[TheH2s]

I was reading the Top 100 and got to the blurb about Riven. I beat Riven many years ago but it got me thinking...was that the hardest adventure game ever? For me it was but I typically don't play the ones that are super hard. I only played Riven because it was a sequel to Myst. I loved every minute of it but it was hard.

So what is the hardest adventure game of all time?

[Adventurere No.1]

Riven... Aahhh Riven, i am afraid to call it the hardest cuz this game is much much more than to be only discribed this way, but hard yea its hard (just to answer your Question) but i always call it the Mother of all games .
i will add to this that its games were every sound,view puzzle is connected i guess you know it.
it even hard to replay.
but lets talk about the hardest game, some games tend to be just hard with illogic puzzles and those were alot in the time of old school adventures. but anyways i cant think of more enjoyable hard game than Riven.
if you thought of sumthin plz tell me

[Ascovel]

Riven was indeed hard with deep complex puzzles, but from what I remember entirely fair.

Black Dahlia is another huge game with puzzles quite a bit in spirit of Riven.

The original Discworld from 1995 is also a game often mentioned when difficulty is discussed. It's a highly non-linear very long game with huge amounts of locations available at the same time and a lot of crazy puzzles. Though again, I'd say it's mostly in good fun.

But something filled with both absurd dead-ends as well as completely off-beat puzzles and unexpected deaths like Leisure Suit Larry 2 could be a good contender for - literally - the hardest adventure game ever. Though in a sense exactly opposite to what is currently considered good puzzle design and giving the player a fair chance.

Oh, and I heard there's no person alive who did beat Maupiti Island without a walkthrough... But it's a pretty obscure title.

[jbhypno]

For me the Rhem series get my vote for the hardest. I always get stuck when I play it.

[TheH2s]

Originally Posted by Ascovel

Riven was indeed hard with deep complex puzzles, but from what I remember entirely fair.

Black Dahlia is another huge game with puzzles quite a bit in spirit of Riven.

The original Discworld from 1995 is also a game often mentioned when difficulty is discussed. It's a highly non-linear very long game with huge amounts of locations available at the same time and a lot of crazy puzzles. Though again, I'd say it's mostly in good fun.

But something filled with both absurd dead-ends as well as completely off-beat puzzles and unexpected deaths like Leisure Suit Larry 2 could be a good contender for - literally - the hardest adventure game ever. Though in a sense exactly opposite to what is currently considered good puzzle design and giving the player a fair chance.

Oh, and I heard there's no person alive who did beat Maupiti Island without a walkthrough... But it's a pretty obscure title.

Yeah I probably should have clarified. When I say hardest I'm more talking about the games that are hard but fair. They work within the game and with the player, not against him or her. If a game is hard for the sake of being hard I wouldn't make that a part of this list.

[colpet]

Definitely the Rhem games, and I would add Uru. Uru had a lot of physical challenges (I'm thinking in particular of Ahnonay).

[Lucien21]

Having played Riven very recently I wouldn't say it was the hardest game I've ever played.

It's certainly a tough game, no denying that.

There are certainly some pain in the ass puzzles like the fire marbles puzzles.

[Dara100]

Yep, Riven was hard, but keeping notes made it all come clear to me by the end and good thing too, as we didn't have internet access until much later so no walkthrough for me. It was very rewarding though and I'm sad that there aren't more games of its like. Great game.

The Rhem games are fair but hard (or impossible) if you don't take notes and make maps. I got halfway through the first one without them but then got confused when I had to backtrack. Not as rewarding for me just because the beautiful environments were absent.

Black Dahlia wasn't that hard for me, don't know why.

Uru's Ahonay was a bear but beatable finally and I love the game. I'll play anything Cyan puts out and mourn it's (almost) passing.

Didn't finish any of the Discworld series because the "humor" just wasn't my cup o' tea.

Can't think of any more at the moment but I'd give Riven the prize.

[TheH2s]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

...the fire marbles puzzles.

This sent a shiver down my spine. I hated that puzzle!!

[Arach]

It´s a very challenging game that´s for sure,though as far as I can remember the game from the series that gave me the biggest trouble was Myst IV.

[tsa]

Myst IV had some very hard puzzles and a few timed thingies that made the game almost impossible to play for me. Riven was hard but more logical. Every time I play Riven I get stumped on one puzzle and when I see the solution I think: O yes, it's actually quite simple.

[Datadog]

Try "Codename: Iceman". I know people who can't even beat it with a walk-through. There's sequences that rely heavily on generating random results, and the game will actually kick you out for cheating if you try the time-tested "Restore" method when gambling.

For actually difficult puzzle-puzzles and not just games with bad programming or timer bugs, I keep thinking of Discworld myself. I remember requiring a walk-through for half the puzzles in the first game alone. The game just got larger and larger, my inventory just kept piling on, and my goals got more and more abstract... for a game where you can't die, it's exceptionally frustrating.

[tsa]

But Dsicworld wasn't fun because there was no logic to the solutions of the puzzles.

[Fien]

I had a printed walkthrough within arm's reach and I was very proud when I solved a problem all by myself. But I always felt after consulting the WT that the puzzles actually made perfect sense in the Discworld universe. I love Discworld! The second one wasn't nearly as good. It tried too hard to be funny. IMO, IMO, IMO.

You've just got to love it when you get two different descriptions of a door, depending on whether you enter or exit a room.

[Veovis]

Obsidian and all the Rhem games are very challenging but completely fair, just like Riven.

There are harder games, such as Myst IV, Black Dahlia and Discworld, but they are hard because of bad puzzle design. IMO that is. Still rather good games though.

[Dara100]

Ah yes, Obsidian. Still one of my favorite games. It was hard because half the time (most of the time?) I wasn't sure what I was meant to do. It wasn't linear for me as I couldn't see the cut scenes because my graphics chip wasn't up to it, so I played and finished it blind. What a revelation when I replayed it on a new machine!

[Ascovel]

Originally Posted by tsa

But Dsicworld wasn't fun because there was no logic to the solutions of the puzzles.

Sure there was. I managed to beat it when I was 12 and my understanding of English was quite limited. The only time I got stuck beyond hope and used a WT was to find the sword in Act III. And even that puzzle I wouldn't say was really unfair. I just didn't understand how the racks worked (perhaps the game's fault).

I admit the golden banana is a bit of a mean pixel hunt.

I also never did understand why that butterfly controlled the weather (despite solving the puzzle by analogy). Perhaps it was some reference to the books?

[Origami]

Hardest adventure game? Probably definitely Maupiti island. =)

The rule of thumb basically is: If you can finish an adventure game on your own, then by default it's less harder than Maupiti Island :p

At least...that's the general concensus. I am on a mission of finishing that game without using a walkthrough.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Ascovel

I also never did understand why that butterfly controlled the weather (despite solving the puzzle by analogy). Perhaps it was some reference to the books?

There's a scientific theory called the butterfly effect, with the idea that very small events like a butterfly flapping its wings might cause a chain of events leading to big changes in the weather.

[Fien]

Originally Posted by Oscar

There's a scientific theory called the butterfly effect, with the idea that very small events like a butterfly flapping its wings might cause a chain of events leading to big changes in the weather.

Sure, most people know that, but please tell us, do you often consider using that fact in the solution to a seemingly ordinary puzzle in an adventure game?