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Top 1st person AGs released in this decade?

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I am trying cover what i missed thru the past 8-9 years of 1st person adventures since they always came 2nd after my ambition to 3rd person adventures, but now i am lost don’t know where to start from, can you help?

     
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There are various types of 1st-person games. You have the puzzle-heavy, solitary games in the vein of Myst; the story-driven, puzzle-less “walking simulators”; games that play like 3rd-person-perspective games but happen to be 1st-person; and a billion casual games (which I won’t cover; see here for suggestions).


Myst-style

The Eyes of Ara: Fine game with solid puzzle design. A lot of pixel-hunting, though.

Forever Lost: A trilogy of inventory-heavy 1pp games on iOS. They’re pretty good.

JULIA: Among the Stars: Really good sci-fi game with a mixture of inventory puzzles and self-contained ones. Interesting story. Recommended.

Obduction: Cyan’s still got it. Absolutely loved it. (Just make sure to take a screenshot of the maps you find and print them on paper; navigation is a bit rough otherwise!)

Prominence: Sci-fi story. The game starts strong but holds your hand too much for my taste, and basically solves itself.

Quern: Fantastic Myst-style game, with some inventory puzzles as well. The puzzle design is excellent.

The Room series: Great escape-the-room style games. They’re on tablets/phones, with PC versions for a few of them (1 and 2, I think).

The Turing Test: Portal-style game with a stimulating sci-fi story. It’s good, if you like this kind of game.

The Witness: Pretentious, mind-numbingly repetitive, thoroughly joyless. One of my worst gaming experiences ever. Stay away. (Most people disagree with me on this, I know.)

Year Walk: Gorgeous, creepy game inspired by Nordic folklore. A bit lighter on puzzles. Short, but pretty good.

XING: The Land Beyond: Extremely good. All environmental puzzles (no inventory). Gorgeous environments, brilliant puzzle design. Highly recommended.


Walking simulators

I don’t really care for those, so I’m not the best person to ask. I’ve played Gone Home; thought it was OK but nothing more. Other games in that vein are Dear Esther and What Remains of Edith Finch (I haven’t played either). I think Firewatch also belongs in that category; I haven’t played it yet, but I intend to.


Almost 3rd-person games

Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect: I absolutely love the series, and I backed the Kickstarter enthusiastically. Unfortunately, the game is so bad I started it 3 times and never managed to find the willpower to finish it. Avoid.

The Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games: They keep getting better. Testament had a bit of a dumb story and too many logic puzzles, but it’s still enjoyable; Crimes and Punishments and The Devil’s Daughter put the focus on the investigative parts and are both really, really good. Also, you can play in 3rd person if you want.

Danganronpa series: Some weird, funny, violent, outrageous murders to solve. Also, features a psychotic robot bear! Some of the cases are too obvious, and can drag for far, far too long, but the games are worth playing. (I’ve played 1 and 2 and am installing 3 right now.)

Zero Escape trilogy: Escape-the-room puzzles mixed with a crazy, twisty storyline that keeps you guessing at all times. Love, love, love these games (though I was a tiny bit disappointed with the third one’s conclusion).

     
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I would add:

SOMA
Stories Untold
Miasmata
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker
FRACT OSC
The Sea Will Claim Everything

     
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Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 06:52 AM

Quern: Fantastic Myst-style game, with some inventory puzzles as well. The puzzle design is excellent.


XING: The Land Beyond: Extremely good. All environmental puzzles (no inventory). Gorgeous environments, brilliant puzzle design. Highly recommended.

 

Oscar - 02 July 2018 07:31 AM

I would add:


Stories Untold


Miasmata

tHANKS, GUYS! i did my research around those titles (youtube, reviews) and those 4 really have gotten my attention and ambition, i am starting with XING, downloading it right now, right away..

hope my 1st person adventure to play since a while (is good enough);  4-5 years away, my last experience was with Prominence!, and maaan! i hated it.. but XING looks alright, Miasmata i will roll it too, tho i know it is not for puzzles oriented people like me, but i just loved its artwork and animation.., its world in general!! Thumbs Up  Thumbs Up

     
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To Walking Simulators I would add Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture - outstanding graphics and outstanding game.

@Kuru - as usual a great summary but…

Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 06:52 AM

The Witness: Pretentious, mind-numbingly repetitive, thoroughly joyless. One of my worst gaming experiences ever. Stay away. (Most people disagree with me on this, I know.)

Couldn’t disagree more! Sits comfortably in my top 10 games of all time (all genres), perhaps top 5. Each to his own though. Smile

However, I completely agree on the recent Sherlock Holmes games, I just can’t understand why the last couple get such a bad press, even amongst adventure gamers.

     

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Intense Degree - 02 July 2018 10:37 AM

@Kuru - as usual a great summary but…

Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 06:52 AM

The Witness: Pretentious, mind-numbingly repetitive, thoroughly joyless. One of my worst gaming experiences ever. Stay away. (Most people disagree with me on this, I know.)

Couldn’t disagree more! Sits comfortably in my top 10 games of all time (all genres), perhaps top 5. Each to his own though. Smile

I genuinely do not understand what people see in that game. To me, it was like high school maths all over again: 5 minutes of excitement as you grasp a new concept, followed by 5 hours of tedium as you go through 30 variations on the same boring exercise to demonstrate that you have indeed grasped the concept. At least high school didn’t make you sit through new-agey bullshit about the parallels between Buddhism and relativity in between the maths problems. Blegh.

Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

     
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Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 11:20 AM
Intense Degree - 02 July 2018 10:37 AM

@Kuru - as usual a great summary but…

Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 06:52 AM

The Witness: Pretentious, mind-numbingly repetitive, thoroughly joyless. One of my worst gaming experiences ever. Stay away. (Most people disagree with me on this, I know.)

Couldn’t disagree more! Sits comfortably in my top 10 games of all time (all genres), perhaps top 5. Each to his own though. Smile

I genuinely do not understand what people see in that game. To me, it was like high school maths all over again: 5 minutes of excitement as you grasp a new concept, followed by 5 hours of tedium as you go through 30 variations on the same boring exercise to demonstrate that you have indeed grasped the concept. At least high school didn’t make you sit through new-agey bullshit about the parallels between Buddhism and relativity in between the maths problems. Blegh.

Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

Even if that’s all there was to the game (it wasn’t), there’s nothing wrong with intellectual masturbation if that’s your thing. How many games are based on the same formula of “kill enemies of increasing difficulty, and repeat x1000”?

     
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I would add horror 1st person adventures (with lots of hide and seek) as a sub-genre. I’m not a fan of those but I’m sure many people in this forum would contribute with a long list.

And I would add The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide in the “walking simulators” sub-genre. Although, they are in their own genre imo. And among the best game experiences I’ve had.

     
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Luhr28 - 02 July 2018 11:53 AM

Even if that’s all there was to the game (it wasn’t), there’s nothing wrong with intellectual masturbation if that’s your thing. How many games are based on the same formula of “kill enemies of increasing difficulty, and repeat x1000”?

Better be careful - Skyrim is one of his favorite games Tongue

     
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The “The Room”-series is really great and if you are not averse to walking simulators “Everbody’s gone to the rapture”, “What remains of edith finch”, “the unfinished swan” and “Firewatch” are all good picks imo.


I second the Stories untold recommendation aswell!

     

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Kurufinwe - 02 July 2018 11:20 AM

I genuinely do not understand what people see in that game. To me, it was like high school maths all over again: 5 minutes of excitement as you grasp a new concept, followed by 5 hours of tedium as you go through 30 variations on the same boring exercise to demonstrate that you have indeed grasped the concept. At least high school didn’t make you sit through new-agey bullshit about the parallels between Buddhism and relativity in between the maths problems. Blegh.

Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

To be honest, I found the game to be quite nuanced in terms of the puzzles. You start an area with between some and very little idea how to deal with the puzzles. As you say, 5 minutes (often more than that for me) of excitement as you grasp the concept and mentally you give yourself a pat on the back as you rocket through the first few puzzles.

But then comes a subtle change in the puzzles, the formula is mixed up a little, or at least aspects of the new concept(s) that I hadn’t considered present themselves – concepts I had just congratulated myself on understanding – and I have to work out how what I worked out at first is still true for the remainder of the puzzles.

I’ll grant you that not all areas do that equally well, but I think they all do it, and many of them do it exceptionally well.

The whole process is one of:

1. Work something out;
2. Feel good about it;
3. Realise that isn’t enough!
4. Work more things out;
5. Rinse & repeat.

What makes the game so special for me is how that process fits into my interpretation of the game. Warning to all, what follows is hugely pretentious, even for me!

The premise of the game is this: Jonathan Blow knows I am completely rubbish at puzzle games. The game does not exist to test whether I might be any good at them, but to show me how slow I am at understanding and learning. Now obviously my first response is, ‘OK, I’m maybe not an expert at puzzle games, but I’ve played quite a few in my time and actually I think I’m reasonably good at them’…

I’ve always been jealous of people who love ‘action’ games because of the Dark Souls series. I wouldn’t enjoy them because all the serious fighting stuff isn’t for me, but I love hearing other gamers talk about how punishing the game is, how everything is beatable but you have to be so precise and correct about every movement – in some ways it is torture but it is rewarding beyond belief. Well, in many ways, I think of the Witness as an adventure/puzzle game equivalent of that.

After the first intro section I find myself on an island which is completely indifferent to my presence. There are puzzles around which achieve an end (no spoilers here) when taken together, but there is very little in the way of hints, nothing for me to pick up, no-one for me to talk to etc. The Island might react to the puzzles, but it couldn’t give two figs for me! I am more than welcome to try and complete them but the remnants of the civilisation I can see and the fabric of the island itself don’t care. My reward is not to save the world, or to recover my kidnapped loved one, or clear my name from murder charges, or any of the usual AG reasons. I can follow the steps, take the journey if I can, only if I am good enough.

At the beginning I think I’m pretty good at puzzles, the first few aren’t difficult. As I go through each section I see that every puzzle I can see on this island is logical and can be worked out logically – well great, this seems right up my street. But the process above has me realising that my ‘triumphs’ at each stage are just ripples on the ocean. I honestly feel pleased with myself each time but the Island doesn’t care - deeming them such tiny amounts of progress that they’re barely even worthy of notice, let alone congratulations. Even hours in, I spend so much time stumped on a new puzzle element, only to try again another day and get it quickly.

Then – and I don’t know how far you have played so I’ll be careful – just when I think everything is safe and I have understood the main thrust of the secrets of the island, comes the big revelation. BAM. All I can do is sit there in shock. This is the biggest revelation in the whole of gaming for me. I was so sure, so confident having solved so many unbelievably difficult puzzles…(no spoilers here)… and then Jonathan Blow quietly and calmly shows me that if I have finally finished messing around with the simpler bits of the island, where I had my hand held the entire time, I can have a go at some of the harder bits.

Not only that, but it is something that dawns on me, that I realise as I walk around the island rather than just being told, something I have to be clever and inquisitive enough to work out… I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it again!

Anyway, apologies all for the wall of text, but that is what the fuss is about for me.

 

     

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If we’re allowing a slightly broader definition here, how about The Talos Principle? It’s gorgeous, has well-constructed puzzles ranging from ‘easy peasy’ to ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’ and adventure-quality writing from the magnificent Jonas Kyratzes.

Some of the puzzles are in real time and require some speed or dexterity, but if Portal is close enough to an AG then so is this Smile

     
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Phlebas - 03 July 2018 05:11 AM

If we’re allowing a slightly broader definition here, how about The Talos Principle? It’s gorgeous, has well-constructed puzzles ranging from ‘easy peasy’ to ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’ and adventure-quality writing from the magnificent Jonas Kyratzes.

Some of the puzzles are in real time and require some speed or dexterity, but if Portal is close enough to an AG then so is this Smile

Good thing i popped into this thread again, i had completely forgotten about the Talos Principle, never got around to finishing it even though i was really enjoying it. Need to get on that when i get home from work Smile

     

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No one’s mentioned The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Great game.

     
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SoccerDude - 03 July 2018 02:49 PM

No one’s mentioned The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Great game.

Agreed! It was really, really good.

     

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Danganronpa is a first person adventure? Do you mean like Phenix Wright/Ace Attorney for example?
I’m very interested in this series, I like most japanese adventures with a good story. I think I would have fun with Danganronpa but never had the time and opportunity to play it…

Regarding the object of this thread:

JULIA Among the Stars
XING
Haven Moon
The Room
Obduction (Honestly I wasn’t a big fan but I must admit that it’s certainly one of the best 1st person AG in the decade)

I would probably include Quern as well but don’t have it yet.

It’s fun to follow your discussions guys! I don’t often react to your threads but I read many of them Grin

     

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