Sigmar's Sausage » Reviews » Machinika Museum
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84 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 6.1 hrs on record (4.4 hrs at review time)
Posted: 20 Mar, 2022 @ 12:49am

Finally, a game I’ve played that is worthy of a “The Room-like” comparison. Machinika Museum is a very short little puzzle game (2-3 hours) that borrows from the The Room but doesn’t outright steal from it as other titles in the genre have. It was refreshing to play this game and almost every level put a smile on my face when I found something new.

THE PROS

    + new gimmicks. Gone is the special lens that let you see a new layer. We now have 3 tools: a 3D printer, an endoscope and a sonic screwdriver type thing. Gone also is the item manipulation in the inventory for the most part. The game really wants you to just focus on the puzzle in the environment.

    + thanks for having me over but it’s time to get going. Machinika Museum has 7 levels and they are fairly short. Yes I was left wanting more but I appreciate they didn’t pad out the game to 10 hours. It’s a short little experience and because of this no level starts to feel stale and the game doesn’t get repetitive.

    + Myst-like machinery. Some of the artifacts you unbox are almost magical and you are puzzled at first by thinking “what even IS this thing?” and by the end you are well versed in this alien tech.

    + sights and sounds. Machinika Museum looks great and all the clicks and button pushes have satisfying accompanying sounds.


THE CONS

    - the museum bit. I’m sorry I just don’t like it. This game would have been more believable if it were an X-Files or Fringe setting. The developers said they wanted to set it in a museum because they thought anything else would break immersion and the museum was more grounded. Trust me devs, we can handle it.

    – the story bit. Maybe the story was just an afterthought seeing as they were intent on setting this in a museum and you were just cataloging strange items. I do really like the story they were building up to but in the end the whole thing falls a bit flat. I would love to see the story more developed in the sequel.

    – difficulty and hints. For casual gamers this is a good one. But for the more hardened puzzle gamer/Room enthusiast there is going to be very little challenge here. I also found it surprising that there was no hint system in the game. Maybe this is why they made the puzzles so easy but if you do get stuck then you will be forced to look up a walkthrough.

    - controls. Not a huge issue but on keyboard and mouse I found moving some items, especially rotating things, to be a pain. So the sonic screwdriver and mousing around things into a position was frustrating at times.

    - pricey. Considering the length, the puzzle difficulty and some of the other cons listed, the price is too high. Get it on sale.

THE CONCLUSION

I really enjoyed the few hours I had in the Machinika Museum. If you are new to this kind of puzzle box genre of gaming then this is a great entrance point. I really hope the devs are working on the next installment and this journey continues. I look forward to more incredible machines and the difficulty ramping up a little bit.
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9 Comments
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Nixotane 9 Feb, 2023 @ 7:17pm 
I recommand you the trilogy of "The House of Da Vinci" that's very good The Room-like ;-)
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Sigmar's Sausage 18 Jul, 2022 @ 7:21am 
Here's some guys discussing the game at greater length.

https://youtu.be/Qa-wqAgenMQ
Seuchensturm 18 Jul, 2022 @ 7:07am 
Yeah, it's also pretty unrealistic that some ordinary technician guy from a museum is tasked with examining yet unknown alien machines and even in an evironment without any safety measures.
Sigmar's Sausage 17 Jul, 2022 @ 8:38pm 
Totally agreee Sechensturm. The setting for the 2nd one will be a bit more futuristic though I think.
Seuchensturm 17 Jul, 2022 @ 2:47pm 
Unfortunately, the museum bit somehow ruins the entire game for me, because it's totally unbelievable. I mean, come on, the storyline of this game is obviously set in a rather distant future when mankind voyages to other planets and seem to has contact to extraterrestrial civilizations. So as the game's location, you are expecting some kind of futuristic laboratory where you examine all those found alien machines. But instead, the location looks like your grandma's dirty attic from the 19th century with corkboards, wooden tables and notepads made of paper and letters from a typewriter. Seriously? Even if the location is a museum, I strongly doubt that a museum from e.g. the 23rd century or any room in that museum would look like that. This is just ridiculous. Examining all those alien machines simply just doesn't fit that unlikely environment.
IL PALLINO 21 Mar, 2022 @ 12:50am 
Excellent review. :hana1::hana2:

On the surface, the game looks overpriced, but the graphics are aesthetically pleasing.
Christimmaculate 20 Mar, 2022 @ 5:59am 
I overlooked this one; added to wishlist. Thanks for the review and great job (as usual).
Hairy Mary 20 Mar, 2022 @ 2:01am 
Well, I made the happy discovery that this game is already in my library. Thanks for the review Darren! :happy_yeti::heart_eyes_yeti: