Armikrog Reviews
Armikrog is a bit of a diamond in the rough. It's rough and it's a bit awkward but it's a solid choice if you're after a bit of console pointing and clicking. Just don't go into it expecting a 90s style adventure game with witty dialogue out the wazoo and plenty of items to rub on other items at your leisure. This is a very focused title and it both benefits and suffers for that.
Many of the puzzles, for instance, are poorly conceived or utterly obtuse, and there's an awful lack of direction that frequently puts a halt to your progression
Armikrog is a decent game that holds great respect to the classic 90s-style cartoon humour using clay as the art form. The responsiveness of clicking interactive objects of any kind is extremely poor, and may feel like it does not work in some cases, but will work later. The puzzles are excellent and provide great use of tracking down hints and clues throughout the areas. The voice acting is pure comedic art; however, not enough is in the game to truly allow it to reach stellar results.
I'm not saying Armikrog isn't worth a go; it's charming, happy, and reminiscent of the time when stop motion was the most impressive style of animation. The game is delightfully odd and will absolutely make you laugh at least a handful of times. Unfortunately, the overwhelming lack of care put into some stuff that modern developers really shouldn't be getting wrong is noticable.
Armikrog is a very short game, its price reflecting its brevity. However, the repeated puzzles are a regrettable misstep, and the spartan sound design woefully undercuts the impressive claymation visuals. The most impactful visuals are frontloaded, leaving no sense of narrative crescendo. Sadly, the game feels like it loses steam much too quickly.
A space explorer and his alien dog wade through a mysterious planet with a dark secret.
Armikrog feels like a game for a different era, for good and ill. While point-and-click adventures can play to the nostalgia of some, they can feel mired in traditions that just don't translate to a more mainstream audience. If the former sounds like something you'd be into Armikrog will probably push your buttons. If the latter sounds like something you fear, Armikrog's lack of clear goals and an expectation of excessive patience means it's probably not for you.
Armikrog is a point & click game that features remarkable stop motion animation in a world made of clay and with a consistent level design. Despite these points in its favour, Armikrog could make a more extensive use of its characters and rely less on memorizing its puzzles by heart, something which the players will find themselves doing too often thanks to the lack of leads or hints in the game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Armikrog is a fun and quirky point-and-click adventure game with unfortunately dated mechanics.
I was charmed from the start, and that never really changed as Armikrog has heart in its oddness, just the rest seems a bit squandered in its full potential. When I'd rather watch the game more than feel compelled to play it that poses a bit of a problem.
On PC Armikrog would be a slightly better experience. It struggles to make the transition to controller well and the subtitles are still sized for a PC monitor rather than a television screen. It's hard to really pinpoint what would make Armikrog a better game as there's so many issues with it. There is a definite charm to it though, thanks to the visuals and audio that make it a pleasant experience when you're not stuck on a tedious puzzle. It's just a shame that the game feels so dated and the tedious puzzles are far too frequent.
Armikrog is a beautiful and challenging adventure that suffers from game breaking glitches. Fans of the genre and The Neverhood may tough it out, but most will be turned away until these bugs are fixed.
Developer Pencil Test put so many time making a unique and beautiful game that other parts are a little neglected. Armikrog is a game that gamers can and will love, you just have to live with the few shortcomings.
As an existing fan of Doug TenNapel's previous work, I'm very happy that Armikrog is finally available for console.
A unique puzzle game that evokes the difficulty and story-telling of yesteryear
Playing Armikrog on PS4 was a very interesting experience. Its graphics, story, and puzzles were all very memorable, but playing on PS4 was not the best way to experience this game. Some of the graphics looked low-res at points, and most of the gameplay just does not work well on their controller, making Armikrog a more frustrating experience than it should have been. Fans of this genre should definitely play it, as it is a new and unique entry in a malnourished genre. However, if you choose to do so on the PS4, you should be aware of the poorly executed controls before going in.
Armikrog brings back many old problems and mixes them with new ones as well, occasionally distracting from what is otherwise a funny and beautiful game.
Armikrog does not surpass The Neverhood, but just like a successor to any celebrated piece of media, that would have been an impossible task. However, it does contain a unique charm in its own right which fans of The Neverhood or other old-school point-and-click adventures will especially appreciate. Those followers will likely forgive its faults for a taste of nostalgia, but others new to this realm may find it too outdated and unpolished.
Armikrog is a missed opportunity, but despite its design flaws and technical issues, it's worth playing even if just for the unique visual experience.
A great if flawed game that presents a lot of potential that might have been wasted in this first iteration of a fantastic idea. If this is the direction Pencil Test Studios is going, then I want to see more. It's fun, though short, and a bit buggy. But overall it's a great idea to pursue.