Adventure Gamers - Forums

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.

IMMORTALITY

Not For Broadcast

Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?

First Date : Late To Date

The Gallery

Best Non-Traditional Adventure

For a genre that’s remained largely unchanged for decades, it’s actually got a rich history of experimental titles that push 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.

IMMORTALITY

The Case of the Golden Idol

Stray

FAR: Changing Tides

NORCO

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.

Return to Monkey Island

Lucy Dreaming

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow

Syberia: The World Before

Perfect Tides

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.

Syberia: The World Before

Perfect Tides

NORCO

Stray

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow

Return to Monkey Island

Lucy Dreaming

IMMORTALITY

Not For Broadcast

Vote in 3,2,1…

My Aggies Aggie Awards 2022 winner is voted.

So, this is what a voting should look like:

Best Story
1.
2.
Best Writing – Comedy
1.
2.
Best Writing – Drama
1.
2.
Best Character
1.
2.
Best Gameplay
1.
2.
Best Concept
1.
2.
Best Setting
1.
2.
Best Graphic Design
1.
2.
Best Music
1.
2.
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1.
2.
Best FMV Adventure
1.
2.
Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1.
2.
Best Traditional Adventure
1.
2.
Best Adventure of 2022
1.
2.

If you’re unsure about a category, or didn’t play enough games you CAN still vote, or you can leave out a category completely, but voting for the best adventure is mandatory.

I’ve played 16 adventures that were released in 2022. Ten of those deserve a vote from me. No votes for the music category.

Best Story
1. Pentiment
2. IMMORTALITY
Best Writing – Comedy
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. Return to Monkey Island
Best Writing – Drama
1. IMMORTALITY
2. Pentiment
Best Character
1. “The One” (IMMORTALITY)
2. Finn (Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard)
Best Gameplay
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2. The Past Within
Best Concept
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2. The Past Within
Best Setting
1. Pentiment
2. Stray
Best Graphic Design
1. Pentiment
2. Boxville
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1. IMMORTALITY
2. The Excavaton of Hob’s Barrow
Best FMV Adventure
1. IMMORTALITY
2. Who Muted Uncle Marcus
Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2. IMMORTALITY
Best Traditional Adventure
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. //
Best Adventure of 2022
1. IMMORTALITY
2. The Case of the Golden Idol

Thank you very much for doing this, diego!

Maybe add the categories and games therein to the first post?

CaliMonk told us today great news that there will be official Aggies coming this month - and that the staff is interested in incorporating the list/nominees we gathered in this thread as part of the new Aggies. I don’t know yet in which form, but I’m happy if we, forum members, could be of help for that matter.

For that reason, it would only make sense to wait for the official one and then vote, so we can put this thread on freeze. This community showed me once again what a great force it is, in what is tough time for me, and I’m really thankful to everyone who helped and supported, and that the AG staff recognized the work even though they’ve been already preparing Aggies.

Now, I’ll take my popcorn, sit on the couch, and wait to vote. Cheers!

I’ve had some good conversations over the years with Ivo. And, while this is great news that there is going to be an “official” Aggie process, I think this episode points out the fact that there is something wrong with the AG management system.

After several days of speculation regarding the status of 2022 Aggies, an admin member implied that a management-supported Aggie was unlikely.

OK! I think everyone accepted that as gospel. And then various forum factions tried to figure out how to create a 2022 Aggie program without management support. And Diego and Karlok and some others did a damn good job of creating a member-supported Aggie platform. Up to the point where game lists were created for game categories that mirrored what existed in previous Aggie sessions. Several people actually started voting, thinking that this was the real deal.

Well is was/is the real deal.

Today, CaliMonk informs us that he has been working on the 2022 Aggies program for months without letting anyone know he was doing so. His excuse for that is that nobody asked.

Inexcusable!

I suggest that he put all his plans in a “Here’s the 2023 Aggie strategy file.” And let Diego continue to do what he started.

Management totally failed to do what needed to be done when it needed to be done.

Membership took control of a program. Management should let the program procede.

In the meantime, can we use this as a discussion thread? Since we don’t get to see each others’ votes in the official voting, it might be fun to compare, contrast and discuss our choices here.

Here are my votes:

Best Story
1. NORCO
2. Syberia 4

Best Writing – Comedy
1. Not For Broadcast
2. Lucy Dreaming

Best Writing – Drama
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

Best Character
1. Mara Whitefish (Perfect Tides)
2. Magdalene (Pentiment)

Best Gameplay
1. Lucy Dreaming
2. NORCO

Best Concept
1. Not For Broadcast
2. Beacon Pines

Best Setting
1. NORCO
2. Stray

Best Graphic Design
1. Pentiment
2. Return to Monkey Island

Best Music
1. Lost In Play
2. Return to Monkey Island

Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1. IMMORTALITY
2. South of the Circle

Best FMV Adventure
1. Not For Broadcast
2. IMMORTALITY

Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1. Not For Broadcast
2. Pentiment

Best Traditional Adventure
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

Best Adventure of 2022
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

The category which took me the longest to choose was, surprisingly, gameplay. I thought 2022 was a great year for stories and writing, not such a great year for gameplay. My picks were nothing special, with simple, traditional but intelligent puzzles which I enjoyed playing. Certainly nothing groundbreaking, but perhaps not everything needs to be.

I also found picking a “best adventure” difficult. That’s because most of the 2022 games I played had at least one defect. With Lucy Dreaming it was the graphics. With Pentiment it was the (non-existent) puzzles. With Not For Broadcast and Immortality it was the gameplay.  I think the only game I found to have good graphics, writing, and puzzles was NORCO, so that made my #1, and it was that and Perfect Tides which affected me the most emotionally.

There are a few games I still haven’t played - The Case of the Golden Idol, Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard, The Entropy Centre - and maybe once I get around to playing those some of my choices will change. But overall, I’m happy with what 2022 gave us.

Best Story
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

Best Writing – Comedy
1. Not For Broadcast
2. Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Best Writing – Drama
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

Best Character
1. Mara Whitefish (Perfect Tides)
2.

Best Gameplay
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2.

Best Concept
1. Not For Broadcast
2. The Case of the Golden Idol

Best Setting
1. NORCO
2.

Best Graphic Design
1. The Quarry
2. Syberia: The World Before

Best Music
1. FAR: Changing Tides
2. Stray

Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1. Voodoo Detective
2. Nine Noir Lives

Best FMV Adventure
1. Not For Broadcast
2.

Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1. NORCO
2. The Case of the Golden Idol

Best Traditional Adventure
1. Perfect Tides
2. Syberia: The World Before

Best Adventure of 2022
1. NORCO
2. Perfect Tides

Best Story
1. Syberia 4
2. Norco
Best Writing – Comedy
1. Return to Monkey Island
2.
Best Writing – Drama
1.Syberia 4
2. Norco
Best Character
1.Kate Walker S4
2. Dana Rose S4
Best Gameplay
1. Norco
2.
Best Concept
1.
2.
Best Setting
1. Norco
2.
Best Graphic Design
1.Syberia 4
2.
Best Music
1.
2.
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1.
2.
Best FMV Adventure
1.
2.
Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1. Norco
2.
Best Traditional Adventure
1. Syberia 4
2.
Best Adventure of 2022
1. Syberia 4
2. Norco

you managed to include it sideways in this thread, well done.

my reason is the worst: i associated it with some drama exploitation-type adventure games with similar sounding names. for this i repent.

though, in my defense, the content warning didn’t help:

Pentiment contains public executions, stylized gore, suicide, references to abortion, frequent strong language, references to sexual assault, and references to sexual activities. Small parts of the game also reference notable alcohol consumption and incidental ergot-induced hallucinations.

regardless, i dug a little deeper on account of your recommendation and i found a very intriguing game and a lot of shining reviews.

this round of voting is different from the one on the main page, so if i’m not mistaken, you could still vote for it as the best game of the year!

diego - 13 February 2023 11:29 PM

(...) you can vote for any game from the complete (eligible) list if you think it’s a worthy contender for a specific category. I’m sure there will be plenty of situations like this, because I constrained myself to just 5 nominees per category. Please vote for Winner and Runner-up in each of the categories! Either here, or via PM to me. The voting will last for 2 weeks.

 

Terabin - 19 February 2023 04:30 AM

Many thanks to all involved in this important Aggie’s project. My fav game of the year was Pentiment and I’m just a little curious why this game was up for a few categories but didn’t get elevated as a nominee for best game of the year given it’s extensive media coverage as a darling of the genre. It was one of my faves and I very well may have voted for it.

Thanks all. It WAS a great year for Adventure Games!

Pentiment is an astonishing game - very, very stylish. If there was an Aggie award for Best Style category I would pick Pentiment - the color palette, the turn of the pages as you move to another location, the medieval font… everything screams attention to details. The best writing/narrative is certainly a very strong and important category, and Pentiment excels in that regard. It relies too much on dialogue as a game mechanic, for my taste, and that’s one of the reasons I haven’t put it in the best adventure group. But that’s just my opinion, and I can be wrong - that’s why you can vote for it for the Best Adventure category, doesn’t matter it’s not in the nominees.

Ok, time to vote!

Best Story
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. NORCO

Best Writing – Comedy
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. Lucy Dreaming

Best Writing – Drama
1. The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
2. NORCO

Best Character
1. Thomasina (The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow)
2. Stan (Return to Monkey Island)

Best Gameplay
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. The Case of the Golden Idol

Best Concept
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2. NORCO

Best Setting
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow

Best Graphic Design
1. Syberia: The World Before
2. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard

Best Music
1. Voodoo Detective
2. The Case of the Golden Idol

Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
1. The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
2. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard

Best FMV Adventure
1.
2.

Best Non-Traditional Adventure
1. The Case of the Golden Idol
2. NORCO

Best Traditional Adventure
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. Lucy Dreaming

Best Adventure of 2022
1. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard
2. The Case of the Golden Idol