Review: Unmechanical (New Gamer Nation)

First, take the shorter, puzzle based gameplay of LIMBO. Give it a somewhat similar visual design to Machinarium but up the graphical fidelity by using the Unreal Engine, somewhat in the same style as The Ball. That's a perfectly mechanical way to describe what exactly Unmechanical looks like, but in doing so it misses the point of what Unmechanical feels like. Unmechanical is a game where you explore an utterly foreign world, with nearly zero direction or egging along. There's virtually no form of tutorial or key prompts or text or dialogue or anything beyond a factory of puzzles and a tiny robot itching to solve them. Indeed, the only text that appears in the game at all is "F1", an indication of how to use the hint system if you get stuck. The effect creates a somewhat lonely and eerie experience, with some terrific atmosphere and a fantastic soundtrack. Even with the rise of indie games as an alternative to the mainstream, games with this sort of atmosphere are few and far between.