Chuchel
A point-and-click adventure about a creature chasing a cherry.
Chuchel is a 2018 video game from Amanita Design. The main character, a Dust-like creature also named Chuchel, spends the game trying to get back a cherry that a giant hand stole from him one morning. He is joined by Kekel, a companion who is simultaneously his best friend, his enemy, and his pet, and who sometimes helps and sometimes hinders the quest. The story is told through short, loosely connected episodes, and some levels display a title to emphasize this structure. In the final level, the giant hand is revealed to belong to a larger Chuchel-like creature called Chrchel. After being swallowed, Chuchel and Kekel retrieve the cherry from Chrchel’s stomach, climb to its brain, and flip a switch from "grumpy" to "happy." The now-cheerful giant returns them home, where they finally split and eat the cherry—only for Chrchel to dump a huge pile of cherries on them and then start chasing a large pear held by an even larger hand.
The game has 30 levels. Players control Chuchel, whose goal is always to recover the cherry. Most levels are point-and-click adventures, but some are minigames that spoof classics like Pac-Man, Flappy Bird, Tetris, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Bros. Whenever Chuchel gets the cherry, Chrchel appears and steals it again. Chuchel’s pet Kekel can help him along the way.
Development began when designer Jaromír Plachý finished Botanicula in 2012. He wanted to make an interactive cartoon with funny animation. The word "chuchel" doesn’t officially exist but seems to blend the Czech words "chumel" (clamp or tangle) and "chuchvalec" (tangled mass or clot). Plachý came up with the character by drawing the first thing that came to mind, then designed environments and turned them into levels. On December 20, 2018, an update changed Chuchel’s body color to orange after some players interpreted the original design as blackface. A few levels were slightly adjusted to match the new color.
Critics gave Chuchel generally positive reviews. It scored 81 out of 100 on Metacritic and averaged 80 out of 100 on OpenCritic, with a 67% approval rating from 20 reviews. The game was nominated for awards at the 2018 New York Game Awards.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Chuchel
- Developer
- Amanita Design
- Designer
- Jaromír Plachý
- Composer
- DVA
- Engine
- Adobe Flash
- Platforms
- Windows · macOS · Android · iOS · tvOS
- Released
- macOS, Windows · 7 March 2018 · Android, iOS · 29 November 2018
- Genre
- Graphic adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
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; 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.
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.
Reader's Guide
Chuchel received generally positive reviews from critics, holding an 81/100 on Metacritic. On review aggregate website OpenCritic, Chuchel had an average 80 out of 100 review score with 67% approval rating based on 20 reviews. 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, but it's an apparent combination of two similar Czech words 'chumel' (clamp or tangle) and 'chuchvalec' (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. On December 20, 2018, Amanita Design released an update for the game changing Chuchel's body color to orange, in response to the character design being interpreted as blackface by some players. Some levels were also slightly changed to match Chuchel's new colour.
Did You Know?
- The game's protagonist Chuchel is a Dust-style creature.
- The word 'chuchel' is an apparent combination of the Czech words 'chumel' and 'chuchvalec'.
- An update on December 20, 2018 changed Chuchel's body color to orange due to blackface concerns.
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