Board 8 > What are some great point-and-click adventures from the past 20 years?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Specifically those that are available on Steam or GOG.

I have been playing a bunch of them this year. I have played in my lifetime most of the Telltale, Humongous Entertainment, and LucasArts games, and I recently bought most from the Broken Sword series and all of The Longest Journey series.

I am curious to see what I might have missed.
---

Did you try out Thimbleweed Park?
---

Kathy Rain was one of my favorite games from last year.
---

I was going to suggest The Longest Journey. The first game has some of those old moon logic puzzles that plagued early adventure games but was otherwise fine. Dreamfall was a step back, sadly, but Dreamfall Chapters was a great take on the Telltale formula that really pulled the whole series together, I thought
---

Classic PnC-style Adventure games:
Gemini Rue
Technobabylon
Resonance
Discworld Noir
The Shivah
The Blackwell series (Deception, Convergence, Unbound, Epiphany)
Primordia
The Last Express
Blade Runner
Gray Matter
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
The Journey Down
The Dig
The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 + 2
Syberia 1 + 2

Narrative-focused Adventure games:
Kentucky Route Zero
Oxenfree
What Remains of Edith Finch
Knee Deep
Tacoma
Firewatch
Gone Home
To the Moon

Puzzle-y Adventure games:
INSIDE
Lumino City
Machinarium
Samorost 3
Botanicula
Brothers

Visual Novelesque Adventure games:
The House in Fata Morgana
VA-11 Hall-A
Zero Escape Trilogy
Danganronpa 1 + 2
Analogue: A Hate Story
Hate Plus
Ladykiller in a Bind
80 Days

FMV games:
Contradiction: Spot the Liar
Cibele
Late Shift
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure

This games is pretty much just Myst:
Obduction

Miscellaneous Adventure games:
Her Story
The Witness
Framed 1 + 2
The Talos Principle

My favourite in each category in bold; runner-up in italics.
---

http://www.kongregate.com/games/impendingriot/alice-is-dead-ep-1
---

I enjoyed The Whispered World and the Edna & Harveys.
---

good recs. here's a few more:

Amerzone - Benoit Sokal's earlier game with a similar vibe to Syberia, but in a rainforest. plays like Myst, but a lot less obtuse.
The Dream Machine - hand-crafted episodic adventure set in dreamscapes that take you to some mysterious, grotesque, and beautiful places.
The Last Door - gothic horror with an evocative low-res look.
The Inner World - most adorable protagonist this side of Wilbur Weathervane.
Dropsy - strange, non-verbal game about a clown who wants to help.
OneShot - cute, gentle adventure with some Undertale-esque tricks.
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet - comedy pirate game. your bird sidekick is Tom Baker.
Four Last Things - short, comedy game made from cut-up renaissance paintings abouting committing all 7 deadly sins in a day.
Night in the Woods - heartfelt story of failure, rejection, and cosmic doom, which is extremely my shit.
The Sexy Brutale - clockworld world on a Groundhog Day loop which is a hell of a combination.
Stories Untold - suggestive horror vignettes on '80s computer terminals to be played in the dark with headphones.
Maggie's Apartment - really cool conceit where you're trying to solve a conspiracy while locked in your apartment. it's very sweet, and it looks gorgeous.
The Darkside Detective - light-hearted comedy about a paranormal detective in a bunch of mini-adventures.
---

the one i played on albinoblacksheep 13 years ago
---

I liked Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
---

Tom Bombadil posted...

I liked Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

---

Also some of you have weird interpretations of what point-and-click games are
---

Hiveswap is coming out on 14 September.

No idea if it's going to be any good but hey.
---

I know Beneath a Steel Sky is 23 years old but still definitely worth playing if you haven't already
---

I own Beneath a Steel Sky, but I will download it soon. I also own like 90% of what non-Pumpkin users posted posted, but I haven't touched most of them. Some are even already downloaded, so maybe I should get to those. I have only heard of a couple of what Pumpkin listed and will check those out

bryans7 posted...

Did you try out Thimbleweed Park?

No, and I put it off my wishlist once I saw it was using the S.C.U.M.M layout. It has always bothered me. I probably will end up getting it eventually though since the premise intrigues me.
---

Oh yeah, The Cat Lady is good aside from the controls.
---

Yeah, Thimbleweed Park was made with Ron Gilbert, creator of the SCUMM engine. So if that's a turn-off... well, no getting around that.

I will say I think it's a good game so once it starts popping up in bundles or in a dirt cheap steam sale, it's worth checking out despite that.
---

iiicon posted...

Classic PnC-style Adventure games:
Gemini Rue
Technobabylon
Resonance
*The Blackwell series (Deception, Convergence, Unbound, Epiphany)*
Primordia
The Journey Down
The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 + 2

Narrative-focused Adventure games:
*Kentucky Route Zero*
*Oxenfree*
What Remains of Edith Finch
Tacoma
Firewatch
Gone Home

Puzzle-y Adventure games:
INSIDE
Lumino City
Machinarium
Samorost 3
Botanicula

FMV games:
*Contradiction: Spot the Liar*

This games is pretty much just Myst:
Obduction

Miscellaneous Adventure games:
The Witness
*The Talos Principle*

Will second all of these, one's with * are ones I super recommend
---

KCF0107 posted...

I also own like 90% of what non-Pumpkin users posted posted, but I haven't touched most of them.

if that's the case you own every notable adventure game from "the death of the genre" through to the Kickstarter revival era and on to today
---

iiicon posted...

The Witness

Never once thought of the Witness as a point-and-click adventure. It's a brilliant game if you have the patience though, and its world reminds me of Myst so I can get the genre-comparison through that angle.

You also made me happy because you mentioned the Dig, one of my brother's favorite games growing up.


PumpkinCoach posted...

Night in the Woods - heartfelt story of failure, rejection, and cosmic doom, which is extremely my shit.

Thank you for this review. I fully planned to buy it anyway, but this is lovely.
---

Does Grim Fandango count?
---

Anyway, a game I haven't seen mentioned yet is the Neverhood. Some of its later puzzles are obtuse, but it'a got claymation and one of the best senses of humor around too.
---

HaRRicH posted...

Thank you for this review. I fully planned to buy it anyway, but this is lovely.

aw, thanks.

The Neverhood is cool. Shame it's not on steam or gog so it might take some digging.
---

HaRRicH posted...

Never once thought of the Witness as a point-and-click adventure.

Well, it's not! But it does fit into the wider adventure game genre, and often people who are fans of one type of adventure game are fans of another. KCF cited both narrative adventure games and PnCs, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

You're right about the Myst comp though. I know you enjoyed The Witness, but have you played either Obduction or Talos Principle? Obduction is essentially a new Myst - it was even developed by Cyan Worlds - while The Talos Principle is a similar open-ended series of first person puzzles located in hubs, with meditations on consciousness and being.
---

on the subject of Myst-likes, I recommend Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
---

Never heard of Obduction. I loved Myst's world but didn't care for the gameplay really.

The Talos Principle is installed but I haven't touched it yet.
---

Also The White Chamber is a short but atmospheric PnC game!
---

iiicon posted...

But it does fit into the wider adventure game genre, and often people who are fans of one type of adventure game are fans of another. KCF cited both narrative adventure games and PnCs, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

I was confused for a bit since I was citing PnCs until I totally forgot about Telltale's new model. I associate Telltale more for their pre-Walking Dead offerings. I should have specified.
---

2064 Read Only Memories

I haven't played the whole thing but I really liked what I did play of it.
---

I have nearly started playing that game what seems to be 10 times now, but I always went with another game instead.
---

MrGreenonion posted...

2064 Read Only Memories

I haven't played the whole thing but I really liked what I did play of it.

This is a very good game!
---