Machinarium 2 Announced: Story, Puzzles and Release Status

Amanita Design has announced Machinarium 2, returning to its robot puzzle adventure 17 years after the 2009 original. The studio’s October 8 announcement confirms the sequel. Its Steam page lists Windows and macOS, with the release date still to be announced.

The biggest confirmed change is that both Josef and Berta are playable. Players switch between them to solve puzzles using different capabilities. This remains a single-player adventure.

Two characters, rather than a co-op announcement

The developer describes freely switching between Josef and Berta. Puzzles can depend on what each robot can do, giving the sequel two complementary characters to work with instead of one protagonist acting alone.

That does not establish local or online co-op. Steam explicitly labels the game single-player. Neither a second playable character nor a trailer featuring both robots is evidence of a multiplayer mode.

Where does the story take place?

After a crash, Josef and Berta find a hidden valley with two robot communities facing an energy shortage. Elektrona is a monastery high above the valley, while Oilton sits below. That is the developer’s introductory premise, not a revealed ending or a complete sequence of events.

The trailer introduces the sequel’s setting, but its editing does not establish the order in which players visit places, the length of the adventure or the solution to any puzzle.

What carries over from Machinarium?

The sequel keeps wordless storytelling through gestures, symbols and thought bubbles, alongside hand-drawn environments. Tomáš Dvořák, also known as Floex, returns as composer. Amanita describes landscapes drawing on Renaissance painting.

The Steam listing also supports mouse interaction and direct character control with a gamepad. These are confirmed control options; they do not, by themselves, confirm a console version.

Release date, platforms and wishlist

Amanita’s press announcement says more platform and date information will follow. That leaves room for later news without confirming any particular console today. Wishlist Machinarium 2 on Steam for the developer’s current listing.

Watch the official announcement trailer

The video below is Amanita Design’s original upload, published October 8 and embedded on the studio’s own Machinarium 2 page. It establishes the announcement footage, while the developer’s written listing supplies the platform and single-player details.

Follow Gaming news for subsequent release and platform announcements.

Archive photograph: Jakub Dvorský at GDC, March 8, 2012, by Jeriaska, CC BY 2.0. This Commons version was cropped from the original photograph; Red Reactions proportionally resized it and converted it to WebP without an additional crop. The portrait is not sequel key art and does not imply endorsement.