[AndreaDraco83]

I now that I am resuscitating a thread extremely old, but it was nonetheless the perfect place for a consideration of mine.

I just checked the list of adventure games released in 2008, and I realized that there were many games that can be categorized like crime/thriller, with gritty urban setting and plenty of FBI agents as lead characters. Whilst this isn't my favorite theme or sub-genre (usually I'm more for mysteries with a bit of occult or supernatural), since I'm not that much fascinated by serial killers and forensic investigation, I have nothing per se against this trend. On the contrary, I found that some of such games, like Casebook, were indeed very good. Some other, like Art of Murder, were maybe a bit dull and uninspired, but still enjoyable.

As Stinger noted some months ago, trends tend to be cyclical, it's true, but I guess that the CSI-mania first and the Post Mortem/Still Life dittico must have settled a very hard-to-die, durable trend, since - looking at the 2009 expected release - the majority of announced games are crime thrillers: Audere Sempre, Heavy Rain, Art of Murder 2, Still Life 2, Again, The Hardy Boys, Adam Syndrome, Culpa Innata 2 and so on.The crime/thriller trend seems to be well alive and kicking, at the expense of classic Agatha Cristie sleuth, which here in Italy we call "giallo" (no AC game this year), or at the expense of fantasy titles, which were extremely popular during the '90s.

There are, of course, as Stinger noticed, a few talented designers capable of surpass genre stereotypes, like Jane Jensen or Chris Jones/Aaron Conners. But they are the minority, sadly, so - even if I highly count on their new games - I'd like, here, to think in more general terms.

What I wanted to asked you is: is there a game, in the foreseeable future, capable - in your opinion - to turn the tide and settle another trend, thus replacing the empire of Crime/Thriller games?