Botanica 1: Into the Unknown

Botanica: Into the Unknown
by BoomZap - October, 2012

Series links: Botanica 1: Into the Unknown, Botanica 2: Earthbound

Available at:
Big Fish for PC as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Big Fish for Mac as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
iWin as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition



You are Dr. Ellie Wright, a botanist stranded on a strange planet called Botanica. Full of curious creatures and exotic landscapes, Botanica is like nothing you've ever seen! Test your wits as you navigate through lush forests, steampunk villages, and more. But danger lurks at every corner; make both friends and enemies as you try to outsmart the cunning Queen Kassandra. Can you survive Botanica and find your way back home?

The Collector's Edition Includes:

• Hours of bonus gameplay!
  
• Integrated strategy guide
  
• Concept art and cut-scenes
  
• Game soundtrack and wallpapers
  
• Achievements and collectible items
  

For the Standard Edition:

• Blog Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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NOTE:  There are five Hidden Achievements!
Highlight below to read:

• How Cute!: Pet the lizard 5 times
  
• No Fear: Use the hammer on the bull
  
• Okay, I Give Up: Try to skip 10 times in hard mode
  
• Aww, Thanks!: Find the Boomzap developer logo
  
• I've Got It All!: Win all 21 achievements
  

I liked the Demo and just purchased this on sale at BFG. It's downloading now. It has beautiful graphics and the gameplay is a little different. Will comment a bit more after I have played some more.

I have played a bit further. In some ways this game seems made for children with simple language but, on the other hand, some of the actions and minis seem difficult to understand. I find that i am using Hints more here than in any game in a long time. I just don't understand what i need to do or how some of the minis work. part of it is my fault. I played about two hours before I realized that the minis have instructions if you click on the Eye that is stuck to the Hint. I just thought that was a decoration on the Hint. It never occurred to me that it was anything else. I clicked it by accident. Even with instructions I have had to Skip a few minis. The "Guide" is not very helpful. it tells me what i already know and has no explanation for the things I can't figure out.

This game had a wonderful wide screen that is NOT stretched and is a thing of beauty! I have purchased very few, if any, wide screen games that do not have a stretch to them. The story is about an alien world where Earth people are endangered. There is an evil Queen who persecutes Eathers and wishes to go through the portal to Earth. It is our objective to save the Earthers and prevent the Queen from entering the Portal. There are both familiar and unusual machines to repair and strange plants and animals. The alien world is a garden of beauty. I love the graphics so much that I continue playing and stumbling through some of the hard-to-figure-out puzzles. One puzzle is a slider that I usually love and enjoy solving but even this familiar puzzle was one I had to Skip. Maybe I have just played too many games.

HOS are interactive and most of the items in the list require some action with only a very few that are ordinary hidden objects. I enjoy this but even a few of these are a little difficult because I have no idea what some of the items are and therefore cannot figure out how to use them. A lot of clicking results but i do finish the HOS.

If you love solving unusual puzzles and enjoy beautiful art, this is a game for you! I recommend that you at least try the Demo and then decide if you'd like to buy it. I bought it on Sale over the weekend.

Beautiful Indeed
  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

*Phew* I am finally finished. I feel I’ve gone a round with a Heavy Weight Puzzle Champion.  We’re talking hard puzzles and loads of them, instructions sometimes sketchy, with a minimum of HOs. There are even puzzles here that don’t have a skip option.

Why is it that so many of the truly beautiful games are puzzle adventures, and not HO games at all?

If you’re one of the 1000s of HO fans who like their games to be adventure but are not wild about puzzles, then this is a game that seems designed specifically to drive you mad.
But I had to own it. A thing of such beauty, there can be no doubting it, the alien flora and fauna are enough to make me want to emigrate, and if the technical quality was a bit shoddy in parts... Why am I nitpicking? Enjoy...

I recommend this game!