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The Random Adventure Game News Thread

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Antiquarian's article about Mission Critical is basically just a big interview with Legend co-founder Mike Verdu: https://www.filfre.net/2021/10/mission-critical/

Legend Entertainment fought something of a rear-guard action through the first half of the 1990s. In an industry that had embraced the movies as its aesthetic example, their works remained throwbacks to older ideas about interactive books: “We had the editorial sensibilities of a book publisher rather than a movie company,” says Legend co-founder Mike Verdu. Their games were wordy, and even after the migration to CD-ROM the player was expected to read many of those words for herself rather than have them read aloud to her; they sported illustrations that were carefully composed and lovely to look at, but that were also static in a motion-obsessed gaming milieu, and thus were better suited to stand up well a quarter-century later than they were to wow the masses in their own day. Enough players were intrigued by Legend’s low-key, literary approach to buy 30,000 to 60,000 copies of each new game, but those consistent numbers translated to a steady erosion of Legend’s market share in a fast-expanding industry; by mid-decade, many new games were selling over 100,000 copies each year, and blockbuster million-sellers were appearing at a clip of three or four per annum. Verdu and his partner Bob Bates felt serious pressure to up Legend’s sales and keep pace with their peers.

But, you might say, surely market share isn’t everything. Why couldn’t Legend be content within the niche they had built for themselves? The answer comes down not to hubris but to the harsh realities of game distribution in the 1990s. Games of the type that Legend made still needed to exist as physical products at that time. (Although there was a thriving shareware scene taking advantage of digital distribution, the dial-up online access that was the universal norm could support only small, multimedia-light titles — not the assets-heavy, CD-filling monstrosities of Legend.) Physical products required physical warehousing, physical distribution, and, most critically of all, precious physical shelf space inside brick-and-mortar stores. Here was the real rub. A niche product like a Legend adventure game was a hard sell to a retail purchasing manager who could instead fill the space it would occupy with the likes of a 7th Guest, Myst, DOOM, or Wing Commander III. In short, Legend’s modest product line was in danger of drowning in the flood of flashier, better-advertised games. All of the quality in the world would avail them nothing if they could no longer get their games into the hands of their fans.

So, after the book publisher Random House was inspired by Legend’s literary bona fides to invest $2.5 million in the company in the summer of 1994, Verdu and Bates decided to use a substantial chunk of that money to make a play for the big time. They would make a game set in a node-based, 3D-modelled environment much like that of Myst, and hire a name actor beloved by science-fiction fandom to star in filmed “full-motion-video” sequences, just like Wing Commander III had done. But, because they were Legend, they would invest all of this trend-chasing with meticulous attention to detail in terms of world-building, plot, and puzzle design, and would respect their player’s intelligence and time in a way that too few of their superficially similar peers were doing. What else could Legend do? They were just made that way.

Mike Verdu wrote and designed the game in question, which went by the name of Mission Critical, and shepherded it through every phase of its development. I recently talked with him at some length about the project, and I’ve elected to present this article to a large extent as his own oral history of it. This seemed to me the most appropriate approach, given that he’s more than articulate enough in his own right, and given how his recollections provide such a fascinating picture of how the nuts and bolts of a game came together during the much-ballyhooed era of Siliwood — that semi-mythical convergence of Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
I think I'm done with the interesting Adventure Demos now for the most part, best of the batch were The Bookwalker and INCANTAMENTUM.

The Bookwalker
:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/the-bookwalker.140398/

The Drifter
: Pixel Point & Click Adventure game where you play... a drifter. Underlying family drama plot seems uninteresting, but there's some more about time travel, crazy hobos and special forces soldiers disappearing people, gets a bit "dark and gritty" near the end there. You can only click on shit once with one action till it's unusable. Another action sometimes opens up after the first. You open up new topics to talk to people about by talking to them or inspecting stuff. Interesting and short enough to check out for half an hour by playing through what's basically the Prologue.
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Unusual Findings: Stranger Things the Adventure game, 80s Nostalgia, Look/Grab/Talk verb Wheel. You're grounded for blowing up the neighbors lawn. Your friend Nick comes to visit and tells you that you could spend a night looking at Naked Chicks on Cable TV because your nerdy other friend built a Descrambler to make just this possible, but as you arrive there you find out that it can receive even more than premium cable, extraterrestrial signals! It's a bit too short to tell anything much about the final product other than setting up the basic mood and premise for which the soundtrack is partly responsible, apparently it's mostly to promote their upcoming KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/epicllama/unusual-findings-point-and-click-adventure-to-the-80s
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Nightmare Frames: Similar to the above, only more about the movie business and Friday/Jason movies. You play a washed-up wimpy cunt of a Hollywood script writer named Alan Goldberg in the mid-80s looking for inspiration regarding his newest horror slasher. Left-click to interact, Right-click to look. Kind of comes off as a bit pretentious and cynical at times. Technically not up to par with some of the others, shittier pixel graphics, can't change things like resolution, Alt-Tabbing out gives you a Soundloop etc. I was a bit bored by the end.
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The Tartarus Key: Mystery Adventure game in the style of the PlayStation era with blocky character models. Kind of feels a bit like Resident Evil, but without the zombies and in First Person. You play as some woman named Alex waking up on a couch trapped in a room of a strange mansion and immediately find out there are other people in the same situation as you find a Walkie Talkie nearby. You walk around in an FPS perspective and interact with the environment to examine it for clues. Interact using E or LMB, zoom in with MMB, F key for flashlight, Q key for Optional conversations as you examine your surroundings, TAB key for inventory, some objects have hidden messages you have to examine them in the inventory for. Can also be played with a Controller. There's some Cutscenes where the characters talk every now and then, dialogues with other characters happen in a separate dialogue window with rare choices. Essentially you solve a series of Escape room puzzles in a creepy mansion to drive the story forward and there's notions of supernatural and ritualistic elements being involved, but no definitive answers. Ends just when it gets interesting.
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Cleo - A Pirate's Tale: Seems like this one was built with consoles in mind and plays better with a controller, or you'll have to use WASD/Space/Enter/M/I instead. Apparently a Solo developed German Kickstarter Adventure about pirates with seemingly light combat elements, where you have to play a pink-haired little girl called Cleo. There's pirates, monkeys, rum, boats, krakens, humor and treasure, but it ended up being too cutesy for me and it didn't really grab me. There are two mini-game based puzzles in the short bit of the Demo, one is some intricate made-up card game you can play, so I guess that kind of stuff'd be large parts of the game.
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INCANTAMENTUM: Impressive looking Pixel graphics and mood setting with its background music and things like close-ups and neat looking pixel rain. A bit weird that it doesn't have any voice-overs at all after all these other (and some even cheaper-looking/low-budget Demos) did. Right-click to Examine, Left-click to interact. Victorian era England, you play as Miss Bateman, who arrives in the small village of Bewlay in the moors to explore and possibly excavate Hob's Barrow. Quite an eerie atmosphere and curious and mostly very unfriendly folk throughout. The Demo ends rather quickly before you are able to find out much about any larger mystery.
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Born Punk (Porn Bunk?): Visually well looking pixel graphics, annoying character and grating voice-overs from the start. Playing a superstitious Diversity Hire in 2151 possessed by some entity in a world in which Cuba is apparently a superpower. The "Demo" is really just a single room with a couple of simplistic puzzles.
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Ejected Star: Very amateurish. Everything about it is half-baked from the voice-overs, to the art, repetitiveness of it, animations etc. I guess it's trying to do homage to Space Quest/Star Trek. But instead of Roger Wilco or Kirk you play as Weasley Crusher.
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Last edited:

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
The Tartarus Key: Mystery Adventure game in the style of the PlayStation era with blocky character models. Kind of feels a bit like Resident Evil, but without the zombies and in First Person. You play as some woman named Alex waking up on a couch trapped in a room of a strange mansion and immediately find out there are other people in the same situation as you find a Walkie Talkie nearby. You walk around in an FPS perspective and interact with the environment to examine it for clues. Interact using E or LMB, zoom in with MMB, F key for flashlight, Q key for Optional conversations as you examine your surroundings, TAB key for inventory, some objects have hidden messages you have to examine them in the inventory for. Can also be played with a Controller. There's some Cutscenes where the characters talk every now and then, dialogues with other characters happen in a separate dialogue window with rare choices. Essentially you solve a series of Escape room puzzles in a creepy mansion to drive the story forward and there's notions of supernatural and ritualistic elements being involved, but no definitive answers. Ends just when it gets interesting.
Gotta ask, is there any reason why they called it that? I know a bit about Greek mythology, and it seems like every time someone mentions Tartarus its always underwhelming. Tartarus, if you don't know, is supposed to be the deepest, blackest part of hell in Greek mythology, its where Zeus put the titans after defeating them. Seems kind of overblown from what you're describing.
 

jfrisby

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
491
Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I played some of these, but mostly gave up after a few screens and will wait.

I liked the AGS ones -
Nightmare Frames is from the makers of Urban Witch Story. I enjoyed the first couple rooms, and the dialogs seemed good to me.
INCANTAMENTUM is from Cloak & Dagger (Legend of Hand, Sumatra), think that's the same demo from months ago.

Born Punk seemed to have more going on with hotspots/exploration and inventory than most. Not much to judge by, but a pleasant surprise. First Visionaire game I've seen in a while.. that alone puts it over the unity stuff for me.

The Daedalic published Life of Delta was bad, but didn't play much.
Bookwalker next
 

WallaceChambers

Learned
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
311


Martha is dead was one of the more interesting games I played in the Next Fest, it doesn't pull any punches with very disturbing scenes and has a pretty interesting premise. A girl finds her twin sister dead, floating in a lake, and assumes her identity while trying to solve the mystery of why she died. Gameplay seems to revolve mostly around taking photos, the demo doesn't last long enough to get a great sense of it but it seems fairly in depth.

Wondering how camera interaction will pan out because you don't really talk to anyone during the demo and despite the gorgeous enviornments it gave off the "strategically avoiding showing/animating human figures" vibe.

I also liked Incantamentum (although I played an earlier version of the demo already), The Drifter and was pleasantly surprised by Tartarus Key. Another good one is Perfect Tides.
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
New in GOG, is this any good? Never heard of it.
I remember playing the first game, as shareware, years and years ago, and finding it interesting, but never finished it and the RPG aspect really held it down. Never played the second game. I have heard that the detective plot ends rather limply.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
During their recent online convention, Ulisses announced a visual novel style The Dark Eye game "Wolves on the Westwind" which will be produced by themselves to hopefully avoid another lackluster TDE game. Story heavy and probably light on the mechanics.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
visual novel style
hopefully avoid another lackluster TDE game
Yeah, good luck with that.

They recognized the limits of their capabilities and the limits of low budget studios to create an RPG. That's a start. A CYOA (solo adventure) might actually work for a smaller scale project. The artwork looked good. It won't be RoA, but playing through a digital CYOA / solo adventure book for TDE could be fun, albeit it's not a "real game".
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014




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The Cold is Just the Beginning
A science expedition was sent to Zhokhov Island to study recent occurrences of magnetic anomalies in the region. Amongst them was Anna, a young geophysicist, along with her mentor and a small military crew. As her group investigates the cause of the anomalies on the island, a sequence of disastrous events unroll trapping them in an unknown underground military complex, under the extreme cold of the Russian climate. Now, Anna desperately tries to survive and find a way out, but something down there disturbingly draws her deeper, and that unknown haunting place bizarrely welcomes her more and more...

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Kriophobia is a survival horror in third person, inspired by the old-school games of the same genre. Immerse yourself in a Cold and Inhuman World of Mad Obsession, Extremist Patriotism and Disturbing Relationships, presented with a Unique Art-Style that mixes comics and painting.

FEATURES
  • Immersive psychological horror storyline that explores a twisted and abandoned world
  • Hidden Past Secrets to be found, inspired by real events from Russia's Darkest Times
  • Cold, Obscure and Terrifying scenarios to be Explored
  • Evasive Combat centered on fleeing and hiding from gruesome abominations.
  • Survival with Limited Resources against Freezing Temperatures in a hostile place
  • Dark Visual Style that blends Comics and Painting in a unique way
  • Fully Illustrated Game World displayed with modern Static Cameras
  • An Exclusive Russian-Inspired soundtrack
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014




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Antiquonia is a fascinating town where the locals reject the internet. Sarah must explore the town and her memory to discover her exciting past and find out how she got there.

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Intruder in Antiquonia has an engaging story with a good sense of humor. It is mainly a mystery drama with a dash of comedy to lighten the tension.
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Sarah is found by Karim, the town ambulance driver, on the side of the road leading to Antiquonia. Karim loves a good mystery and is particularly interested in helping Sarah find out where the rabbit hole leads. Karim reports the case to police officer Julia, who gets personally involved since her boss is not thrilled with the case.

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  • Resolution 1280x720 px (16:9) in 2D.
  • Puzzles deeply integrated with the story.
  • OST.
  • 30+ handmade backgrounds.
 

WallaceChambers

Learned
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
311


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A little boy falls asleep to a horrible nightmare. Can you make him happy again?

- Brand new psychedelic horror adventure from the creators of Botanicula and CHUCHEL
- Endure and escape three unforgettable nightmares
- Solve deeply disturbing puzzles in (not so) charming environments
- Deal with suspicious smiley faces and pink bunnies
- Creepy songs and screeches from the Czech freakfolk band DVA



Sometimes it takes a nightmare to wake a place like Dahlia View.
Lead the investigation into a missing child and discover the dark secret of Dahlia View in this story-driven observational thriller from the creators of The Occupation and Ether One.

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Conway: Disappearance at Dahlia View is a gripping observational thriller set in 1950s England. When 8-year-old Charlotte May is reported missing from Dahlia View, retired detective Robert Conway searches for the truth behind her disappearance, observing his neighbours from his apartment window and questioning their behaviour. As suspicions escalate, Conway launches his own investigation into Charlotte May’s disappearance, following leads, uncovering new evidence and piecing the case together on an unpredictable path to the truth.
GAME FEATURES:
  • Experience a tense and emotional story in an all-new detective thriller from White Paper Games, the creators of The Occupation and Ether One.

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  • Explore Dahlia View, solve puzzles and investigate residents to discover new evidence, profile suspects and piece together your investigation.

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  • Lead the investigation into a missing person as Robert Conway, a retired detective living in Dahlia View.

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  • Observe the actions of Dahlia View’s residents to uncover clues, study suspicious behaviour and gain new leads.

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V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you

So this is out now apparently. I remember seeing an post about it being in development somewhere here but I can't be arsed to find it.
Russian translation into English doesn't inspire much hope, but the art seems nice and they promise multiple solutions to puzzles.

Played for an hour and refunded. Very linear, puzzles are super easy and there are QTEs every two steps.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you

1,2k Steam reviews within 5 days of release for a pixel art adventure game? Wow.
Tried, refunded - have zero idea why it's so well received. I guess the art is nice and the mechanics are somewhat innovative, but otherwise it's a typical modern adventure - linear, easy and full of stupid QTEs. Also quite short - the full walkthrough on YT clocks at 2,5 hours.
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
1,2k Steam reviews within 5 days of release for a pixel art adventure game? Wow.
Tried, refunded - have zero idea why it's so well received.
based on Chinese mythology
inspired by traditional Chinese folklore
pixel art to mimic the aesthetics of Chinese ink paintings
Wangyuan South Road, Fengxian District Shanghai China

Same reason a lot of Indian movies on IMDb have (a lot of) high ratings, which doesn't say much about their quality.
 

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