Have there been any great adventure games recently?

[Danimal]

I'm thinking mostly of the old classic point and click variety, something along the lines of the old LucasArts games. I know the whole genre has supposedly been dead for years, but I'm wondering if the occasional great game may have slipped past my attention.

I've played the Monkey Island games, Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey, Sanitarium, Full Throttle, Syberia (among others) but I'm wondering what good ones I may have missed. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Mr Unoriginal]

I don't know about point and click games, but Indigo Prophecy definately has the feel of an old adventure game, just in 3d.

[Danimal]

Yeah, I have that one near the top of my pile of PS2 games waiting to be played. I'm thinking Resident Evil 4 next, then Indigo Prophecy. It takes me forever to get through even the shortest games because I can never seem to make the time to play.

[Fire]

well, the genre has definitely been picking up a bit of steam on the DS. Games like Phoenix Wright, Lost in Blue, Trace Memory, etc.

[Strell]

Runaway was above average. It didn't quite hit Lucasarts levels, but then again, nothing does. But for coming out within the last 2-3 years, I'd suggest it to anyone who enjoys adventures games. Also, you can probably get it really cheap. I got a copy from gogamer.com for (I think) less than $10 shipped.

It's definitely well made, with great graphics and decent voice acting. There are some problems in the gameplay, as there definitely is some pixel hunting and some other issues, but nothing along the lines of, say, Kings Quest VI, where you can get yourself stuck after several hours of gameplay.

It has a sequel coming out as well. Originally the games were made in Spain I believe. My Spanish isn't that good, so I'm hoping it will come stateside.

In fact....(googles)

Hmmm. Looks like it has secured a UK release. I guess at worst that means you could import it. (http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=1139)

I'd suggest buying the original and playing through it. If you like it, you can go for the sequel. Great game in a dying genre, really.

[Danimal]

Excellent, thank you Strell. I had never even heard of it. Since this genre started dying out, I haven't played a lot of games on the PC, so I figured there had to be some good ones that I'd missed completely. I'm definitely going to look for Runaway.

[Snake2715]

wwwjustadventure.com is your friend they even sell runaway and its something like $4.90 shipped for whatever you order so that can be good if you order a few other games... I would also suggest Tony Tough and the Raosted Moths. A dcent game.

Plus I am sure you have played the Kings Quest Remakes by AGD? Two is especially well done with a lot of added content.

On top of that I know there are a lot more just cant think of them Its not as desad as you may think.

[Danimal]

wwwjustadventure.com is your friend they even sell runaway and its something like $4.90 shipped for whatever you order so that can be good if you order a few other games... I would also suggest Tony Tough and the Raosted Moths. A dcent game.

Plus I am sure you have played the Kings Quest Remakes by AGD? Two is especially well done with a lot of added content.

On top of that I know there are a lot more just cant think of them Its not as desad as you may think.
I've been to justadventure.com before but never bought from them. Tony Tough is another game I'd never even heard of, so that's another one to look into. I've never played any of the King's Quest games. How old are the remakes? I'm thinking KQ 2 was around 1992, but I don't know the timeline- would that be the original game's release date or the remake? Or am I just not even in the ballpark either way? I'm wondering how old they are because I seem to always have issues with older games not running on Windows XP

[Strell]

Haha, KQ2 is 1982 or so. :) Quite old.

A company named Tierra Entertainment (a pun on Sierra) remade KQ1/2 into Windows XP compatible updates, complete with much better graphics, voice acting, and expanding the plot in some respects. KQ2, especially, was basically completely remade, adding new areas, plot devices, items, etc. They are completely free and available to download here:

http://www.agdinteractive.com/games.php

King's Quest games were considered a good rival to the Lucasarts series, which is evident when Lucasarts would insert a sly, inside joke at Sierra's expense. I know the Monkey Island games, especially, placed a joke here and there about how you can't die in them. Kinq's Quest, on the other hand, along with Sierra's other series (Police Quest, Space Quest, etc) were known for this, when you'd make a wrong move and die, forcing a restart at your last save.

(And yes, before some purist comes after me, I do know you can die in Monkey Island 1 if you keep Guybrush submerged underwater for over 10 minutes, which is another running gag in the series.)

King's Quest is a notable series and well worth playing. Don't bother with the old versions unless you are a sucker for nostalgia (I am, since the first computer my parents had was a DOS based IBM PC Tandy Jr., and we played KQ2 on it repeatedly). The remakes replace the type parser with icon commmands. Instead of typing "open door," you have a toolbar with various icons representing talk, take, use, etc. So it's much more intuitive. Plus you don't have to put up with the game saying "I don't understand 'hotdog.'" "I don't understand 'kill old lady with fists of vengeance.'" "I don't understand 'kick baby off cliff.'" Etc.

In short, the remakes will run under XP no problem. I did track down the originals one day and remember getting them to run in XP without issue also, but meh.

I'll have to check out Tony Tough, that's new to me. The only adventure games I've played recently are Phoenix Wright and Runaway.

[Msia]

Thanks for that link Strell, will check those out when I get home.

[vherub]

If you haven't played them, they're new to you:

http://www.abandonia.com/genre.php?genre=adventure&page=0

[Strell]

Vherub's link reminds me - you can check out Beneath a Steel Sky. It's free now and can be run on ScummVM. Shouldn't be too difficult to track down. It's a futuristic cyberpunk sort of think. I believe it is compared to Bladerunner quite a bit, but don't take my word for it.

There's also a Maniac Mansion remake. I'll assume you know it's the prequel to Day of the Tentacle, but if not, there you go. Should be titled "Maniac Mansion Deluxe." Hell, you could track down the NES version too. :)

Technically, abandonware isn't completely legal. I don't know all the arguments but I think it hinges on "it's not in the public domain for several more years, and you could theoretically get a copy from eBay or something similar, and even though companies no longer make money off of them, you still ought to obtain a physical copy." It also has something to do with the fact that the copy protection on abandoned games is almost always cracked, so that sort of adds to the whole debate.

Personally I don't really think it's illegal. It's akin to roms, and what happens if no one has a copy to buy anywhere near you? You can't be faulted for that. And given that no one will see a dime throughout the entire process, that seems pretty far removed from legal issues for myself.

If Lucasarts was smart, they'd re-release everything as XP compatible, and give you the option to order it directly from them (complete with box and manual) -or- let you download them. We need a game-centric iTunes somewhere. Or something. I dunno.

[Snake2715]

Also I would look on Game developers or even Google for "5 days a stranger" and "7 days a skeptic"... Homebrew but good stuff.

Another one I played was broken sword 3 which I haven’t completed but I have a tendency to do that a lot with games.

One that was released and I just tracked down for $5 was Dark Fall. Its by Adventure Company (yeah I know normally mediocre stuff) but it had high praise everywhere I read and it’s supposed to be creepy.

Another few you might enjoy are the Apprentice and the Apprentice 2 both freeware.

As well as Strell mentioned the Kings Quest game remakes. GET THEM ASAP especially if you never played them before. The changes are great and I enjoyed every minute of them. To get the originals to work try planet sierra or vintage-sierra.com I found a lot of info out on those sites.

The quest for glory series is another great one and the first one was remade and works on XP. The team that did the KQ remakes (now called AGD or Himalayan studios) is doing both their first commercial release "Elmo and the Lost Dutchman’s mine" and a Quest for Glory 2 remake. So keep an eye out for those.

Others I remember reading about but haven’t played were moment of silence, scratches, still life and there are more.

One last thing I will say is the Game cube game Baten Kaitos. It got mid level reviews but as I have been playing it with my wife it reminds me much of an adventure game. I am thoroughly enjoying it when we get the time.

Good luck.

[Strell]

Psychonauts, coming from Tim Shaefer, the mastermind behind a good bevy of Lucasarts adventure games (including Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, among others), also has adventure elements, or so I am told. It has a lot of platforming action as well, but a good friend of mine who is a bigger adventure fan than me swears it is the best game he's played in several years.

I still have a backlog of games to play through, namely the Indiana Jones games.

I am selling these fine leather jackets.....

[Snake2715]

Psychonauts, coming from Tim Shaefer, the mastermind behind a good bevy of Lucasarts adventure games (including Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, among others), also has adventure elements, or so I am told. It has a lot of platforming action as well, but a good friend of mine who is a bigger adventure fan than me swears it is the best game he's played in several years.

I still have a backlog of games to play through, namely the Indiana Jones games.

I am selling these fine leather jackets.....

I still have to get psychonauts... whats with the increase in Indian Jones games lately? A new movie announced or getting closer to completion? As a mtter of fact a new jones was announced a while ago wasnt it....

[Strell]

Oh, I was referring to the oldschool Lucasarts games. Like Fate of Atlantis. They are supposed to be excellent.

[Snake2715]

Oh, I was referring to the oldschool Lucasarts games. Like Fate of Atlantis. They are supposed to be excellent.

I know check ebay its like $30+ for cd only versions of this.. I mean not even a jewel case cover art strictly cd only.

[Cornfedwb]

The Broken Sword series was good.. and there was a cheap one @ EBgames I got a while back for the PS2 that involved traveling around in time to avoid your own death. Can't remember the name of it, but it was fairly good.

[j.elles]

http://www.agdinteractive.com/
That has a remake of Kings Quest 1 and 2 thats really good. NO text point and click instead. Plus theres Call of Cthulu. Thats FPS style but I head it's great. Plus theres Still Life, and... I know theres a couple more but the names escape me.

[Danimal]

Wow, lots of great suggestions since I went to bed this morning. I appreciate them all. I'll definitely have to check out the KQ remakes.

Cornfedwb, was the PS2 game Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon? I've heard a lot of good things about that game for the PC, and I seem to remember it coming out for the PS2 as well.

I think I bought Darkfall off of ebay a few years ago. I could have sworn I did, but I can't find it anywhere. Can't remember if I ever tried it out. Psychonauts is one of the many games in my PS2 "waiting to be played" pile. It's going to be one of the next few games I play on that system.

For anybody else interested in adventure games who might be reading this thread, I'll throw out a suggestion myself. A game called Feeble Files. I bought this one on ebay and was playing it on my old computer right up until a nasty virus killed it (the computer, not the game) I think I may start that one up again soon. Pretty fun and funny game.

[dafoomie]

Cornfedwb, was the PS2 game Broken Sword: Sleeping Dragon? I've heard a lot of good things about that game for the PC, and I seem to remember it coming out for the PS2 as well.
Thats for Xbox and PC. There was a PS2 version in Europe, but SCEA rejected it for US release. The game he's referring to is something else entirely, I can't quite remember the name but its an interesting game.
The Sierra games, Space Quest, Police Quest, Kings Quest, and all the rest, are worth playing if you haven't already. The Broken Sword series is excellent. Still Life was pretty good for Xbox. Syberia 1 and 2 were OK. Theres a bunch more for PC that I can't think of right now.

[arcadia]

Legend of Kyrandia, The: Hand of Fate (http://digihosters.com/%7Ecdosorg/std_games_review.php?gameid=809)
http://digihosters.com/~cdosorg/std_games_review.php?gameid=809 (http://digihosters.com/%7Ecdosorg/std_games_review.php?gameid=809)

It was a pretty good game, I think it's still settled there, there's some other good abandonware adventure games there as well.

[Supercake]

Also I would look on Game developers or even Google for "5 days a stranger" and "7 days a skeptic"... Homebrew but good stuff.

Agreed, I really enjoyed those games, and I don't often play adventure games. Though the site is down right now, Home of the Underdogs was the best resource for old games and lots of freeware/homebrew adventure games.

There's also Shadow of Destiny on PS2/PC, but it's just ok, it'll be cheap at least.

[Kayden]

Space Quest 1-6. It may be 16bit VGA, but its some of the funniest shit ever.


The longest Journey 2 is supposed to come out sometime soon. I'm definitely looking forward to that. I hope it doesn't go the way of Full throttle 2 =(. Oh yea, get The Dig. Awwwwwwwwwesome.