Playing through Grim Fandango Remastered has got me in the mood to talk about PnC adventure games. I've never been particularly good at completing games of this ilk, given my impatience for some of their obtuse puzzle designs, but I find myself drawn to the genre because of how it lends itself to exploratory gameplay in well-realized worlds with unique art styles and memorable characters. While the satisfaction of solving a difficult puzzle is rewarding, exploring the world is the main driving force for me when I start a new PnC game.
Now we all know that the genre was arguably at its peak in the 90's when companies like LucasArts were cranking out fantastic adventure games seemingly every year for the PC, but there isn't much left to discuss with regard to that era. The great PnC adventure games of that time period are all well known and agreed upon. What I find more interesting is the slow resurgence of the genre thanks to the blossoming indie development scene of the last decade. One needs only to look at the PnC Adventure GAF thread to realize just how active the genre currently is, even if it's no longer high profile in the AAA realm.
So I thought it'd be fun for us to highlight some of our favorite PnC adventure games from the year 2000 and onward. The genre is somewhat inundated with choices (many of which are mediocre), so a discussion like this could help some people discover the stuff that's worth playing.
My favorites are the surreal works of Amanita Design:
Amanita has been cranking out some of my favorite adventure games for years now. What draws me to their unique brand are unique art styles, characters with a lot of personality despite having no dialog, puzzles that are challenging but not absurd, and impeccable sound design in the case of Botanicula. All of their games so far are charming, captivating, and not as frustrating as a lot of games in this genre tend to be. That's not to say that they're too easy, however. It's just that the times in which I got stuck had more to do with me failing to realizing something than not stumbling across some illogical solution.
If I have to choose one favorite for the purpose of this thread, I'll go with Machinarium. It was their first full-length game, and it shows. I can't lavish enough praise on that game's art style and world.
Amanita is currently developing Samorost 3, which is scheduled as a full release sometime this year. In case you didn't know, Samorost 1 and 2 are freely playable online on Amanita's website.
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/
Now we all know that the genre was arguably at its peak in the 90's when companies like LucasArts were cranking out fantastic adventure games seemingly every year for the PC, but there isn't much left to discuss with regard to that era. The great PnC adventure games of that time period are all well known and agreed upon. What I find more interesting is the slow resurgence of the genre thanks to the blossoming indie development scene of the last decade. One needs only to look at the PnC Adventure GAF thread to realize just how active the genre currently is, even if it's no longer high profile in the AAA realm.
So I thought it'd be fun for us to highlight some of our favorite PnC adventure games from the year 2000 and onward. The genre is somewhat inundated with choices (many of which are mediocre), so a discussion like this could help some people discover the stuff that's worth playing.
My favorites are the surreal works of Amanita Design:
Pictured Above: Samorost, Samorost 2
Amanita has been cranking out some of my favorite adventure games for years now. What draws me to their unique brand are unique art styles, characters with a lot of personality despite having no dialog, puzzles that are challenging but not absurd, and impeccable sound design in the case of Botanicula. All of their games so far are charming, captivating, and not as frustrating as a lot of games in this genre tend to be. That's not to say that they're too easy, however. It's just that the times in which I got stuck had more to do with me failing to realizing something than not stumbling across some illogical solution.
If I have to choose one favorite for the purpose of this thread, I'll go with Machinarium. It was their first full-length game, and it shows. I can't lavish enough praise on that game's art style and world.
Amanita is currently developing Samorost 3, which is scheduled as a full release sometime this year. In case you didn't know, Samorost 1 and 2 are freely playable online on Amanita's website.
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/
http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/
Pictured Above: Machinarium, Botanicula
