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Demo round-up from The Big Adventure Event

The Big Adventure Event
The Big Adventure Event

They used to say adventures were dead. Now they’re growing like weeds, spreading anywhere and everywhere. Including Steam, for example, where The Big Adventure Event is front and center until January 25th. That means loads of demos to check out, some of them only until the event is over, so don’t miss out on your chance to try these great upcoming or recently released titles!



Aurora: The Lost Medallion – Episode I

Below the frozen surface of planet Eedor lies the technological marvel of the Cave. For more than a decade, it has hosted a self-sustained society of robots and children. The children know nothing of their heritage or of how they got there. Their only guidance comes from the “Voices”, mysterious deities that left a message for each child, a gift that ultimately defines their role in life. Aurora is the only child without a message to guide her. As her free spirit is tested by the controlling nature of the Cave and her need for a purpose grows, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

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Backbone (prologue)

The planet is sprawling with anthropomorphic animal species. Streets of Vancouver are overgrown with ivy and humongous trees, branches and vines piercing through the concrete, and huge flowers nesting on top of the roofs. Howard Lotor is a raccoon private investigator. His mundane life is interrupted with the appearance of a powerful technology that can blur the lines of conventional order and change society forever.

 

Brok the InvestiGator (prologue)

In a futuristic "light cyberpunk" world where animals have replaced humans, privileged citizens live under a dome safe from the ambient pollution while others struggle to make a living outside of its protection. Brok, private detective and former boxer, lives with Graff, the son of his deceased wife. Although he could never elucidate the nature behind her accident, recent events may shed some light on an even more tragic outcome … one that may be linked to their own existence. Will they be able to withstand the threats of this corrupted world and face their own destiny?

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Chicken Police

Sonny Featherland and Marty MacChicken were once legendary detective partners, but time had passed them by. Sonny is a burnt-out, alcoholic ex-cop, who spends his days in an abandoned hotel, while Marty hides behind the facade of a star detective, but slowly he’s losing himself. Now they’re back together again on a case bigger and much more dangerous than anything they’ve ever encountered before.

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Chinatown Detective Agency (Day One prologue)

Become the detective in Chinatown Detective Agency: Day One. Amira Darma is new to the PI game, and you’ll need to use real-world detective skills to help her solve cases, manage her agency and unravel a global conspiracy in this globetrotting neo-noir mystery.

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The Corruption Within

A family camping holiday comes to an abrupt and terrifying end when your wife and two children suddenly disappear. With no way to call for help out in the wilderness, you head towards the only source of civilization for miles around, a grand old mansion by a lake. This may not be the sanctuary you seek, however, as within its walls you soon find yourself drawn into a bigger mystery than you ever imagined.

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The Crimson Diamond

The Crimson Diamond is a text parser mystery adventure game where you play as amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple. It is a cozy mystery that encourages reading and engaging in the story over devious arcade challenges. Eavesdrop on conversations to learn more about the eccentric cast of characters who find themselves gathered at Crimson Lodge. Explore the lodge and its environs to evaluate the diamond claim, and maybe solve a mystery or two along the way!

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Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit

Milda, a smart, good-looking girl from Chicago is in her room Skyping with her friend Dana when she hears a knock on the door. The postman hands a large envelope to Milda and leaves. It’s an official letter from a law firm informing Milda that her grandfather has passed away and she has inherited his house and all of his belongings as she is the last living relative. Milda’s life is about to make a surprising and adventurous turn.

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The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark

You may have thought the spooky goings on in Twin Lakes ended with the final case in Season 1, but things are about to get a whole lot weirder with a new anthology of paranormal investigations to fumble your way through.

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Don’t forget me

In the near future, the world is at peace and all nations are managed by a single government, made possible by the advent of increasingly influential mega-corporations. This led to all citizens getting a chip implanted directly into their brains to permanently retain their memories. However, it is impossible to share memories or save them on an external medium unless you go to an illegal extraction clinic. You will control Fran, an amnesiac with no past, her memory chip being totally blank. She works with Bernard, an outlaw memory technician who took her in, and together the two will uncover a conspiracy that jeopardizes the well-being of all mankind.

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The Drifter

Mick Carter's been drifting a while now, never staying in one place long, moving from job to job. Forced to return to his old hometown, he witnesses a violent murder, is pursued by mysterious armed men, and killed. And that’s just the start of Mick’s problems. His consciousness ripped away, thrust back into his own body seconds before his death. Framed for the murder he witnessed, tormented by his own past, and haunted by a feeling that something followed him back from the other side. Follow Mick as he’s sucked headfirst into a mad web of shadowy corporations, murder, and the thousand-year obsession of a madman.

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Forgotten Fields

Forgotten Fields is a game about a struggling author who travels back to his childhood home one last time before it’s sold off. Visit old friends, relive memories and experience bursts of inspiration in this nostalgic game about the passage of time.

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Framing Dawes: Part One – Thyme to Leave

Framing Dawes is a dark modern-day fairy tale where you play the role of Bay Dawes, a teenager suffering from memory loss who is thrown into compelling adventure with her dead pet rabbit Dink to not only learn who is framing her for the murder of a missing boy, but also to rediscover her identity and her sanity.

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Ghost on the Shore

Ghost on the Shore is a story exploration game where you play as Riley. Craving adventure, she escapes her abusive father to sail a rickety boat across the high seas. When one night a storm forces her to drop anchor at the deserted Rogue Islands, she encounters the ghost of Josh, dead for as long as he can remember. He gets trapped inside Riley’s head and is unable to let go until she helps him remember his life. And death. To make it out without losing her mind, Riley will have to uncover the darkest secrets of the islands.

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Growbot

Nara is a student growbot on her first day of captaincy training on board a space station. Before she can learn more about her new home's ecosystem of alien flowers and strange creatures, an attack by an unknown force infests the station with large and quickly growing crystals. Communication is cut off, and so she ventures out of her room in search of her captain. Along the way, she must make new friends, fix the station's strange machinery, and discover the origins of the crystalline force spreading throughout the station. 

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The Hand of Glory

The pursuit of a deadly serial killer plunges detective Lazarus Bundy’s career into a chasm with no way out. In a desperate attempt at a comeback, Lazarus decides to secretly investigate the disappearance of Elke Mulzberg, the young descendant of one of the most influential families in the city. From the sunny shores of Miami to the lush Italian hills, he will have to use all the resources at his disposal in order to reveal the truth behind the kidnapping. And by that time, he’ll be past the point of no return.

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INCANTAMENTUM

In this a mystery adventure game inspired by tales from English folklore, a mysterious letter brings noted barrow-digger Thomasina Bateman to the isolated village of Bewlay, England. Her excavation of Hob’s Barrow, however, will reveal more than she ever bargained for…

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Inspector Waffles

Fluffy, a rich industrial in Cat Town, is found dead at his house. Is it murder? Did he kill himself? Inspector Waffles is the one called to solve the mystery.

 

Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack

Bumming out at work, missing his ex-girlfriend Julia, something strange is going to happen to Justin… he is about to switch places in time with a caveman. Meanwhile, Julia has moved on with her life and agents from the future have gotten wind of unauthorized time traveling.

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Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice

Slip back into the leather pants of self-titled heartthrob and try-hard ladies' man Larry Laffer as he sets out to find his true love, the divinely delightful Faith. Now that Larry has become acquainted with the modern age and all of its contemporary gadgets, he must use his smarts – and ignore his desires – as he sets out to settle down once and for all.

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Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Set in an alternative 1920s where humans don’t exist, you play as Lord Winklebottom, the gentleman giraffe, aided by his hippo companion Dr Reginald Frumple. You are invited to an isolated island only to find your host, Admiral Gilfrey, is dead! Suspecting foul play, you will search for clues, solve puzzles and interrogate suspects in order to solve the crime!

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Lunar Axe

After a major earthquake in the city, the ruins of an old building collapse and you end up trapped inside a large abandoned house. Find a way out and unravel the mystery of the inexplicable tremors, and meet the guardian spirit of a mystical artifact and learn its relation to recent events, before it's too late.

 

Mechanic 8230

Help Mechanic find his robot friend RO-2 and unveil secrets about this destroyed world.

 

Monorail Stories

Silvie and Ahmal travel each day on the same monorail, but at different times and opposite directions. They will meet different people and make different choices, but they don’t know they are sharing a common story. This short minimalistic adventure game is more about choices and interactions than mind-bending puzzles, focusing on ordinary people in extraordinary, everyday stories about commuting, human relations and destiny waiting to be told.

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Mutropolis

A sci-fi archaeological post-apocalyptic adventure. In the 25th century, great humankind achievements, such as the pyramids or Humphrey Bogart’s movies, are completely forgotten. Henry and his nerdy team of archaeologists have been working hard for years on the ground, digging for treasures with the extremely rare hallmark “Made in China” and watching weird Indiana Jones documentaries. Until some dog-looking-god comes to ruin everything.

 

Nine Noir Lives

Welcome to Meow Meow Furrington. Capital city of cats, cartels, and crime. A city that will just as soon claw your eyes out as lick your face. Explore the hangouts and high points of this feline furtopia. Discover characters both kooky and dangerous. Solve the mystery of a murder that threatens to spill into the city like an overturned saucer of milk and ignite a war between the powerful Montameeuw and Catulet families.

 

Nine Witches: Family Disruption (prologue)

During World War II, a mysterious SS division is using an evil curse in a desperate attempt to change the course of war. As the wheelchair-bound Professor Alexei Krakovitz and Akiro Kagasawa, players will explore Sundäe, a Nazi-oppressed village on the northeast coast of Norway, and experience the Astral Plane, the nexus between the earthly world and the hereafter as you help lost souls to continue their journey.

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Not Another Weekend

You are a bellboy, Mike Melkout, working at a high-class hotel. Mike may seem crazy, or even peculiar or he might as well be. Nevertheless, he has only one plan. A dark plan. To throw everyone out in just one weekend. A humorous point-and-click adventure game, set in the ’80s, as a tribute to the pop culture of that era.

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One Dreamer (prologue)

This is the story of Frank, a failed VR game developer, who inadvertently inspired two young kids to follow in his footsteps. Program objects, solve coding puzzles and discover the reason why Frank became a game dev in this emotional prologue of One Dreamer.

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Oniria Crimes

Oniria Crimes is an investigation game that takes place in Oniria, the Land of Dreams. Help Detective Santos and Inspector Torres investigate crime scenes as part of the Rounders, a secret society that pursues crime in dreams.

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Rosewater

It's been several years since Harley Leger left New Bretagne and headed west, hoping to leave the past behind and make her way as a freelance writer. After arriving in the sleepy border town of Rosewater, a seemingly trivial assignment for the local paper leads to the hunt for a missing man's fortune—and the story of the century. Harley and her ragtag posse embark on a harrowing journey across Western Vespuccia, facing bandits, rebels, ruthless oil barons, and many more obstacles on their quest for fame and riches.

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Saint Kotar (The Yellow Mask prologue)

Invited to attend an exhibition of rare medieval art, a university professor, museum curator and investigative journalist travel to Saint Kotar in late October 2006. Soon they find themselves dragged into a macabre series of murders, allegedly related to Satanic worship and witchcraft. These dreadful acts compel them to dig deep into the town’s hidden secrets, and in doing so they must struggle not only against the unknown but against themselves, ultimately uncovering the vile truth of their own past as well.

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Sarawak

A university professor is found dead on the steps outside your hotel. The police arrest someone very close to you for his murder. The dead professor has left behind a web of secrets that you alone can unravel. Sarawak is a narrative adventure game that takes you from the dreaming spires of Oxford to the jungles of Borneo as you make interactive choices and solve puzzles in a story that blurs the boundaries between narrative games and conventional literature.

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Slender Threads

“Discover scenic Villa Ventana, the hillside community of empty stores and emptier people.” Not the ideal backdrop for a bestselling novel, but as every writer knows, inspiration can strike in the unlikeliest of places. Within hours of Harvey Green’s arrival, that inspiration takes the form of foreboding dreams, impossible coincidences, and hidden motives that set Harvey on the path to uncovering a chilling, fateful truth. Guide Harvey through Villa Ventana as nefarious, unseen forces exert increasingly more sway over him and the town’s residents.

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Star Seeker in: The Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff

Good news: magic is real! Bad news: magic is highly illegal. Star Seeker is a wizard and you must solve a wizard crime or else get thrown in wizard jail by the police. In this short point-and-click adventure, collect evidence and use it to clear up the useless detective's many confusions – and don't worry about getting it wrong. Every hare-brained idea you can possibly pitch to the detective prompts unique dialogue!

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Teacup

Teacup is a shy and introverted young frog who loves drinking tea and reading. The day before she is to host a tea party at her house, she realizes she is completely out of tea, and thus must venture into the woods around her to find the herbs she needs to restock her pantry.

 

Theropods

Theropods is an old school adventure game that combines puzzles with a cinematic story, colourful characters, playable action sequences and a retro aesthetic. Oh, and lots of dinosaurs!

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Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery

You are a private detective. After receiving a letter from your father, asking for help, you go to the small town of Redcliff but find the city completely empty. Where have all the inhabitants gone? What happened to your father? This is what you have to find out. Explore the city, find clues, solve puzzles, and open locks to advance your investigation.

 

TOHU

On a small distant world floating in ether lives an unusual little girl who keeps a secret: she can turn into a Cubus – her alter ego, who can carry big things and perform big deeds. They spend peaceful days in their cozy house, until one day someone breaks the Sacred Engine, the heart of the planet. All living beings are in danger now and our brave friends decide to start their journey to find someone who can fix the Engine and save a planet from dark chaotic terror.

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Watch Over Christmas

Cisco, a twelve-year-old boy, is smart, witty and occasionally a little stubborn. This year on December 24th, the night before Christmas, a strange call comes through his radio asking urgently for help. In his effort to assist, he stumbles upon a strange glow to follow, only to find out that Santa has been abducted. The holidays are at stake, so Cisco sets out on a quest to save Christmas.

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When the Past Was Around (prologue)

Like many young people in their early twenties, Edda is lost. Not literally, but she has lost her way in the journey to achieve her dreams and lost her way in the journey to find love. Then she meets a mysterious man – part owl, part human – who helps rekindle her passion and introduces her to love, but will also teach her about heartbreak. Players will need to interact with the environment and solve puzzles in a series of surreal vignettes to help Edda find her way, unraveling the secrets between her and her lover, the secrets which she used to know.

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Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town

Ten years have passed since the mysterious disappearance of Willy’s father, the famous archaeologist Henry Morgan who went missing while searching for the lost treasure of Kidd the pirate. But then a strange old letter arrives in the mail from his father, urging him to go to Bone Town and follow in his footsteps.

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You can download these games from Steam, but be aware the downloads can be large, so it might take a little while to download if you're still running on slow broadband speed. You can compare new broadband deals if you're looking to upgrade your package.

 

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Referenced Adventure Games

All Aurora: The Lost Medallion games (series/episodes)
All Aurora: The Lost Medallion games (series/episodes)
All Backbone games (series/episodes)
All Chinatown Detective Agency games (series/episodes)
All Chinatown Detective Agency games (series/episodes)
All Darkside Detective games (series/episodes)
All The Hand of Glory games (series/episodes)
All Inspector Waffles games (series/episodes)
All Leisure Suit Larry games (series/episodes)
All One Dreamer games (series/episodes)
All One Dreamer games (series/episodes)
All Tiny Room Stories games (series/episodes)
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