Amanita Design, the studio behind Machinarium and the Samorost series has released an official trailer for their upcoming game Chuchel. Chuchel is also the name of the game’s protagonist, who appears to be a small little hairball creature wearing a hat that looks like the top of an acorn.
The game’s official trailer highlights Chuchel’s obsession with cherries, which seems to be the driving force of his adventures and encounters with other creatures. He is seen using various methods to obtain the fruit: fighting with robots, using slingshots in a similar fashion to Angry Birds, playing whack-a-mole, and knocking over a tree to get the cherry from its leaves. Chuchel’s pink friend Kekel may help him in his cherry-finding quest at times, or cause more problems for him in the long-run.
Amanita Design discussed aspects of Chuchel’s mechanics and light-hearted style in an interview with Polygon. There will be a “hint system” to help players, and puzzles will be broken up “with levels that “highlight [the] ‘comedy animation film’ aspect — those are basically interactive gags, hiding no puzzles but focusing on telling a good joke.” Chuchel’s colorful and whimsical art style strays far from Machinarium and Samorost’s intricate detail and exploration mechanics, but the game isn’t meant to be taken seriously or be too difficult. Instead, player’s will use simplistic point-and-click actions to help Chuchel overcome obstacles and interact with other creatures in fun and unique ways while he tries to find the cherries he desperately wants to eat.
Chuchel’s music also plays into the light-hearted nature of the game, with upbeat sounds specific to each creature partnered with their comical voices and expressions. The band DVA “is producing all the music and sound for Chuchel” and has worked with Amanita Design before on the soundtrack for their adventure game Botanicula.
Chuchel will be released in early 2018 for PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices.