Mashina is one of the most unusual-looking games I’ve had the pleasure of playing in recent memory. Using stop-motion graphics with a variety of homemade artwork, environments and movable statues, the entire thing looks like a school art project has come magically to life. It is a glorious thing to behold, especially when each character gets its own FMV intro sequence showing the diarama in its element. Visuals can only carry a game so far. However, I’m delighted to say Mashina is an excellent and addictive excavation game, too.
Playing as the titular character, we will be moving between different towns formed around mines. In each town is an eclectic set of characters who can sell or upgrade your mining equipment, as each mine requires more planning and trickery to harvest its precious resources. You’ll also find other characters trapped down the mines, but they are often just chilling out. What they often provide is a waypoint to teleport or build towards as you lay out your resource mining plans.
Mashina is largely broken up into two halves. The first half is to work out how and where to dig. You’ll be doing this yourself, but the soil gets denser the deeper you go, and your equipment will need to be upgraded to keep up. Dynamaite can help create large craters, and other equipment will blast your way through various blockers. One key piece of equipment is your radar, which will help show you where certain deposits of materials are. Once discovered, they shine through the debris, enticing you to excavate them. Mashina has a small backpack to begin with, which can be expanded through upgrades, but it isn’t the most efficient way to play.
The second half of the gameplay loop is automating your mining and collection. By placing down conveyor belts next to large deposits and setting off some auto-miners, you’ll be able to get a little production line going. Materials are not infinite, so these automations will only last for a while, but that means you can build downwards in a spider’s web way to make each track count. Later in the game, you’ll have access to byte bins, so you don’t have to deposit everything back to the top of the mine again. This makes the road back home easier for your materials and allows you to focus on combining materials to produce the requirements for upgrades to your equipment, to go deeper and get better materials. Control-wise, Mashina is forgiving. When laying down conveyor belts, it is like a drag-and-drop schema, and it reminds me of putting down masking tape. It won’t look straight or pretty, but it gets the job done. I love how the homemade, ramshackle design of Mashina seeps out in every part of its design, without it penalising the player for not being precise.
It’s a simple gameplay loop, and Mashina doesn’t try to do anything too outrageous with it. Little upgrades like rocket boosters improve initially slower navigation, and the grind is quite small. Mashina is here for a good time, not a long time, and with the simple gameplay loop, that’s a wise decision. It allows you to focus on all the charm on display. Each character has strange personality traits, and their little “Oh Mashiiiiina” robot voices are equally cute and creepy. As you mine, you gain access to a radio and unlock different radio stations along the way. Each station has a full playlist of original music, with the oddball vibes carrying over to the music. I expected odd music from a quirky art game, and that’s what I got, but I didn’t expect it to be so catchy! Many stations also have a radio presenter who is talking about some absolutely unhinged caller stories. Whilst many will praise the visuals, it was the audio that wowed me the most.
Oddball, yet cute and moreish, Mashina burrowed deep into my heart as it was such an enjoyable game to play. From the weird homemade time-motion artwork, to the quirky soundtrack, to the “just one more dig” gameplay loop, I was hooked. Mashina deserves your time, whether you are a casual miner or are looking for something just a little strange to keep you amused at night.
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