Adventure Gamers - Forums

This will be a lighthearted, strictly subjective top 10 lists of the themes I love! Let’s start with cowboys and cowgirls!

I’ve loved Western movies since I was a kid, and then I played LucasArts’ Outlaws with incredible Western music by Clint Bajakian reminiscent of works by Ennio Morricone. I fell even more in love with the Western genre. It was only natural that I would make a special place for Western adventure games as well. While not many were released, let’s see how they fare!

10. Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch (2004)

With 33 games so far mounted on their trophy room, it was with their tenth installment that Her Interactive embarked on the Western theme. The game is based on the best-selling Nancy Drew book of all time, The Secret at Shadow Ranch.

9. Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin (1999)

Although it was released in the same year as the movie blockbuster, it’s actually based on the 60’s TV show of the same name. This one fell under the radar for adventure enthusiasts, perhaps due to some action elements, but it’s a full-fledged adventure game with inventory/logic puzzles.

8. 3 Skulls of the Toltecs (1996)

Described at the time as “Monkey Island in the Old West,” it started the series featuring a cowboy named Fenimore Fillmore. We got used to Italian Spaghetti Westerns, and this time, we get to experience what the Spanish had to say on the subject. It had some distribution and localization problems when it was released, with bugs and glitches, but it received an overhaul in 2019.

7. Silverload (1995)

It’s not just cowboys, mind you (but also vampires and werewolves), but high originality and a unique blend of Sergio Leone - Ed Wood put it this high on the list.

6. Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure (2004)

Somewhat better and more approachable than the first game in the series, 3 Skulls of the Toltecs. Highly original graphic presentation in the style of a “3D comic book.”

5. Alone in the Dark 3 (1994)

The Alone in the Dark series is the granddaddy of the survival horror subgenre. The third part was the most puzzle-oriented in the series (still with some fighting/action elements), and it kept a similar eerie atmosphere of the predecessors, now in the Western Ghost Town.

4. Dust: A Tale of the Wired West (1995)

The best thing about the somewhat campy title is the atmosphere that makes you believe you’re part of an old West town, and the gameplay variety it provides.

3. Gold Rush! (1988)

Gold Rush!, with all the standard early Sierra “goodies” like deaths waiting at every corner and even dead-ends, is a testament not only to the California Gold Rush period but also to an era and philosophy in gaming history. With distinct non-linearity and multiple ways to reach California, it was also a little bit ahead of its time.

2. Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine (2006)

I suspect the game was highly neglected due to main hero’s amateurish voice acting when it was first released (Al Emmo received more professional treatment with the Enhanced Edition). Along with Edna & Harvey: The Breakout, it’s one of the most believable and “breathable” game worlds in an adventure game, with tons of possibilities. As it took a lot of inspiration from Sierra, it’s only fair that the first place is given to

1. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (1993)

Praised at the time as the “Blazing Saddles of computer games,” it’s a really funny game that satirizes Wild West clichés but creates an original story and atmosphere along the way. And it really can’t go wrong with Al Lowe and Josh Mandel!

Memorable mentions:

Whispers in the West (2022)

A modern-style Western game that supports online play for up to 4 people. You collect evidence and statements to confront the suspects.

Tequila & Boom Boom (1995)

Old West and Disney-style graphics, with anthropomorphic animals!

Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold (2013)

It was a really promising Wild West game, but the series got canceled after the first episode.

Agree or disagree? Did you play Western adventure games? Did I miss some? Write below!

In the next series - Pirates!!

     

Are there more?

     

luckyloser - 18 March 2024 06:03 AM

Are there more?

Yes!:

Gunslinger (1986), Kenneth Johnson: Wild West (1986), Kultakuume (1986), Murder on the Mississippi (1986), The Legend of Apache Gold (1986), Blueberry (1987), Lucky Luke (1987), Lost Dutchman Mine (1989), The Town with No Name (1992), Wild West Seymour (1992), An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1993), Tex Willer (1993), In Bred with Rednex (1995), Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch (1999), Fenimore Fillmore’s Revenge (2009)

     

Tbh Outlaws is pretty much the only Western I ever enjoyed playing, in any genre. Everything else I tried felt unbearable, with few mediocre exceptions (Fenimore Fillmore 1-2, Al Emmo). I think the setting — while not bad at all — is just too limited for a story-driven puzzle-focused game.

That said, I would call Full Throttle a neo-Western game, just like Breaking Bad is often called a neo-Western series. Both follow the rules and motives originally established by the genre, only the action takes place in different times. But change bikes to horses and kicks to guns, and you will get an excellent Western.

Speaking of history, I much prefer games focused on the culture of Native Americans. In fact I was thinking about making a similar “top-something” thread just recently, hoping to discover more games about those lost cultures.

     

Glad you snuck Alone in the Dark 3 in there - it’s my favorite AITD of the three.

It definitely seems like westerns aren’t as popular as they used to be. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County is a more recent one.

     

Doom - 18 March 2024 07:51 AM

That said, I would call Full Throttle a neo-Western game, just like Breaking Bad is often called a neo-Western series.

I seriously contemplated including Full Throttle in the list (of course, it would be near or at the top), as it does have many elements of the Western genre, along with amazing orange-hued locations. I decided against it as I would prefer to save it for a dystopian rather than a Wild West theme. In a way, it reminds me a lot of the first Mad Max movie.

Doom - 18 March 2024 07:51 AM

Speaking of history, I much prefer games focused on the culture of Native Americans.

That’s really cool. But I think I would have troubles finding enough quality adventure games on the subject.

Charophycean - 18 March 2024 08:13 AM

It definitely seems like westerns aren’t as popular as they used to be. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County is a more recent one.

Definitely a drop in quantity from 2000 onwards regarding adventure games. But the FPS games got a lot of quality ones, with Gun, Call of Juarez and Red Dead Redemption series.

     

diego - 18 March 2024 08:44 AM

I seriously contemplated including Full Throttle in the list (of course, it would be near or at the top), as it does have many elements of the Western genre, along with amazing orange-hued locations. I decided against it as I would prefer to save it for a dystopian rather than a Wild West theme. In a way, it reminds me a lot of the first Mad Max movie.

Fair enough. Although in this case I’m really out of choices I actually remember playing the Wild Wild West demo back when it was released, and it felt curious (although I think it was purely based around shooting things), but I never came across the full game.

That’s really cool. But I think I would have troubles finding enough quality adventure games on the subject.

I was thinking more along the lines of culturally inspired games rather than just games that take place in pre-Columbian times. My picks would include the Aztec game by Cryo, obviously, Legacy of Time (with the El Dorado location), Atlantis 2 (the Mayan location), Broken Sword 2 (the whole Tezcatlipoca plot), Inca 1-2 (also an alternative history and a mix of genres), Grim Fandango (again, totally fictional, but heavily based on Mexican folklore), Shivers 2, maybe some games that send you to the Amazon jungles where you meet local tribes.

     

Doom - 18 March 2024 09:46 AM

I was thinking more along the lines of culturally inspired games rather than just games that take place in pre-Columbian times.

Ohh… absolutely, a lot of quality games can be found (somehow I thought you were speaking strictly United States native Americans). I encourage you to do the list!

     

I’ve played two games with wild west sections in them, Connections: It’s a Mind Game, which had some good puzzles and funny bits, and The Labyrinth of Time, which had an object that if you missed picking up, could lead to a dead end.

This reminds me that I’ve had Dust collecting dust in my collection for years.  I’ll have to fire up my old laptop and give it a go.

     

Lady Kestrel - 18 March 2024 12:26 PM

I’ve played two games with wild west sections in them, Connections: It’s a Mind Game, which had some good puzzles and funny bits, and The Labyrinth of Time, which had an object that if you missed picking up, could lead to a dead end.

Great additions! I believe we can find some more games that have parts inspired or taking place in the wild west, like Runaway 1 with desert and old town near the end.

Also, I found out about Slap Village (2016), that I didn’t play, and another western game is in production - Rosewater: A New Frontier:

     

Can’t disagree with Numbers One and Two on your list. Although others have expressed a dislike of the timed puzzles in FPFP. I haven’t played enough of the others to comment on their ranking, but it seems to me that there in a noticeable drop off between the first two and numbers 3-10.

     

rtrooney - 18 March 2024 07:05 PM

but it seems to me that there in a noticeable drop off between the first two and numbers 3-10.

I think Western is a very specific sub-genre, and when you look at it - ever game genre has 1-2 very well known Western games, and other titles are not necessarily worse, but less known. In FPS genre - it’s Outlaws, Call of Juarez, in strategy games it’s Desperados, in Role-Playing games it’s Read Dead Redemption, and in adventures it’s Freddy Pharkas.

Now, I also remembered a Russian western game that I play and finished:

The Bad, the Ugly, and the Sober

     

It’s good you mentioned Slap Village, It’s a good game but sadly, it was never completed, and might never

     

How about Gold Rush! 2?
Or should we just pretend it doesn’t exist.

     

No need to pretend, it does not