Non-linear adventure games

[Naked_Lunch]

Quest For Glory are the only ones I can think of along with maybe uh, Penumbra?

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

O'course every Sierra adventure is non-linear, since any of those games contained puzzles that could be skipped or done wrong, the game went on but suddenly you'd be stuck.

And a bunch of those adventures even had different ending-scenes according to how good you fared during the events. (laura bow2, Conquests of the longbow).

Personally I believe sierra adventures had a tremendous influence in videogaming in these years. I believe "the witcher" has some connection with the sierra's.

 

[KazikluBey]

Riven: The Sequel to Myst is free-roam and has several different endings. It's also awesome.

Good art direction, well crafted game world, sometimes deviously difficult puzzles, but always with logical solutions.

 

[Elwro]

Not for daltonists, unfortunately.

 

[KazikluBey]

Daltonists with the colors in Riven, and the tone deaf couldn't finish Myst, and dyslexic people might have a hard time with all the reading and those with dyscalculia would have a hard time with the number system puzzle and... :wink:

 

[redd]

In my opinion, the most non linear adventure game is "Maupiti Island" (from lankhor studios).

In this game, you are a detective (Jerome Lange) and you have to investigate about a murder that happened on a island. You can go everywhere when you want, and talk to all characters and quit all objects of the game. In any order you want. There is absolutely no linearity.

You collect some clues by watching, talking, hiding and waiting. This game is difficult (more than KGB !) because the game does'nt help you at all. YOU have to make your brain work and understand the clues.
For example, the games won't says "heyy, you've learnt that Nikita has lot a pearl in the murder room, she may be suspect". No, no, no. You have to figure out everything by yourself.

You have 48 hours to find the murderer (and understand everything). After 48h, your boat and you leave the island. You can be killed during the game if you are in the wrong place at the wrong moment.

And, another interesting thing : you don't have to collect all the clues during your game. Clues are here only to make you understand the murder. If you collect them for a previous non saved game, it's good.
So, how to win ? You have to find a secret place and then, solve a strange riddle, and then the game will ask you a lot of questions about the murder and all the activities of the island. That means that you can spend 48h just to collect 1 clue, or to investigate on 1 character.


Very special and interesting game. But very difficult.
It's an old game (1990-1991). Exists on PC (DOS), Amiga and Atari St. It was one of the first game with digitalized voices.


In the same way, there is "in the first degree", or "une poupée pleine aux as" (I dunno the US name). They are more recent (1996-1998, something like that).

EDIT :
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/in ... ead-review

 

[mondblut]

Daughter of Serpents, a Lovecraft-inspired occult quest set in interbellum (probably) Egypt. You create a character the RPG-like way, distributing points among several skills, and depending on these, at various points of the game you get different results.

 

[Lumpy]

Does The Last Express qualify?

I don't think so, you're pretty much railroaded for the entire game.
It's pretty much impossible to get off the tracks.
You could say that the whole game is on rails.
The above puns reference the fact that the entire game takes place in a train.

 

[Quilty]

Does The Last Express qualify?

I don't think so, you're pretty much railroaded for the entire game.
It's pretty much impossible to get off the tracks.
You could say that the whole game is on rails.
The above puns reference the fact that the entire game takes place in a train.

Well done, sir.

 

[zaero]

I don't think graphic adventure games can be truly non-linear because they rely heavily on narrative flow. Myst-likes are in essence puzzle games so they don't qualify as adventures. But, there can be some freedom in the structure of the story. e.g. Larry can mostly pick which chick to screw first.

You'll find that text adventures are in general pretty non-linear. And in that regard Infocom is king.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. It's a Lucasarts SCUMM game, made around the same time as Monkey Island. There's three paths through the game... a team path, where you play with a female character along for the ride (like the movies), a fists path, where Indy will use his physical strength to get out of most sticky situations, and a wits path, which has much more puzzle solving.

It isn't as long as some other adventure games (each playthrough takes about 4 hours), but its good. And its got full voice-overs and a nice soundtrack. It's on Steam, if you're interested.

 

[Elzair]

You will find that most early adventure games are pretty nonlinear. Leisure Suit Larry was mostly nonlinear. For more examples, try Kings Quest I, II, IV, and VI.

 

[SCO]

Titanic: Adventure out of Time features 6 different endings, based on which of 3 objectives you were able to accomplish during the game. Besides that, I recall being able to move relatively freely around the ship and talk to people at will (for the short time I played it, since I don't really like first-person pre-rendered adventure games). It also featured some sub-plots.

There was also a similar, earlier game from the same company based in the wild west. I can't recall if it had non-linearity, but i recall it was ridiculously hard (one of those real time adventures).

 

[SCO]

Does The Last Express qualify?

I don't think so, you're pretty much railroaded for the entire game.
It's pretty much impossible to get off the tracks.
You could say that the whole game is on rails.
The above puns reference the fact that the entire game takes place in a train.

Never would have guessed.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

 

[Quilty]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

Aw, man, memories. First game I ever bought, came on seven cds. One of those games that really managed to frighten me a couple of times.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

Aw, man, memories. First game I ever bought, came on seven cds. One of those games that really managed to frighten me a couple of times.

It was one of my first games too. I bought it when I was over in America from a store in San Francisco. I've still got it, I was playing it recently. It works fine on Vista, the only problem is getting Quicktime to work. I don't know how I did it, but I remember trying out the old versions and it finally worked. On my most recent install, I had the newest version of Quicktime on my laptop, but it still worked fine.

 

[asper]

I have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

However, it is fake non-linearity, since there is only one "best" solution. The other ways of doing things are 'worse', so you don't really have the possibility of doing the same thing (with the same effect - the good ending) in different ways. Kinda like finishing Sierra games with suboptimal score.

I don't remember if the same holds for The Last Express, but I think it does.

It's a shame, but a real non-linear adventure game still has to be made. The mechanic just hasn't been introduced to the genre yet. Mind you, proper non-linear rpg's are very scarce as well.

ps. Fahrenheit is not a game. It is a movie that asks you to press some buttons from time to time.

 

[Virtz]

Bureau 13 - puzzle solutions vary based on which 2 of the 6 available operatives you choose to take at the beginning.

 

[Quilty]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

Aw, man, memories. First game I ever bought, came on seven cds. One of those games that really managed to frighten me a couple of times.

It was one of my first games too. I bought it when I was over in America from a store in San Francisco. I've still got it, I was playing it recently. It works fine on Vista, the only problem is getting Quicktime to work. I don't know how I did it, but I remember trying out the old versions and it finally worked. On my most recent install, I had the newest version of Quicktime on my laptop, but it still worked fine.

I'm still sticking to XP so I guess I won't have too many problems if I try to run it again, which I just might. If only for a trip down memory lane. I still remember cumming in my pants when I finally got to meet Scully. And the last part of the game still makes me shudder with fear. The flickering light, the strange sounds, the random Scully-deaths. Oh gawd.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

Aw, man, memories. First game I ever bought, came on seven cds. One of those games that really managed to frighten me a couple of times.

It was one of my first games too. I bought it when I was over in America from a store in San Francisco. I've still got it, I was playing it recently. It works fine on Vista, the only problem is getting Quicktime to work. I don't know how I did it, but I remember trying out the old versions and it finally worked. On my most recent install, I had the newest version of Quicktime on my laptop, but it still worked fine.

I'm still sticking to XP so I guess I won't have too many problems if I try to run it again, which I just might. If only for a trip down memory lane. I still remember cumming in my pants when I finally got to meet Scully. And the last part of the game still makes me shudder with fear. The flickering light, the strange sounds, the random Scully-deaths. Oh gawd.

Finding Scully is one of my favourite gaming moments ever.

Spoiler

Having to get past that nurse, and if you say the wrong thing, that's it... it was the first time I had played something where I actually had to think about my conversation choices. Oh, and Agent X was awesome too. I know what you mean about the last part, the first time I did it I actually used the stiletto on Cook, instead of hitting him with the cattle prod... which meant there was nobody for the alien to go into at the end, so I died.

 

[Berekän]

Maniac Mansion!

This wins.

 

[Quilty]

Also, The X-Files. The one that is completely done in FMVs, with live actors. It's bloody brilliant. It isn't non-linear in the sense of different paths, although you do make choices along the way that affect the ending, and at one point near the end, you DO have two different ways of getting out the situation.

Aw, man, memories. First game I ever bought, came on seven cds. One of those games that really managed to frighten me a couple of times.

It was one of my first games too. I bought it when I was over in America from a store in San Francisco. I've still got it, I was playing it recently. It works fine on Vista, the only problem is getting Quicktime to work. I don't know how I did it, but I remember trying out the old versions and it finally worked. On my most recent install, I had the newest version of Quicktime on my laptop, but it still worked fine.

I'm still sticking to XP so I guess I won't have too many problems if I try to run it again, which I just might. If only for a trip down memory lane. I still remember cumming in my pants when I finally got to meet Scully. And the last part of the game still makes me shudder with fear. The flickering light, the strange sounds, the random Scully-deaths. Oh gawd.

Finding Scully is one of my favourite gaming moments ever.

Spoiler

Having to get past that nurse, and if you say the wrong thing, that's it... it was the first time I had played something where I actually had to think about my conversation choices. Oh, and Agent X was awesome too. I know what you mean about the last part, the first time I did it I actually used the stiletto on Cook, instead of hitting him with the cattle prod... which meant there was nobody for the alien to go into at the end, so I died.

Oh right, I completely forgot about the nurse. She was creepy as fuck.

In fact, every part of the game world you explored was very atmospheric, the ruined ship, the yard with all the train cars, my home, the office, the warehouse at the beginning. The very fact I could use a phone to call any number I found in the game made it so awesome at the time. And I still remember finding Mulder's pumpkin seeds in the hotel where he and Scully stayed and grinning madly like the fanboi I was.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

The atmosphere was done quite nicely due to the use of incidental music... made it feel like an episode of the TV show. Several moments made me jump, particularly

Spoiler

finding blood in the warehouse, and the resulting heavy piano-like sounds that blast out of the speakers...

 

[Quilty]

The atmosphere was done quite nicely due to the use of incidental music... made it feel like an episode of the TV show. Several moments made me jump, particularly

Spoiler

finding blood in the warehouse, and the resulting heavy piano-like sounds that blast out of the speakers...

Yeah, the music was extremely well used. I'll always remember the moment I first arrived at my front door and heard the background sound of traffic and car tires on wet asphalt and birds chirping, it felt just like the sounds from the show.

Also,

Spoiler

remember when you had to hide in a warehouse and use a night-vision camera to catch some guys doing, er, something, and then hide in a truck, steal something from the glove box compartment and escape before the driver arrived? Damn, I died at least a couple of times there. And got killed by those two dudes that interrupt your conversation with Mulder. I fucking hated the shooting bits in that game, but thankfully there weren't that many of them.