In 2003 a Czech guy named Jakob Dvorsky created a beautiful flash game called
Samorost, in which a guy living all by himself on a planet discovered that he was on a crash course with another planet, and flew in his rocket over to that planet to try and divert its course.
Then Dvorsky's independent gaming company Amanita came out with
Samorost 2, in which our hero's dog is stolen by some aliens who have landed on his planet to poach some fruit from his trees, and decide that they should take the dog as well.
Their new game, released October 16 of this year, is
Machinarium. It has a different protagonist-- a robot who has been ejected by other robots from his home and is trying to work his way back in and rescue his friend. I think that's what's going on, anyway....have just started playing.
Samorost is free, and you can play the whole thing online. With Samorost 2 you can play the first few levels free, but after that it's $5 for the full version. With Machinarium the first three levels are free and the full version is $20 and includes a download of the soundtrack.
That last bit is important because the music is just enchanting for all three games. I've played Samorost 1 and 2 several times and still love them, and am excited to try Machinarium now. Check them out-- I bet you'll dig them. If you get absolutely stuck at some point, there are walk-throughs online. But only use that as a last resort; it's much more fun that way.
Here's a
preview and
review of Machinarium from Adventure Games. The preview actually has more visual content, including a somewhat spoilery video, but the review's coverage is more extensive.
One fun part of the game: in order to store an item in his inventory, your robot character literally swallows it. He flips his head open, tosses it in like throwing something in a trash can, then flips his head closed again.
Screenshots: