I know Grim Fandango should be left well alone, but part of me would love to see another game set in that world. Perhaps nothing to do with Manny or his extended associates.

It's how it is done that is important. Look at the best novellists, they can make the most mundane tasks - like hanging out the washing - fascinating by the way they describe it. Games aren't at that level yet.

I should bring up the interactive fiction game Bureaucracy by Douglas Adams. You are playing you in ordinary life, and you have to find ways around the obstacles put up by banks, ticket offices, various authorities to get your redirected mail. It is nothing out of the ordinary plotwise, but the way it portrays these situations is great. No one wants to play a game filling out bank withdrawal forms, but Adams makes it incredibly entertaining and challenging.

But that's interactive fiction - it would be harder to do in graphical adventure, though not impossible. The shopping centre section in Space Quest IV comes to mind, which is one of the most memorable parts of the series. (Yes it's got aliens and it's in space, but it could easily be done on earth with humans).

I recommend you play this short, wonderful game, Every Day the Same Dream.

I'd like to see a truely dark psychological thriller with very well developed real flesh and blood characters and an original story filled with twists.

I totally agree - I'd give anything to revisit that world again. Unfortunately I doubt Lucasarts would let me touch that licence. This has always been a fan project that I've been considering ^_^

Some interesting suggestions here - it's nice to see such a variety.

Overclocked was a good game like that. Though personally I preferred the first 2/3 of it to the finale.

Interesting example and all other points. It actually might work, although it requires very good, maybe even exceptional writing, which is rarely seen in modern adventure- or videogames. Again, there might be a suitable form to present it, maybe even the simpliest one like in Peter's example. And this was a really depressing game)

Overclocked is an amazing game, one of my favorites and one of the few games I found actually refreshing but it fell short in the finale and also, the protagonist was very well developed and a real flesh and blood guy but the other characterswere a bit flatter. I'm hoping for a game where all the characters are as fleshed out as David McNamara was. But I agree that Overclocked was a very brave first attempt and a game all developers who want to make a serious AG should at least have a look at.

Agreed. What I really enjoyed in Overclocked is how most of the characters went on to either discuss their positions on violence or to react to it in different ways. Maybe that didn't make everything more realistic, but it certainly made it feel much deeper.

Have you tried Carol Reed mysteries? They are very realistic, yet the stories and the background are quite engaging.

Yes i agree, overclocked was a fantastic game. For once the protagonist wasn't initially someone you fell in love with, but you came to respect despite his flaws.

However, I would say i'm with cyberpunk. I have to admit that i really enjoyed Alternativa, allthough it got a panning from the critics. Anyone else agree?

Hol, you could post a poll with multiple choices, that way you'd have a better idea of people tastes

I would love to play "Fallout: A Post Nuclear Adventure Game".
A great RPG that would maybe work as what Blizzard planed on doing with Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. It already has a great world setting and tons of quality dialouge. It would be interesting to see a P'n'C spin-off :)

Speaking of Warcraft Adventures, don't forget there's an actually released (and pretty much excellent) adventure game set in the Elder Scrolls world - Redguard.

Yeah, worlds created in big franchises from other genres could produce some really interesting results when used for adventure game spin-offs.

I wouldn't mind a Thief: The Dark Project adventure game for instance.

I have to admit that I didn't know about Redguard, I will check it out immediately. And thanks Ascovel I almost went 2 hours without thinking of Skyrim :)

Yes, and I love the Carol Reed games. Although they do feature thefts, murders and so on, which I don't see in my life every day.

Exactly! People aren't like the protagonists in most adventuregames. They don't flow thorugh existence unaffected while cracking jokes. They have emotions and as a result sometimes say stupid things, do studid things, get themselves into trouble and have to wrestle hard to get out and sometimes that isn't even enough. Life is an ongoing struggle. From tiny problems such as there are no clean clothes to wear to big problems such as how do I feed my children? And you can't just solve all the world's problems by solving a few puzzles. If you want to tell a serious story no matter the genre you have to have characters with real emotions struggling to get through and build your story and puzzles around that. Not think of some puzzles, throw in a story and have a character glide through your design while saying some clever lines.

That would actually be a great theme - trying to find food to feed your family in Africa. It is a problem faced by millions every day, yet murders happen to what, <0.01% of the world?

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking of doing - just wanted to get a bit of free conversation on the topic going first :)

Games based in period, especially Victorian era. I'd love a murder-mystery from that time (not Jack the Ripper, though would welcome a good JTR game I guess)

CYBERPUNK, games that deal with the Occult, paganism (Black Mirror series is one of my favorites which deals with some of this)

I'm playing through Dracula 3 right now and I LOVE it, I'd love some more history games that have themes of horror, conspiracy, mystery - and hell, do it in the same technical format - the panoramic node presentation is really smooth, and can really allow a lot of beautiful style. I'd love to see a team really push the limits of this approach.