What the
Phoenix Wright series and
Professor Layton showed me over the last couple of years, and will hopefully continue to show, if the upcoming
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and
Sloane and Mchale's Mysterious Story (next "puzzle game wrapped in a story" from the Layton developers) continue the trend, is that you can make an adventure-style game with:
a) Broad, mass market appeal, and
b) Strong sales in both Japan and the West
...whilst still using relatively outdated technology (the Nintendo DS - the most under-specced of all the current consoles, be it home or handheld) and graphics that are nowhere near "state of the art" (albeit with superb art design/direction of very different kinds to maximise the potential of the platform, in the two examples above).
Intriguing plots/storylines, appealing characters, great art direction and good use of available, well-known tech=big wins for adventure, whether most of the people playing these games in the broader market know that's what genre it is they're enjoying or not.
People have been proclaiming the adventure genre dead for so many years it's a bit of a joke, really; in much the same way that people have been proclaiming PC gaming dead ever since the NES took the larger slice of the gaming market.
In another ten years time, people will probably still be proclaiming both dead, while each will continue along, possibly in different forms, or with differing levels of overall popularity, but nonetheless very much alive.
Personally, if there are only two or three great games in the broader definition of the adventure genre released each year, be it on DS, PC, PS3 or whatever, I'll be happy. With all the other games I play, in various genres/styles, that will be more than enough to maintain my interest and take my $$$.
And even if adventure games (as most people define them now) were to be reduced further in popularity/status to the point where they mirrored Interactive Fiction, i.e. commercially non-viable and created by enthusiasts largely for their own pleasure, I'd still be happy with that. Every year, quietly and under the mainstream radar, there are always at least a handful of great text-only games written that compare favourably with, or even exceed, the likes of Infocom at their peak.
I don't actually think that will be the case any time soon though, as the aforementioned DS games indicate that there is very much a market/audience right here, right now, for narrative-based games with little or no action content.
The king is dead, long live the king, I reckon.
