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General discussion29 must-play adventure games as picked by Richard Cobbett(93 posts)(93 posts)
(93 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 22, 2017
Did your favorites make the cut?

There was a time when everybody was looking at adventure games to introduce crazy technical innovations, explore unconventional stories, or just give us a strong argument against our dismissive parents who considered all games juvenile and insubstantial. Since the golden years of the graphic adventures, we've seen certain trends come and go, foreign genes spliced into the genre's DNA, and adventure games evolving into a variety of experiences that sometimes have little in common with their early predecessors.

Richard Cobbett, a longtime fan of adventure games and their close offspring, has recently compiled <span class="bold">a comprehensive list of 29+ titles</span> that all fans of the genre should check out. Newcomers and veterans are treated to an introduction to the history of adventure games, some advice on how to get started, and a list of the standouts, broken down into sub-categories for convenience: The Classics, Story-driven, Puzzles & Exploration.

Take your pick: there are all-around legends like The Secret of Monkey Island or Beneath a Steel Sky, masterpieces of storytelling like Grim Fandango or The Walking Dead, brain wreckers like Myst or Zork: Grand Inquisitor, and deliberately paced experiences like Gone Home.

Plenty of developers continue to be fascinated by the narrative possibilities of adventure games, even if they don't feel like adhering to their original formula. These 29 games (and the additional honorable mentions) are both celebrated classics and the product of experimentation with innovative ideas and are all more than worth your time.

So, how many of these have you already played and what others would you add to <span class="bold">IGN's list</span>, fellow adventurers?
Post edited May 22, 2017 by maladr0Id
Posted May 23, 2017
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HunchBluntley: I think the only thing missing from my "restored" post was the quote of the relevant portion of Green_Shade's post that I was replying to. I'm not sure how you managed to delete my post while trying to reply to it, though.
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Starmaker: Blues have a mod button next to the reply button.
I understand this, but it still doesn't explain the deletion part.
Not that I'm particularly salty about this, it's just weird.
Posted May 23, 2017
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garrus74: Gone Home in a list of "Essential, Must-play Adventures" ?! One of the most disappointing 3 hours of playtime you'll never get back.
Unless you like exploring a spooky old house during a thunderstorm, learning about your character's (well-constructed) family history. It's not perfect, probably not very replayable, and I wouldn't recommend paying more than a few bucks for it, but I enjoyed most of the few hours I put into it.
Not saying it's better than those others, though (haven't played them, so I don't know.)
Post edited May 23, 2017 by HunchBluntley
Posted May 23, 2017
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Starmaker: Blues have a mod button next to the reply button.
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HunchBluntley: I understand this, but it still doesn't explain the deletion part.
Not that I'm particularly salty about this, it's just weird.
Have you ever misclicked a "quit without saving" dialog? Like when it says either "quit without saving? Y/N" or "save before quitting? Y/N" and you think "wait wait I worked 10 hours on this essay MUST NOT CLICK WRONG BUTTON *click* noooooooooooooo".
Posted May 23, 2017
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HunchBluntley: I understand this, but it still doesn't explain the deletion part.
Not that I'm particularly salty about this, it's just weird.
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Starmaker: Have you ever misclicked a "quit without saving" dialog? Like when it says either "quit without saving? Y/N" or "save before quitting? Y/N" and you think "wait wait I worked 10 hours on this essay MUST NOT CLICK WRONG BUTTON *click* noooooooooooooo".
Not in a long time. Ctrl + S is my friend now. Crashes were always the big enemy for me, not user error.
The closest thing I've had to worry about in recent years is composing an epic forum post, full of irreproducible wit and incisive arguments*, only to have Firefox crash (or Windows hang or crash) before I can post it.


*The incisiveness and/or wittiness of any of HunchBluntley's posts is not guaranteed.
Posted May 23, 2017
This reads more like fan-service and an advertisement than anything else.

lame-bad list - that they lump Dreamfall with TLJ is abhorent


I still think games like Rex Nebular and Noctropolis are far better than many of these more well-known games (again, just seems like fanservice)
Post edited May 23, 2017 by drealmer7
Posted May 23, 2017
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garrus74: Gone Home in a list of "Essential, Must-play Adventures" ?! One of the most disappointing 3 hours of playtime you'll never get back.
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HunchBluntley: Unless you like exploring a spooky old house during a thunderstorm, learning about your character's (well-constructed) family history. It's not perfect, probably not very replayable, and I wouldn't recommend paying more than a few bucks for it, but I enjoyed most of the few hours I put into it.
Not saying it's better than those others, though (haven't played them, so I don't know.)
Agree, the setting is somewhat interesting until you realize how mundane/boring the main punchline is and how the more promising parts of the family history are actually not pursued. Somehow this game was way way overhyped when it came out, probably because it was very accessible to casual gamers (even TV guide magazines were recommending it). Having played it, however, I think that any attempts to place it on any sort of "must-play" list look cringeworthy at best.
Posted May 23, 2017
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drealmer7: Rex Nebular and Noctropolis are far better than many of these more well-known games
Rex Nebular is that kid in school who's into - let's say - "Mahavishnu Orchestra" while others (Lucasarts et al) are into METALLICA F*CK YEAH BEST BAND EVAH! ;D
Posted May 23, 2017
+1 for removing Grim Fandango from the list
Posted May 23, 2017
It was nice reading about the adventure genre, and my all-time favourites made the list. At first I thought the news post would come with a sale... oh well, you can't have everything.

The day articles don't need to mention the death and resurrection of adventure games will be the time when the genre has truly come back.
Posted May 23, 2017
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AlienMind: +1 for removing Grim Fandango from the list
What's so bad about Grim Fandango? I thought that game is much beloved.
Posted May 24, 2017
I really miss the Yathzee (Ben Croshaw) games also known as the Chzo mythos. Brilliant horror games made with AGS, beginning with the slow-starting (and crudely drawn) 5 Days a Stranger.
I'm very glad that Kentucky Road Zero made this list. I love that game for it's incredible poetic atmosphere. A true masterpiece.that works best imho. when playing it in the dead of night. Easily in my top-ten top-ten of best games of the last decade.
When it comes to pick one favourite of the Space Quest series, I would pick IV instead of V. While V is a great game, IV presented such a great concept and such a bleak world that just oozes atmosphere. I must admit to quoting V more often than V hough, I miss Spaceship Titanic, which has fantastic humour, but suffers from a confusing map with jarring turns to reach a destination) as most FMV-games do btw.
Post edited May 24, 2017 by jorlin
Posted May 24, 2017
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AlienMind: +1 for removing Grim Fandango from the list
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WildHobgoblin: What's so bad about Grim Fandango? I thought that game is much beloved.
I agree...I don't get it. Definitely one of my all-time favorites.
Posted May 24, 2017
What no mention of Syberia! OK so it was my first so I probably have a different view of the game but the visuals and story should at least get it mentioned.
Posted May 24, 2017
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51nikopol: What no mention of Syberia! OK so it was my first so I probably have a different view of the game but the visuals and story should at least get it mentioned.
Actually, he mentioned Syberia in the Extra credit - 5 more classic adventures worth exploring.

What's funny is that this "essential" list is missing games that delivered quite unique experiences such as Full Throttle, Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Bioforge (seeing as how Miasmata is viewed as an adventure game, the latter two definitely qualify) and many others. Also, +1 to rgnrk's excellent list in post 52 in this thread - some seriously awesome, though possibly less known games there.
Posted May 24, 2017
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jorlin: I really miss the Yathzee (Ben Croshaw) games also known as the Chzo mythos. Brilliant horror games made with AGS, beginning with the slow-starting (and crudely drawn) 5 Days a Stranger. ...
I really loved the Chzo mythos!

Speaking of horror, some of my all-time fav adventures are Darkness Within 1+2 and Scratches. Really scary without the need to constantly fire jumpscares at you.
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General discussion29 must-play adventure games as picked by Richard Cobbett(93 posts)(93 posts)
(93 posts)