2022 Aggie Award Nominees page 3
Best FMV Adventure
In the 90s we all thought it’s the future, when we played Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight 2 or Tex Murphy games, and stared in awe to live actors in an adventure format. But faster than you can say “Oh my Hell!” the trend faded away with the rise of 3D graphics in the late 90s. And much longer than you can say “Schattenjäger” the genre seems to be making a surprising comeback to the gaming market.
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?
Best Non-Traditional Adventure
A genre that’s remained largely unchanged for decades has a rich history of experimental titles pushing the creative envelope in unique, memorable ways. They don’t “evolve” or “redefine” adventures, but rather expand our understanding of what an adventure can be with their bold vision. Purists may resist, but this award honours those games that stretch beyond traditional genre conventions to offer something completely new, or at least present the familiar in imaginative new ways.
Best Traditional Adventure
Why mess with a good thing? While innovative adventures provide a welcome breath of fresh air, the lifeblood of the genre continues to be the many games that closely adhere to the comfortable, tried-and-true design formulas. Full of inventory and/or logic puzzles, memorable character dialogue, epic storylines and immersive exploration, they may not have changed much since Monkey Island and Myst – or even the original Zork for some – but they’re no less enjoyable when done well.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
Best Adventure of 2022
Best of the best. Or, as Del Boy would say, here’s creme de la menthe of adventure games in 2022.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
Final Notes
To be eligible, a game must have been commercially released in English for the first time in the calendar year 2022.
Any series designed to be episodically completed in 2022 is eligible, even if the series was begun earlier. Conversely, any series begun in 2022 but still needs to be completed is ineligible.
Ports and remakes of commercial games released in previous years are generally disqualified from contention, though updated re-releases of former freeware games are eligible.
Finally, I'd like to highlight Diego from the Adventure Gamers forums, who undertook a lot of efforts to get the Aggies for 2022 going, including the initiative to organize it on the forums and supported getting that effort incorporated as part of the official Aggies for 2022!
