The Random Adventure Game News Thread

[LESS T_T]

Daedalic opens a new studio in Munich, and it will work on a new game from Jan Müller-Michaelis (Poki), the creator of Deponia: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-02-14-daedalic-entertainment-opens-new-munich-office

Huh, his new game was exposed in March. It's one of recipients of Bayern's funding program: https://www.fff-bayern.de/fileadmin...ldungen/Vergabemeldungen_Games_Maerz_2019.pdf

It's.. an orc restaurant management game with dungeon crawling.

Okay I was hasty: https://www.gameswirtschaft.de/politik/fff-bayern-orcs-kitchen-daedalic/

Update from 28.3.2019: At the request of GamesWirtschaft Daedalic has communicated that "Orc's Kitchen" is a completely new project - and not the new game of "Deponia" inventor Jan Müller-Michaelis ("Poki") ,

I guess it makes sense Poki's new game is not in the stage of concept development after a year.

 

[CryptRat]

OK, this is released now, and if the part of the description about classic adventure games is not the most the reassuring, I have to say the trailer makes me intrigued anyway, especially since it's on GoG :

https://af.gog.com/game/irony_curtain_from_matryoshka_with_love?as=1649904300

Take a look behind Irony Curtain in a satirical point and click inspired by the best works of LucasArts and Daedalic Entertainment! Experience the totalitarian Matryoshka through Evan’s eyes – a low-ranking, goofy journalist involuntarily pulled right into the middle of an espionage stand-off between two powers. Hop onto the wacky spy adventure, uncover secrets of the bizzare communist country (and the powerful capitalistic empire!), witness the story full of unpredictable twists and turns and discover the true agenda of the mysterious Supreme Leader!

What business might the loving father of the Matryoshkan nation have with a lowly, capitalistic pen pusher?
Why suddenly lift the Irony Curtain and welcome a stranger in Matryoshka?
And why is there an alligator in the middle of the bathroom?!

What can you expect:

• An original setting: fictional Cold War era – alternate reality unbound by historical accuracy, and the communistic Matryoshka full of people who work all the possible angles to navigate this illogical, odd country.

• Inspired by classic adventure games – but better. No dream-logic, no pixel hunting. No-nonsense. Pure point and click fun.

• The Spy Intrigue – sleeper spies, stolen secrets and world-domination plots wrapped up in layers of humour

• Quirky characters – Meet the mysterious Leader ruling Matryoshka with an irony fist, the clueless and guilible Evan, the brave and witty Agent Anna and the notorious Minister of Propaganda...

• Do it your way – some of the puzzles are non-linear and can be solved in two or more different ways.

• 21 hand-painted locations – that look surprisingly better than their original inspirations.

• Score as grand as Matryoshka itself, written by the state composer Arkadiusz Reikowski (known from Layers of Fear, >observer_, Kholat, My Brother Rabbit).

• Full voice-over – in English, and subtitles in Polish and German.

• 1,951 cleverly sneaked-in easter eggs – some of them punishable by political imprisonment.

• A 5-year plan – that no one ever hoped to achieve, and neither should you.

 

[V_K]

Well at least it mentions having puzzles. Not so keen on the klyukva setting though...

 

[CryptRat]

Reviews are coming :

(others like it but there's no useful details).

 

[Black_Willow]

Reviews are coming :

(others like it but there's no useful details).

Vata butthurt is best butthurt.
I didn't even play the game but I already like it.

 

[Nope]

It's an alright traditional p&c although with some annoying bits early on where the subject matter gets in the way of the design, notably you get a line of multiple fetch quests across 2-3 screens in a row and there's one or two questionable puzzles later as well but they have near-constant optional hint-lines and hint npcs that spell them out for you if you want it which ameliorates it somewhat.
The parody isn't terribly hard-hitting or serious it's more of an excuse to have a Soviet-ish/Sattelite state-ish setting which is the more fun part of the game, later part of the story feels like it cribs bits/characters from Deponia but it's not terribly important beyond giving you a reason to do stuff anyhow.

 

[Infinitron]

lol J_C what is this?

https://www.pcgamer.com/this-2006-h...-to-steam-and-i-demand-you-watch-the-trailer/

This 2006 Hungarian FMV game finally made it to Steam, and I demand you watch the trailer
We walk among the memories of the past but no one cares about the details. Start caring about the details, everyone!

Above you'll find the trailer for a full motion video point-and-click adventure game called Yoomurjak's Ring. Originally released in Hungary in 2006, it was re-released in 2009 for PC with English subtitles and then again for the iPhone and iPad in 2015. And now it's on Steam.

Despite its longevity I was somehow completely unaware of Yoomurjak's Ring until today when Wes dropped the trailer, which you can see embedded above, into our Slack channel.

The trailer is a wonderful, baffling delight. Wes said he watched it without the sound on and I immediately demanded he unmute it and watch it again, because it's a game trailer but it's set to music that sounds reminiscent of an '80s sitcom theme song, something like Perfect Strangers or Growing Pains. And this is a game where a Manhattan journalist investigates time travel in Hungary, gets punched in the face, has terrifying nightmares, survives a massive explosion, considers eating an obscenely large plate of food, and talks to a man in a pool. (I am basing this synopsis entirely on the trailer, which you should watch again.)

I've just started playing it and have already found one helpful feature: all the conversations you have (in Hungarian with English subtitles) are saved in a logbook, in text, so if you remember talking to a friendly travel agent, a suspiciously nosy old man, or a face-punching brute but can't recall exactly what they said, you can just open your logbook and look it up. The environments are photographed but this ain't Myst: you can turn and look around the locations in 360 degrees, and conversations take place in first-person perspective video.

Here's Yoomurjak's Steam page, where you can purchase the adventure for $10, and follow it up with its sequel, Miazma or the Devil's Stone, which has been on Steam since last year. Odd for the sequel to have arrived on Steam so far ahead of the first game, but we are talking about time travel, right?

 

[J_C]

lol J_C what is this?

I can just echo your question. What the fuck is this? The name of this game is familiar, I heard about it before, but I never thought that this is an FMV adventure game. Interesting to say the least, espcially since they managed to hire real hungarian actors to play the parts as I see it.

Edit: I knew it I have heard the title of the game before. It seems the game is based on a real novel with the same name, released in 2011.

 

[LESS T_T]

I guess Tramboi should know better: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/miazma-hungarian-fmv.124514/

 

[CryptRat]

They released a demo and a full beta version of Joyfess: Martin's Secret Recipe on itch : https://haridira.itch.io/joyfess-martins-secret-recipe

Joyfess Tidesman, a fearless sailor from the Caribbeans, decides to take a break from his sea adventures by participating in a cooking contest, only to realize that the most exciting of his adventures is yet to come as he tries to fetch a recipe and gather its contents.

In this 2D point-and-click adventure game, you will control Joyfess Tidesman to help him gather the recipe's contents and get back to his ship in time, overcoming any surprises that might be thrown his way by those who don't want him to succeed.

The old trailer :

 

[LESS T_T]

Curiously both games are from different Polish developers.

ADVENTURE SPARKED BY INVENTION!

Brassheart is a Point & Click adventure game set in the alternative 1920s, inspired by the dieselpunk aesthetics and the classics of the genre.

In this world, Pola Zagórska follows the clues that may provide a way to save her father kidnapped by his own invention, a rebellious supermachine, Valkiria.
This powerful difference engine gathered loyal army and relentlessly pursues the goal of mechanizing and militarizing the whole world. It is governed by cold calculation, and all those who oppose it will be in danger. One of such people was Prof. Zagórski, the co-creator of the machine. Before the kidnapping, however, he managed to give his daughter a clue about defeating the Valkiria. The key to stopping the machine's domination may be a mysterious invention called ‘Brassheart' that affects her will.

Pola has to set off on a journey and find parts of the mechanical heart scattered all over the world, for they are her only chance to stop the sinister machine, end the era of mechanical terror and save her father.

DISCOVER THE WORLD OF BRASSHEART
Embark on an exciting adventure around the world and visit places like Himalayas village or palaces in Europe, filled with great industrial machines and opulent interiors. Admire many meticulously designed 2D locations and a unique graphic style inspired by dieselpunk and cartoons.

ENJOY THE DIESELPUNK SETTING
Welcome in the alternative reality of 1920s, the age of global turmoil and brilliant technologies born out of science and creativity. Get to know fantastic inventions of this peculiar world, such as sprawling networks of engines, antigravity generators or automatons, all created under the watchful eye of the immense computing power: Valkiria. Unfortunately, it is the same difference engine that is also responsible for the darker side of progress and seeks world militarization.

EXPERIENCE CAPTIVATING STORY
Follow Pola’s steps in her quest against the immeasurable power of Valkiria. Put in such a plight and filled with doubt, her close relationships with friends and family will drive her to embark on a dangerous adventure around the world. With your support and help from her trusty companions: mechanic Manfred, artist Tamara and automaton Pascal, Pola will have to unearth her father’s enigmatic inventions and outsmart the malevolent machine.

MEET THE COLORFUL CHARACTERS
On your way you will meet a lot of interesting figures: barons and countesses entangled in high-society intrigues, spies, criminals, adventurers and inventors. Get tangled up in crazy conundrums, permeated with humor and requiring extraordinary solutions.

SOLVE THE PUZZLES WITH PASCAL
Uncover mysteries and overcome obstacles through clever thinking and improvisation. You’ll have a chance to utilize some crazy inventions in this twisted timeline: lasers, robots, airships, giant levitating statues and more! Fix mechanisms, solve puzzles and come up with creative solutions to head-scratching problems. Your companion on the journey, automaton Pascal is ready to offer you helpful hints at any time!

FEEL THE VIBE OF GENRE CLASSICS
Take a journey to the world of Brassheart and feel the vibe of genre classics through experiencing cartoonish, colorful art-style, coming up with the crazy MacGyver-esque solutions and finding yourself in extraordinary situations permeated with humor. At the same time enjoy puzzles grounded in commonsensical logic without pixel hunting along the way.

Nor’easter is an episodic adventure game taking place in Northern America, somewhere in the mighty forest. The game is deeply rooted in the lumberjack folklore. It’s a setting as unknown to the general public as it's full of quaint, strange creatures known as fearsome critters.

You play as one such critter, a jackalope - a hare with deer antlers - named Jack. Jack sets out to help a lumberjack named Jacob find his missing children. During their adventure they will encounter dozens of weird, magical creatures – a filla-ma-loo bird, a hidebehind, a treesqueak and many others. More importantly, both of our heroes will meet the mysterious Elders of the Forest and try to aid them in restoring balance in within the forest.

Meanwhile, a different yet terrifying being lurks in the shadow and watches the duos every step. Why is the Wendigo - a fearsome critter bound on bringing endless winter to the land – interested in Jacob and Jack? What about Jacob – is there something more to him than meets the eye?

The forest is full of secrets and wonder.

• Meet the magical and grotesque fearsome critters of the lumberjack folklore
  
• Control two characters at once to solve challenging puzzles
  
• Experience an intriguing story about the endless and chaotic character of nature
  
• Immerse yourself in a fairytale-like world

 

[LESS T_T]

Sci-fi adventure games published by Iceberg Interactive.

Transient, "Lovecraftian cyberpunk thriller" from developer of Conarium:

From the Creators of CONARIUM and the DARKNESS WITHIN series, comes TRANSIENT, a Lovecraftian Cyberpunk thriller.

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change” ― Heraclitus

In the distant, post-apocalyptic future, what is left of the population of mankind lives in an enclosed citadel called Domed City Providence, created to survive the harsh outside environment. In this, mankind's final refuge, Randolph Carter, a member of a notorious hacker-for-hire group called ODIN, accidentally stumbles across the terrifying truth, a truth that might tear apart his own sanity and question his very existence.

Key features

• H.P. Lovecraft meets Cyberpunk. Delve deep into an obscure dystopian world and hold firm to your consciousness while you explore enigmatic networks where change is permanent but reality is only temporary.
  
• To find out what is going on, traverse between real and artificially created worlds
  
• Ominous but lush graphics created with Unreal Engine 4
  
• Secrets and easter eggs
  
• A haunting and atmospheric soundtrack.

Powered by Unreal Engine 4, TRANSIENT aims to bring cutting-edge visuals for a more immersive storytelling and gaming experience.

Still There, "a psychological adventure game" where you manage a space lighthouse:

Job Opportunity: Brane CO is looking for a dedicated keeper of the Bento Space Lighthouse, located in the mostly uncharted sector D42-W81.

Activities include but are not limited to:

• Operational checks
  
• General maintenance, fixing eventual malfunctions
  
• Periodical radio beacon transmissions
  
• Collection of data from outer space
  
• Looking after the station's tuatara
  
• Radio/navigational assistance to nearby spaceships
  
• Experimental drug trials (it's all good, trust us)

General requirements:

• Good dexterity in order to use the necessary tools and operate the equipment
  
• Willingness to live in isolation for very long periods
  
• Ability to work under pressure
  
• Some degree of patience mandatory to deal with the ship's advanced AI (Gorky is obnoxious and a loudmouth but he means well)
  
• Candidates without children/spouses preferred

Appointment type: One year, renewable every year
Work schedule: Full-time
Location: Deep space, sector D42-W81
Salary: Yes

NO TELEWORK

 

[Anthedon]

Transient looks like it's inspired by the Darkness Within games. Same publisher but different developer. Could have potential.

 

[Zombra]

Transient, "Lovecraftian cyberpunk thriller" from developer of Conarium

Transient looks like it's inspired by the Darkness Within games. Same publisher but different developer. Could have potential.

I wasn't a fan of Darkness Within; Conarium is light but good. I'll be watching Transient.

 

[LESS T_T]

An Israeli adventure game? Apparently this is a new entry to a 90s Israeli game series. Demo (supposedly Hebrew only) is on Steam and English support is planned for full release, they say.

Please note: This game is entirely in Hebrew, and is intended for Hebrew speakers, English support is planned for the full game release

Piposh is a humoristic point and click andventure game series that war released in the late 90's and now comes back to life, with main character, aspiring actor and known Megalomaniac Hezi Piposh, who hasn't even changed his shirt, auditioning for a holywood sci-fi film directed by Hector Fluffmaker and starring Shai Avivi.
Join Hezi in this short audition, and repeat it as many times as you need to recieve a role you are satisfied with.

Piposh: Audition is a prolouge and a demo for a fully released Piposh game coming early 2020.
Right now it supports only Hebrew, but English support is planned for the full game.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Observation.
Played it halfway and I found it really interesting so far. This is an all-right point & click adventure from the same developers of Stories Untold.
Too bad it is Epic store exclusive. Too good it is DRM free (you can backup your installation and play where and when you want).

 

[CryptRat]

Meh, I just noticed a new Ben & Dan (Ben There Dan That, Time gentlemen please) game is coming, got excited for half a second but unfortunately it's not a classic adventure game.


For some reason I think the game may be fun anyway.

 

[Infinitron]

The Digital Antiquarian on Day of the Tentacle: https://www.filfre.net/2019/06/day-of-the-tentacle/

Although Grossman and Schafer were and are bright, funny guys, their game’s sparkle didn’t come from its designers’ innate brilliance alone. By 1993, LucasArts had claimed Infocom’s old place as makers of the most consistently excellent adventure games you could buy. And as with the Infocom of old, their games’ quality was largely down to a commitment to process, including a willingness to work through the hard, unfun aspects of game development which so many of their peers tended to neglect. Throughout the development of Day of the Tentacle, Grossman and Schafer hosted periodic “pizza orgies,” first for LucasArts’s in-house employees, later for people they quite literally nabbed off the street. They watched these people play their game — always a humbling and useful experience for any designer — and solicited as much feedback thereafter as their guinea pigs could be convinced to give. Which parts of the game were most fun? Which parts were less fun? Which puzzles felt too trivial? Which puzzles felt too hard? They asked their focus groups what they had tried to do that hadn’t worked, and made sure to code in responses to these actions. As Bob Bates, another superb adventure-game designer, put it to me recently, most of what the player tries to do in an adventure game is wrong in terms of advancing her toward victory. A game’s handling of these situations — the elses in the “if, then, else” model of game logic — can make or break it. It can spell the difference between a lively, “juicy” game that feels engaging and interesting and a stubbornly inscrutable blank wall — the sort of game that tells you things don’t work but never tells you why. And of course these elsescenarios are a great place to embed subtle hints as to the correct course of action.

Indeed, Grossman and Schafer continually asked themselves the same question in the context of every single puzzle in the game: “How is the player supposed to figure this out?” Grossman:

That [question] has stuck with me as a hallmark of good versus bad adventure-game design. Lots of people design games that make the designer seem clever — or they’re doing it to make themselves feel clever. They’ve forgotten that they’re in the entertainment business. The player should be involved in this thing too. We always went to great lengths to make sure all the information was in there. At these “pizza orgies,” one of the things we were always looking for was, are people getting stuck? And why?​

The use of three different characters in three completely different environments also helps the game to avoid that sensation every adventurer dreads: that of being absolutely stuck, unable to jog anything lose because of one stubborn roadblock of a puzzle. If a puzzle stumps you in Day of the Tentacle, there’s almost always another one to go work on instead while the old one is relegated to the brain’s background processing, as it were.

And yet, as in everything, there is a balance to strike here as well: gating in adventure design is an art in itself. Grossman:

We were very focused on making things non-linear, but what we weren’t thinking about was that it’s possible to take that too far. Then you get a paralysis of choice. There’s kind of a sweet spot in the middle between the player being lost because they have too much to do and the player feeling railroaded because you’re telling them what to do. People don’t like either of those extremes very much, but somewhere in the middle, it’s like, “I’ve got enough stuff to think about, and I’m accomplishing some things, and I’ve got some new challenges.” That’s the right spot.​

Day of the Tentacle nails this particular sweet spot, as it does so many others. It could never have done so absent extensive testing and — just as importantly — an open-mindedness on the part of its designers about what the testers were saying. It’s due to a lack of these two things that the adventure games of LucasArts’s rivals tended to go off the rails more often than not.

 

[Don Peste]

The full list of announced games is as follows:

• Atari Flashback Classics (Vita)
  
  
• Atooi Collection (3DS)
  
  
• Bad North (Switch)
  
  
• Blaster Master Zero (Switch)
  
  
• Blazing Chrome (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• Corpse Killer (PS4)
  
  
• The Curse of Monkey Island™ (PC)
  
  
• Damascus Gear Operation Osaka(Vita)
  
  
• Damascus Gear Operation Tokyo(Vita)
  
  
• Dark Devotion (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• DEADBOLT (Vita)
  
  
• Double Switch (Switch)
  
  
• Freedom Planet (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• Guacamelee! (Vita)
  
  
• Hover (PS4)
  
  
• Mercenary Kings (PS4)
  
  
• Metal Slug 3 (Vita)
  
  
• Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge (PC)
  
  
• Night in the Woods (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• Papers Please (Vita)
  
  
• Pix the Cat (Vita)
  
  
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• realMyst (Switch)
  
  
• Red Faction (PS4)
  
  
• Revenant Dogma (Vita)
  
  
• Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (Vita)
  
  
• Rocketbirds 2: Evolution (Vita)
  
  
• Rogue Legacy (Switch)
  
  
• The Secret of Monkey Island™ (PC)
  
  
• The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition (PC)
  
  
• Shenmue III Collector’s Edition (PC, PS4)
  
  
• Star Wars™ (NES, Game Boy)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Bounty Hunter (PS4)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Dark Forces (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™ Episode I: Racer (PC, N64)
  
  
• Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Back (NES, Game Boy)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Jedi Knight (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™ Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™ Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Racer Revenge (PS4)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Rebel Assault (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™: Shadows of the Empire (PC, N64)
  
  
• Star Wars™: TIE Fighter (PC)
  
  
• Star Wars™: X-Wing (PC)
  
  
• Super Meat Boy (Switch, PS4, Vita)
  
  
• Super Mutant Alien Assault (Vita)
  
  
• Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (Vita)
  
  
• Transistor (Switch, PS4)
  
  
• Turok (Switch)
  
  
• Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Switch)
  

Starting June 28 with Star Wars™: Bounty Hunter (PlayStation 4) and Star Wars™(NES, Game Boy), Limited Run Games will be re-releasing LucasArts classics in elaborate Collector’s Edition packages every month — including games from fan-favorite franchises such as Star Wars™and Monkey Island™.

 

[CryptRat]

20th june (the game will be free) :

 

[CryptRat]

The game's out.

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[jfrisby]

Toonstruck free: https://af.gog.com/game/toonstruck?as=1649904300

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[jfrisby]

20th june (the game will be free) :

Released:

Metaphobia is an investigative mystery game in the style of classic 1990’s point-and-click adventures.

STORY
Shortly after being elected mayor, Carl Elmstat is murdered by a thief who is quickly caught, convicted, and sent to prison – case closed. Carl’s son Richard however, is unsettled by the details and decides to investigate further on his own. His prime suspect? His father’s political rival – Edward Raban. Throughout the investigation, Richard will find out that the truth behind the murder is hidden deep under the ground – deeper than he ever could have imagined.

Story: Tolga Öcek, David Broček
Dialogs, Puzzles: David Broček
Art and Animations: Tolga Öcek
Scripting: Vincent Cortese
Music, Voice Acting Engineering: Daniel Kobylarz (Composer for Kathy Rain - www.dankoby.com)
SFX: Max Weigl
Proofreading: Steven Avigliano

FEATURES
-Fully Voice-Acted
-Greenscreen Animations
-Retro Graphics
-Original Soundtrack, SFX
-Over 30 locations and 20 characters
-All wrapped in a thrilling, ever-evolving investigative drama.

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Metaphobia is a free game!
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