Shapik: The Moon Quest

This is a cute and quite short point-and-click adventure.

It very obviously "borrows" its gameplay and tone from Amanita Design games, such as Samorost and Machinarium, but is nowhere as cohesive, and as a game it's just not very engaging. The puzzles are often very trivial: go here, get that, put it there. "Levels" are brief, and you finish one and move to the next with almost no ability to move around the world. There are some adorable characters to meet but you barely interact with them. When it comes down to it there's just not much to do in Shapik.

As an artistic expression, it's ... nice. There are some beautiful levels, but most are plain. The music is quite forgettable. Where it shines is in its diversity of locales and the delight in reaching somewhere new and weird and funny. You just never quite know what's going to happen next! But this also leads to a disjointed and frankly incomprehensible narrative experience. I could somewhat piece the story together, but because gameplay is so detached I couldn't really care about anything, not even the protagonist whom I played.

Oh, well. I'm giving this game a thumbs up even though it doesn't deliver on its potential. Because, well, it has its moments.