Adventure Gamers - Forums

I think we would all agree the US is responsible for most of the adventure classics in the past, certainly through the 80s and 90s. Throughout that era I rarely played anything that wasn’t American and if you look at the Top 100 they dominate it, including the entire top 10. Of course, there have always been great games produced all over the world (especially the French with Coktel Vision, Kheops, Microids, Infogrames) but the US has arguably always been the hub or centre.

Has that changed? Is America still the centre of adventure gaming?

The recent reviews list show games from Italy, Russia, Malaysia, Serbia, Germany, and Spain. That’s pretty impressive, despite most getting low scores. Germany is becoming a machine for producing traditional, no frills but very professional games through Daedelic, KingArt, Deck13 and Cranberry. Japan is doing interesting things bringing unique adventure gameplay to consoles and Spain, Sweden and Czech Rep are all becoming small hubs for AG development.

BUT popularity is important and the Half a year of adventures poll thread shows two US games leading 2012 easily - Resonance and The Walking Dead. And the last 4 years of Aggies from 2008-2011 a US game won best game 3 times. That suggests that although AG development is becoming decentralised, and if this site is anything to go by, we still love American games the most.

Thoughts?

Hey hey now, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (nr. 4 on top 100) isn’t American! But yeah, the 80’s and 90’s in general belonged to the US.

Looking at todays games there’s rarely anything coming out of USA I’m interested in, though there always seems to be like one or two major releases every now and then that trumps most other titles. The king of adventures however I see as Germany’s Daedalic who cranks out awesome game after awesome game. No other studio worldwide is as productive or has as high a production value as them these days in my opinion.

I would tend to agree and I would say yes they had the most success’ but you shouldn’t necessarily prejudge who made the single best. Number one because it’s subjective but number 2 because (and I’m not blaming america for this or claiming that america is self-absorbed) even though a lot of titles were successful in america does not mean they were in the rest of the world so you would really have to look into which countries played them the most world wide which most likely be america (let’s face it) but to get the bigger picture.

My two cents being from Europe the 3 games I hear non-stop from even people who aren’t into adventure games are Monkey Island, Beneath a steel sky and Broken Sword Shadow of the templars. So here in europe (at least in the 90s) I think Sierra may have sold the most over all but revolution and lucasarts/lucasfilm games had the adventure game crowns in terms of consistent quality.

Fully back germany is the hub of adventure games at the moment. (Currently trying to learn German so that I have more options when it comes to games)

diego - 15 August 2012 09:25 PM

Simply - no, it’s Germany. I’m not talking pure quantity here, but quantity IS a product of popularity. Adventure games are simply one of the most popular genres in Germany/Europe through all of the 00s.

That said, I love USA game history/mentality. England invented football, USA created adventure games. But you can have each year the best adventure coming from USA, that tell us nothing of the genre popularity because Adventure game sites choose, logically, only adventure games, and USA is still very big, or the biggest game market, such that the quality even of a still niche genre will show up eventually.

Which German games would you use to make your point? Would any make the top 20? 50? Because that’s important. I like Jack Keane, Whispered World and Ceville but I’m not sure they would for me.

Kasper F. Nielsen - 15 August 2012 08:53 PM

Looking at todays games there’s rarely anything coming out of USA I’m interested in, though there always seems to be like one or two major releases every now and then that trumps most other titles.

Yes, me too. I think the main change is simply more notable titles are coming out internationally, and less from the US.

Kasper F. Nielsen - 15 August 2012 08:53 PM

The king of adventures however I see as Germany’s Daedalic who cranks out awesome game after awesome game. No other studio worldwide is as productive or has as high a production value as them these days in my opinion.

Daedelic is no doubt an adventure machine, but productivity isn’t the only issue. The thread I mentioned suggests we didn’t think all that much of Daedelic’s contributions this year. I think Book of Unwritten Tales was the closest German game to winning the Aggie last year but Portal 2 edged it out.

At the Moment it surely is Germany and Europe in General (Lace Mamba Global) publishing UK retail versions. Also Europe publishes Adventures the traditional way (Pendulo Studios is an exception), while the Adventure Dynasaurs of the US are all focused on the Kickstarter. The big US Adventure companies of the past (Sierra, Lucasarts, Access, Legend, Dreamcatcher, The Adventure Company etc.) do not exist any more (for adventure gamers) on the contrary now the big names at the Moment are Pendulo Studios (Spain), King Art Games (Germany), Daedalic (Germany), Lace Mamba Global (UK), Senscape (Agustion Cordes,Argentina) and several smaller indipendent european groups. Wadget Eye Games is the American exception I would say….

diego - 15 August 2012 10:32 PM

Oscar - 15 August 2012 09:36 PM

Which German games would you use to make your point? Would any make the top 20? 50? Because that’s important. I like Jack Keane, Whispered World and Ceville but I’m not sure they would for me.

The way you asked the question does not imply “place in the history” but a current trend. Of course German adventure games can not compete with the US game catalogue. But Brazil and Argentina are not the current World Champions in football, even if they might still produce world’s best players.

Well, at least they’ve won world cups! If someone asked me which country was the ‘biggest’ country in adventure gaming right now I admit I would probably say Germany for want of a better option, but if they then asked me to recommend a few of their greatest games or list some of the masterpieces they have produced, I would be stuck. If we were discussing American games it would be easy.

That is my biggest hesitation in putting Germany on the podium. I suppose if I liked Book of Unwritten Tales as much as some people do I could uphold that game as Germany’s überspiel or masterpiece, but I think they can do a lot better so I’m still holding my breath.

But if anyone is to prove a point, it would still come to a subjective taste: Is Moment of Silence better than most of US adventure games of ‘04? How many mysteries in ‘09 are better than The Black Mirror 2? Do you prefer episodic Telltale games to a Daedalic’s full-fledged?

Yes, of course it’s subjective, though I was asking you personally. I just thought that if, in your opinion, Germany is ‘hot’ right now it wouldn’t be simply because they produce and consume the most stuff. And I’m not sure if even that’s true.

Telltale Games had better days. After the messy non adventures Jurassic Park and The Walking Dead the Adventure gaming world is not more focused on them. They have announced in the Past a series of King’s Quest games. If they ever become a reality then this will be good for them. There is no Doubt that the European games are better at the moment. Exception:Wadget Eye Games and Resonance. There is not much to discuss actually. These games might not be the all time classics like the games of Lucasarts and Sierra (and I agree that these are the best adventures ever)but they (and their developers) are the present, the future and the reason for a new gamer to focus on adventure games.

Germany have the greatest chance of becoming a leader in creating high quality and interesting adventure games. Lately I have noticed that most interesting U.S. games have their story set in Europe, so maybe Europeans finaly are taking their opportunities.

a country would be capital of ag if it had 2,3 or more “rival” companies that would compete and influence each other, thus creating games with distinctive design and quality.i dont believe that this is the case with any of these countries today…