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Adventure Games Thread 2019 - The Liveliest Dead Genre There Ever Was

Fuz

Banned
So, Truberbrook.
Oh boy, what a mess.
The good: the art style is really cool. I love the characters and their goofy animations. But you can see how underfunded they were. The locations aren't many and the backgrounds are kind of simple. Lots of rocks and other objects that don't take much to model, I guess. Everything screams, "cheap". Beautiful, though.

Mechanically, it's kind of bad. There's no inventory, which means that sometimes you don't know exactly what you're carrying (due to no item description) and it means no item combination, which happens automatically when you click on the puzzle spot. So, there are a few puzzles that are gonna be solved before you can even think about them.
The puzzles are pretty much all "meh", quite simple but more than that they're just uninteresting.
By the way... the telegram "puzzle". Are you fucking serious?

And here's the main point. Well, it's not true that there's no story, it starts interesting too, but it's heavily underdeveloped and fastworwarded a lot, leaving the player just assuming and filling the gaps by himself. The exposition and storytelling are atrocious and there are quite a bit of plot holes. It's also pretty short.
I am absolutely sure they started with a way bigger idea and wanted to develop much more of the game's world, but they ran out of cash much faster than they anticipated.

The scene after the credits is pretty cool.

Also the concert is kind of cool and sonds like a Tom Waits song, but it's way too long and unskippable.

I hope we'll see a better sequel.
 
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TripleSun

Member
Has anyone played The Painscreek Killings? It's on sale on Steam so was thinking of picking it up. Seems reviews either love it or hate it. Wondering if anyone has an opinion here. It seems cool with the non-linear investigation path it seems to take and logical puzzles that aren't frustrating but not too easy
 
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Been playing through The Great Ace Attorney now that the fan translation by Scarlet Study has been completed. Man, is it great. The Ace Attorney games are some of my all-time favorites and unfortunately the series had been getting somewhat stagnant lately. Producing good games but nothing that lived up to the classic original trilogy of DS adventures (although I do still need to play SoJ). This game is the breath of fresh air the series needed. Shu Takumi (director and writer for the original games) is finally back in the director's seat and it makes all the difference. Uninhibited by the restraints of the now extensive AA series lore, Takumi is firing on all cylinders again. For me, as a fan, it's the perfect balance of new and familiar. Also there's new mechanics that actually increase player agency, furthering your involvement in each logical deduction. Which is great to see after all the streamlining in games like Dual Destinies.

In other news: Adventure Gamers wrote a informative hands-on preview for Whispers of a Machine. Aside from gameplay insights -- which I hope the devs show off in a new trailer soon -- the preview is also explicitly positive. I'm expecting a good review from the way Pascal puts it in his preview.

When Joel Staaf Hästö of Clifftop Games released his debut adventure Kathy Rain in 2016, it turned quite a few heads, feeling like a reincarnation of the classic Gabriel Knight supernatural thrillers. So when the indie developer joined forces with Petter Ljungqvist’s Faravid Interactive, who earned acclaim with his own well-received first effort The Samaritan Paradox, to create a collaborative sophomore title, I’m sure I’m not the only one who was eagerly awaiting the result. Well, the wait is nearly over, and after some hands-on time, I can confirm that the upcoming Whispers of a Machine lives up to its lofty expectations.

Here I am again with my heart on my sleeve. We'll see come the 17th.

ThatStupidLion ThatStupidLion TripleSun TripleSun
Unfortunately I've not only played neither of the games you two inquired about, I hadn't even heard of them. So many titles still fly under the radar, unfortunately.
 
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im currently going through Book of Unwritten Tales. after picking it up in GOG.com sales for 75% off. i really enjoy the voice acting quality in this adventure game as well as overall script, there are so many fun quirks like the reversed roleplaying game. where there are no magic, sword or dragons, where the high point is to receive a notice to the tax office. further more i am enjoying the way music was handled i really like that little detail where the game loops for a bit and then gives space so you can soak in the environment sounds... and then plays the looping music a few mins later. i picked all of the games up in that GOG.com sale.. so i am looking forward to visiting the sequel and Critters Chronicles. but for now i will just enjoy my time with the first game. I also want to say a few words about how i really enjoy the developer commentary tracks in these adventure games... i had a lot of fun listening to Blackwell and Gemini Rue developers speaking about there approach to designing games.. i especially like to listen to Dave Gilbert talking about how he meets with all these amazing Voice Actors. he has such a large network and seems to come around a lot for getting these talents to appear in his games. respect for the man indeed.
 
DeleteriousObnoxious DeleteriousObnoxious The Book Of Unwritten Tales series is fantastic. It's full of great gags and roleplaying/fantasy satire, like the one you mentioned. I've got a great fondness for Nate, Wilbur and Ivo. You made a good choice picking up both games on the cheap. The first game is awesome and the 2nd gets even better in my opinion. I still have to play critter chronicles myself.

Earlier this week I was reminiscing about TBoUT 2 and remembered the cool ass launch trailer for that game:


Hopefully, one day, KingArtGames will return to the franchise for another installment.
 
W
DeleteriousObnoxious DeleteriousObnoxious The Book Of Unwritten Tales series is fantastic. It's full of great gags and roleplaying/fantasy satire, like the one you mentioned. I've got a great fondness for Nate, Wilbur and Ivo. You made a good choice picking up both games on the cheap. The first game is awesome and the 2nd gets even better in my opinion. I still have to play critter chronicles myself.

Earlier this week I was reminiscing about TBoUT 2 and remembered the cool ass launch trailer for that game:


Hopefully, one day, KingArtGames will return to the franchise for another installment.

Wow never was aware of this other than by name, that trailer got me interested!
 
Swindle Dev's Ben and Dan Adventures will continue in new game Lair of The Clockwork God.


New Ben and Dan adventure announced. I'm familiar with the series on a cursory level but haven't played the games myself. This one seems to be a new take on the formula. Combining adventure game and puzzle platforming mechanics in a self aware genre satire. The trailer was pretty funny and lays out the gameplay dynamic they're attempting to create. Mechanically it reminds me of Ron Gilbert's "The Cave" which Double-Fine put out in 2013. The Eurogamer article also contains some further elaboration.

"We all have fond memories of point-and-click games, but honestly who has the time for all that endless meandering anymore?" Size Five Games' Dan Marshall said.

"Lair of the Clockwork God has been designed to retain the best of the genre: meaty puzzles, huge inventories, funny jokes, and plenty of verbs! But is structured more like a platform game, so it's forward-focused, driven, and fast-paced, with accessible, localised puzzles, all broken up with platforming challenges."

I am a bit put off by some of these comments. Seems like they're giving themselves a lot of credit for things plenty of other developers have already done. "Accessible, localised puzzles" is basically the de facto standard for the current scene of indie adventures (Unavowed says hi). Even more so for the bigger budget stuff. It is all part of an irreverent tone that they seem to be going for in the game's writing and in their marketing. So I won't be too salty, but damn, there's nothing wrong with open ended design either. I have time for all that "endless meandering," dammit!
 
So, Truberbrook.
But you can see how underfunded they were.

Real pity that. I suspect that also the cut length (they promised about double the actual playtime) has to do with this.

Compared to other adventures on Kickstarter nowadays their backing amount was pretty high though with 200k (3x times what Gibbous got for example) and besides they also received 80k from a German media fund. I know you have to subtract Kickstarter fees, pledge rewards etc and that this amount is definitely not the world in terms of videogames. On the other hand others are/were able to do quite more with quite less.
 
im currently going through Book of Unwritten Tales. after picking it up in GOG.com sales for 75% off. i really enjoy the voice acting quality in this adventure game as well as overall script, there are so many fun quirks like the reversed roleplaying game. where there are no magic, sword or dragons, where the high point is to receive a notice to the tax office. further more i am enjoying the way music was handled i really like that little detail where the game loops for a bit and then gives space so you can soak in the environment sounds... and then plays the looping music a few mins later. i picked all of the games up in that GOG.com sale.. so i am looking forward to visiting the sequel and Critters Chronicles. but for now i will just enjoy my time with the first game. I also want to say a few words about how i really enjoy the developer commentary tracks in these adventure games... i had a lot of fun listening to Blackwell and Gemini Rue developers speaking about there approach to designing games.. i especially like to listen to Dave Gilbert talking about how he meets with all these amazing Voice Actors. he has such a large network and seems to come around a lot for getting these talents to appear in his games. respect for the man indeed.
I love all three BouT titles but BouT2 is by far my favourite. There aren't many headscratching puzzles in the games but story and characters are just - for the lack of a better word - magical. They're simply one of a kind with the second part being the standout due to its length and quality.

Which makes it that much more of a pity that KING Art's Kickstarter for Shakes & Fidget didn't work out and that their CEO Jan Theysen sounds very pessimistic (interview in German) for future PnC projects like BouT 3 (and the current market for PnC adventures in general).
 
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I'm gonna pose a question out there for folks, would love to hear your thoughts.

it's pretty broad but, what do you like in your PnCs? settings, themes, types of stories, mechanics, types of puzzles, types of UIs, etc.

If you could make your own PnC, what would it feature?

I'd probably do a fantasy/folkore setting. Influenced by Quest For Glory, Conquests of the Longbow, Legend of Kyrandia, and Inherit the Earth. Personally I enjoy when games have generations of their characters a la Phantasy Star 3, so it'd be neat to incorporate some type of system like that to play into the story and character development. would allow for branching paths and multiple endings, though if adding generations you could just as easily make that a full series, with importable saves from prior games. Anyways, i dont think i'd go with the SCUMM layout

I like funny, cartoon-style adventures with a good amount of dialogue, plenty of inventory items and (hopefully) well-balanced/logical (inventory and environment) puzzles. Of course the last part is the most important and probably most hard to pull off.

Guess the preference for these types of PnC adventures started with (sorry Fuz) Curse of Monkey Island and has continued ever since.
 
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TripleSun

Member
Looks like the guys behind Unforeseen Incidents are developing a mystery adventure game called Resort akin to Firewatch/Virginia. Loved Firewatch so that piqued my interest. Looks like the game was inspired by X-files as well. Synopsis sounds interesting. Comet threatens to hit the planet but homeowners refuse to leave area and you end up encountering strange events. You play as a famous writer who goes around unraveling a mystery while interviewing villagers. They say its supposed to be a "short story" so wondering about the length of the game, but since they made a full length game previously we know they are able to do it. Seems it won't be out before 2020 though since it's still early in development

https://www.onlysp.com/resort-interview/

RESORT-game-screenshot2-1200x675.jpg
 
Dance Of Death: Du Lac & Fey




Just came out 4 days ago. Pity this is another adventure release flying so much under nearly every publications radar but graphics look very neat, story (Jack the Ripper murders) sounds interesting and the only review I found out there sounds pretty positive.

Any of you guys played this yet? Probably going to get it this weekend.
 
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frogmeetsdog frogmeetsdog I might hold off on a purchase until they patch the game up. played Dance Of Death for a few hours last weekend and encountered two game breaking bugs within that time. The game itself was a bit rough around the edges but I was enjoying it. Good story with likable characters and a well realized setting. Very well written dialogue. You can tell a lot of care and attention to detail went into Salix Games' portrayal of the time period.

As it stands now I wont even attempt to play it again before there's a patch. I lost hours of progress, bit the bullet on replaying back to where I was, only to immediately hit another game breaking bug and lose all that progress a second time. The game uses a checkpoint save system with a single slot. So I cant even reload and an save and attempt to salvage the run that way. Other people are running into these issues on the steam forums as well.

There were a lot of other minor bugs I ran into as well. Characters disappearing during cutscenes, animations failing to trigger, weird pathing stuff. This thing really just needed more time in the oven. I think after a patch or two it could be solid but I wouldn't recommend the game in its current state.
 
frogmeetsdog frogmeetsdog I might hold off on a purchase until they patch the game up. played Dance Of Death for a few hours last weekend and encountered two game breaking bugs within that time. The game itself was a bit rough around the edges but I was enjoying it. Good story with likable characters and a well realized setting. Very well written dialogue. You can tell a lot of care and attention to detail went into Salix Games' portrayal of the time period.

As it stands now I wont even attempt to play it again before there's a patch. I lost hours of progress, bit the bullet on replaying back to where I was, only to immediately hit another game breaking bug and lose all that progress a second time. The game uses a checkpoint save system with a single slot. So I cant even reload and an save and attempt to salvage the run that way. Other people are running into these issues on the steam forums as well.

There were a lot of other minor bugs I ran into as well. Characters disappearing during cutscenes, animations failing to trigger, weird pathing stuff. This thing really just needed more time in the oven. I think after a patch or two it could be solid but I wouldn't recommend the game in its current state.

Thanks for the info. I hate autosave with one slot. Why not have autosave in one and manual save in a few other slots? Was the same with Darkestville Castle (which luckily was bug free, I‘d still have preferred to reload some scenes though) and Betram Fiddle 2 - Which was also laden with bugs to no end. Had to restart the latter 3 times cause of gamebreaking bugs and no chance to load an earlier save state thanks to this moronic autosave system.
 
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New Blacksad: Under The Skin screenshots:



Blacksad's publisher, Microids, has also confirmed September as the game's release month. We should start getting some gameplay footage within the next couple months or so. Really want a good 12-15 minute demo to get a feel for what the game is like in action. But everything continues to look great for now.
After Gibbous the second PnC I'm most excited for. Hope the gameplay will live up to the great footage released so far.
 
Dance Of Death: Du Lac & Fey




Just came out 4 days ago. Pity this is another adventure release flying so much under nearly every publications radar but graphics look very neat, story (Jack the Ripper murders) sounds interesting and the only review I found out there sounds pretty positive.

Any of you guys played this yet? Probably going to get it this weekend.




dont know this one, but as an animator seeing that demo makes me want to just reanimate it all for them for free. man that hurt to look at. obviously this has nothing to do with the actual gameplay, but just looking at that with a hyper critical animator eye was super jarring. would love to hear your thoughts after the weekend
 
dont know this one, but as an animator seeing that demo makes me want to just reanimate it all for them for free. man that hurt to look at. obviously this has nothing to do with the actual gameplay, but just looking at that with a hyper critical animator eye was super jarring. would love to hear your thoughts after the weekend
They didn‘t achieve their Kickstarter goal but (surprisingly for many) still were able to release the game in the end.

I suppose they had to sacrifice some of their original vision due to those financial restrictions and all the bugs reported now probably also have to do with missing funds for proper QA and having to get the product out of the door too soon.

They just released a patch yesterday for the autosave issues so I‘ll probably still buy the game within the next few days. Gotta let you know - Alas I don‘t have an animator eye though ;)
 
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Btw, has any of you guys ever played Gabriel Knight 2? Apparently one of the few great FMV PnC games if most reviews are to be believed.

I never got the hype around the first part but the second iteration looks like a completely different beast.
 
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Fuz

Banned
Btw, has any of you guys ever played Gabriel Knight 2? Apparently one of the few great FMV PnC games if most reviews are to be believed.

I never got the hype around the first part but the second iteration looks like a completely different beast.
You can't go wrong with Gabriel Knight games. I also absolutely loved the third one, even though many dislike it (dunno why, yes it's got some weird puzzles and bad 3D graphics, but has a great story and pacing).
Why didn't you like the first one?
 
Btw, has any of you guys ever played Gabriel Knight 2? Apparently one of the few great FMV PnC games if most reviews are to be believed.

I never got the hype around the first part but the second iteration looks like a completely different beast.

I love Gabriel Knight 2. But I also loved the first game so your mileage may vary. As far as differences between the two, obviously there's the visual style, the 2nd game is also less punishing in terms of the puzzles and pixel hunting. GK2 has a more simplistic, user-friendly interface. They're both written and directed by Jane Jensen so the story telling is very similar despite the aesthetic. Same mix of paranormal mystery w/ historical fiction.

It's possible you could dislike GK1 and enjoy GK2 I suppose but I've never actually encountered an adventure fan who didn't like GK1 so idk. Maybe check out a little bit on YT and see if it grabs you.
 
Why didn't you like the first one?
You know, I’m wondering about that myself. Fact is, I tried to play (through) the game at least three times already and it always ends up with me stopping sometimes during the game and never coming back to it. I don‘t think the game is bad or something, just that it never has gripped me as much as it apparently did most other PnC fans.

Don‘t know if it‘s the puzzles, or the setting (as you maybe know by now, I usully prefer funny, cartoon stuff in the vein of DotT or Tonnstruck in my PnCs as opposed to heavier stories) - Don‘t really have an answer to not being able to get much into GK myself. Just that despite at least three attempts I‘ve never managed to stay invested enough to complete the game.
 
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Even though this technically is a PC thread, the devs just would deserve some more sales: Darkestville Castle got released for mobile.




If you never played the game, it‘s a very funny Lucas Arts style adventure. Puzzles are very balanced (every time I thought I was stuck the solution came to me and it was always an "of course, that makes complete sense" moment). 9/10 on Steam, very recommended, especially for the tiny price of $ 3,99 (iOS App Store) or $ 3,49 (Google Play)
 
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Fuz

Banned
Didn't really like it, mostly because of the graphics and the tryhard humour I guess. Not sure. But it's well worth that price.
 



Oddyseus Kosmos is finally getting its fifth and final episode on 17th April. If you don‘t like episodic releases, the game is complete by then. I liked it very much. Puzzles neither too easy nor too hard and especially the lazy a*s main character is hilarious.
 
Didn't really like it, mostly because of the graphics and the tryhard humour I guess. Not sure. But it's well worth that price.

Really? I know what you mean, sometimes they tried too hard and the overall story is nothing to write home about (which is the case with a lot of adventures though, even those considered classics nowadays). but found the game jolly funny most of the time. My favorite character would be the politically correct werewolf :D
 
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Fuz

Banned
Dunno. Just... not my cup of tea.

I kinda don't like the classic trope of evil main characters that never do anything really evil.

Yeah, it's a cartoon. Ok. Not for me.



Oddyseus Kosmos is finally getting its fifth and final episode on 17th April. If you don‘t like episodic releases, the game is complete by then. I liked it very much. Puzzles neither too easy nor too hard and especially the lazy a*s main character is hilarious.

Never suspected this existed.
 
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Whispers of a Machine's publisher Raw Fury put out a trailer for the upcoming game recently on twitter. In the video we get to see more of Vera's powers in action, hear the VA for the first time (Dave Gilbert voice directed iirc) and scope out some of the branching narrative. My hype for this has grown steadily the more Clifftop & Faravid have shown off. It's looking like day 1 for me.

Heaven's Vault is just the day before, I really want to play that as well, but I'll likely hold off for a bit since I don't want to start anything right before Whispers. Feelin' like it could be the years first gem.
 
Never suspected this existed.

Yeah, the game is flying deeply under the radar unfortunately. Even more reason to give kudos to the dev for having seen everything through and releasing all episode in the promised time frame. Bigger companies have failed with this but the OK dev has always kept his word. Considering the undeservedly low sales figures and what little promotion the game got outside a few articles this was surely not the easiest feat and shows a lot of dedication.

So many episodic (especially indie) games never deliver the full game and I think it's great the Odysseus Kosmos guy not only has pulled it off but also - from episode to episode - has been able been to keep up the same quality standard.
 
Yet another great looking adventure due to release in 2019. Massive Galaxy is a pixel art point & click about exploring, warring and trading throughout space. It's got a super clean graphical style with aesthetic nods to classic sci-fi design.


There's more information, screenshots, etc on the game's Steam page. Seems like they're incorporating some novel concepts. It'll be interesting to see how the game is structured and how the trading mechanics mesh with the narrative.
 
And still another great looking adventure game scheduled to drop this year. Further jam-packing an already astoundingly packed 2019. This one has a lovely high-res, hand drawn, cartoon art style and pirate theme. Comparisons to Curse of Monkey Island spring to mind immediately but Chook & Sosig: Walk the Plank definitely has its own thing going on with brightly colored cartoon animals everywhere.


Impressively enough the game is being developed by a one woman studio, Tooki Palooki. More details on the Chook & Sosig steam page.
 

petran79

Banned
Had no idea that the actor of Harvester became later a convicted pedophile. The shocking thing is, he could harass a girl in-game by showing her porn magazines! He gets arrested and executed after that. Fortunately game is not yet removed from Steam and GOG

 
Gabriel Knight 2 is really amazing. Never got warm with part 1 with all the cluttered screens and the pixel hunting. There is still a little bit of that here but all in all the game feels way more polished.

Jensen outdid herself with the story and the FMV. Guess gotta check out if GK3 really lives up to its bad reputation next. Nothing better than enjoying old classics you‘ve never played before.
 
That is something that definitely stands out about GK1; the extreme detail of interactive objects. There's a line of narration for every single object in that game and about 30+ objects per screen lol. I absolutely loved sinking my teeth into all that but I completely understand how it could be overwhelming. Especially since the first game has some egregious pixel hunts. Not helped by Sierra's lack of hotspot text.

Jane Jensen is one of the most talented writers in the medium. I really think she's primarily the reason that King's Quest 6 turned out as well as it did. At this point I've been told enough times that GK3 is a must play that I'll get around to it. Initially I couldn't get past the camera and controls but we'll see what happens with round 2.

Also, Whispers of a Machine today!!! I'm gonna be day 1-ing this hard. Really hope it's as good as it looks.
 



yuuuup! it's out today and the launch trailer just dropped. will start at this one later today, cant wait.

beautiful - i have zero time for this right now, but man there are just SO many projects and companies i want to throw money at just to support them and what they are doing.
 
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looked on ios to see whispers of a machine as it may be more feasible to fit it into my schedule on mobile, games only 5$ not 15$... is this the full game? Weird its priced differently than desktop counter part. Wonder if its a hacked up port
 
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looked on ios to see whispers of a machine as it may be more feasible to fit it into my schedule on mobile, games only 5$ not 15$... is this the full game? Weird its priced differently than desktop counter part. Wonder if its a hacked up port

If it's anything like the developers last iOS port (for Kathy Rain) then it'll be the same game with minor interface tweaks. My assumption would be that they're charging less to be competitive on the platform. Mobile games tend to be valued less than PC titles.
 
looked on ios to see whispers of a machine as it may be more feasible to fit it into my schedule on mobile, games only 5$ not 15$... is this the full game? Weird its priced differently than desktop counter part. Wonder if its a hacked up port

Hi heck,

mobile games are always cheaper. Devs sadly in most cases don't stand much of a chance anymore with games that are > 5$/€.

Premium gaming has become more unpopular over the years and that's why most developers unfortunately switch(ed) to "free" to play. Everybody wants to be the next Candy Crush, Fornite, League of Legends or Clash Royale. Most people assume these games are free to play but if you don't spend cash you can play the majority of those titles only with a few caveats and disadvantages like energy reloading, pricy gems or timers. Those games make an obscene amount of money no title with a "pay once play forever" model can even remotely dream to achieve.

And even though the prices for the same games on mobile are usually at least a third of those for PC (just see Darkestville Castle as one of the more recent examples, or similar Detective Gallo -> 5 bucks for iOS, 15 for steam etcetc.). People on mobile forums like TouchArcade are already complaining about "expensive pricing" when a game hits 4, 5 bucks or more.

Chances for successfully selling a 5 buck game for mobile are already rather low but if a dev tries the same price as for PC nowadays much, much fewer people would touch the title. It's the scourge of mobile gaming this "give me everything for free" mentality (5 bucks being too much for a full priced game but no problem with spending 100s of bucks on F2P games) and another reason the F2P model unfortunately is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Luckily it's hard to create PnC adventures with the "Free 2 play" model (Free 2 Try would probably be a better description anyway) so we as lovers of the genre are at least luckier than most. In turn this unfortunately means that less and less adventures are getting ported to mobile nowadays. On Android it's even worse, because it makes pirating so easy. Luckily, to combat this, Android devs often take the route of the game being 0$/€ and you can unlock the full experience with a one time in-app purchase only.

Sorry, this got longer than expected. I just hate f2p :messenger_neutral:

Tl;dr: Mobile games are always usually at least a third price of their PC counterparts despite being the same games. Pay once premium games apparently are selling not too good in today's mobile landscape and mobile gamers often even complain about 5 bucks being too expensive. Hope this freemium mentality will die a slow death but as the f2p model doesn't work very well for the adventure genre in the meantime PnC fans should consider themselves luckier than most for inexpensive mobile alternatives :)
 
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...
Not helped by Sierra's lack of hotspot text.
...
Jane Jensen is one of the most talented writers in the medium. I really think she's primarily the reason that King's Quest 6 turned out as well as it did. At this point I've been told enough times that GK3 is a must play that I'll get around to it. Initially I couldn't get past the camera and controls but we'll see what happens with round 2.
Also, Whispers of a Machine today!!! I'm gonna be day 1-ing this hard. Really hope it's as good as it looks.


Btw, as German native speaker I couldn't believe how few "real Germans" Gabriel Knight 2 had casted. I know this from "older" TV shows like Scrubs or Malcolm in the Middle (eg Otto and Grete ... (Slight) fun fact, in the German Dub they are portrayed as Danes) that they often casted Americans to play Germans and as I usually watch(ed) those shows in their original audio the "Germglish" of the actors usually is extremely obvious.

As those were created on US soil while GK2 was filmed in Bavaria I expected more actors to be hailing from Germany but if 10% of those guys and gals who played Germans have it as their native language that would be a generous estimate.

It often sounds funny and I had to laugh out loud a few times over the German pronounciations from all the "Bavarians". Sometimes it can really take you out of the immersion though. One of my few nitpicky complaints about the game. Considering the effort, quality, budget and obviously extensive research that went into it and taking the filming locations into account I was pretty surprised that they didn't use more native Germans.

The only one I'm very certain is German atm is Herr Huber - Despite him nearly everybody was an "American (Were)Wolf in German (sheep's) clothing" ;)

Other small nitpicks: No hotspot function, so still some pixel hunting involved - Not as bad as with the first game and alas pretty common in 90s adventure games. Most of me being stuck for a while wasn't the fault of not being able to solve some puzzle but rather having overlooked some hotspot(s).

And last but not least, the lack of subtitles. I have no trouble understanding English games but nonetheless they are more enjoyable with subs, especially for non-native speakers. I know there's a patch out there but apparently it has some drawbacks and seems only to work for Windows.

Btw, anybody played Whispers yet (especially Vampire On Titus Vampire On Titus )? About to pull the trigger myself, don't think I can go much wrong with 5 bucks anyway. But would still be very interested in your (initial) impressions.
 
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frogmeetsdog frogmeetsdog I am playing Whispers of a Machine. I'm currently on the 3rd day and enjoying it a lot. I'd say (so far) this is the first must play adventure of the year. Not counting Great Ace Attorney since it's actually a 2015 game with a recent fan translation (although that's must play as well imo). The investigation abilities steal the show. Whispers does an impressive job of delivering unique uses for them and won't hold your hand, so that -- in the game's best moments -- you feel as though you're doing real detective work. Vera is a solid lead (and only getting more interesting as the story progresses). She reminds me of Amy Wellard from Shardlight, in that Vera is remarkably even keel despite being mixed up in high stress situations. Although, I assume some of that can change with the dialogue options.

There are some moments that are brought down by muddled sign-posting, I feel. Stuff that's confusing in a way that seems unintentional, rather than a deliberate red herring. Also, there are times where the limitations for what you can or cannot interact with seem arbitrary. Thankfully those moments have been few and far between (so far at least) .

The dialogue system is both cool and limiting in ways. I really like the fact that my choices shape Vera's abilities. It's great to see the choice/consequence mechanic effect gameplay in a way it typically doesn't. But at the same time I find myself choosing dialogue options I otherwise wouldn't just to keep getting the abilities I want instead of choosing what I feel is best to say. It's a tough balancing act for a cool idea. I'm curious to see how much it really changes the game on subsequent playthroughs.
 
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