Crash in Machinarium and Augury (every time) -- Game Unplayable!!

I've started experiencing an issue over the last few days where Machinarium (in the campaign) and Augury (maps) freeze then crash every time.

I've isolated the issue to the moment when one of the Golden Idol mobs "awakens" when hit or from proximity. It's as if the act of "loading" that mob has crashed the game. If I restart, I am just where I left off and can kill that mob and play until I come to another of that type, when it happens again.

I have 2 toons in maps and both of them made it through the campaign the first time (different leagues), so this is a new issue. I even leveled another toon to Machinarium to see if it was a toon-specific issue; both "new" characters cannot progress.

Obviously, this makes the game unplayable on a new character, as I can't progress campaign. And not having access to certain maps makes the endgame annoying to say the least, plus I'd rather be playing one of the other newer characters I made.

Tried turning game down to very low settings just in case, it's not choking on any other content.