Hardest adventure you've beaten without cheating?
 

This is a fun question to answer: what is the most difficult adventure game you have beaten without using a walk through or any out-of-game hints? Answer honestly!

I decided to ask this question while playing Secret Files 2. I tried not to cheat but one of the puzzles in that game just didn't make any sense, even after looking at the solution I still don't get it. If you beat that game without cheating, congratulations! You are a master at solving difficult, almost entirely illogical puzzles! But I feel bad when I cheat, like I just failed the whole game.

My answer: Dracula Origins. If I remember right I beat that without using a walk through it was pretty difficult.

For me and the wife, we did Barrow Hill together over a weekend. Plenty of wine was consumed...

Probably one of the RHEM ones. But I can't tell you which one was the hardest. It either comes to you, or it doesn't.

There were a few games in 7th Guest and 11th Hour which were really hard and I had to play dozens of times to win. Safecracker too.

Very hard to beat without walkthrough is Lost in Time. But I was glad to make it.;)

Probably RHEM 2, with Riven as close second.

Dark Seed. I'm so proud of this one! (see my avatar)
Even though, for one of the car radio messages, admittedly I had to look up "to turn yourself in" in the dictionary since I'm not a native English speaker ;)

Broken Sword - including its goat puzzle. :D

I did MI 1-3 without cheating too, plus some others but MI 1/2 has some pretty tough parts. As I grew older however I always seem to use a guide/hint at least once, you know, out of impatience. It's a really bad habit as I loved how I used to feel when I wouldn't use guides and managed to tackle everything myself.

I got pretty far into the first Discworld as well! I can't remember what stopped me in my tracks for a few years till I had access to a guide but yeah, I got pretty far so damn, I was patient back then! lol

Deponia must be the hardest adventure game I finished without any help, probably because of the very satisfying puzzle design. I skipped one of the mini games though, and solved another merely by accident.

Most definitely Riven
And all the other Myst games

Riven. I never felt so smart as when I solved the final puzzle in that one with no help.

It was probably Zak McKracken for me. It took me about two months to complete and I wasn't playing anything else at the time.

This was long before I even knew about the existence of walkthroughs...

Yep, Riven without a doubt.

Props to erodola for Darkseed. That was one tricky game and I needed a walkthrough just to be sure I remembered to do everything for the day. I can't remember how many times I had to start over!

I finished very few games without at least one look in a walkthrough.
Hardest was probably King's Quest 5 and a few easier ones like Broken Sword 1 and Dark Fall 1. I didn't understand Riven even using a walkthrough for just about every puzzle (I got very close though with the first Myst and Reah with only one lookup each).

Christ, I think Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is probably the ONLY adventure game I've ever played where I didn't consult a walkthrough or the UHS or had a friend help me...
Patience, not my virtue... :D

DotT. Is DotT hard? It's long at least... It is hard for me to judge if a game is difficult when I've managed to beat it on my own. I also don't like/play Myst-likes, which tend to be the hardest.

How about Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel? A friend was complaining that he found it hard. Was that hard?

More generally, which 3rd-person games are considered to be real hard? The Feeble Files. Hollywood Monsters is also fresh in my memory... What about Sierra's output?

Riven without cheating for sure but because that was before the Internet i can say i was saved instead at somepoint near end with a copy of Gaming magazine that i was able to peek through in one shop without even the need to pay for or buying it afterall ......

yeah!... that copy was open and didnt had a that plastic covering .. :D
...Saved!

Barrow Hill is the only game I've played without having checked a w/t or having to check a hint in the UHS.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I might have managed Blackwell Deception all by myself. I can't remember anything I got stuck on. Not completely sure though...

I think Shivers1. Although, I was part of a discussion group on TEG, (The Electronic Gamers Forum,) back in CompuServe days. So, I might have picked up a hint or two there. But never used a walkthrough, and the game had no integral hints. Don't know whether that copunts or not.

Alright, let me be the first one to say it... None.

If I am able to finish a game without looking at a walkthrough then I don't consider it difficult enough to mention in this thread.

I couldn't imagine finishing Riven without peeking at uhs-hints.com once or twice. You guys have better self control than I.

Thanks! That was a two-day full immersion where I started over and over like one hundred times. The toughest part for me was to get to the neighbor's garden DAMN I hated him.

But really enjoyed it nonetheless, not like Operation Stealth which I played the day before and was IMPOSSIBLE to complete without looking at the walkthrough at least once (elastic band anybody?) :crazy: