CHUCHEL

This is the "story" of a furry black . . . thing . . . named "Chuchel" that strives to eat a cherry as big as it is, while a hand from the sky and something like a grape-rat also vie for its succulent fruity flesh. Its just a series of 1 and occasionally 2-room puzzles that range in difficulty from clicking on the only character in the screen, to multi-stage set-ups, to basic platforming, to simplified recreations of classic games like Tetris and Pac Man. And throughout all of this, at the forefront of each white void that is the Chuchel world, is is one weirdly clever design after another, and it's glorious. Picture the weirdness of Botanicula but no longer restrain the artists with adhering to a nature aesthetic--include things such as anthropomorphized kitchen products, combative teeth, a living egg-monster that you have to break open, grim reapers that just want to have fun, and so much more. This game is worthwhile just for the strangeness of its inhabitants. This is perhaps the easiest Amanita game to date. There's no inventory, puzzles are restricted to the smallest places, most "levels" aren't even puzzles but "click to continue" sequences, and the mini-games are some of the most relaxed and non-punishing. For example, I was playing a sort of Tetris game, had to step away for a few moments, and the minigame finished itself without my input. The minimalist interface and approach to difficulty work well together, such that you really should never feel stuck or lacking direction. But, if you do pause at a puzzle, there's a convenient hint system available! If you are a fan of Amanita, especially Botanicula and its whimsy, then you'll adore this too. It's just a simple 2 hours of fun.

They game looks visually very pleasant. I would take those screen shots and put into a kids book. But the fact what changes developers made...it doesnt sits well with me personally. Why games like LocoRoco can have questionable character designs and this one can not? Beside, the original design Chuchel was way better. And it helped distinguish main character from the rest of the cast. This is like when german censorship which is too sensitive and for no good reasons. I cant support people who just feeds the over sensitiveness and play along when someone somewhere 'maybe' offended. Those people wont even gonna buy this game. All they do is complaining and never create anything and censor everything for people who dont even see a problem. I get it that developers trying to protect their product and make game which everyone would want to play. But this move didnt make me want to play this game or recommend it to anyone. Im not an american so I probably just an outside in such matters but I still dont see logic behind this other than trying to please everyone. To my experience when you trying to please everyone you end up pleasing no one.

Being a huge fan of Amanita Design's earlier games, I had very high expectations on their newest release - and that's probably why I felt somehow disappointed after finishing it. Compared to Machinarium, Botanicula or Samorost 3, this title is much shorter (I finished it in two evenings). Also, unlike their predecessors, Chuchel has very little (if any) realm to explore - more than anything it just feels like few random bits from Botanicula, stripped down and put in a sequence... Also, Chuchel is the easiest game from the pack so if you look for a challenging puzzle game, this is not the case. Most of the time you will be just clicking to see a couple of animations before one of them results into a progress to the next screen. Yes, it still features Amanita's attention to detail, the scenes and characters are very nicely animated and sound design complements it perfectly. But the whole time while playing Chuchel I just couldn't shake the feeling of it lacking something essential to me, something that was present in the titles above but not here. I remember many scenes from Amanita's former games where I would just pause for a moment, having a big smile on my face, feeling a sheer joy and/or being moved by a particular scene. All that Chuchel achieved in that department was making me laugh a couple of times. Yet still I felt like many of the jokes fell somehow flat and most of the time they made me grin at most. I actually found myself on the verge of boredom in some of the scenes and even though I complain about the game being short, I'm afraid if it was longer, I might actually just lose interest in it completely before finishing it. I'm sorry, I love the stuff Amanita Design usually produces but Chuchel just didn't really deliver what I expected it to. Still probably worth the 10 € for some laughs (or your kids, who might actually appreciate this kind of humor more - just be warned that some of the scenes are quite twisted and creepy).

Let's get the obvious out of the way - music and sounds - excellent as in every Amanita game. Graphics and style - excellent too. However, this game should be advertised as a game for a younger generation (5-10 year-olds) as there are only a handful of puzzles where you actually need to think how to solve them. 80% of the puzzles solve themselves as the user is randomly clicking on the screen and the game feels more like a cartoon which you have no control over. So if you enjoyed Botanicula, Samorost or Machinarium, you may be disappointed. The game just "happens" and you get tired after watching loads of animation without much interaction of a user. I did not like the fact that after finishing some levels a big big "CHUCHEL" logotype is shown on the screen. It just felt that Amanita is trying to spam the "CHUCHEL" word as much as possible. However, I do understand that Amanita is experimenting with such games and this may in future lead to some great games, so I salute you, Amanita, for experimenting, but I would like to warn users not to expect anything like previous games (which I dearly still love).

Chuchel is and isn't a computer game, in which Chuchel - the main protagonist - just wants to eat a yummy cherry, and Kekel - something like a pet of his - either sabotages it, or helps Chuchel when some other monsters steal the cherry from them. It's one of a kind; you you could as well rate it with one star ("it's not a game") or five ("it's so cool!"). It 100% relies on comedy, so this marks the first time that when playing something, even when I thought I'd found the solution to a puzzle, I wanted to try all the wrong first answers first just to see what happens. All that done in cartoon graphics that support the concept really well, underlined by a great soundtrack. Chuchel is not a computer game in the meaning of challenging your wits and skills. You just click on different items or monsters and wait what happens. Sometimes these actions are chained in a meaningful order as a puzzle, but as often it's just trial and error. There's no story or even story progression to speak of, either. Just as soon as Chuchel gets hold of the cherry, something or someone steals it from him again. Chuchel can be called a game because it's extremely playful. It's a game in the sense in which inventing a story with your kid is a game. Anything and everything is possible in its dreamy world, and each level is a mini comedy. One relies on you putting on different hats that change the world around you. In another, you'll have to get rid of a monkey by preventing eight froglike creatures from croaking (and in the beginning you won't know that's what you need to do). Etc. Ultimately, it all comes down to whether you'll like the game's sense of humor. With me, it was slightly amiss (even though I enjoyed it and don't regret the purchase), but I was also lucky to see a friend of mine play it, and he was laughing hysterically at almost all of the animated gags, which added to the comedy. So maybe see just a bit of gameplay at YT to see whether it's up your alley, and if so, have fun!