Seventeen years after Josef the robot first clanked through a rusted, hand-drawn city, Amanita Design is bringing him back. The studio has announced Machinarium 2, a sequel to the beloved 2009 puzzle adventure, with an announcement trailer, a live Steam page — and, for now, no release date at all.
A Hidden Valley, Two Robot Tribes
The sequel picks up after the first game’s escape. “After escaping the city of Machinarium, Josef and Berta crash-land in the barrens,” the developers explain. “Climbing down a cliff, they find a hidden valley home to two peculiar robot tribes: one living in the Elektrona monastery high on the rocks, the other in the city of Oilton below. Both are slowly running out of power.” This time you’ll switch between Josef and Berta, using their different abilities to solve puzzles — in a world Amanita says is inspired by “old master drawings and Renaissance landscape painting.” And true to the series, there’s still no text in Machinarium 2: the robots communicate through speech-bubble icons, symbols and gestures.
The Sound of Machinarium, Matured
Original composer Tomáš Dvořák — better known as Floex — is back for the soundtrack, aiming for what KitGuru describes as a “more mature, melodic sound through greater structural simplicity.” The sequel supports gamepads from day one, but the classic point-and-click input remains for purists. While you wait, Amanita’s existing catalogue is discounted across storefronts until October 15.
“The World Seems to Be Ending”
Why make Machinarium 2 now, 17 years later? For Amanita CEO and game designer Jakub Dvorský, the answer is disarmingly direct. “We’re not getting any younger, and the world seems to be ending, so if we were ever going to make Machinarium 2, now is the right time,” he said — adding, “We’re also grateful to every player who waited patiently all these years. We couldn’t have done it without them.” The original Machinarium earned some of the most effusive praise of its era — Rock Paper Shotgun’s John Walker called it “a sort of beauty that games are almost never graced with” — and Amanita has kept busy in the years since with the likes of Creaks and this year’s Phonopolis. The robot, it turns out, was only sleeping.