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The adventure thread (Free beer and false advertising!)

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
This is where the Adventure Codex lists its favorite games. Contributions range from the must-have commercial classics to obscure indies. Enjoy!

A-O

Name: 5 Days A Stranger, 7 Days A Skeptic, Trilby's Notes, 6 Days A Sacrifice
Developer: Ben Croshaw
Description: The John DeFoe quadrilogy. I have not played those, yet. I do however plan to do so in the near future as I have heard good things about the games.
Status: Free!
Link: http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/games.htm


Name: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Developer: Crystal Shard
Description: A Tale of Two Kingdoms is an epic faerie tale, in the classic style of the famous Sierra and LucasArts graphical adventure games. It is a full-length game with an atmosphere of fairy tales, magic, and intrigue. Featuring five different endings; several sidequests and alternate solutions; teamwork with non-player characters; 75 minutes of high quality music; and director's commentary.
Status: Free!
Link: http://crystalshard.net/atotk.php


Name: Alone in the Dark
Developer: Infogrames
Description: "A very atmospheric and Lovecraftian adventure game. Can't beat the badass, early 3D models either." "Jeremy Hartwood has committed suicide in his Louisiana mansion. You take the role of either Edward Carnby, a private investigator, or Emily Hartwood, Jeremy's niece, and investigate the suspicious death. The three-floor mansion is reputed to be haunted by its eccentric past owner." -some guy at Amazon.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/91/Al ... ark+1.html


Name: Azrael's Tear.
Developer: Intelligent Games.
Description: An Adventure Game with some action (in the way of "press space to ready weapon, click to shoot") and some C&C. As a Raptor (a futuristic tomb robber) you must find the not so holy grail in an ancient underground complex, built by the templars, to save the world of destruction, or so you believe. You will meet mutated, insane, double-crossing templar along with ghosts, ancient beasts, weird experiments, a LOT of well written background, and one of the best surprise endings i ever saw. A shame the sequel, fully made, was never published.
Status: Commercial, Amazon has it new.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Az ... _Tear.shtm


Name: Beneath a Steel Sky
Developer: Revolution Software
Description: "The game is considered to be among the true classics in the early era of graphic adventure games for the early 1990s. This, in part, is related to the mature science fiction theme that was chosen for this game[...] The game takes place at an unknown point in a dystopian future in Australia, where the Earth has been significantly damaged by pollution or nuclear fallout."-Wikipedia
Status: Re-released as freeware!
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky


Name: Beyond the Titanic
Developer: Scott Miller
Description: "Beyond the Titanic is a text adventure game written by Scott Miller for MS-DOS, published by Apogee Software (now 3D Realms). In the game, the player has to escape from the sinking ship Titanic." -Wikipedia
Status: Re-released as freeware!
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Titanic http://www.3drealms.com/downloads.html


Name:Black Dahlia
Developer: Take 2 Interactive
Description: A horribly underrated, yet one of the best FMV adventure games of all time. It's set in Cleveland, in the early 1940s; the player assumes the role of Jim Pearson (a new member of a recently formed federal agency, the Office of Information), who has been assigned the task of investigating the Brotherhood of Thule (supposedly, a Nazi-related organization). Black Dahlia weaves an intriguing, compelling story with excellent, mind challenging puzzles. It's a truly remarkable, suspenseful game - however, the very ending part of the game might not be everyone's cup of tea.
Status:Commercial
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahl ... puter_game)


Name: Blade Runner
Developer: Westwood
Description: The game's story takes place somewhere in between Phillip K. Dick's book "Do Androinds Dream Of Electric Sheep" and the movie "Blade Runner". Game's storyline takes us to a dystopian Los Angeles of 2019 and moves alongside with the events seen in the movie. Earth's atmosphere and ecology were damaged after the third world war, but humanity managed to reach the depths of outer space. [...]
You are playing a detective Ray McCoy, who is a special Blade Runner unit - a hunter, trained to track-down replicants and "retire"(kill) them.
Blade Runner is a non-linear game, with multiple choices and consequences. [...] But choose carefully as almost each one of your actions has consequences. Short-term and long-term ones.[...]
The minuses of this game are that it's very short and not fully represents the dark atmosphere of the movie - like some areas may have too much sunlight.
But nonetheless it's a wonderful adventure game and probably with some rpg-ish feel to it.
Status: Abandonware.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runn ... eo_game%29
Can be obtained, but the site in question is not known for handling the abandonware concept very strictly, so no link here.


Name: Broken Sword series (The Shadow of the Templars, The Smoking Mirror, The Sleeping Dragon, The Angel of Death)
Developer: Revolution Software
Description: "The Shadow of the Templars introduced the quirky and refreshingly different gaming heroes, George Stobbart and Nico Collard to the gaming world. Humour, adventure, detective work and conspiracy on a global scale are all elements that define the Broken Sword series."-? This series has been running for 11 years now, the first game was truely impressive at the time of its release. Both part 1 and 2 are pretty much brilliant if they rub you the right way, parts 3 and 4 are... well, very much a matter of taste.
Status: Commercial. Pretty sure they are not abandonware at all, actually.
Link: http://www.revolution.co.uk/index.php


Name: Chronomaster.
Developer: DreamForge.
Description: This one, as far as i know, was written by Roger Zelazny and some friend of him - and both had a saying in the development. As Rene, a famous and now retired designer of pocket universes in a future where science has gone so far that small universes with their own rules and laws can be built for those who can pay them, you are hired to investigate why two of such places have gone into stasis, repair them, and find the culprit. Using a supply of bottled time that allows you to "activate" things trapped in stasis for a while, a weird multi-tool including a magic wand and a probability manipulator, and your understanding of each different world you will travel to several pocket universes (each one stranger than the last), restore them (at first...), and uncover the secrets of their rulers and the terrorist behind those attacks. It has mainly inventory puzzles with multiple solutions, has a lot of well built if weird background that gives a lot of depth, is somewhat non-linear, and has several different endings.
Status: Looks pretty abandoned to me, Amazon doesn't have it.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronomaster


Name: Colossal Cave Adventure
Developer: Crowther, 1976; Crowther & Woods, 1977
Description: This is a honorable mention. This game is honored as the first computer adventure game ever. A version of the game was released by Microsoft with DOS 1.0. "The Colossal Cave subnetwork has many entrances, one of which is known as Bedquilt. Crowther reproduced portions of the real cave so faithfully that cavers who have played the game can easily navigate through familiar sections in the Bedquilt region on their first visit." -Wikipedia. Don't get it for gameplay reasons, I guess.
Status: Freeware!
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure


Name: Dark Earth
Developer: Kalisto
Description: A grtty, far post apocalyptic (comet, not nuclear, been over a hundred years since) science fiction setting, a mostly compelling story, too few, but quite good puzzles along with some affect of choice and a minor plot branch, make this a game I’d highly recommend. It does have an action component (real-time combat), and it’s not all that enjoyable, luckily it is possible to automate it, so that all you need do is hold Ctrl (though I’ve not tried it). Dark Earth is set 300 years in the future, and there is a decent amount of information and history provided in the manual. By modern standards the graphics are mixed, very nice 2D backgrounds, but blocky and low detail character models. From the manual: Join Arkhan, a Guardian of Fire in the city of Sparta, as he is swept from his routine life and daily duties to a new and terrifying ordeal. Ever-darkening plots of treachery and greed surround him as a fearful darkness envelops the city and an unknown evil threatens to transform him into a monstrous creature.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=4596


Name: Dark Fall.
Developer: XXv Productions.
Description: One of the few really spooky horror games, this originally indie adventure, along with Rhem, was to adventure games what we expect AoD to be for the crpg genre. A lot of ambience as you go around an abandoned train station and hotel trying to find out about the fate of its past inhabitants and the entities you face. You will get to use some ghost hunting tools, you will talk with dead things using a parser, and you will solve some pretty original puzzles along with some very unoriginal ones. If you think the "Haunted Hotel" in Bloodlines was spooky you will be crying like a baby with this one.
Status: Judging by Amazon.com, it's pretty abandoned. However, as a recent part of an active series, with the dev still in business, I would rather call it commercial.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Da ... kFall.shtm


Name: Dark Fall 2, Lights out.
Developer: XXv Productions.
Description: The sequel to Dark Fall is less spooky, more plot-heavy, and not as good as the first - even if not bad at any rate. Maybe a bit more plastic, without so much of a soul? Something like that. The story this time is more of the Twilight Zone and less Supernatural Horror, with time travel and what not, and has a cameo from a character of the first one.
Status: Commercial.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Da ... lLO_2.shtm


Name: Day of the Tentacle
Developer: LucasArts
Description: "Day of the Tentacle is simply marvelous. The game is packed with humor, witty sarcasm, interesting characters and even-more-interesting scenery and places. It's immensely fun to play, and to solve it you'll need to let your imagination run wild." -Abandonia. Seriously, while I may be repeating myself - this is a real classic, so massively over the top in a good way that you would have to be dead inside to not at least get a few good laugh out of this one. This game is what humor in gaming is all about for me. Do NOT miss out. Oh, and be sure to get yourself a version that includes digitized speech - in this case, it's a good thing, trust me. Also includes Maniac Mansion, you can play it from within the main game. Good stuff.
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tentacle


Name: Daemonica.
Developer: RA Images.
Description: As a hunter of human "monsters," mainly killers and so, in medieval europe you come to a small village in order to solve a murder - only, as always, to find some interesting plot going on behind the scenes. Using potions you have to brew yourself, including one that puts you in an almost dead state so you can talk with the departed and other entities, and some old school adventuring you must discover what the fuck is really going on and then decide what to do about it. Good story, interesting and unusual endings, and a main character that i would like to see more of. Note that the game uses an isometric 3d engine and looks somewhat like a diablo clone, but is a pure adventure.
Status: Commercial, Amazon has it.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Da ... onica.shtm


Name: Dark Seed
Developer: Cyberdreams
Description: (By HotU) One of the most memorable (and few) science fiction- horror games ever released, Dark Seed is an interesting horror/scifi story based on the haunting artwork of H.R. Giger, creator of Aliens. As writer Mike Dawson, you must travel in both the human and alien dimensions to thwart the aliens' evil plans. Interesting premise and outstanding graphics make for an interesting game that unfortunately gets bogged down with too many illogical (and timed) puzzles.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=276


Name: Discworld, Discworld 2
Developer: Psygnosis, Avalon
Description: With a graphical style similar to the Monkey Island games, these games are going to be a real treat for anyone who likes Terry Pratchets Discworls series, especially the storys around mighty mage Rincewind. Puzzles are often based on humor rather than on strict logic. The author was involved heavily in the creation of these games. Since I love Discworld and want to marry Terry Pratchet asap, I consider these games as essential to any real adventure collection as the Monkey Islands.
Status: Part 1 is abandonware, not sure about part 2.
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/878/Discworld.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld_2


Name: Discworld Noir
Developer: Perfect 10 Productions
Description: (By HotU) Discworld Noir is set in the most depraved city in the Discworld, Ankh-Morpork, where the sun never shines (because it is always night). You play Lewton, a downtrodden P.I. who was once a member of the Watch (i.e. Discworld police) until he was fired for accepting a bribe. The beautiful and mysterious Carlotta just hired you to find Mundy, her ex-lover. As you start looking into Mundy's disappearance more missing persons cases present themselves to you. Missing persons start turning up dead with yours truly as the prime suspect. Throw in a missing artifact, some shady underworld characters, and the ex-girlfriend who broke you heart, and you have all the elements of classic Raymond Chandler noir novels.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1505


Name: Dreamweb
Developer: Creative Reality
Description: The bartender Ryan must become the deliverer, killing those who threaten the Dreamweb, in order to stop his increasingly disturbing nightmares. What follows is a bloody descent into madness, paranoia and murder.
A dark story in a cold and dystopic future, Dreamweb is a game that feature great atmosphere, style and logical puzzles. Some of the weaker points is the dialogue, which features no options or branching and the fact that you have a limited inventory but can pick up a lot of useless stuff.
Status: Free
Link: http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Dreamweb


Name: Flight of the Amazon Queen
Developer: Renegade Software / Interactive Binary Illusions
Description: "To make a long story short, you have a spoiled dame on board your plane and you crash in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. While you're looking for a way to repair your plane she's off into the wild green yonder. You, of course, have to go after her to discover that she's with a tribe of Amazons, that like to take men prisoners and do unspeakable things to them (in the most pleasurable way possible). That's why two guys are desperately trying to get back to their camp (last time they didn't want them, because they had a strange rash on a part of the body not appropriate to mention – at this point). There's also a gorilla in the jungle, but after a series of long philosophical conversations[...]"-Abandonia. So, yeah, never got a chance to play this one before, but I propably should.
Status: Not really Abandonware. I had no trouble finding a new copy of the game on Amazon. However, the game has been Re-released as freeware! Strange.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Amazon_Queen
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0200586/ ... mes/fotaq/
Abandonia has it, too.


Name: Full Throttle
Developer: LucasArts
Description: This game uses the famous SCUMM engine. It was the first game from Lucasarts to only appear on CD. The graphics are rather cartoonish, some of the cutscenes actually look rather like something out of a (cool and funny) movie. "The story focuses on Ben, the leader of a biker gang called the Polecats. It seems to take place in a semi-apocalyptic dark future not too far removed from that of the first Mad Max film or that of the table top game Car Wars.[...]" -Wikipedia. Just let me say that the gameplay (even the one action sequence that's in the game) is very smooth, the story creative and the mostly good natured humor works well. If you liked DOTT, chances are you will embrace this one.
Status: Commercial, possibly abandoned.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Throt ... er_game%29


Name: Gabriel Knight: Sins of The Fathers
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Description: The first game in the series, Sins of The Fathers, tells of how a struggling, no-good writer comes to grip with his dark family history and accepts his fate to become the next Shattenjäger - shadowhunter. As Gabriel Knight, aspiring writer and owner of St. George's bookstore, you are researching the voodoo murders as a basis for your new book. The authorities, including your policeman friend Mosely, believe that the voodoo aspect is faked by the murderer, and that the real voodoo cult does not exist in New Orleans. With the help of Grace Nakimura, your assistant, you will slowly unravel the web of intrigue that leads to the powerful voodoo cult... as well as your own destiny.
Status: Sierra still kind of exists, but Amazon.com doesn't have it, so...
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=2348


Name: Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Description: The Beast Within picks up where Sins of The Fathers left off. Gabriel has moved into Schloss Ritter, the family castle that he inherits from uncle Wolfgang after he sacrificed his life to save Gabriel's. While hitting a writer's block trying to churn out a sequel to his best-selling novel The Voodoo Murders, a group of distressed villagers knocks on the castle's door. Their leader, Werner Huber, tells Gabriel that as local Shattenjäger, he is needed to track down and kill a supposed werewolf who killed a young girl at the outskirts of Munich. Gabriel soon finds himself on Huber's farm, where his troubles are just beginning...
Status: Sierra still kind of exists, but Amazon.com doesn't have it, so...
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=2349


Name: Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of The Sacred, Blood of The Damned
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Description: As in the first two games, no prior experience with the series is required to enjoy GK3, although you won't understand some subtle comments and retorts (mostly by Grace) if you haven't played the first 2 games. Although GK3 has a lot to live up to given the outstanding plots of its predecessors, Jane Jansen does one even better by tackling Rennes-le-Château, one of the world's most famous unsolved mysteries and one of the most hotly-contested locations of the Holy Grail. And how does it relate to our Shattenjager? As it turns out, Gabriel and Grace was requested by Prince James to help guard son from evil men he suspected to be vampires. One night as they were on watch, a mysterious kidnapper succeeds in abducting the baby. Gabriel pursued them on a train, only to find himself whacked on the head and woke up in Rennes-le-Château. He has no choice but to check himself in a hotel, explores the area, and find the missing baby. True to the region's rich history, you will soon come across references to various legends including the Knight Templars, vampires, political conspiracies, and of course the Holy Grail itself... the unravelling of which will explain not only why Prince James' son is important, but also sheds light on Gabriel's own destiny.
Status: Sierra still kind of exists, but Amazon.com doesn't have it, so...
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=2350


Name: Gateway
Developer: Legend Entertainment
Description: "Gateway shares its premise with Pohl's first book, of a poor space prospector arrives on the eponymously named space station with the intent to use the dangerously poorly understood alien crafts that are based there to explore distant worlds and strike it rich. The similarities soon end as the game introduces original elements, changes (in the novel's terms: travel times are negligible, Gateway has earthnorm gravity, all ships are ones and bastard control panels are the norm) and material from the later books." -Wikipedia. This is another text-adventure.
Status: So abandonware it is not even funny anymore. It was released as freeware under a non-distributable license, but is no longer available from the devs homepage.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_%2 ... er_game%29


Name: Grim Fandango
Developer: LucasArts
Description: "So, you're not sure what Grim Fandango is? Or you just want to know some more about it? Well, to put it in a nutshell, Grim Fandango is an epic adventure game which combines beautiful visuals, a highly emotional storyline, a masterful soundtrack, and some of the most memorable characters to ever exist in any game ever. It really is the pinnacle of gaming, and is a title that should not be missed. " -grimfandango.net
Status: Commercial
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Fandango


Name: I have no mouth and i must scream.
Developer: The Dreamer's Guild.
Description: Quite the surreal game. Based on the story by Harlan Ellison, who also was quite involved in the game's development, this one puts you in the shoes of the last five humans on earth, trapped and kept alive by an AI known as AM. For the sadistic pleasure of AM they must traverse several worlds built around their pasts and fears, while looking for a way to escape their master. Ellison wanted to have the game end as the short story, but others thought it would not be nice to have the game be impossible to win - So he left that ending as the optional "You suck" one and made other that can be understood as "you won" if you do not think too much about it. Beautiful, complex, and dark - A true classic. A shame that, given the ending change because lossing by default was not considered fair, if you do not know the story before hand you will not understand fully why the game has such a title but by really sucking at games.
Status: Amazon doesn't have it. It's Dos. What do you think?
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/IH ... h_Ray.shtm


Name: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Developer: LucasArts
Description: "As Indiana Jones, you must save the Secret of Atlantis from falling into the wrong hands - Nazi hands - specifically the ones of Dr. Ubermann, a Nazi nuclear scientist. Germany hasn't got sufficient quantities of uranium to produce an atom bomb, but would be able to create even more devastating weapons if they were to discover the energetic metal from Atlantis. Beating the Nazis to Atlantis is your primary concern, and you can accomplish this task in one of three different ways, for the game forks at a certain point. Every way is almost a completely new game!"
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jo ... f_Atlantis


Name: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Developer: Lucasarts
Description: (By MobyGames) It is 1938 and adventurer Indiana Jones is joined by his father on this quest, preventing Adolf Hitler from capturing the Holy Grail. He will have to deal with Nazi guards, the Luftwaffe and enemy spies as he tries to stop the tyrannical Nazi leader.
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/india ... -adventure


Name: King's Quest Series
Developer: Sierra
Description: Undoubtly one of the most well-known Adventure game franchises, The King's Quest series is Roberta Williams' suite set in the land of Daventry. All of the games revolve around King Graham and his royal family and their countless escapades. While each game feature a different adventure and you don't play Sir Graham in all of them, all of the games are a continuation of the family's story.
Up until King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder the games used Sierra's text parser for actions. With KQ V VGA and also a graphical interface was introduced (with icons for look, talk, pick up and walk). The puzzles can be real tricky and (especially in the early games) a single pixel, looking at something or just standing around will almost certainly spell the doom of King Graham and his family. The player can also mess up the games by missing an object or not doing something in the early parts of the games, but less so in the less dated games. With the fourth game the series becomes increasingly beautiful, with King's Quest V being nothing short of stunning and the music is excellent. If you enjoy dying countless horrible deaths in a compelling fairy-tale land, these games are your coffin size.
Note that Sierra remade some of the earlier games in better graphics (ega). There's also AGD Interactive who are remaking the series in (S)VGA and with speech. The first two are already out.
Status: Mixed, but rather commercial.
Link: Moby Games, AGD Interactive[/quote]


Name: Larry 6 - Shape Up or Slip Out
Developer: Sierra
Description: Ah, what a cool game. Again, it stands for the whole series, which you can easily research on your own. I was 13 when I played it, so that may have helped. A more recent go at the game was good as well, though. Note that it is more funny and less porny than the description below makes it sound. "Larry is at it again. While he is cruising along Muscle Beach and exercising (his pick-up skills), a stretch limo pulls up behind him. Inside, a beautiful blonde lady wants comfort, and Larry is not the kind of guy who would keep a lady waiting. So our god of love is on the move again - or so he thinks. The lady needs a guy to fill the empty seat on the popular dating show Stallions! Unfortunately for Larry, he loses first prize and makes a complete fool of himself on national TV ... but not all is lost. Larry wins second prize: a paid stay at a fashionable hotel with plenty of nice-looking girls. And so Larry is back to doing what he does best, pleasing the female population." -Abandonia
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/124/L ... p+Out.html



Name: Dark Seed
Developer: Cyberdreams
Description: (By HotU) One of the most memorable (and few) science fiction- horror games ever released, Dark Seed is an interesting horror/scifi story based on the haunting artwork of H.R. Giger, creator of Aliens. As writer Mike Dawson, you must travel in both the human and alien dimensions to thwart the aliens' evil plans. Interesting premise and outstanding graphics make for an interesting game that unfortunately gets bogged down with too many illogical (and timed) puzzles.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=276


Name: Discworld Noir
Developer: Perfect 10 Productions
Description: (By HotU) Discworld Noir is set in the most depraved city in the Discworld, Ankh-Morpork, where the sun never shines (because it is always night). You play Lewton, a downtrodden P.I. who was once a member of the Watch (i.e. Discworld police) until he was fired for accepting a bribe. The beautiful and mysterious Carlotta just hired you to find Mundy, her ex-lover. As you start looking into Mundy's disappearance more missing persons cases present themselves to you. Missing persons start turning up dead with yours truly as the prime suspect. Throw in a missing artifact, some shady underworld characters, and the ex-girlfriend who broke you heart, and you have all the elements of classic Raymond Chandler noir novels.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1505


Name: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Developer: Lucasarts
Description: (By MobyGames) It is 1938 and adventurer Indiana Jones is joined by his father on this quest, preventing Adolf Hitler from capturing the Holy Grail. He will have to deal with Nazi guards, the Luftwaffe and enemy spies as he tries to stop the tyrannical Nazi leader.
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/india ... -adventure


Name: Legend Of Kyrandia Trilogy (The Legend Of Kyrandia, Hand Of Fate, Malcom's Revenge)
Developer:Westwood Studios
Description: (By HotU)
Arguably among the best adventure games series ever, Kyrandia games tell the stories set in the fantasy land of Kyrandia, told from 3 different perspectives: Brandon (a hero chosen to save the land), Zanthia (a Royal Mystic searching for the Anchor Stone to save Kyrandia from disappearing), and Malcolm (the evil jester from the first 2 games out to get his revenge). Each game is better than the last, despite the annoying random elements in some puzzles which can only be solved through tenacious trial-and-error. Great games nonetheless, with a gentle sense of humor, Westwood's acclaimed graphics and user-friendly interface, and great music.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/search.ph ... f+kyrandia


Name: Legend of the Sword
Developer: Rainbird
Description: The evil sorcerer Suzar and his army of mutated humanoids attacked the land of Anar and defeated its bravest warriors in a bloody battle. You were the only one who was able to escape. [...]
Legend of the Sword is a fantasy adventure game with slight RPG elements (top-down view, day and night cycle, world map exploration, traditional RPG plot, etc.). But the core gameplay is that of a pure puzzle-solving adventure. You interact with the environment by typing commands, and only a few of them are represented by icons (movement in eight directions as well as going in and out).
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=627


Name: Loom
Developer: LucasFilm Games
Description: You are Bobbin Threadbare, the mysterious "Loom child" and member of the Weaver Guild who must embark on a perilous journey to follow his guild members who were turned into geese and flew away from the Loom island. Instead of using an inventory the game's puzzles are solved using spells. These spells are cast by playing melodies on Bobbin's staff, and some can be played in reverse for a reversed effect of a spell.
Status: NOT abandonware.
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/21/Loom.html
http://www.lucasarts.com/ (If you have the floppy version, it can be upgraded to the CD-ROM version not sold at Lucasarts: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=655 )


Name: Lure of the Temptress
Developer: Revolution Software
Description: "In Lure, you take on the role of a young peasant named Diermot. You were most recently employed as a beater for the king's hunting party. One night, the king receives a note from a bedraggled messenger, requesting the king's services to help stamp out a rebellion led by a young and beautiful apprentice sorceress named Selena in the remote village of Turnvale." -Wikipedia
Status: Re-released as freeware!
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lure_of_the_Temptress http://www.revolution.co.uk/_display.php?id=10


Name: Of Light and Darkness
Developer: Tribal Dreams
Description: A fully 3D FPP Adventure, where you are tasked with preventing the Apocalypse by defeating Gar Hob (voiced by James Woods), the Dark Lord of the Seventh Millennium. Gameplay entails redeeming the Dark Lord’s apparitions (evil-doers through the ages, such as Aleister Crowley and Caligula) by matching them with one of the deadly sins and the correct colour star. There’s little adventuring in this game, you pick up artifacts from which you learn clues about an apparition’s crimes, bringing you closer to deducing the apparition’s sin, repeat this for each apparition and that’s the gameplay. The game is timed, and it is important to move about the world quickly (this gets very hectic late in the game), speaking of moving about, the quick, automated movement of the camera in OLAD up, down, and side to side is likely to cause motion sickness for those who are susceptible. Whilst this is a severely flawed game, I still quite enjoyed it, it looks great (environments created by supposedly world famous artist, Gil Bruvel), the voice acting is good and I enjoyed piecing together each apparition’s sin (well, maybe for a bit over half the game anyway). Could have been a very good game with more varied and less timed gameplay.
Status: Probably rather not abandonware. Very close, though.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1367
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
P-Z


Name: Pathologic.
Developer: Ice-Pick Lodge.
Description: Leaving aside a translation that needs lots of imagination to be understood, this is THE game, as far as i am concerned, that defines "Games as Art." As one of three characters with fairly different backgrounds and storylines (A bachelor of medicine studying death, a haruspex being framed for his father's death, and a strange girl with occult powers) you are trapped in a very weird and surreal town, in the middle of nowhere, as an unknown plague appears. You must survive twelve days, keeping yourself fed, rested, and healthy as you go around trying to discover the nature of the plague and the town. The game is truly real-time in that time is always going on and that missions you couldn't complete for midnight are gone, their plots hidden and their rewards gone. Some of the revelations in the last day have made a lot of people very, very, very angry and spawned philosophical discussions all around the net - And if you like theatre you will LOVE some of the inspirations behind this game.
Status: Well, Amazon.de has it, but I could not even find it at amazon.com. Still, we definitely can not call it abandonware.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Pa ... logic.shtm


Name: Police Quest 4 - Open Season
Developer: Sierra
Description: I add this as an example of the series. I played and enjoyed it a long time ago, but I am sure it has aged quite well. "Someone is going around Lytton city brutaly murdering people, some of the murders bears ritual similarities. Just what you needed, another psycho to take care of. But this one manages to be one step ahead of you all the time, like he can read you thoughts... You have to lure the serial killer out, but do you have the guts?" -Abandonia.
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/128/P ... eason.html


Name: Post Mortem
Developer: Microïds
Description: (By MobyGames) Set in the 1920s, Post Mortem puts you in the role of MacPherson, a retired private detective, whom is hired by Sophia Blake. Your mission is to find out who killed her sister and brother-in law. Very similar to games like Amerzone and other first person adventure games, you go around hunting for clues, interacting and more. When it comes to cinematics, the game takes a 3rd person mode where you choose between the dialogues. The storyline is affected according to the dialogue you choose.
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/post-mortem


Name: Prisoner of Ice
Developer: I-Motion
Description: Classic point and click horror adventure with Cthulhu Mythos plot. A sequel of sorts to Shadow of the Comet, you play Lt. Ryan, an American agent stationed aboard the submarine H.M.S. Victoria on a rescue mission in the Antarctic. The plot is the high point of this game, but it's hampered by illogical puzzles and pixel-hunting (which often ruin any sense of urgency). Pixel-hunting aside, the game is rather short.
Status: Abandonware.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1395


Name: Realms of the Haunting
Developer: Gremlin
Description: "This is one of my favourites, the best action/adventure I've played, great as an adventure game, and the action elements (FPS) are also good. Utilises the Doom engine, and contains 2 hours of often cheesy but quite well done FMV. Think Clive Barker's Undying with plenty of puzzles and a whole lot of game (probably the longest adventure game I've played). For those reflex lacking adventure gamers, there is a difficulty slider for action as well as puzzles. From the box: "The untimely death of his father leads Adam Randell to the Cornish vlillage of Helston and a remote and seemingly desolate country home. Unkown to him he has entered the epicentre of the battle between dark and light fought throughout the milennia"."
Status: Available through Amazon-Shops, otherwise propably abandoned.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=889


Name: Rex Nebular and The Cosmic Genderbender (1992)
Developer: MicroProse
Description: (By Hotu) As Rex Nebular, privateer and womanizer in the spirit of Han Solo (if only half as charming), you embark on a quest to steal a priceless vase from the planet that are populated only by woman. Tongue-in-cheek humor may be too sophomoric for some, but the interesting puzzles (on "hard" level) will not put anyone off this strangely compelling game. Warning: on "hard" level the puzzles are *unforgiving*- unlike LucasArts' games, you can find yourself in an unwinnable situation. Save often!
Status: Abandonware ?
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=903


Name: Rise of the Dragon
Developer: Dynamix/Sierra
Description: A rather Blade Runner-ish game featuring a PI named Blade Hunter. For its day, the game featured some pretty "mature" content and didn't pull a lot of punches. Many of the puzzles featured multiple solutions, there were a number of different endings, and it was entirely possible to screw up your game irrevocably if you pissed off the wrong people. There's also a 3-day time limit, and if you spend too much time traveling around and not solving the central mysteries of the game, the game will end. Some frustrating bits (due to being able to totally fuck things up), but a fantastic adventure game.
Status: Abandoned.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_dragon http://www.abandonia.com/en/search_aban ... the+Dragon


Name: Sam & Max (Series 1&2)
Developer: Telltale Games - (I think)
Description: An interesting, if somewhat easy, return of the classic Steve Purcell characters. Mostly notable for keeping the adventure torch alight within the consciousness of the mainstream. Series 1 Episode 4 is also available for free download to celebrate the beginning of the new series.
Status: Commercial.
Link: http://www.telltalegames.com


Name: Samorost 1 & 2
Developer: Amanita Design
Description: "Though mostly puzzle games, those two little games still remind me of adventures. Awesome visual design, not so good puzzles. S1 is free, while S2's full version costs 6 dollars." -Cthulhu
Status: Part 1 free, part 2 commercial.
Link: www.amanita-design.net


Title: Sanitarium
Developer: DreamForge
Description: The Planescape: Torment of Adventure games? Well, not really, but the main character is an amnesiac and the story involves an inner struggle, also the box prominently features an eye, reminiscent of PST's box design. Sanitarium's strongest aspect is its unfolding story and general atmosphere, but the puzzles are also quite good. Gameplay is standard adventure fare, lock puzzles, inventory puzzles etc, a few brief action sequences, but they're not difficult and there's little penalty for death. The visuals are great, isometric view, with impressive 2D backgrounds. Not much else to say about this game, other than it's one of the best Adventure's I've played, and any fan of the genre should have already played it. My all time favourite? Hard to go past Grim Fandango, but this is certainly the best "serious" Adventure game I've played. From the box: "A journey through the depths of one man's consciousness to confront the demons from his past and escape the imprisonment of his mind"
Status: Mostly abandoned, but a few Amazon sellers have it.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?name=Sanitarium


Name: Schizm.
Developer: Detalion.
Description: A "Myst-Clone" that leaves any other Myst, both game and clone, in shame when regarding to puzzle difficulty. As two different characters who have crashed on a planet where everyones has gone missing, you have to face many logic puzzles of the painful variety and listen to video logs left behind by the crew researching the planet. I can´t really comment on the story since i got the CD version and the plot is heavily butchered in that one - So get the DVD one. Story is by some australian writter guy whose name i don't remember. This game is HARD - HARD as in you are going to cry. My Myst-Fu is pretty strong, never needing more than eight hours straight to win any logic-puzzle heavy game, and i am still trying to finish this one.
Status: There are quite a few copies of the cd version at Amazon... and one DVD, which goes for as low as 99,99. No comment.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Sc ... zmDVD.shtm


Name: Sentinel, Descendants in Time.
Developer: Detalion.
Description: Another Myst-Clone from the same guys who made Schizm, and from the same australian writter guy who wrote Schizm's plot. This one is full 3d, and thus has some very pretty areas - and some very ugly ones, too. As some robber of alien tombs guy whose sister has been kidnapped by some other guy to force him back from retirement you must enter some legendary tomb, from wich only some legendary tomb robber guy emerged victorious, and... ummm... emerge victorious after going through a group of different Ages... i mean, worlds... taken from the memories of the occupant. Upon entering you face the tomb guardian, some lady that may or may not be an A.I construct, and there you go. Really, one does not play Myst-Clones because of their plot - This one has some good puzzles, some great puzzles, and some bad puzzles. It is much easier than Schizm.
Status: Commercial.
Link: http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Se ... tinel.shtm


Name: Shadow of Destiny (2002)
Developer: Konami
Description: (By MobyGames)
A young man named Eike Kusch strolls through the quiet patriarchal German town Lebensbaum. Suddenly, a tremendous blow darkens the sight of his eyes, and the next thing he can see is a very strange room filled with bizarre objects, and a voice talking to him from nowhere. "Who are you?" - asks Eike - "Perhaps the Satan himself? And where am I? Am I dead?".
....."You are dead, indeed", - answers the mysterious voice. - "But you can prevent it. Destiny can be changed, you know". And with this, the voice disappears, leaving Eike in the strange room with a mysterious time-traveling device. Eike doesn't quite understand what's going on. He knows one thing: in order to survive, he has to change the past, to make it impossible for the murderer to kill him. And so, the battle for survival begins. The murderer will find many ways to kill Eike, and in order to prevent this, Eike will have to travel thirty years ago, to the beginning of the 20th century, and to the Middle Ages. But the connections between the past and the present are stronger than Eike thinks. With no guidance but the mysterious voice, Eike has to explore Lebensbaum in various time periods, and solve the mystery.
....."Shadow of Destiny" (aka "Shadow of Memories") is a pure adventure game. There are no action elements in the game, but each chapter has a time limit, during which Eike has to find a way to prevent the murderer from killing him.
Status: Commercial
lLink: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/shadow-of-destiny


Name: Shadow of The Comet
Developer: Infogrames
Description: (By HotU)
Shadow of the Comet is one of the best horror games ever produced, with a gripping storyline based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, good puzzles, and a wonderful atmosphere and characters despite some interface quirks. As journalist who arrived in a small town to photograph comet Halley's passing, you soon find that the event signifies a more sinister plan. Some pixel-hunting and time limits are annoying, but the game is excellent overall.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=961


Name: Snatcher
Developer: Konami
Description: (By HotU) One of the most sought-after console games in existence, Snatcher for the SEGA CD is an excellent cyberpunk action/adventure designed by Hideo Kojima, legendary designer who more or less built Konami's franchise single-handedly with classics like Metal Gear series. The game is a cosmetic remake of a 1988 game of the same name, released only in Japan for the PC-88 and MSX2 computers. Of all the versions of the game (including PC-Engine and Sony Playstation), the SEGA CD version is the only to be fully translated (including all voices) into English.
The storyline is undoubtedly the game's strongest appeal, even though it "borrows" a lot from cult cyberpunk films like Blade Runner, The Terminator, and possibly Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You play Gillian Seed, an amnesiac member of the "Junker task force," a special detective unit designed to hunt down and eliminate Snatchers - androids that infiltrate the society by assuming the identity of victims they kill. While your main task is to find out where the Snatchers come from and what they want, you will also learn more about your mysterious past, and how it relates to the Snatcher menace.
Status: Abandonware ?
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=3690


Name: Simon The Sorcerer
Developer: AdventureSoft
Description: (by MobyGames) Simon is just an ordinary boy in an extra-ordinary world. A world in which he must rescue Calypso the Wizard by embarking on a long challenging quest.
The game is a point-and-click adventure, using a typical interface with words such as ‘Use’, ‘Open’, ‘Walk To’ (unlike Lucasarts’ SCUMM games a simple click on that area of the screen won’t do) and ‘Pick Up’ (again, a double-click on the item doesn’t suffice – these two features extend game time significantly)
The game’s plot has a number of references and spoofs to fantasy and fairy tales, with the Three Billy Goats Gruff involved in a particularly significant scene. The humor is very British in places, with lots of dry sarcasm, and lots of Simpsons-esque self-references to the fact that this is a computer game. The levels are non-linear in layout, with puzzles spread across the lands.
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/s ... e-sorcerer


Name: Still Life
Developer: Microids
Description: "Victoria McPherson, is a brilliant young FBI agent who's investigating a serial murder case. The body count is now at five and with the lack of real leads and a moutain of circumstantial evidence, Victoria is beginning to show signs of fatigue and stress. She decides to take a break and go rest at her father's home in suburban Chicago; after all, it is close to the Christmas holidays. However, Victoria does not find rest. Instead, she finds one of her grandfather's old case files and begins to read. Oddly enough, Victoria's present case resembles the one from the past, right down to the killer's MO" - Microids website
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.microids.com/en/catalogue/10 ... tures.html


Name: The Adventures of Maddog Williams
Developer: Game Crafters
Description: Help Maddog rescue the beautiful Princess Leoria and free her father King Thaylor. Help him vanquish the Evil Serak and restore peace to the lands of Duridian. The game plays in a similar vein to earlier Kings quest titles.
Status: Re-released as freeware!
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php? ... ams%2C+The


Name: The Adventures of Willy Beamish
Developer: Dynamix
Description: "This game stars Willy Beamish a young boy who wants nothing more then to spend his summer playing Nintari (Sounds like a similar early 90’s system we all loved to play) and winning the Nintari gaming championship. Of course things do not go according to Willy’s plans as he becomes swept up into a zany adventure that pits him against the two most powerful figures in town, Leona, the head of the very powerful Toot Sweet Company, and Louis the Leader of the Plumbers Union when they unite to try and bring the entire city under their power. Throw in two loyal friends, a crazy pet frog called horny, a family of ninjas, a talking parrot, a ghost, and a vampire babysitter for good measure and you get a wacky and fun filled Sierra adventure." (This game is amazingly short though, just to warn ya. Kind of a fun diversion if you're extremely bored.)-Nael
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/179/T ... amish.html


Name: The Last Express
Developer: Smoking Car Productions
Description:
You play Roberth Cath, an American on board the “last” journey of the famous Orient Express in 1914, travelling from Paris to Constantinople. The game’s plot is brilliantly told, full of murder and intrigue. The characters and dialogue are some of the best I’ve experienced from any genre, including great voice over work in 4 or 5 different languages. The game's score and sound effects are also top notch.
The game is in FPP, but is presented in stunningly detailed 2D. Animations are rotoscoped from live action, like in Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings giving them a painterly aesthetic. The game's look fits the setting perfectly, and its characters make even modern 3D models look cold and lifeless.
In somewhat of a rarity for an Adventure game, the Last Express is mostly in real time (though time passes at different rates from time to time). This makes the game feel much more alive, with other characters going about their business, and gives actions a sense of immediacy. This means that you often need to be in the right place at the right time to perform certain actions, or more commonly overhear or partake in conversations. Ameliorating possible frustration in not being in the right place at the right time, dying or making a crucial error, is the ability to literally turn back the clock at any time, and revisit past events.
The Last Express has few puzzles in the traditional sense, and very few inventory puzzles, usually I’d label this a flaw, but in the case of TLE, it does away with these things for the right reasons, and is a better game for it. The game provides a sense of really being in the world, probably more so than any I’ve played.
Anyone who likes intelligently made games, must play this, even if you’re an Adventure game fan who abhors timed sequences. It has some flaws, but I'm not going to bother mentioning them.
Status: You decide, available to buy from Ebay stores.
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/last-express
Trivia: by the creator of Prince of Persia Jordan Mechner, and cost six million dollars.


Name: The Longest Journey
Developer: Funcom
Description: (By MobyGames) The Longest Journey is a third-person graphic adventure in which you play the role of April Ryan, a struggling student artist in the year 2209, recently arrived in the big city of Newport. April is afflicted with strange nightmares, but her nightmares are starting to affect her waking world as well. Only the strange old man Cortez seems to know what's happening. He sends April to another world where magic is real. There, April learns that what she thought were nightmares are real, and that she must save not just one, but two worlds.
The Longest Journey is a huge game, spanning 13 chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue, spread out over 4 CDs. All the usual graphic adventure elements are present, including lots of fairly challenging inventory-based puzzles, pages of dialogue, and bunches of places to explore. To help keep track of things, the game includes a diary, where April records her thoughts about important events, and a conversation log that records the text of every conversation.
Status: Commercial
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=654


Name: The Lost Files Of Sherlock Holmes 1 & 2 ( The Case Of The Serrated Scalpel , The Case Of The Rose Tattoo)
Developer: Mythos Software
Description: (By HotU)
Arguably the best games starring the world's most famous fictional detective, Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes 1 and 2 are similar: while the plot, writing, graphics, are all first-rate, most puzzles-- especially the just-click-and-watch lab sequences in Serrated Scalpel-- "lead" you to their solutions without requiring much thought. Fortunately the sequel Rose Tattoo boasts better puzzles and graphics, and a much longer plot. Holmes' fans will enjoy untangling both the Jack-the-Ripper-lookalike mystery, and the Diogenes Club bombing in which Holme's brother, Mycroft, is mortally wounded. Despite banal puzzles that hardly merits the attention of the world's foremost detective, the games' well-written plot and faitthful recreation of Holmesian London make the games worthwhile. So come, Watson, the game's afoot!
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/search.ph ... ock+Holmes


Name: The Pandora Directive
Developer: Access Software
Description: This game is apparently part of a series centered around a guy named Tex Murphy, with the plot taking place in a post WW3 San Francisco. It uses some kind of "Virtual World" 3D engine which is said to provide a fully explorable gameworld. Unfortunately I have not played the game myself, yet. The wiki page got me pretty interested, though! Read Keldryns post on page 2 of this thread for an extensive description of this series.
Status: Amazon doesn't have it, so propably abandoned.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pandora_Directive


Name: The secret of monkey island, Monkey island 2 - Lechucks Revenge
Developer: LucasFilm Games (LucasArts)
Description: If you don't know the hillarious adventures of Guybrush Threepwood by now, I really don't know what to say. Go hunt down these classics NOW. Since the game is ESA protected and therefore not even considered Abandonware material by Abandonia, I will link to the wikipedia page. Should you have lost your copy protection dial thingy or should you have bought the game without it, Abandonia has the copy protection stuff, though :).
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island_%28series%29


Name: the white chamber
Developer: Studio Trophis
Description: Good horror indie. Think Ghost in the Shell, The Thing and most of Cronenberg's movies gathered together. The anime style of the game might be a turn off, but hopefully nothing major.
Status: Free!
Link: http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/proje ... itechamber


Name: Toonstruck
Developer: Burst Studios
Description: A great but overlooked cartoon adventure, Toonstruck is a modern-day Who Framed Roger Rabbit? story where a likable cartoonist (played convincingly by Christopher Lloyd) gets trapped into a cartoon world of his creation and must restore (relative) order before he can get home. Great voice acting, fun puzzles that do make (zany cartoon) sense once solved, and charming antics round off this excellent underdog. Too bad the slated sequel never came out. (I can confirm this is a really fun game -Nedrah)
Status: Everyone involved with this is out of business, but there are still some copys available. YOU DECIDE!!!(!)
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1171


Name: Under a Killing Moon
Developer: Access Software
Description: (By MobyGames) It's December, 2042. And you're the only P.I. that follows the old steps of Philip Marlow, Spade, and other classic detectives. This time, the world depends upon you. How? Why? It's not for me to tell. Take your gun, and see what'll be next. Well, you'll drop it via the window accidentally, but I guess that won't stop you from solving the case.
Under A Killing Moon, unlike the Tex Murphy adventures that came before it, takes place in a world whose locations are pure 3D in which you have full maneuverability. You can even look for clues underneath desks, chairs, etc. Other features include an online hint system (that decreases your final score the more you use it), extensive support for additional sound/music devices, and full-motion video technology.
Status: Commercial ?
Link: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/under-a-killing-moon


Name: Veil of Darkness
Developer: Dreamforge Intertainment
Description: (By HotU) Veil of Darkness is a familiar sight for players of The Summoning, as both games share a common top-down 3/4 approach to the adventure and the world interaction, although Veil is decidedly more adventure-oriented. The horror story is based around a pilot who crash-lands his cargo plane in the haunted valley of Romania's Transylvanian Alps in the late 1930s, and it's now up to him to stop vampire Kairn. The great story and atmosphere are guarantee to please both adventure and RPG gamers, despite some frustrating combats near the end.
Status: Abandonware
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1224[/quote]


Name: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Developer: LucasArts
Description: "You're a news reporter for a second rate tabloid, who has to write a story about a two-headed squirrel near Seattle. Oh, and since there has been an alien sighting there, you must check this out too. Only it turns out, that neither is a hoax. Both the squirrel and the aliens are real and it is up to you to stop them (not the squirrel the aliens – who want to make us all stupider than they are – not a really hard task I suppose).
And now, the fun part begins." -Abandonia. Another Lucas Classic. While I did not enjoy it as much as DOTT or MI, you still should have played this still great game before you even consider calling yourself an adventure fan. As with all things Lucas, ESA spoils the abandonware fun.
Status: Abandoned, but protected.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniac_Mansion


Name: Zero Critical
Developer: Istvan Pely Productions
Description: A point and click adventure where you play Chatt Rhuller, an Interstellar Transportation Commission Field Agent, sent to a research facility on Rhoem 1 to investigate the death of a research scientist. Just played this one recently, and for the most part I enjoyed it, the lack of voice acting was welcome coming straight from Culpa Innata (a game with too much un-interesting dialogue, all voiced), the story was decent, the conversations fair, the puzzles too few and too easy, the visuals are impressive for an indie title, though its colour palette is lacking in variety (mostly steel grey). The game is short, coming in at around 5-6 hours, though I'm not sure I could have maintained my interest were it longer. (-Longshanks)
Status Found an Amazon shop that has it new.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=4314


Thanks Cthulhu, Bluebottle, Noceur, OldSkoolKamikaze, Palikka, Longshanks, Nael, Fastpunk, Keldryn,
Au naturel, VonVentrue, Skyway, The Rambling Sage, Ghostdog.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Oh, I will rip off, be sure of that :D

But I want a list of games people here actually strongly like, for what reason ever, along with the classics.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
To be true, I'm a little busy with stuff for the site at the moment, but you are right, it propably is about time to get this going. I'll look into it.
 

OSK

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
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Codex 2012 Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Name: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Developer: Crystal Shard
Description: A Tale of Two Kingdoms is an epic faerie tale, in the classic style of the famous Sierra and LucasArts graphical adventure games. It is a full-length game with an atmosphere of fairy tales, magic, and intrigue. Featuring five different endings; several sidequests and alternate solutions; teamwork with non-player characters; 75 minutes of high quality music; and director's commentary.
Link: http://crystalshard.net/atotk.php
 

Noceur

Liturgist
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Mar 23, 2006
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Tar Pits
Nedrah: I don't want to repeat titles already covered, that's all. :P ... when you get some list of titles up, I'll see if I can contribute.
 

Longshanks

Augur
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
897
Location
Australia.
Name: Zero Critical
Developer: Istvan Pely Productions
Released: 1999
Description: A point and click adventure where you play Chatt Rhuller, an Interstellar Transportation Commission Field Agent, sent to a research facility on Rhoem 1 to investigate the death of a research scientist.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=4314

zero1.jpg


Just played this one recently, and for the most part I enjoyed it, the lack of voice acting was welcome coming straight from Culpa Innata (a game with too much un-interesting dialogue, all voiced), the story was decent, the conversations fair, the puzzles too few and too easy, the visuals are impressive for an indie title, though its colour palette is lacking in variety (mostly steel grey). The game is short, coming in at around 5-6 hours, though I'm not sure I could have maintained my interest were it longer.

Zero Critical is/was distributed by our good friends at Bethesda, and as I have just discovered, developed by the lead artist on Fallout 3. :wink:
Interview with Lead Artist on Fallout 3, Istvan Pely
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Simon, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle and others are going to be on the list, of course. Providing me with those entrys in the format indicated on the list will help with that, though ;)
 

Noceur

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
199
Location
Tar Pits
Name: Loom
Developer: LucasFilm Games
Released: 1989
Description: You are Bobbin Threadbare, the mysterious "Loom child" and member of the Weaver Guild who must embark on a perilous journey to follow his guild members who were turned into geese and flew away from the Loom island. Instead of using an inventory the game's puzzles are solved using spells. These spells are cast by playing melodies on Bobbin's staff, and some can be played in reverse for a reversed effect of a spell.
Link: http://www.lucasarts.com/ (If you have the floppy version, it can be upgraded to the CD-ROM version not sold at Lucasarts: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=655 )

Name: Prisoner of Ice
Developer: I-Motion
Released: 1995
Description: Classic point and click horror adventure with Cthulhu Mythos plot. A sequel of sorts to Shadow of the Comet, you play Lt. Ryan, an American agent stationed aboard the submarine H.M.S. Victoria on a rescue mission in the Antarctic. The plot is the high point of this game, but it's hampered by illogical puzzles and pixel-hunting (which often ruin any sense of urgency). Pixel-hunting aside, the game is rather short.
Link: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1395

I haven't played Shadow of the Comet, but I've read that Prisoner of Ice looks better but isn't of the same quality otherwise. The plot is supposed to be better or more meaty in Prisoner of Ice though.
 

Palikka

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Name: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Developer: LucasArts
Released: 1994
Description: "As Indiana Jones, you must save the Secret of Atlantis from falling into the wrong hands - Nazi hands - specifically the ones of Dr. Ubermann, a Nazi nuclear scientist. Germany hasn't got sufficient quantities of uranium to produce an atom bomb, but would be able to create even more devastating weapons if they were to discover the energetic metal from Atlantis. Beating the Nazis to Atlantis is your primary concern, and you can accomplish this task in one of three different ways, for the game forks at a certain point. Every way is almost a completely new game!"
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jo ... f_Atlantis
 

pug987

Scholar
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Messages
106
Re: The adventure thread (hopefully mega in the future)

Nedrah said:
Game: the white chamber
Developer: Studio Trophis
Description: Good horror indie. Think Ghost in the Shell, The Thing and most of Cronenberg's movies gathered together. The anime style of the game might be a turn off, but hopefully nothing major.
Link: http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/proje ... itechamber

Thanks for all the links to these great adventures!

This morning I downloaded (it's free at the official site) and played "the white chamber". It's a rather small adventure game, it only took me a couple of hours to finish it, and it's quite easy but still it's very enjoyable.

I don't know if people here will like the distinct art style of the characters. It's anime-ish (closest thing I've seen is the character design at Yu-gi-oh). Still it's an art style we rarely see in wester games and it should at least score some points for originality. Personally I really liked it.

The backgrounds are 2D and very well designed for the most part. There are about 10 different rooms but since the backgrounds change during the course of the game, the designers have created about 30 different backgrounds, many of them larger than just one screen and the camera scrolls following your character.

Since I've started with the graphics it needs to be mentioned that there are a few short animated sequences in the game. The low frame rate is evident but still that and generally the graphics of the game are an impressive achivement for such a small company and for the first game they released.

The game is a horror adventure and although I wouldn't say it was particularly scary at any time, still it retained an eerie atmosphere as the female lead that the player controlls wanders around an empty space station trying to figure out what happened. Helping create such an atmosphere is the music and the great sound effects. I read somewhere that they have been praised as being better than the sound effects of some commercial games and I'll have to agree. The game doesn't have many characters but the people voicing them have done a decent job at least. You could say that your character's voice is a bit emotionless but it isn't annoying or over the top as we have heared in many commercial games.

Don't expect to see a story heavy adventure as you have very limited interaction with other characters and the game is short. What story it does have, although not trully original, is well written with some interesting twists.

The game has four endings, two of which are interesting ways to die (unless these aren't considered true endings and there are more I haven't found in my playthrough) and a few easter eggs. There was a small part of the game which I actually think was an easter egg, all of it, since you didn't gain any items or progressed the story in any way. To get it try using the game console a few times after you've gotten out of the fridge. It was one of the funniest easter eggs I've seen in an adventure game.

I think it's worth mentioning that, although the spoken dialogue is in english, you have a great selection of languages for the subtitles, even ones you rarely see at pc games, like greek.

Bottom line:
Play this game because it's very fun, it won't take much of your time, it has great atmosphere and it's better than many commercial adventures (personally I liked it a lot more than Syberia for example).
Don't play it because you hate any art style that has anything in common with japanese cartoons, you like your adventures story and dialogue heavy or you enjoy adventures with very hard puzzles and riddles.
 

Nedrah

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I added a few games to the list, please keep going :)
I will try to add a few more myself.

On another note, you may have noticed that I am not including the release dates that are being provided. The reasoning behind this is that I want people to decide wether they are going to have a closer look based on the description and possibly on who made the game, but not on when the game was made, thus possibly overlooking true gems. If you guys disagree, we will have to work something out, possibly a seperate post for release dates.
 

pug987

Scholar
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Messages
106
I don't think the fact that a game may be a bit dated would stop a codexer from playing it. Still I don't think that the release date is such a crucial piece of information that I would mind not knowing it.

What would be nice and usefull, if it's not too much trouble, would be to mention for each game if it is free, abandonware or comercial.

Some of my favorite adventure games are Pandora Directive ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pandora_Directive) and the other Tex Murphy adventures, Blade Runner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_(video_game)) and The Longest Journey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Journey).
 

Nedrah

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pug987 said:
What would be nice and usefull, if it's not too much trouble, would be to mention for each game if it is free, abandonware or comercial.

Good idea, I'll try to add that. Obviously for some of the games the status is a bit uncertain. I believe I already mentioned those cases in their descriptions. You mentioned some cool games there, I'll propably add them.


Edit: Pug, could you supply additional information on Bladeruner and TLJ? I can do the latter myself, but Bladeruner has been some time.
 

Noceur

Liturgist
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Mar 23, 2006
Messages
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Nedrah: Loom isn't exactly abandonware. There's a LucasArts classic adventure box which includes the floppy version of Loom. The CD-ROM version was apparantly made by some other dudes who are now defunct. That's why you can download a patch from the underdogs that upgrades the floppy version to the CD-ROM version.
The CD-ROM version has better audio and VGA graphics, I believe.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/lucasarts ... adventures

Getting that box now is probably a real bitch, though. I think a friend got it in a bargain bin a year ago or so. Anyway, it's not abandonware.

1 box is available on Amazon, used :lol:

EDIT: I see you've put Monkey Island and such as abandonware... I thought that as long as a company owned the rights to publish a game (even if they don't), it wasn't abandonware? If I'm wrong, then Loom is abandonware as well I'd presume (since the only way to get it now is that adventure box, and they don't really sell it anymore).
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Thank you, noceur.

For the time being, I corrected Loom.

I see a game as abandonware as soon as 1) It is not actively supported anymore, 2) There is no way to purchase a copy of the game through any reasonable retailers anymore and 3) People at places like abandonia and underdogs, who are a lot more involved with the topic, consider it abandoned and save to download. I am not on any kind of crusade with this, though. So, if the adventure-codex wants games that are still available as part of some collection to be marked as commercial, I'll be happy to oblige.
 

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