The Music Machine

The Good
Unwelcoming, desolate worlds? Check. Surreal, uncanny landscapes? Check. Monochromatic palettes? Check. Two people stuck with each other against their will, isolated from mankind? Check. Remains of a cult-like community worshipping the moon? Weirdly specific, but check. Narrative-oriented exploration with minimal gameplay? Check. If you've played Pit, Fingerbones, The Empty World, and The Moon Sliver, you will find The Music Machine very familiar. It feels a bit like a "best of" compilation, borrowing narrative themes and presentation concepts from other early David Szymański games, except this time with a more noticeable gimmick. The game's colour palettes are entirely monochromatic and each location has a specific tint, which creates a highly unique, fascinating aesthetic. The visual style is definitely The Music Machine's main selling point.

The Bad
Unfortunately, other aspects of the game aren't quite as strong. The Penumbra-esque concept of two different entities sharing a mind and having silent conversations throughout the story is pretty interesting, but isn't really used as well as it could have been. The conversations between Haley and Quintin are mostly limited to one fact: Quintin wants Haley to suffer and die because of something that happened in their past. We only get very minor glimpses of their personalities, which in turn limits the character development. Their reactions to the bizarre locations they explore are rather basic. There's simply not much for the player to hold on to and connect with.

The worldbuilding feels underdeveloped as well. The pieces of information you get about locations your travel through and what happened in them before are fragmentized and purposefully vague. The developer probably meant to make the player use their imagination more, but with how little we know about both the characters and the world, The Music Machine just feels empty and underwhelming. Especially if you've played The Moon Sliver, as the link between between those two games is established, yet not properly explored at all.

One thing the worldbuilding in The Music Machine does get right, though, is the way some of the locations are designed. They have this uncanny air of some entity trying to recreate the human world without actually understanding it. This feeling is directly connected to one point towards the end of the story, which shows the game's world design can be genuinely smart and well-thought-out.

The Bottom Line
The Music Machine is a beautiful game with an unique, fascinating aesthetic, but it fails to properly explore its themes and concepts. 5/10