Chuchel

Chuchel (Czech /ˈxuˌxɛl/) is a 2018 video game developed by Amanita Design.[2]

For the Czech village, see Chuchel (Czech Republic).
Chuchel
Developer(s)Amanita Design
Publisher(s)Amanita Design
Designer(s)Jaromír Plachý
Composer(s)DVA
EngineAdobe Flash
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
OS X
iOS
Android
Release7 March 2018[1]
Genre(s)Graphic adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Story

The game follows the protagonist Chuchel, a Dust-style creature, as he tries to retrieve a cherry stolen by a giant one early morning, with his all-in-one best friend, enemy and pet Kekel either helping or hindering him on the way. The game is structured into short, loosely connected episodes of Chuchel's struggles to retrieve and keep the cherry; the episodic nature is emphasized by some levels showing the title.

In the last level, it is revealed that the giant hand teasing Chuchel with the cherry is in fact a larger Chuchel-style creature named Chrchel;[3] it swallows Chuchel and Kekel who retrieve the cherry from its stomach, and climb up to its brain to switch it from "grumpy" to "happy". The now-happy giant then delivers Chuchel and Kekel back to their home, where they finally split and eat the cherry, only to get a huge pile brought by the giant, who then starts chasing a large pear carried by an even larger hand.

Gameplay

The game consists of 30 levels. The player controls the eponymous Chuchel whose task is to retrieve a cherry. Levels are different and most of them are played as point-and-click adventure but some consist of minigames including spoofs of Pac-Man, Flappy Bird, Tetris, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong. And Super Mario Bros When Chuchel retrieves the Cherry, antagonist Chrchel shows up and steals it. Chuchel is aided by his pet Kekel who helps him to get the Cherry.[4][5]

Development
Original colour on the left and the new colour is on the right.

The game was developed by Amanita Design. Designer Jaromír Plachý started to work on the game after he finished Botanicula in 2012. Plachý stated that he wanted to make an interactive cartoon with funny animation. He came up with the character of Chuchel (the word "chuchel" does not "officially" exist,[6] but it's an apparent combination of two similar Czech words "chumel"[7] (clamp or tangle) and "chuchvalec"[8] (tangled mass or clot)) when he decided to draw the first thing that comes to his mind. Plachý then designed environments and turned them into actual levels.[9]

On December 20, 2018, Amanita Design released an update for the game changing Chuchel's body color to orange, in response to the character being misinterpreted by some reactions as a racist stereotype called Blackface. Some levels were also slightly changed to match Chuchel's new colour.[10][11]

Reception

Chuchel received generally positive reviews from critics. It holds 81/100 on Metacritic.[12]

On review aggregate OpenCritic, Chuchel had an average 80 out of 100 review score with 67% approval rating based on 20 reviews.[16]

Accolades
YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2018 Annual Independent Games Festival Excellence in Visual Art Won [17]
Excellence in Audio Nominated
The Aggie Awards Best Character Won [18]
Best Animation Won
Best Sound Effects Won
Golden Joystick Awards Best Visual Design Nominated [19][20]
New York Game Awards Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game Nominated [21]
Edge Awards Best Visual Design Runner-Up [22]

References
  1. "Botanicula dev's Chuchel bouncing out in March". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  2. Sarkar, Samit (5 October 2017). "Machinarium maker's next game is a zany departure for the adventure genre". Polygon. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  3. "Roztomilý Chuchel. Světový trh dobývá další česká hra". Dotyk (in Czech). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  4. "RECENZE: Svět potřebuje více her jako je český Chuchel". iDNES.cz. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. "Recenze: Chuchel". www.zing.cz. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  6. http://prirucka.ujc.cas.cz/?slovo=chuchel
  7. http://prirucka.ujc.cas.cz/?slovo=chumel
  8. http://prirucka.ujc.cas.cz/?slovo=chuchvalec
  9. Couture, Joel (2 February 2018). "Road to the IGF: Amanita Design's CHUCHEL". Gamasutra. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  10. Design, Amanita (2018-12-20). "This is your new Chuchel. In reaction to a number of requests we've seen coming from the players throughout the year, we ultimately decided to swap Chuchel's colours and change his body colour from black to orange.pic.twitter.com/YcVsOeg2U9". @Amanita_Design. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  11. "Chuchel mění barvu z černé na oranžovou, připomínal karikaturu černocha". iDNES.cz. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  12. "CHUCHEL for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  13. "CHUCHEL for iOS Reviews". Metacritic.
  14. "CHUCHEL for PC Reviews". OpenCritic.
  15. "Chuchel". Edge. Future plc (318): 114–115. May 2018.
  16. "CHUCHEL for PC Reviews". OpenCritic.
  17. O'Connor, Alice (22 March 2018). "Night In The Woods wins IGF Grand Prize". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  18. "The Aggie Awards – The Best Adventure Games of 2018". Adventure Gamers.
  19. Hoggins, Tom (24 September 2018). "Golden Joysticks 2018 nominees announced, voting open now". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  20. Sheridan, Connor (16 November 2018). "Golden Joystick Awards 2018 winners: God of War wins big but Fortnite gets Victory Royale". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  21. Keyes, Rob (January 3, 2019). "2018 New York Game Awards Nominees Revealed". Screen Rant. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  22. "The Edge Awards". Edge. Future (328): 72–91. February 2019.
Keyes, Rob (January 3, 2019). "2018 New York Game Awards Nominees Revealed Revdl". Screen Rant. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
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