The adventure games thread

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Hey, want to feel really old?
The Secret of Monkey Island has just turned 30 years old.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Seems that the previously announced remaster of 1997's Blade Runner game has run into problems and been delayed: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...gh-to-remaster

A couple of interesting points:

"We've had some discussions with EA about what else is in the vault they found regarding Blade Runner, and we haven't been able to get a clear answer," Kick said. "And even if there was something, it's very unlikely they would release it to us for legal reasons, mostly, which is a bit of a disappointment, because we were hoping to at least get the original audio recordings. So we're basically working off what was in the original game at this point and not having access to any original stuff.

What's interesting is this Blade Runner reverse engineering work has already been done by the enthusiasts at ScummVM. ScummVM is a fan-made program that lets you run certain classic adventure games, provided you already have their data files, on systems for which they were never designed. ScummVM supports over 250 games, including classics from LucasArts, Sierra On-Line, Revolution Software, Cyan, Inc. and of course Westwood Studios. Their work is invaluable to an army of loyal fans who love old-school adventure games at a time when the genre is more or less extinct.

Over the course of eight years, ScummVM dug into Blade Runner and expertly updated the game, even restoring some cut content, and it's this work that powers the December 2019 GOG release of the original Blade Runner. So, you'd think Nightdive could have saved itself a lot of pain and heartache if it had simply licensed ScummVM's good work on Blade Runner. And indeed, Kick entered into negotiations with ScummVM for such a licence, but talks fell through.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

Hey, want to feel really old?
The Secret of Monkey Island has just turned 30 years old.

The Monkey island series will always have a place in my heart.

Also, Broken Sword, Full Throttle and the lesser known Kingdom ‘O’ Magic.

[Dollar Colonel]

Recently beat The Walking Dead: The Final Season and Uncharted: Lost Legacy. I actually started these awhile ago but left them due to work. Nice to catch up and see what I missed, but sad that they're not making any more of these.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

I recently completed Obduction, a recent(ish) game from the creators of Myst and I thought I'd write down some of my thoughts. No real spoilers here, but I mention some vague character and story details.

I was really into this until I wasn't. Most of the first half of the game, taking place in Hunrath, was quite good fun. Exploration lead to discoveries and puzzle solutions that made sense. I was enjoying working my way through it and figuring things out, piecing together the story and the world. There were some frustrations from a lack of information and some peculiar glitches not providing me with details/mechanics I needed, but a fun time was being had.

Then I got to the latter stages of the game and it just fell apart. Puzzles became way too much for me to handle and nothing but exercises in frustration. Especially since one of the main puzzle mechanics in the game forces you to sit through long loading screens repeatedly. Mostly (and this is true of Cyan's other games) I just can't handle the lack of guidance or proper information on how to proceed. This is clearly demonstrated here with the character of C.W. who is useless and doesn't give you any kind of genuine help (if you can even understand what he says - subtitles are essential). The further I went into the game the less I could understand what I needed to do to proceed.

Having subsequently watched a YouTuber work their way through the entire game without needing any help, I recognise that my issues with this game mostly boil down to my lack of puzzle solving abilities. It's obviously entirely possible to piece everything together here yourself, but my brain just doesn't notice the important details and has no ability to solve the complex logic puzzles presented. I even attempted to read up on how to do base 4 maths, which is an important component of the game, and just could not get it. I have to wonder if Cyan make games like this on purpose, designed to really work for a certain kind of mind.

The game is absolutely gorgeous, with some moments verging on being completely photorealistic. The story is a pretty intriguing one and I was quite wrapped up in it, but felt very let down by the ending (note: I got the "bad" ending, and had no idea what I needed to do differently until I looked it up) because I honestly just didn't understand what the hell was happening. It needed a far better script with dialogue that actually gives you information instead of C.W. and Farley's mutterings and half sentences (which were mostly all too distorted to hear anyway), because the story is so poorly delivered as to make it incoherent.

I wanted to like this game much more than I did. I'm glad it exists, because super obtuse and high difficulty games like this have their place and their audience and they should get to enjoy them.

Obduction Launch Trailer - YouTube

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

The first season of Telltale's Sam & Max game is getting a remaster and coming December 2nd, for PC and Switch. From back when Telltale used to put actual puzzles in their games!

Sam & Max Save The World - Remastered - YouTube

[JohannWICK]

always loved monkey island. but point and click is pretty dead.. sadly

[Dollar Colonel]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

The first season of Telltale's Sam & Max game is getting a remaster and coming December 2nd, for PC and Switch. From back when Telltale used to put actual puzzles in their games!

Sam & Max Save The World - Remastered - YouTube

I bought this on DVD back in the day but I believe it needs a Telltale activation...

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

PC Gamer's adventure game of the year is one that completely flew under my radar, so I know nothing about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E--c...ature=youtu.be

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Heads up, Night In The Woods is currently free on the Epic Game Store but only for a few more hours. Grab it quick!

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Encodya is releasing this month, I really like the art style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Cb...ature=youtu.be

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Film director Duncan Jones has spent his lockdown writing a film script for Full Throttle. And he's posted it for everyone to read!

https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/stat...499949056?s=19

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Wormwood Studios, the developers of Primordia, have a new game coming this year called Strangeland. I should replay Primordia, I only have vague memories of it.

You awake in a nightmarish carnival and watch a golden-haired woman hurl herself down a bottomless well for your sake. You seek clues and help from jeering ravens, an eyeless scribe, a living furnace, a mismade mermaid, and many more who dwell within the park. All the while, a shadow shrieks from atop a towering roller-coaster, and you know that until you destroy this Dark Thing, the woman will keep jumping, falling, and dying, over and over again....

[meremortal]

Love games like Myst. It's been years since I've played any of them though.

[Dollar Colonel]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Love games like Myst. It's been years since I've played any of them though.

I tried playing King's Quest again after 20-or-so years. It was horrible.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Originally Posted by Dollar Colonel

I tried playing King's Quest again after 20-or-so years. It was horrible.

The old text parser games definitely don't hold up quite so well although KQ was always the weakest of the bunch. I do find that they offered a nice degree of freedom, though.
The VGA fan remake, which uses a point-&-click interface, is much better.
http://www.agdinteractive.com/

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Steam currently have 'The Big Adventure Event' running until Jan 25th. It's highlighting new and recent adventure games and live streaming developer videos.

I quite like the look of Backbone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zovL...ature=youtu.be

and Rosewater, which is set in the same world as Lamplight City:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EvK...ature=youtu.be

It looks like there's also an expanded director's cut version of Kathy Rain coming soon.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

The 2020 Aggie Awards are now taking place over at AdventureGamers.com and the readers poll is open for voting. I tend to stay a couple of years behind for game releases, so I haven't got round to playing most of the nominees.

https://adventuregamers.com/articles...oice-poll-2020

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

The 2020 Aggie Awards results are in: https://adventuregamers.com/articles...-games-of-2020. The overall winner for best adventure game was one that had completely passed me by: There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension. The reader's choice winner was Roki.

There Is No Game : Wrong Dimension (OFFICIAL TRAILER) - YouTube

Röki - Launch Trailer - YouTube