Great adventures in the last 15 years

[Sore Loser]

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[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I'd like to add "The Tales of Bingwood". A wonderful little game, rather original pixelart style, nice animations, funny characters, great music and voice overs. One of the adventures I like to (re-)play from time to time just for the light-hearted atmosphere it has. The only place to get it now, after the website went down, seems to be from legendsworld but the full version seems to be nuked (at least according to my Avast).

 

[cosmicray]

What about "To The Moon"?

 

[felipepepe]

Primordia is really, really good.

What about "To The Moon"?

It's more of a walking sim than an adventure game... no real puzzle, it's all about following the story.

It came out in 2011, when the indie scene was basically dead, so it got a lot of attention. The story is cute, worth playing IMHO, but don't expect an adventure game.

 

[Infinitum]

Edna & Harvey series is pretty good. My memory is hazy, since I've played it years ago, but I remember enjoying sequel (Harvey's New Eyes) more. First one (The Breakout) got a remake not long ago.

There's a remake? I liked the first game, but the art and animations are very rough compared to later titles. The sequel is great as well. I'd heavily recommend Daedalic games in general. The Deponia series does drag on (especially since the recurring gag is how unlikeable the main character is), and the whispered world never really drew me in but otherwise they're the closest you get to good 2d adventures nowadays. Beautiful backgrounds and decent-good writing (that is usually alternating between whimisical and really fucking dark). Puzzles are somewhat challenging, and you usually have a decent amount of screens at a time to get lost in. I usually give up and spoil a few solutions per game where the answer isn't readily apparent or my first hypothesis was wrong, but rarely get relieved that I did.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Does The Council rate as RPG?

 

[MRY]

OP specifically mentioned having played Primordia, so no need to mention it further, though of course my vanity preens with every such post.

IMO Resonance is the only adventure game I played since the 90s that did anything to move the genre forward by building upon, rather than subtracting from, the core mechanics. Plenty of other great adventures but they almost all streamlined the gameplay while exaggerating the story. Resonance's story is pretty goofy, and the mechanics don't all work, but just the thrill of having more ways to engage with an adventure game world rather than fewer is pretty great.

The Daedelic games are visual marvels and "full" adventures with lots of rooms, puzzles, etc. Almost everything else, including Resonance but excluding Thimbleweed Park, is extremely thin by comparison to classic adventures -- it may be that Primordia's play time is comparable to say, Monkey Island's, but that's largely because Primordia has lots of dialogue/lore/cutscenes in comparison to Monkey Island, which is full of exploration, puzzles, etc. But Daedelic games are legitimately big.

The Amanita Design games are not, in my opinion, adventures in the Lucas/Sierra/Westwood/Revolution vein, but they're really charming.

Heroine's Quest and Thimbleweed Park capture the classic era very well, although to my taste,* both are somewhat inferior to the classic games they're imitating. Still, if you've consumed the classics and yearned for more, these are the more you're yearning for.

(* Maybe better said: through the eyes of a jaded middle age man rather than through the nostalgic recollection of the eyes of eager kid.)

 

[Sore Loser]

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[cosmicray]

What about "To The Moon"?

It's more of a walking sim than an adventure game... no real puzzle, it's all about following the story.

It came out in 2011, when the indie scene was basically dead, so it got a lot of attention. The story is cute, worth playing IMHO, but don't expect an adventure game.

I wondered what to call it. Is it a visual novel? No, it doesn't have visual style of dialogues. It's a JRPG without battles, that's what it is.
Genres on GOG confused me - adventure, point-and-click. It had some puzzles, though, I think.

 

[Maxie]

What about "To The Moon"?

It's more of a walking sim than an adventure game... no real puzzle, it's all about following the story.

It came out in 2011, when the indie scene was basically dead, so it got a lot of attention. The story is cute, worth playing IMHO, but don't expect an adventure game.

I wondered what to call it. Is it a visual novel? No, it doesn't have visual style of dialogues. It's a JRPG without battles, that's what it is.
Genres on GOG confused me - adventure, point-and-click. It had some puzzles, though, I think.

I'd still venture to call it a VN, perhaps /walking sim - the lack of the traditional VN formula is just a matter of choosing RPGMaker instead of Ren'Py (the latter used, for example, for Doki Doki Lit Club).

 

[ValeVelKal]

On the subject of RPG-Adventure hybrids, beyond Heroine's Quest (which is great) and Quest for Infamy (which is decent) there are:
- The Council. Basically, Telltale formula set in occult 18th century, but with character stats, resource management and some actual, not-braindead puzzles. Narrative pacing suffers from the episodic structure and some rushed development towards later episodes, but overall is pretty solid. C&Cs are also nothing to sneeze at - there's a couple dozen ways the final confrontation can play out depending on what you did in the game.
- West of Loathing. Leaning somewhat more on the RPG side than Adventure, but nevertheless full of interesting puzzles, secrets, and mysteries. Set in a slapstick Weird West and does a good job of balancing humor with suspense and even horror.
- Whispers of a Machine. A Nordic cyberpunk Noire. This is more of a straight Adventure with some light roleplaying thrown in: depending on your dialog choices, your character will unlock different augmentations that determine which puzzle solutions become available. Generally on the easy side, but unlike some other recent games, not insultingly so, and the atmosphere is top notch.
- Goetia. You play a ghost exploring her childhood home and neighboring areas to investigate her own death. Has an open world and hidden upgrades to your ghost powers that allow alternative solutions to some puzzles. Beautiful game with some challenging puzzles and unique mechanics.

So...

I played Whispers of a Machine and I welcome it in my top-5 of recent adventure games (with Primordia, Gemini Rue, Gibbeous and tiny and Tall). I would need to let more time pass to really rank it within that top 5. I also believe it succeeds at doing what Unavowed (and The Council) failed : several solutions for puzzles (the skill you received for your character being the determinant rather than the character you take with you, though at least once there are two solutions whatever your skills are) without the puzzles being too easy or the fact that there are several solutions being too obvious. I also welcome the numerous "optional" actions you can do : give back stuff to people or hoard it, using the scanners to discover stuff that are "logical" to see but not necessary to proceed forward, etc. Multiple endings is a bonus
MRY did you try it ?

So given how awesome WoaM was, I also tried their two other games :

The Samaritan Paradox is honestly dated (graphic, controls), some of the puzzles are contrived and it is in general way too hard, but it has some great moments, a really cool feature (you read a book as part of the story, but when you read the book you actually play its main character as part of an adventure game, with a capacity to switch back from the "book" to real life anytime), and one of the most shocking reveal I have seen in an adventure game (but still "logical" and not contrived at all). Sadly, there is a whole other half of the story that makes no sense and should have been quite simply cut (the Patrick one, if you played the game). Overall, worth checking but not good.

Kathy Rain on the other hand is really great as well, and I daresay her main character (Kathy Rain ^^) is the best written human character in a recent non-comedy adventure game, a really solid stories (at least for days 1-3 of the game) and an high production value. The puzzles feel just right, and the only reason I don't put it in top 5 is the rushed and quite frankly terrible "Day 5" (out of 5) which ruins the rest of the experience. Still high recommend.

So, well, thank you.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Man, I'm getting old... how could I forget Kathy Rain? This was indeed one of the best adventures I've played in many years, with a very Gabriel Knight-like flair, an interesting protagonist, a great storyline, good puzzles. Nothing short of a masterpiece in my opinion. And I also liked the ending, most people seem to disagree.
Samaritan Paradox was a massive disappointment for me however. I really liked the first hours of the game, it was mysterious in a very unique way and had some great puzzles. But the story became really bizarre later in the game, there were just way too many quite difficult subject matters it wanted to tell about, it was just over the top for me. I remember they patched the game later and there was some talk about a bug that allowed the player to skip important parts of the story. Maybe I played the messed up version, I don't know.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Man, I'm getting old... how could I forget Kathy Rain? This was indeed one of the best adventures I've played in many years, with a very Gabriel Knight-like flair, an interesting protagonist, a great storyline, good puzzles. Nothing short of a masterpiece in my opinion. And I also liked the ending, most people seem to disagree.
Samaritan Paradox was a massive disappointment for me however. I really liked the first hours of the game, it was mysterious in a very unique way and had some great puzzles. But the story became really bizarre later in the game, there were just way too many quite difficult subject matters it wanted to tell about, it was just over the top for me. I remember they patched the game later and there was some talk about a bug that allowed the player to skip important parts of the story. Maybe I played the messed up version, I don't know.

Yeah the Swedish weapons story made no sense and was not integrated properly. If it had just been fully cut the game would have been shorter but better.

 

[MRY]

ValeVelKal I haven’t. These days the only games I really play are ones I can play with my kids. Sadly they’ve moved on from point and clicks at the moment.

 

[RuySan]

Man, I'm getting old... how could I forget Kathy Rain? This was indeed one of the best adventures I've played in many years, with a very Gabriel Knight-like flair, an interesting protagonist, a great storyline, good puzzles. Nothing short of a masterpiece in my opinion. And I also liked the ending, most people seem to disagree.
Samaritan Paradox was a massive disappointment for me however. I really liked the first hours of the game, it was mysterious in a very unique way and had some great puzzles. But the story became really bizarre later in the game, there were just way too many quite difficult subject matters it wanted to tell about, it was just over the top for me. I remember they patched the game later and there was some talk about a bug that allowed the player to skip important parts of the story. Maybe I played the messed up version, I don't know.

Completely agree about the ending. It was also a very brave choice from the developers.

Spoiler

I know exactly a case like that, of a friend of mine who made an abortion and ended up living after with the "ghost" of her baby. She confessed being always depressed during the time of the year that was supposed to be the child's birthday. I'm not "pro-life" or anything, but americans are always so extreme about issues like this, it's either "abortions are awesome and the epitome of feminism" or "it's the devil's work". I liked that the game looked at it from a very gentle and humane way.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Man, I'm getting old... how could I forget Kathy Rain? This was indeed one of the best adventures I've played in many years, with a very Gabriel Knight-like flair, an interesting protagonist, a great storyline, good puzzles. Nothing short of a masterpiece in my opinion. And I also liked the ending, most people seem to disagree.
Samaritan Paradox was a massive disappointment for me however. I really liked the first hours of the game, it was mysterious in a very unique way and had some great puzzles. But the story became really bizarre later in the game, there were just way too many quite difficult subject matters it wanted to tell about, it was just over the top for me. I remember they patched the game later and there was some talk about a bug that allowed the player to skip important parts of the story. Maybe I played the messed up version, I don't know.

Completely agree about the ending. It was also a very brave choice from the developers.

Spoiler

I know exactly a case like that, of a friend of mine who made an abortion and ended up living after with the "ghost" of her baby. She confessed being always depressed during the time of the year that was supposed to be the child's birthday. I'm not "pro-life" or anything, but americans are always so extreme about issues like this, it's either "abortions are awesome and the epitome of feminism" or "it's the devil's work". I liked that the game looked at it from a very gentle and humane way.

Yeah, that’s one of the reason I stated she is the best written human character I have seen in a while. She is a rebel/biker of sort, badass to an extent but not a caricature of one, not perfect at all either. She rings true. And the fact that you can choose what she says at some critical moment (the one you mention, the custody document, etc) - makes you really associate with the character (whereas if you choose always it would not be a well written character but basically « you », and if you choses never I guess you would think that the reaction to the core events may not feel « true » because she does not do what you would expect her to do).

 

[cosmicray]

Tried demo of Kathy Rain. Should get a full game sometime in the future. Looks and plays nice.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

The Cat Lady, The Last Door, Kathy Rain, Fran Bow, The Council.

Also a couple of myst-like 3d adventure: Obduction and Quern.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

The Cat Lady, The Last Door, Kathy Rain, Fran Bow, The Council.

Also a couple of myst-like 3d adventure: Obduction and Quern.

is Kathy Rain really good?

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Oh, I forgot these: Stories Untold, Pathologic 2 and Observation.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

The Cat Lady, The Last Door, Kathy Rain, Fran Bow, The Council.

Also a couple of myst-like 3d adventure: Obduction and Quern.

is Kathy Rain really good?

It has nice Twin Peaks vibes, which I like. The game is fast to pick up and the sense of mystery keeps you playing.

 

[jfrisby]

I can delete new document(1).txt if I paste my top 10 from the 2010's here:

Primordia
Heroine's Quest
The Dark Eye: Memoria
Deponia (series)
Quest for Infamy
Resonance
Legend of Hand
Piss
Samaritan Paradox
Gray Matter
A Golden Wake

That's 11 I guess, good decade. I think Golden Wake is Francisco's most interesting, so it squeezes in. Legend of Hand and Piss are underrated.

 

[ValeVelKal]

I can delete new document(1).txt if I paste my top 10 from the 2010's here:

Primordia
Heroine's Quest
The Dark Eye: Memoria
Deponia (series)
Quest for Infamy
Resonance
Legend of Hand
Piss
Samaritan Paradox
Gray Matter
A Golden Wake

That's 11 I guess, good decade. I think Golden Wake is Francisco's most interesting, so it squeezes in. Legend of Hand and Piss are underrated.

Missing quite a few : Gibbous, Technobabylon, Geminie Rue, Tiny & tall, Whisper of a Machine, arguably Detective Gallo.

 

[V_K]

The Cat Lady, The Last Door, Kathy Rain, Fran Bow, The Council.

Also a couple of myst-like 3d adventure: Obduction and Quern.

is Kathy Rain really good?

It has a nice story, but puzzles, with a couple of exceptions, are really easy.

 

[jfrisby]

Missing quite a few : Gibbous, Technobabylon, Geminie Rue, Tiny & tall, Whisper of a Machine, arguably Detective Gallo.

I've played those, except for Tiny & Tall - I'll check that one out. It was an attempt at a top 10 so there's plenty that would make a top 30. I'd thought Gemini Rue was 2009, but probably wouldn't rank it anyway. Blackwell is disqualified for starting in the 00's.