[15] In 2017, the developer released a Definitive Version of the game that is based on a DirectX engine instead of Adobe Flash and can be played in full-screen mode.

Machinarium is notable in that it contains no dialogue, spoken or written, and apart from a few tutorial prompts on the first screen, is devoid of understandable language entirely.

As with dialogue, the walkthrough is not in written or spoken form, but instead a series of sketches describing the puzzle at hand and its solution.

Machinarium opens with an overview of the eponymous city as a disposal flier launches from the pinnacle of its highest tower.

Shortly after flooding the Brotherhood's room (leaving them incapacitated), Josef locates his girlfriend Berta,[18] who has been locked up and forced to cook.

After he foils the Black Cap Brotherhood's plot by disarming the bomb taped to the tower, Josef reaches the highest room, in which the story began.

Josef recalls how the three of them lived happily until the Black Cap Brotherhood zapped his friend, leaving him disabled, and kidnapped Berta.

Microsoft does not allow games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade without a publisher attached to the title,[20] and the developers were reluctant to approach a third party to publish the game, as this would mean that profits for the developers from sales over Xbox Live Arcade would be greatly reduced.

[22] Machinarium was well-received on release; on the critic aggregate sites GameRankings and Metacritic, the game has an average score of 85% and 85/100, respectively.

[45] During the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Machinarium was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences;[46] it was also nominated for a Milthon award in the 'Best Indie Game' category at the Paris Game Festival.

Machinarium and its soundtrack inspired the poem The Machingeon, written by Andrew Galan and published in Establishment Magazine Issue 1.

In 2019, Tomáš Dvořák, the soundtrack composer for Machinarium better known under his pseudonym Floex, was performing live shows with a robotic version of Josef who plays various beat instruments.