Adventure Gamers - Forums

In no particular order (but Perfect Tides was my favorite)

Nightmare Frames
Perfect Tides
NORCO
Syberia: The World Before
Return to Monkey Island

Honorable Mentions:
AI The Somnium Files - nirvanA initiative, Stray, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, Yotsume God ~Reunion~, Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space, As Dusk Falls, The Quarry

Yet to play (but I think may be good):
Beyond The Edge of Owlsgard, Lucy Dreaming, Cats & The Other Lives, Lost In Play, Unusual Findings, The Devil in Me, Case of the Golden Idol, IMMORTALITY

I’ve played exactly one (1) adventure game released in 2022, and that was Amos Green’s Final Repose, which was released January 1st I believe. Like pretty much all Carol Reed games it was a nice and quick diversion, nothing more. But I guess that will have to be number 1 on my list!

The current flooding of the adventure game market brings back memories from the mid-1990’s. So many games are released that the few really good ones get lost in the noice. I have bought quite a few of them though and hopefully I’ll get around to playing them one day.

Veovis - 16 January 2023 10:12 AM

The current flooding of the adventure game market brings back memories from the mid-1990’s. So many games are released that the few really good ones get lost in the noice. I have bought quite a few of them though and hopefully I’ll get around to playing them one day.

Truer words have seldom been spoken.

I find quite literally every day interesting adventure games, both old and new.
Even some more obscure stuff from the 90’s flood still keeps popping up every now and then.

I try to buy as many as I can, but I always run out of planned money to spend than adventure games to buy. I have well over 1000 adventure games on wishlists in different stores, not to mention all the freeware that is coming on AGS, Itch.io, and GameJolt to mention a few places.

Obviously there’s nothing to complain about that, except that so many games go unnoticed even among most dedicated adventure fans.

Agree, and there all kind of the same. Mostly Made by indy devs who throw out buzz words usually like this new game is inspired by Monkey Island, Grim fandango, broken sword, Gabriel Knight etc… Some of them are actually pretty good, but I would say a good 80% of them are derivative and poor imitations. So the good ones do get lost in the shuffle and as as a player myself it makes me kind of jaded.

The other 2 problems are, since adventure games are on the whole pretty cheap to make, the entry point Is very low, which can be a blessing or a curse. I also think a lot of new indy devs who make adventure games would rather just make TV shows or movies because a lot of the games are basically a walking Sim and they forget the gameplay almost totally, bc either they’re not interested in that aspect or not capable of implementing competent gameplay.

Jdawg445 - 16 January 2023 04:05 PM

Agree, and there all kind of the same. Mostly Made by indy devs who throw out buzz words usually like this new game is inspired by Monkey Island, Grim fandango, broken sword, Gabriel Knight etc… Some of them are actually pretty good, but I would say a good 80% of them are derivative and poor imitations.

This is so true. Also, anything that describes itself as “Lynchian” (basically means either a bad pastiche of Twin Peaks or “it’s a bit weird”), and anything with a title like “FahrtKøk - a pirate hunting adventure”.

PlanetX - 15 January 2023 10:28 PM

Yet to play (but I think may be good): Lost In Play

Oh man, do play it. It is fantastic, a delight. Made me feel like a 12 year old again booting up Sam n Max or Indiana Jones for first time: this exquisite feeling of being transported to a cartoon, to a different world, realised in detail. Every little bit is gorgeously animated in this game. Almost magical! No game has really drew me in like this in adulthood. It’s how graphical point n clicks originally made us feel.

It’s not a regular AG experience, not about the puzzles or plot… But just feeling like a kid and being transported to this delightful world.

Well wow, the 2022 is gone. What a busy year. Unfortunately didn’t have time to play much, but here is my list to recommend.

Instead of top 5 I got only top 3.

Nine Noir Lives
Silvernode Games is a newcomer and I was a bit skeptical at first, though everything was nicely balanced though. Not too complicated, simple and has a nice flow. Story wise positively long and intriguing.
You play as a detective in kitties world, a lot of kitties, but the game has a very good feeling and vibe. I’m not into cats but if you do, you should play it.
Syberia - The World Before
I think it needs no introduction.
The Silent Sky Part I
Another newcomer developer. You play as a 12 yo boy, Call me old, but I really liked the slow pace of this game. You play as a 12 yo boy looking for his dog, and then get carried away. Obviously. Despite its unpopularity something really drew me and I’m glad it did, I really enjoyed this game. It has its weaknesses but very recommended. Shamely short though. Hopefully continues.

Then I played bunch of demos, and many of them were very good but unfortunately never got around to play full versions of them.

I usually play catch up with games a bit older and I miss out on a lot of games because I only have a Mac newer than Catalina, but for me It was:

- Return to Monkey Island - Well it’s Monkey Island so I’ll always play it. It wasn’t a bad game, just the expectations are always too high for this series

- The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow - This game was gripping and the puzzles are good and I liked it a lot, but to be honest, I don’t like endings like that

- Voodoo detective - This game was actually surprisingly good and I enjoyed it. Its flaw is that it’s short and easy. The main reason for this is that the environment is small. There aren’t many areas to explore and wonder what to do, so It’s pretty obvious and linear to solve the game

- The case of the Golden Idol - This was my favorite. I was very surprised. I actually felt the urge to come back to the game and play more. The puzzles are just hard enough. The art is very well done and hilarious. I love the era it’s in. I love the mystery about the secret society. The plot twists are great.

- Born Punk - This game was decent. I mostly put it here because I love cyberpunk games and I didn’t play that many 2022 games truly. The puzzles are not bad and I did finish the game so there is that. It just feels abit generic and stereotypical. It tries to be funny, but it falls flat for the most part. Virtuaverse is a lot better