Adventure Games

There's nothing wrong with Syberia! Honestly, it's one of the better ones. It has a sequel as well, creatively named "Syberia 2".

The Lucasarts games are great, especially if you're in to a more wacky sense of humor. Actually, if you liked Grim Fandango I can pretty much guarantee you'll like the Monkey Island games. And no, they're not about monkeys. They're about Guybrush Threepwood and his dream of becoming a pirate. The entire Monkey Island line is ancient, but was recently re-released with updated graphics and added voice acting through Steam, but that does require you to sign up for the Steam service. They remains brilliant though.

There's a big adventure game franchise built around Sherlock Holmes and you can buy the older games cheap online as digital downloads. The newer ones as well, from the developer's website.

Continuing the crime investigation trend, Still Life is a game of pure genius. The plot is around investigating crime scenes and capturing a serial killer, so it's not exactly "kid friendly" if you're looking for something light and cheerful, but it's unique and awesome. Basically, you play as an FBI agent in modern Chicago, investigating a nasty murder, and in a parallel plot, as her grandfather in Prague in the 1920s, investigating an identical crime scene. Aside from the date on the two murders, they're so similar they simply have to have been done by the same person.

I tried to think up some newer games for you, but to be honest, a lot of modern adventure games have disappointed me, either with bland and cheesy characters and plots, or with too poorly constructed puzzles. I will definitely post back here if I can think of a good one though.

Oh, and aside from Monkey Island, any of the games I mentioned can be bought online without any DRM or subscription requirements at all. Let me know if you want a link -- I try to avoid spamming links to online stores when I post here.

EDIT:
And never let anyone tell you adventure games aren't hardcore.

 

Unless you're really aching for a physical copy you can get Still Life here, for a good price. (Good company too, one of my favorites.) Note that just like all digital stores they don't give refunds though.

And I know what you mean about the CSI games being basic... that's the main reason I didn't suggest them. I tried one mainly because I really like the show, but it didn't exactly blow me away.

 

Mimsy mentioned puzzle/adventure games so I'll take the opportunity to mention some of my favourites. These are all fan based remakes to VGA, originally made by Sierra back in the mid to late '80's, and since they are fan based they are all free and sanctioned by Sierra/Vivendi, Al Lowe and Roberta Williams. They all have speech and original music plus point and click action icons, no more typing which was tedious at best!:eek I hope someone will like these.

Kings Quest I and II plus Quest for Glory II

The Silver Lining They're just getting started, the cut-scene in ep.1 is very nice indeed!

There's one or two others but I can't recall them now. I hope the graphics don't bore one to tears as the gameplay is fun and funny with some nice easter eggs if one knows the originals. Plays with any Win OS.

 

How could I forget Kings Quest!

The store I linked to that has Still Life sells that series, as well as the Space Quest games. They are pure awesomeness.

 

I believe KQ1 is the only 1 to 1 remake, not sure anymore. Glad you liked them the first time around. Now all we need is a remake or three of the Leisure Suit Larry series!:-D Of course you were too young at the time to play that one.

 

What type of puzzle?

World of Goo is very different from the ones we've mentioned so far, but it's a great game in its own right. Scroll down a bit on the page I linked to, and you can download a demo.

 

Ah, okay. That makes sense. Have you played Samorost?

Oh, and if you like the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett they made a couple of games based on them. They're not really recent though... the first one was released in 1995, but the puzzles are great.

 

Too bad you find those too 'retro' as they would be right up you're alley. Your loss.

 

I still think you should give the Monkey Island games a fair chance then. Very clever puzzles, the updated graphics makes them look great, and they are frankly hilarious.

Monkey Island screenshots:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/Fraps/MISE2010-10-0423-52-49-44.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/Fraps/MISE2010-10-0423-52-09-44.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/Fraps/MISE2010-10-0423-52-29-44.jpg

 

As a matter of fact, I have, but I'm not going to recommend it until I have at least played the demo. I'll report back once it's done downloading.

 

That's the demo I was downloading! :-D I'm just about to start playing it now.

 

I want this game! This is like an Indiana Jones version of Gabriel Knight! LOL It's awesome, funny, and the puzzles in the demo are good, logical, but not obvious enough to be too easy. This goes on the Steam wishlist.

 

Not yet, it's a long one. Very entertaining though. Assuming the demo is an accurate representation of the finished game, it's a good game.

 

It is being released in parts though one downloads them to play.

 

I got mine here. It's a bit slow, but everything on that site is perfectly safe.

I finished the demo last night, and as far as I can tell, it's essentially letting you play through a portion of the first chapter of the game. I've played a lot of demos, and this was one of the longer ones.

 

If Christmas wasn't coming up I'd probably go out and buy it for myself. I've put it on my wish list instead.

 

It's a very good-looking game. I liked the voice acting as well.

Hint: Tap cursor to bottom of screen to bring up the inventory-menu (both in one bar along bottom of screen).

 

As I said I've only played the demo, but I thought the balance in the puzzles was pretty good. Glad you liked it! If I don't get it for Christmas I'll buy it myself.

You don't happen to have a Nintendo DS or DS Lite, do you? There are some very good puzzle games out for that platform.

 

Far from it... it's mainly what we talk about, but I at least play lots of "less hard core" games. I have a severe addition to just the type of adventure/puzzle games you seem to like, so I'm always happy to help with questions about them anyway.

If you ever do get a Nintendo DS though, I'll have a list of games for you to try out. Just let me know.

 

I can't believe none of us mentioned Sam & Max. We are all bad people! :-o

 

I had no problems downloading and installing Syberia from them. Good luck with the game!

 

Normally their downloads is one file, an installer that then reaches out and grabs everything from the website during install. I'm not sure why they did it this way with Syberia, I've never seen them do it with any other game. Glad you were able to make it work!

 

I don't know if you ever played hte Gabriel Knight games, but their writer has a new game coming to the US in Q1 of 2011. You can get the demo here, it's hosted by FileFront. I am downloading the demo right now, with no screaming from Avira or Spyware Terminator.

 

I haven't tried Gray Matter yet... waiting for Steam to discount it on their next big sale. I am working my way through Machinarium though. Very different game, but so far a fun one.

 

Someone just gifted me a copy of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars on Steam! Wohoo!

 

@Laura:
Have you ever played "Secret Files: Tunguska"? I just started it (Machinarium bored me... forgive my short attention span!) and really like it so far. Mysterious mysteries everywhere...!

 

I LOVE the Broken Sword games!!:celebrate

I have been adventure gaming since I could first use a computer.
A lot of those sound great and I need to try them. I usually get stuck up playing my older ones like The Dig, Gabriel Knight (both SO good, and The Dig is just beautiful, even today), Monkey Island games, etc etc. Nostalgia bombs left and right!

Could you suggest some very worthwhile ones for this day and age? It seems hard to come across a good adventure game these days. Many just seem to lick that wit and just a little bit of magic that the old games feel like they have.

 

The Syberia games that Laura and I have been talking about are good. Longest Journey and Dreamfall are as well. Machinarium wasn't for me, I just couldn't get into it, but don't let that stop you from trying it. Gray Matter has been given very good reviews, and of course Lost Horizon.

I know, several of those are a couple of years old or more. Sorry about that. It's just not a very active genres these days, it seems... If you post more about what you've played in the past and more recently, we can try and help you find more good ones.

 

Oh my, ok...I guess a list is the easiest way to do this.

Just off the top of my head some of the ones I've really enjoyed include Gabriel Knight (1st one)
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Broken Sword 1-3
Grim Fandango of course
Full Throttle
The Dig was great
Monkey Island 1-2 both the old and new versions
Timelapse
Fahrenheit

The Wallace and Grommit games were amusing but a little too easy. I'd say the same for the new Back to the Future games too, but both are still a good deal of fun.

I know there are more but the names are eluding me. As you'll probably notice most of what I've played is pre-2000. I'm really into anything that has a good amount of wit and humor, but I'm certainly not averse to the grim either. Gabriel Knight 1 has to be my favorite because it mixes the two so well.:clap

Also, the age of the games is not a huge deciding factor for me, although I would like to check out some more recent ones lol

 

I've actually begun playing Lost Horizon. Seems fun so far. My only wish is that I could play in German with English Subtitles.

 

Not for lack of having played. Just too many to type
I still have my original Myst cd and booklet after all

I have played through Dreamfall, but not The Longest Journey surprisingly. It certainly looked nice and I really wanted to like it but I could not get into it for some reason :/

 

Perhaps I was a bit too biased after playing Dreamfall to check out the first one. I have a friend with the game, so I suppose it is worth a shot.

But Grey Matter, eh? I took a look and I was sold at Jane Jenson. I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought of it.

I'm enjoying Lost Horizon quite a bit, so I'm glad I came across the mention of it