploration in order to crack the sequence of the puzzle.

4. It requires constant hit and trial to crack the clues which sometimes might take 10 minutes to half an hour. Since there is no alternative to switch to some other stage or upgrade the level of clue, it becomes boring and frustrating after a while.

5. Difficulty level though seem gradual becomes very hard after a while which can be measured in time taken to complete a puzzle.

6. Since the time taken to solve a certain puzzle is hard and time taking, the gratification feels underwhelmed.

Space of the game

The whole game occurs in different landmasses consisting different subspaces with a unique characteristics. These characteristics can be further broken into visual style, creature design and sound design.

The game is played on different mass lands across the universe, the landmasses have their own character, creatures and voice.

All the spaces become the part of the gameplay while exploring clues and performing the tasks, the three dimensional space is used in both x direction and Y direction for the gameplay exploration.

There are 45 such screens with such spaces with 5 planets and 4 moons.

Here is the example breakup of one such planet space with its characteristics and creatures.

for example

The planet has a barren deserted mystical characteristic. There are 9 such landmass in the whole game.

This is one of the scene from the planet above showing reptiles and semi desert characteristics. These are different scenes at different landmasses like these.

The environment of the sequence is broken into landmass with subspaces. Each subspace has different dimensions which work together to create an experience.

1. An objective or the puzzle to be solved (gameplay)
2. Visual characteristics of the 3D space
3. Creatures and objects in the space
4. Sound and audiovisual of the space
5. Interaction mechanics of each creature and object.

Example of such a table is

A table showing objective of the screen like a screen play, its aesthetic characteristics, Creature/objects is background and foreground, Audio visuals needed.