Adventure Gamers - Forums

So we are six moon-cycles away from 2014 (can you believe it?) and it’s been an interesting ride. Before we know it we’ll be reading the 2013 Aggies and as we all know the second half of the year always gets more attention because it’s so fresh in our memories, so why not take stock now? Let’s share what we thought about the first half.

Highlights:

Kentucky Route Zero: Two episodes in and this looks like my main GOTY candidate. Which is odd because I’m not big on puzzleless games. Somehow this absolutely clicked with me, the bizarre dream-like plot, the atmosphere, the gorgeous minimalist style. I just want to hug it

Night of the Rabbit: Characters are for me what make or break a Daedelic game: in E&H they were amazing, ANB a bit dull and Deponia somewhere in between. In NOTR they are wonderful. I know it borrows a lot from Alice in Wonderland and various childrens books, and I’m not going to attack it for that. A magical ride for me.

Disappointments:

The Cave: Maybe I expected too much. The real teaser was that the good bits were really good. But overall too short, too easy, too casual, and could have been so much more. Come on Ron, you made Monkey Island! You can do better.

Cognition: A mild disappointment for me, mainly because I had my eye on it during its development. Not bad by any means but by the end of episode 2 I realised that it wasn’t for me - the graphic style, characters and puzzles. Lots of people are enjoying it and that’s great to see.

Jack Keane 2: Okay, this is not good. I haven’t finished it yet but even the best AG ending ever could not save this trainwreck. I wasn’t even a JK1 fanboy, but that was decent fun at least. Maybe JK2 was better in German with the original actors but that’s no excuse.

Overall: A slightly underwhelming year. Not great, not terrible either. I have a feeling the second half of 2013 will offer more, but that depends if we get what we were promised. Will we get Moebius? The Last Crown? Broken Age? Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs? [s]Wychwood Hollow?[/s] (okay now i’m just being silly) 

I haven’t played any of this years games yet! But just had a quick look on database sites to see that by this time this year we are sadly very diminished on new AGs! Hopefully with all the successful Kickstarters it will improve towards the end of the year/next year?

So far I would like to try the Cognition series, Kentucky Route Zero & Night of the Rabbit when I get around to buying them! The Cave & LSL reloaded don’t really appeal to me but I might be swayed on LSL depending on forum comments! I liked the 1st Jack Keane game but awaiting a review & enough comments for the 2nd!

I’m afraid this will go down as a really weak year for adventure games. :-/
Played half of The Cave with a flatmate, was alright, but definitely below my expectations. I’ll finish it sometime.
Kentucky Route Zero I want to play sooner or later. Otherwise I’m keeping my eyes peeled for Memoria. Didn’t have any interest in its predecessor, but it looks like a step up.
Is there anything else of interest coming out this year?

I was expecting a lull between the Kickstarter excitement and their release but there’s been a fairly steady release of decent titles.  Nothing’s really wowed me as much as Resonance or Virtue’s Last Reward did in the second half of 2012, but there’s been much worse periods for the genre.

The Cat Lady and Cognition were very solid, but probably didn’t meet the hype I had for them (though Ep #3’s improvements have made me excited for the finale).  Kentucky Route Zero’s my favourite from the past 6 month BUT I’ve decided to hold off on playing the rest of the episodes until they’re all out, so I won’t really be able to judge it until much later.  And the Larry remake was a fun diversion.

Disappointed about the lack of translation news for some of the games I’ve been looking forward to for ages (Memento Mori 2, pleeeeeease happen soon).

While there haven’t been that many interesting titles so far, the one’s I’ve actually played has been varying from good to very good. I’m pleased

ozzie - 03 July 2013 03:48 PM

Kentucky Route Zero I want to play sooner or later. Otherwise I’m keeping my eyes peeled for Memoria. Didn’t have any interest in its predecessor, but it looks like a step up.
Is there anything else of interest coming out this year?

Lots

millenia - 03 July 2013 03:32 PM

I’ve played Cognition and I found it very suitable for my tastes. The third episode has been recognised to be the best so you could try it out.

Oh I will. I always finish games unless I absolutely hate them, which is rare.

I have to say that gaming in general has had a fantastic first half of 2013, though mostly not in our genre of choice.  I have been distracted from the adventures by some great games like The Last of Us and the new Tomb Raider.  As far as new adventures go, Cognition has been my favorite so far.  If it can continue to get better with the last episode, I would expect some Aggie love in the future (at last as far as Reader’s Choice). 

I do think the second half of 2013 will be stronger.  I look forward to seeing how the Raven turns out.  I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Beyond: Two Souls will be the one to beat this year (as long as we end up considering it an adventure game - sure to be controversial).  Though I think Moebius will hopefully be a strong contender (if it comes out this year).

Who knows?  Maybe the Aggie of the Year will end up going to Mystery Game X!

Edit: for explanation/disclosure, I have not played Kentucky Route Zero yet; I’m waiting for all episodes to come out before trying it.

Oscar - 04 July 2013 02:26 AM

ozzie - 03 July 2013 03:48 PM

Kentucky Route Zero I want to play sooner or later. Otherwise I’m keeping my eyes peeled for Memoria. Didn’t have any interest in its predecessor, but it looks like a step up.
Is there anything else of interest coming out this year?

Lots

Hmm, I guess I forgot about some potentially great games. I expect that some of them will get delayed, but if most of them won’t then the second half of 2013 will turn out much much better for adventure games than the first one. Kinda odd, that.

From where I’m standing, the first half of 2013 has been average. Not brilliant, not awful. Of course, it’s a preliminary assessment, as there are still some games I want to play (eps. 2 and 3 of Cognition most notably).

Didn’t like:
I played the first episode of Kentucky Route Zero; didn’t care for it. Jacob Jones was fine as far as gameplay is concerned, but I hated the writing and characterization. And I played the demo for Layton Brothers; let’s just say I won’t be buying the full game (ugh).

Liked:
The Cave was lots of fun but ultimately felt very shallow. LSL1 Reloaded has tons of good jokes, but the design still felt very dated (if I hadn’t cheated, I feel like I’d have spent more time playing slots than the actual game). 400 Days was a nice appetizer for Season 2 of The Walking Dead, but didn’t really stand on its own. And the second episode of Forever Lost was really nice, for what it is.

Loved:
I guess Year Walk is the highlight of the year for me so far. Fantastic atmosphere, with a world and story that really get under your skin. Also loved the iOS version of Phoenix Wright (only replayed the first game for the moment); some lack of polish here and there, but the HD graphics look great and nothing could ruin such a brilliant game anyway.

On the hydrid-y side, The Swapper (adventure/puzzle) was brilliant (I have to replay it to make sure I fully understood the story). And Sorcery! (adventure/RPG/gamebook) as an iPad app is the best thing ever.