QCF: Botanicula

Doomed to be eaten, one lonely seed was all that remained from the menacing spider’s appetite -- at least until the hapless group of Mr. Twig, Mr. Feather, Mr. Poppy-Head, Ms. Mushroom, and Mr. Lantern encountered it. So begins the newest point and click adventure from Amanita Design known as Botanicula.

Debuting on the newest Humble Bundle promotion, Botonicula stirred some excitement after turning heads at GDC 12. But when the dust settles, Botanicula truly pushes the standards of the modern point-and-click adventure in surprising ways.

In the vein of previous entries in the Amanita library, context of exploration through all of the settings traveled in Botanicula is implied through suggestive animations and pantomimed plot progressions, allowing the player to take what they will from it. Botanicula provides a fundamental mechanic of completing certain objectives as one comes across them (generally in the form of fetch quests) by moving through in and out of scenes, and all as they intertwine through daisy chain of relevance to one another. Each creature encountered plays a role which not only affects your gameplay, but also displays its own interpretive ecosystem where you piece together the relationships they play with one another in your efforts to navigate to the next objective, including your own heroic troupe of critters. The mechanic of directing a group of characters as opposed to one also adds a layer of depth in puzzle solving or navigation.

Situational puzzles have you determining which character is best suited to tackle the problem through cognitive analysis of your protagonists. This is all based on nothing more than appearance, and again adds to being a part of a living world. The tedium of endless collection is eased by the sensation of discovery. Stumbling through different backdrops, be it by effective puzzle solving or just dumb luck, makes navigation perpetually satisfying. This satisfaction is accentuated by the minimal presentation. It helps cement the sense of charm and whimsy that infuses life into the game, and engages you in play part in an ever-expanding world. However, the experience is not without its inconsistencies.

Most puzzles are solved through mouse manipulation involving movement or direct clicking in variable sequences, and often doesn't wield results if certain criterion within the scene have not been fulfilled by prior sequences from other scenes, or needed items obtained from yet another scene. The logic is sound but applying is another matter entirely; at points when you’ll try solving the different obstacles around you, there will be several instances where puzzles lack intuition and mostly rely on trial and error.

Areas where you’ll be lead into believing you’re unable to solve the dilemma at hand will be shortsighted over being a single pixel off in your click, or a minute angle off in your mouse drag. Without much of an indication towards the magnitude of your error, you may leave the scene entirely and find yourself aimlessly wandering towards another scene that simply cannot be mastered without meeting certain criteria, and no clue to distinguish where your slip-up was. Puzzles will become a bit too cryptic at times as, again, most of the pantomime narrations or minimal clues give too little, and damper the magic of discovery when you find yourself craving that change of scenery towards the world of Botanicula you invested yourself in.

Where most point-and-click adventure titles succeed when they blast the player with in-depth narrative/plot or contextual direction, Botanicula is able to provide a living and breathing non-linear world. Overall, the charm of it encourages you to travel. And despite its lack of intuitive puzzle design, the whimsy in Botanicula’s aesthetic and underlying message of environmental activism makes it a memorable and worthwhile experience.

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Four out of Five Hadokens