Family Learning Center

When robots fall in love: Ars reviews Machinarium

Machinarium wastes no time at all getting you familiar with its world, dropping you directly into the action without any form of introduction. You’re a robot who has been trapped in some sort of prison-like facility and you need to escape. That’s all you know. There is no exposition at all—largely because there is no actual dialog in the game—so the bits of story you do pick up throughout the adventure are sparse but meaningful.

Though initially appearing to be nothing more than a cute adventure starring quirky robots, the game slowly reveals itself to be a touching tale of separated lovers and a crumbling society straining underneath an oppressive leadership. Think of it as Wall-E meets 1984 with a steampunk makeover.

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