Any fans of the point-&-click adventure genre here? It and it's 3D spin-offs have remained my favourites throughout the years.
It was certainly most popular in the 1990s with classics from developers like LucasArts and Sierra. We were spoiled with the likes of:
- Monkey Island (#2 being my favourite!)
- Day of the Tentacle
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (this is the real 4th film)
- King's Quest (#6 is easily the best)
- Space Quest
- Police Quest
- Full Throttle
- Broken Sword
- The Dig
- The Longest Journey
- Gabriel Knight
- Myst
- Beneath a Steel Sky
and a lot more I could mention. I'm sure most fans of the genre know these games well.
The genre seemed to be more or less dead by the time we hit the 2000s outside of some obscure indie releases. But over the past 10 years it's begun to flourish again, although the releases may not be hitting the best sellers lists like they used to.
We've had releases that have stayed with the traditional 2D point and click style:
- Broken Age
- Deponia
- The Blackwell series
- Gemini Rue
- Unavowed
- Machinarium
- The Book of Unwritten Tales
- The Darkside Detective
And then there are the games that have embraced 3D. Here is where the genre can diverge into something else, but to me many of these still have the spirit of storytelling and exploration that traditional adventure games have:
- Sam & Max (Telltale)
- The Walking Dead
- The Wolf Among Us
- Life is Strange
- Dreamfall
- Firewatch
- Heavy Rain
- Gone Home
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Outer Wilds
I'd say there's even an argument for more action heavy games like Uncharted to be regarded as adventure games.
Both older and indie games are getting releases on modern consoles like the PS4 and Switch, and services like GOG have enabled us to buy old forgotten adventure games easily. Plus we have been getting updated remasters of classics!