Recommend an Adventure Game

[Jaime Lannister]

It's funny, you guys all _call_ Final Fantasy games adventure, but when people ask about adventure games you never mention them.

That's because the OP wanted good adventure games.

 

[psycojester]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3CewyoAH_Kk

I'm pretty sure KC appears in this song.

That's like a reverse kingcomrade, it's liberals doing bad conservative arguments instead of a conservative doing bad liberal arguments.

I wanted to find the Max song from the final game or the Teddy Bear mafia song. But alas nobody has put them up on youtube. No idea why

Edit:

Seems somebody did

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cvLd3i02xao& ... ed&search=

 

[Ismaul]

The one game I have to recommend is Sanitarium. It reminds me of Torment in some ways. You wake up in an asylum, covered in bandages, surrounded by insane people. The plot keeps you on your toes, and you don't exactly know what is going on during the game. Clues only bring more questions. Everything around you is twisted in some way, and it gets wierder as it goes along. Great atmosphere, mature approach/themes. It's a must.

I also recommend Blade Runner. It captures well the great atmosphere and world of the movie. Investigations and case solving replace the usual puzzles. There's also some randomization in some events and clues that, along with some choices, make for a different ending.

Another adventure game (action adventure actually) I really enjoyed is Dark Earth. It's another very atmoshperic game, set in a post-apocalyptic setting where the the world has gone dark and humans live in spots where the light still shines through the smog. Travelling is dangerous, as mutant creatures occupy the dark areas. Knowledge of technology has mostly faded, and social structure has formed around a cult of Light. The game is set when the light is fading, threatening to let loose the creatures of the dark. The main character also gets infected by a liquid that slowly transforms him in a creature of the dark. The game has some combat, some puzzles, a non-linear structure and your actions have some consequence in the game. Beware though, it's one of the first 3D games, so the art is low tech but conveys great atmosphere.

Personally, I don't see what's so great about The Longest Journey. It's a solid game no doubt, but it seemed a bit too childish to me. The themes are quite mature, but many are presented in a simplistic way, IMO, almost from a child's perspective. It might float your boat though, it's very lighthearted.

 

[Longshanks]

Had forgotten about Dark Earth, I'd definitely recommend it (though it's been almost 10 years since I played it). I remember the graphics as being very good for the time, looking at screen-shots the backgrounds seem good, the character models less so. Might give that a replay myself.

 

[inwoker]

Never played, but heard about myst? Is it any good?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3CewyoAH_Kk

I'm pretty sure KC appears in this song.

That's like a reverse kingcomrade, it's liberals doing bad conservative arguments instead of a conservative doing bad liberal arguments.

it's alt of kingcomrade.

 

[sqeecoo]

The one game I have to recommend is Sanitarium. It reminds me of Torment in some ways. You wake up in an asylum, covered in bandages, surrounded by insane people. The plot keeps you on your toes, and you don't exactly know what is going on during the game. Clues only bring more questions. Everything around you is twisted in some way, and it gets wierder as it goes along. Great atmosphere, mature approach/themes. It's a must.

I also recommend Blade Runner. It captures well the great atmosphere and world of the movie. Investigations and case solving replace the usual puzzles. There's also some randomization in some events and clues that, along with some choices, make for a different ending.

Personally, I don't see what's so great about The Longest Journey. It's a solid game no doubt, but it seemed a bit too childish to me. The themes are quite mature, but many are presented in a simplistic way, IMO, almost from a child's perspective. It might float your boat though, it's very lighthearted.

I didn't like sanitarium. The first 3 chapters were incredible, but it went downhill from there. The game tried too hard to be weird, switched settings too quickly, and apart form the weirdness the story and especially the conclusion was mediocre or bad.

TLJ is lighthearted, true, but that gives it a warmth, charm, and non-gritty type of realism (lately gritty&mature=realistic). It's probably my second favorite game after PST.

Blade runner was very good too, and had some nice C&C.

 

[Ismaul]

Had forgotten about Dark Earth, I'd definitely recommend it (though it's been almost 10 years since I played it). I remember the graphics as being very good for the time, looking at screen-shots the backgrounds seem good, the character models less so. Might give that a replay myself.

Yeah. The backgrounds are 2D, and the models are 3D. The technology was quite new at the time, so the 3D is pretty blocky. But the art is really good. The only real annoyance about the game is that there's some pixel hunting. You usually know where what you're looking for is, but getting it is a bit of a hassle. If you don't want to bother with it, I think there are some guides on the net that show precisely where the stuff is located.

I didn't like sanitarium. The first 3 chapters were incredible, but it went downhill from there. The game tried too hard to be weird, switched settings too quickly, and apart form the weirdness the story and especially the conclusion was mediocre or bad.

Yeah, you could say that the first chapters were better than the later ones, even though the later ones had some really nice things going for them. I think it's because the first chapters feel more like a distorted version of our own world that they capture our interest more. The later chapters are somewhat disconnected from our reality, and are a jump from what was presented before. But they make sense within the game, and are fun to play. Only they feel like a distorted version of another world rather than our own.

The ending is quite good, IMO. There were clues hinting at it scattered around the different chapters. Everything has a certain significance to what is happening, even if it's only in retrospect that you can make sense of it all.

 

[crakkie]

Most the Humongous Entertainment point-and-clicks are great for children. HE was composed of mostly ex-Lucasarts people (and they used the SCUMM engine), and their games felt like kiddie-fied LucasArts point-and-clicks, which is a good thing if you have kids.

 

[KazikluBey]

Never played, but heard about myst? Is it any good?

I rather liked Myst but I was 12 when I played through it which gives a hint of its difficulty level. Most of the gameworld has no purpose for its existence other than to impede your progress with puzzles until the next bit of story is unfolded. Speaking of the story, it's a slightly unusual family drama that tie in heavily with the sequels. To fully appreciate it I think you need to read the novels as well, as they give more of the backstory which is really only hinted at in the games.

Riven: The Sequel to Myst is all sorts of awesome though. Even my father who is an avid adventure gamer needed a walkthrough for it but while some of the puzzles are very difficult they really require only the gathering of clues and the application of logic to solve, the developers didn't turn to the obscure to challenge the player. Something that helps with this is the fact that almost all puzzles are seamlessly integrated in the world, they all have an in-setting use instead of being conjured up just to impede your progress.

 

[dagorkan]

Notice how you scare Reggie away?

 

[HanoverF]

Has anyone played that Sherlock Holmes/Cthulu game? Any good?

 

[AZ]

Since I'm over 40 I also enjoy a good wellmade game made for Mature people. Such a game is Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy in the US).

Farenheit is mature? It's an all time button smashing like mario. Sanitarium is a mature adventure.

 

[Cassidy]

Sanitarium is a mature adventure.

Too bad I couldn't finish it

I had some trouble running Sanitarium on Windows XP which blocked me from going further than Episode 3 or 4(from what I remember).

Even though I couldn't complete it, I really liked it and it is one of the few horror adventures as well, and as far as is known, it's actual abandonware, otherwise the HOTU would have it removed:

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=939

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Sanitarium is awesome. Get.

Gabriel Knight is awesome. Get. (All of them.)

Blade Runner is awesome. Get.

Simon the Sorceror is awesome. Get. NOW!

Post Mortem was a big fuck you to me. I didn't like it. Sorry. The voice acting sucked, the puzzles were (in incredibly gay french accent) "oh haha, I am ze zerial killehhr and I make ze police play ze Mah-Jongh! Oh ahaha...!" I mean, fuck you, Myst-detectives! I don't want to organize tiles in a weird S&M-club all day long to open a secret passageway and I doubt any serial killer would as well! If I play a fucking detective I wanna be Sherlock Holmes or at least Columbo. You know, do detective work! Pick up cum stains from the floor! This fucking Myst-puzzle trend in adventure games HAVE GOT TO STOP!

Still Life: Sequel to the mess above. Still a fucking mess.

Fahrenheit is "my dog ate the original script"-bad but still worthy of a playthrough as long as you keep your brain out of it once you get to the epic conclusion...

 

[El Dee]

I cut my teeth on King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Space Quest during the 80's s, so I highly recommend any of those.

The Quest for Glory games are excellent too! I think my favorite was the 4th, Shadows of Darkness.

I also thought I would mention Police Quest, as well, seeing as it was a Sierra staple. I only played 3 and 4, 4 was meh I but enjoyed 3; maybe because it was the first game I bought for my spiffy new 386 computer.

 

[Shagnak]

Has anyone played that Sherlock Holmes/Cthulu game? Any good?

Sherlock Holmes : The Awakened ?

I've been wondering that too.
Seems to review reasonably well.

There's a demo we can try out.

 

[Hory]

Since I'm over 40 I also enjoy a good wellmade game made for Mature people. Such a game is Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy in the US).

Farenheit is mature? It's an all time button smashing like mario. Sanitarium is a mature adventure.

It's got button smashing just during action scenes. Who says those have to have a more complex input method to be mature? I don't think people in their 40's have the experience with games that people in their twenties now have.

 

[denizsi]

Some of the old adventure games have been getting some love recently. Both Darkseed I & II have been remastered and re-released in DVD cases and XP-friendly. There are also remastered XP-friendly collection packs of Space Quest and King's Quest (up to but excluding the 8th game), and Larry (up to and including the 6th game -no Love For Sail). There is also a '99 release Larry collection (the XP-compatible on I just mentioned is a '06 release) which includes all games but wasn't made to be XP-compatible. There are a bunch more other remastered & e-released old adventures but I can't remember ATM.

 

[Ivy Mike]

Has anyone played that Sherlock Holmes/Cthulu game? Any good?

Sherlock Holmes : The Awakened ?

I've been wondering that too.
Seems to review reasonably well.

I'm a sucker for both Holmes and the Great Old One so naturally I had to play that game. It's allright. Nothing spectacular but it does manage to capture the feel of both worlds from time to time. The biggest drawback for me was that the puzzles rely to much on the pixel hunting variety that it detracts from the experience in the long run. There's, for example, a part of the game where you have to follow a trail of blood. Unless you are meticulous in clicking any and all parts of the trail you don't get the "clue" you're after, and are unable to proceed. Other than that I though the game captured the feel of a brooding cthulhu cult well. It's certainly worth a shot if you don't mind the sometimes extreme pixel hunting.

 

[Fryjar]

http://www.adventuresoft.com/gs2.html

I can also just recommend to get Simon the Sorcerer II. This is really my favourite adventure and I would put it even before Sam&Max, Gabriel Knight and Monkey Island.
The humour is brilliant and refreshingly dark and the riddles are challenging and fun.

For those of you curious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6QKTEVJiX8

At 5:30 the "real" intro starts and is certainly worth a look.
Sadly the great music is missing (in the video) but it should give you an idea what the game feels like (although the ingame dialogue is the real masterpiece).

P.s.: Apparently a fan remake of the 3. Simon (which was story/gameplay wise really good but had even for the time attrocious control and graphics in 3d) which brings back the old 2d style but leaves everything else as it is, is in the workings.

For a teaser look here (it also shows you the kind of dialogue that you can expect in the Simon games):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb1ivBwv ... re=related

 

[psycojester]

Fahrenheit is "my dog ate the original script"-bad but still worthy of a playthrough as long as you keep your brain out of it once you get to the epic conclusion...

I've always been puzzled as to what happened with that one, it started out pretty good with the cult and the murder and the possibility our hero was a complete and utter nut-job with a failed relationship.

I'm not sure if they ran out of ideas with the script, ran out of time to implement it properly, or were told by the suits to amp up the flying-kung-fu-zombie-Jesus aspect of the hero in order to work in more retarded button mashing sequences to keep the console twitchers happy. But it really went to absolute shit around the halfway point. I liked the way they kept the hero's sanity questionable through the action sequences with the giant mites in his office, those were quiet well done.

 

[peak]

Most of the adventure games I've played during the last years have moved away from pussles to just telling a (usually cliched, somewhat boring) story. Meaning all there is to the gameplay is moving between locations and sometimes encountering a shit-your-pants-hard puzzle Still Life-style. Or something else. Pretty much a disappointment for what I consider adventure games are all about.

About a month ago I encountered Safecracker ("The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure") and was blown away by being put to work on solving problems instead of cliched narratives. It contains a bunch of incredibly well designed puzzles, some of which you will have seen before but most of which, at least to me, are new and very exciting. If you're interested in a few hours worth of brain cracking, it's the game you're looking for. Highly recommended. Especially considering it's price, $15 or so.

 

[VonVentrue]

Sanitarium is awesome. Get.

Gabriel Knight is awesome. Get. (All of them.)

Blade Runner is awesome. Get.

Simon the Sorceror is awesome. Get. NOW!

Definitely.
Monkey Island series, Full Throttle, Maniac Mansion, Sam& Max Hit The Road, Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango also deserve to be added to that list.

I am surprised none has even mentioned Discworld games based on the novels by Terry Pratchett - they're absolute must-haves that deserve top marks for puzzles, brilliant animation and sound.
The latest installement in the series (Noir) brought a whole new, noir-esque theme and style (which I absolutely loved) that weren't seen in the previous titles. In addition, I found the story surprisingly deep and intriguing, with many twists and turns - definitely worth experiencing.

Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis, anyone? It perfectly captures the very essence of the movies, but also features multiple ways to solve some puzzles and even distinct paths to reach the end.

And yet another masterpiece - Broken Sword:The Shadow of the Templars - great plot and atmosphere - the best game in the series, as far as I'm concerned (I have yet to play BS 4, though... Hopefully, I shall find it much better than 'The Sleeping Dragon', which was ABYSMAL).

Let us not forget about The Neverhood - a brilliantly designed (not to mention unbelievably funny) title that focuses on solving pure logic puzzles.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Toonstruck. Awesome setting, witty humor and Christopher Lloyd. What's not to like?

 

[Shagnak]

I'm a sucker for both Holmes and the Great Old One so naturally I had to play that game. It's allright. Nothing spectacular but it does manage to capture the feel of both worlds from time to time. The biggest drawback for me was that the puzzles rely to much on the pixel hunting variety that it detracts from the experience in the long run. There's, for example, a part of the game where you have to follow a trail of blood. Unless you are meticulous in clicking any and all parts of the trail you don't get the "clue" you're after, and are unable to proceed. Other than that I though the game captured the feel of a brooding cthulhu cult well. It's certainly worth a shot if you don't mind the sometimes extreme pixel hunting.

Thanks for the mini-review. I ended up downloading the demo via Steam, so I'll have to have a look for myself soon. (Overdone pixel hunting could definitely be annoying, though)

As for Cthulhu-based adventure games, isn't that new adventure game Darkness Within meant to have Lovecraftian aspects? I see it's available at GamersGate.