I recently bought this indie game Machinarium and was pretty blown away.  Straight up: it is kind of nerdy, but if you give it a chance I promise you are in for a treat.

The game, by Czech developers Amanita Design, is a flash-based point and click puzzle adventure game.  *SNOOZE* right?  Nope.  First off the game is beautiful, fucking gorgeous.  It is all completely hand-drawn (a rarity nowadays) and with a completely unique look to behold (the closest comparison I can make to it is a pseudo-steampunk aesthetic).  It also has one of the best scores I’ve ever heard in a videogame. Honestly, I need to get it now.

The story involves a little robot who gets shot out of his little robot city and you need to get him back into his city somehow, all while piecing together why he got kicked out in the first place.  Your little robot hero has one key ability, he can shrink himself real short or stretch himself real tall.

The puzzles can get pretty fucking difficult at times, which is why there is a DOUBLE hint system!  First, you can click a lightbulb at the top of the screen to get a quick drawing of the main objective on the current screen.  If you need serious assistance your second option is to click the book icon, play a quick minute long sidescrolling shooter, and then see a a very detailed step-by-step comic of EXACTLY what you must do to continue on.

I got pretty caught up in the game after just a few minutes with it.  Sure the visuals are great, and the music is swell, but the slow dishing out of the story was what kept me playing. The game is out now for PC and Mac or I guess computers as the game is flash based and can played on a website.  The full game costs $15 but you can play a demo of the beginning for free.  For real, try this demo yesterday. CLICK HERE PLZ.