Adventure Gamers - Forums
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread
Reader’s Choice Aggies 2010-2019 Thread
Credit goes to panpil and chrissie for the idea.
Eligible games are any adventure published in the last decade. List your choices according to the categories below and we will tally up the votes after the 2019 Aggies.
Best Story:
Best Writing – Drama:
Best Writing – Comedy:
Best Graphic Design:
Best Setting:
Best Concept:
Best Gameplay:
Best Character:
Best Animation:
Best Music:
Best Sound Effects:
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
Best Traditional Adventure:
Best Non-Traditional Adventure:
Note: The easiest way to view games released between 2010-19 (it can be so easy to forget) would be through the Aggies lists of nominees. For convenience I’ve put links below to each year.
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
The idea is exclusively panpil’s - I only suggested a thread & you’ve set it up Vehelon
Anyway it’s going to take some thinking about with so many games released in the last decade.
I could give this a try, of course if you ask me the same questions tomorrow, the answers could be different, because in some cases I had to choose between several games. And I haven’t played every game made during those years either.
But anyway, here we go…
Best Story:
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (2015)
- Very unique and very good.
Best Writing – Drama:
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (2015)
- The game has very good graphics too, but its greatness comes from writing and story.
Best Writing – Comedy:
The Darkside Detective (2017)
- If you have things like Enid Blyton’s ghost that is only visible through a Viewmaster in the game, you have a winner!
Best Graphic Design:
The Darkside Detective (2017)
- Not only one of the funniest games ever made, it also looks brilliant with its (fake) pixel art style.
Best Setting:
Murder (2015)
- To quote my favourite game reviewer (=me): “Science Fiction. Cyberpunk. Pixel arts. Point-and-Click! Japan!!! Is it even theoretically possible to go wrong with that combination? No, of course not, everybody knows that much.” Now it’s not a very good game, sadly, some say it’s not even a game because there’s not even a single puzzle in the game, but hey, the setting really is great!
Best Concept:
Sidekick High (2017)
- A twisted escape room scenario with one hour time limit, great puzzles, story with several characters and voice acting, and offered as freeware, this game can’t be recommended enough.
Best Gameplay:
The Darkside Detective (2017)
- It’s funny, it looks great, but it is also very enjoyable to play, with short self-contained chapters that don’t have any adventure-annoyances.
Best Character:
Rufus from Deponia (2012-)
- Some like him, some hate him, but in both cases he has stirred some emotions, already in four games.
Best Animation:
The Librarian (2018)
- A very difficult category to decide, but in The Librarian the pixel art animation is fantastic for a 15-minute long freeware game.
Best Music:
Jurassic Park: The Game (2011)
- It makes the game feel like the real Jurassic Park from the very first moments.
Best Sound Effects:
Jurassic Park: The Game (2011)
- Let’s turn the microphone over to T-Rex: “RAAAAAAWWRR!!!!”, yeah, feels like Jurassic Park for sure.
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action):
Back to the Future: The Game (2010)
- It’s Michael J. Fox! With no Michael J. Fox!! With Michael J. Fox in a supporting role!!! And you can always count on Christopher Lloyd.
Best Traditional Adventure:
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (2015)
- Dead Synchronicity: The Winner Comes Today, and the win is also well earned. It’s not perfect, but certainly among the best of the decade no matter how you look at it.
Best Non-Traditional Adventure:
Late Shift (2017)
- OK, so no puzzles, but it’s a great FMV game with no looping, acting is good too, so what’s there not to like? (OK, there’s things like no save options in the game, but let’s discuss those some other time.)
Best Story: The Walking Dead (Hon. Mention: Technobabylon)
Best Writing – Drama: The Walking Dead (Hon. Mention Life Is Strange Ep.3: Chaos Theory)
Best Writing – Comedy: Paradigm (Hon. Mention: D4 Dark Dreams Don’t Die)
Best Graphic Design: Samorost 3 (Hon. Mention: The Last Window: The Secret of Cape West)
Best Setting: Newton - Technobabylon (Hon. Mention Baranour - Syberia 3)
Best Concept: Rewind Ability - Life Is Strange (Spiritual Possession - Ghost Trick)
Best Gameplay: Thimbleweed Park (Hon. Mention Technobabylon)
Best Character: Clementine - The Walking Dead Series (Hon. Mention: Eli Beckett - Unavowed)
Best Animation: Detroit: Become Human (Hon. Mention: Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure)
Best Music: Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken (Hon. Mention: Life Is Strange)
Best Sound Effects: Ghost Trick (Hon. Mention: Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken)
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): The Walking Dead (Hon. Mention: Blackwell Epiphany)
Best Traditional Adventure: Technobabylon
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: The Walking Dead
Best Story: Gemini Rue.
Best Writing – Drama: Memoria
Best Writing – Comedy: Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet.
Best Graphic Design: Lilly Looking Through.
Best Setting: State of Mind.
Best Concept: Stasis.
Best Gameplay: Black Mirror II.
Best Character: Sadja Alkbeer.
Best Animation: The Dream Machine.
Best Music: The Journey Down.
Best Sound Effects: I don’t know cs it doesn’t matter, anyone can buy a good sound Effects Library, but if I go for Sound Design: instead; Dreamfall Chapters
Best Acting: Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island
Best Traditional Adventure: The Night of the Rabbit
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: I only played a couple, so i have no opinion in this category.
Best Story: SOMA
Best Writing – Drama: Ether One
Best Writing – Comedy: Thaumistry: In Charm’s Way
Best Graphic Design: The Dream Machine
Best Setting: Hadean Lands
Best Concept: Stories Untold
Best Gameplay: Return of the Obra Dinn
Best Character: Dr Habit (Smile For Me)
Best Animation: Gorogoa
Best Music: Botanicula
Best Sound Effects: The Norwood Suite
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): The Pillars of the Earth
Best Traditional Adventure: Obduction
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: The Witness
But readers choice already covers past decade,so only winner games of categories can be eligible for decade’s best.
“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”
So what you’re saying Gabe is that in theory you’ve just got to decide your favourite from the 9 winners of each category from the reader’s polls from the last 9 years?
I see the reasoning, it does make it a lot simpler for sure & the results would be interesting.
But, members (aka readers who may have participated in the polls) come & go so it would be interesting also to see how the results from this ad hoc poll would compare with input from newer members e.g. the host of this thread.
Best Story: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World. (With its massively complex, expectations-defying, highly emotional plot spanning ~50 hours, it’s not for nothing it became the inspiration for most of later famed visual novels - and I think it’s still better than its imitators, including Muv-Luv Alternative, Clannad and Steins;Gate.)
Best Writing – Drama: Blackwell Epiphany (The final installment to deal with ghosts and their issues is also the most profound at it, with many heart-wrenching scenes.)
Best Writing – Comedy: Broken Age
Best Graphic Design: Aviary Attorney
Best Setting:
Best Concept: A.D.M.S. from YU-NO (essentially a more advanced and challenging version of Life is Strange’s time travel)
Best Gameplay: Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (Frogwares perfected their sleuth formula here, only marred by the minor inclusion of QTEs)
Best Character: Chloe from Life is Strange
Best Animation:
Best Music: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World. (Read more about composer Ryu Umemoto at Gamasutra to get a sense of the level of intellect we’re dealing with - he was a math prodigy and constructed his music by following mathematical patterns symbolic of his religion, yet it still resonates emotionally! He’s the only video game composer I’ve ever heard of who might be even better than Nobuo Uematsu. The remake has old and new versions of the music as options, use old because new has many blundered remixes.)
Best Sound Effects:
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (Kerry Shale as Holmes is incredibly charismatic)
Best Traditional Adventure: Blackwell Epiphany
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World. (The degree of uniqueness of the gameplay and being from a completely different Japanese evolutionary branch distinct from Western adventure games IMO makes this an appropriate title for this category.)
I’m including YU-NO because it was listed as eligible for 2019. I’m also leaving as blank categories that I know too few appropriate games for.
deleted
Sometimes, when I clean the rooms, I get a little curious and… erm… you know… snoop through our guests’s stuff. - This Bed We Made
So what you’re saying Gabe is that in theory you’ve just got to decide your favourite from the 9 winners of each category from the reader’s polls from the last 9 years?
I see the reasoning, it does make it a lot simpler for sure & the results would be interesting.
It also brings the huge problem that in case somebody has played a good number of games, but not a single one of those pre-selected ones, that person can vote nothing at all. And somebody who has played less, only few games here and there, is statistically very unlikely to have chosen any of the games that were pre-selected.
In any case, this should probably be discussed in some other context, because in this thread the OP says: “Eligible games are any adventure published in the last decade.”
Best Writing – Comedy: Sam and Max Season 2
Based on the quoted OP, this game cannot be nominated, because it was released in 2008, the preceding decade.
It’s supposed to be a fun thread so please just treat it as such - there are no rules except you just stick to within the decade when nominating whatever you like! (Hey, it does have to be an adventure game though)
Sorry Vehelon, it’s your thread so I’ll just shut up.
deleted
I just caught your choices Karlok & a couple of them were already on my radar before considering my own choices which I haven’t posted just yet.
Seriously you didn’t just delete your post because you made a mistake on the year of 1 game surely? We can all make that mistake.
It would be good if you put your choices back - your gaming knowledge & opinions are far more respected than you know.
Here are my choices for the whole decade. This was harder than I thought
Best Story: The Walking Dead
Best Writing – Drama: The Walking Dead
Best Writing – Comedy: Broken Age
Best Graphic Design: Broken Age
Best Setting: Tales from the Borderlands
Best Concept: Stasis
Best Gameplay: The Walking Dead
Best Character: Lee Everett (The Walking Dead)
Best Animation: Tales from the Borderlands
Best Music: Broken Age
Best Sound Effects: Jurassic Park The Game
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): The Walking Dead
Best Traditional Adventure: Broken Age
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: The Walking Dead
I guess we are not going to discuss here whether the decade is 2010-2019 or 2011-2020 lol.
My choices are:
Best Story: To the Moon
Best Writing – Drama: The Walking Dead
Best Writing – Comedy: Paradigm
Best Graphic Design: Broken Age
Best Setting: Armikrog
Best Concept: Life is Strange
Best Gameplay: Technobabylon
Best Character: Crispin - Prmordia
Best Animation: Detroit: Become Human
Best Music: The Journey Down
Best Sound Effects: Jurassic Park: The Game
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): The Walking Dead
Best Traditional Adventure: Technobabylon
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: The Walking Dead (sorry Life is Strange, it felt like choosing who you love more, mom or dad)
Currently translating Strangeland into Spanish. Wish me luck, or send me money to my Paypal haha
Best Story: Dangaronpa
Best Writing – Drama: Whispers of a Machine
Best Writing – Comedy: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
Best Graphic Design: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
Best Setting: Dangaronpa
Best Concept: Dangaronpa
Best Gameplay: Kathy Rain
Best Character: Kathy Rain
Best Animation: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2.
Best Music: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
Best Sound Effects: Kathy Rain
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action) Kathy Rain
Best Traditional Adventure: Kathy Rain
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: Dangaronpa
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread