Botanicula
Botanicula is a Point and Click Game by the developers of Machinarium, Amanita Design. Its story follows a Five-Man Band of forest creatures who embark on a quest. Along the way, they have to evade multiple adversaries, notably a Giant Spider that sucks the life out of anything it touches.
The game is done in a similar whimsical style to Machinarium, although it can turn surprisingly dark at times. It won the Excellence in Audio award at IGF 2012 for its energetic soundtrack by the Czech band DVA. Additionally, a Humble Bundle was created for its debut, which gave part of its proceeds to the World Land Trust.
Tropes used in Botanicula include:
- Big Bad: The spider.
- Fantastic Flora: Inevitable, due to the game's theme.
- Five-Man Band: Made up of Mr. Lantern, Mr. Twig, Mr. Poppy Head, Mr. Feather, and Mrs. Mushroom. Each has their own unique special ability.
- Giant Spider: A prominent one that adds a certain amount of Nightmare Fuel to the game.
- Mime-and-Music-Only Cartoon: All of the dialogue is either communicated in gibberish or through thought bubbles.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pretty much everything is adorable.
- Scenery Porn: This appears to be a recurring theme in Amanita games.
- Sequel Difficulty Drop: The game is significantly easier than Machinarium, with more of an emphasis on exploration than on puzzle solving.
- Shout-Out: One area features both Josef from Machinarium and the gnome from Samorost.
- You also find a Jack-in-the-Box which, besides including cameos of the game's creators, contains funny-looking versions of Mickey Mouse and E.T. inside of it.
- Solo Sequence: Mr. Lantern gets one toward the end, when the spider temporarily sucks the life from his friends and he has to navigate the Dark World.
- Spiritual Antithesis: Acts as this to Machinarium. While it keeps much of the tone, the vibrant, organic world of Botanicula is a far cry from the broken-down robot dystopia of its predecessor.
- Spiritual Successor: Also acts as this. Many of the gameplay elements seem like the logical next step from Machinarium.
- Tree-Top Town: One of the game's major set pieces.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Many of the puzzles help others as well as your group.
