Dark or serious + C&C

[nomask7]

Any such adventure games that are good?

 

[Aeschylus]

There's like, a million threads here devoted to this already, but what the hell.

C&C (such as it is): King's Quest 6, Indy: Fate of Atlantis, A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Blade Runner, The Last Express, Heart of China
Dark/Serious: Gabriel Knight series, Primordia (a little C&C), The Dig (a little C&C here too), Beneath a Steel Sky, Dreamweb (good or not is debatable), Gateway series

 

[DraQ]

Azrael's Tear.

 

[nomask7]

There's like, a million threads here devoted to this already, but what the hell.

C&C (such as it is): King's Quest 6, Indy: Fate of Atlantis, A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Blade Runner, The Last Express, Heart of China
Dark/Serious: Gabriel Knight series, Primordia (a little C&C), The Dig (a little C&C here too), Beneath a Steel Sky, Dreamweb (good or not is debatable), Gateway series

I meant games that would be both serious and have C&C, with bonus points if it's also dark or particularly atmospheric.

Anything in particular that would qualify spectacularly?

 

[Aeschylus]

There's like, a million threads here devoted to this already, but what the hell.

C&C (such as it is): King's Quest 6, Indy: Fate of Atlantis, A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Blade Runner, The Last Express, Heart of China
Dark/Serious: Gabriel Knight series, Primordia (a little C&C), The Dig (a little C&C here too), Beneath a Steel Sky, Dreamweb (good or not is debatable), Gateway series

I meant games that would be both serious and have C&C, with bonus points if it's also dark or particularly atmospheric.

Anything in particular that would qualify spectacularly?

Among those, Blade Runner and The Last Express are probably closest. You're limiting yourself unnecessarily if you only play adventure games with C&C though, there are very few.

 

[bertram_tung]

Rise of the Dragon

The Sega CD version for great voice acting by Cam Clarke (Liquid Snake, Leonardo)

or the PC version for slightly better graphics (more detailed color/resolution)

 

[A user named cat]

Rise of the Dragon

The Sega CD version for great voice acting by Cam Clarke (Liquid Snake, Leonardo)

or the PC version for slightly better graphics (more detailed color/resolution)

You mean DOS version for way better graphics, mouse control and Roland mt-32 audio. More than makes up for the lack of voice acting.

 

[abnaxus]

Salammbo: Battle for Carthage
KGB

 

[bertram_tung]

Rise of the Dragon

The Sega CD version for great voice acting by Cam Clarke (Liquid Snake, Leonardo)

or the PC version for slightly better graphics (more detailed color/resolution)

You mean DOS version for way better graphics, mouse control and Roland mt-32 audio. More than makes up for the lack of voice acting.

i preferred the sega cd version emulated on my computer with mouse control

 

[suejak]

I really don't get why people like voice acting in adventure games. I almost always prefer to play with none.

 

[bertram_tung]

I really don't get why people like voice acting in adventure games. I almost always prefer to play with none.

Depends on the game. Rise of the dragon has a very film noir-esque feeling to it. Narration is a staple of film noir. Imagine Tex Murphy games without voice acting. (obviously speaking about UAKM and later since the first two don't have it)

 

[oscar]

Pathologic (dunno if it counts as an RPG or an adventure game really).

 

[agentorange]

Journey Man Project Turbo

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream?



It's very dark at times, and very good. Exactly what OP asked for.

 

[JudasIscariot]

I just recently played through the entirety of The Cat Lady and I found out from an ardent fan of the game that there are 3 different endings in the game. The ending you get depends on some of the choices you make in the game without a hint of whether a given choice will give you a different ending.

It's a rather dark game especially near the end. The ending is a bit of a mind screw.

Another cool thing is that right from the beginning you can decide what kind of character you want to play as you are presented with dialogue choices that offer a different slant on the personality of the main protagonist.

 

[Sceptic]

I meant games that would be both serious and have C&C, with bonus points if it's also dark or particularly atmospheric.

Anything in particular that would qualify spectacularly?

The Pandora Directive has a few quirky moments but is usually pretty serious, and very dark on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams path. C&C up the wazoo. Multiple endings dictated by your choices. Awesome game.

Get to it.

The Dig (a little C&C here too)

I love the game, but it has ZERO C&C.

 

[nomask7]

Thanks all.

I haven't tried any of these yet, although I've acquired Blade Runner.

I suppose I'll try the Pandora Directive as well, and if those two are good I may try some of the rest, but as said, there doesn't seem to be much available in this vein.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I second the 'I have no mout and I must scream', 'Blade Runner', 'Azrael's Tear' and 'Gabriel Knight'.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Angel Devoid.

 

[Aeschylus]

The Dig (a little C&C here too)

I love the game, but it has ZERO C&C.

Nope, there are multiple options at the end that lead to different endings. It's obviously not extensive or a major part of the game though.

 

[Sceptic]

Nope, there are multiple options at the end that lead to different endings. It's obviously not extensive or a major part of the game though.

If by "different ending" you mean "a few of her lines change"... I don't remember anything substantial other than this one "choice".

 

[ghostdog]

Primordia has some C&C and variations at the endings and it's an excellent game on the whole. Not totally grimdark though, it has its share of humor.
Indiana Jones and Fate of Atlantis offered 3 different paths to follow. Obviously not grimdark either.
Clock tower for the snes had about 10 endings and had some randomness each time you started the game. Pretty dark, a proto-survival horror/adventure game.
Eternal Darkness offers a choise at the beginning that affects the gameplay throughout the game. Great horror action/adventure.


And yeah, endgame conversations that give you different endings can't really be considered C&C.

 

[visions]

Thanks all.

I haven't tried any of these yet, although I've acquired Blade Runner.

A timed segment in Blade Runner is supposedly very hard to complete with modern cpu speeds:

Although the game seems to run normally, it has issues in two areas that are related to CPU speed. You can use a tool to slow your CPU in order to correct these glitches :
- in the shooting area in the police station, the targets will take ages to appear (between 2-10 minutes instead of real-time)
- later in the game, you have to quit a room before a bomb explodes ; there's also something optional you can do in the room (I won't spoil) : if you do that thing, the bomb will almost instantly explode and it's near impossible to get out of the room before it does.

I second the 'I have no mout and I must scream', 'Blade Runner', 'Azrael's Tear' and 'Gabriel Knight'.

Gabriel Knight didn't have any c&c to speak of though, did it? (except for having two endings, which of these you get being decided by your actions near the very end).

 

[groke]

I wish we had gotten Moriarty's The Dig in 1993 instead of what we did.