Unavowed launch trailer dropped. Release date announced as well: August 8th on Windows & Mac.
The new trailer shows off the most gameplay we've seen so far & it looks like there's narrative choice & branching paths akin to the modern style of AG. Cant wait for this game. Super into Wadjet Eye games like most adventure game fans and this looks extremely promising. Possibly Dave's best work thus far.
Played Football Game (Point & Click game) last night and will play Paradigm today!
Vampire On Titus
Man that trailer is exciting! Looks fabulous and comes out same month as the PnC book from Bitmap. Gonna be a good month. Now we just need a release date on Lamplight City. Wadjet Eye & Grundislav Games are so talented.
You two were right, Paradigm is really enjoyable. I'm laughing all the time and the characters/environments are so creative. Can't really say anything bad about it just yet. Still got a long way to go, though. My favorite has to be the beatboxing plant.
I really like those dark, creepy vibes within normal daily life themes so this hit home for me. It only takes like 1.5 hours or so, but it was on sale for $1 so it was a no brainer.
Also in other news, looks like LiS 2 (Ep. 1/5) is coming Sep. 27th!
Another thing is the AdventureX convention kickstarter hit their goal super fast and $7,745 currently of their $3,979 goal.
What do you guys consider to be your favorite PnC game? I'm curious since I've been going through what I've seen to be considered the classics (Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island 2, Broken Sword), but they always seem to include a few moon logic puzzles that sour my experience. I can understand why a lot of adventure games moved on with a greater focus on narration rather than gameplay, but, then again, you don't get that joy of lateral thinking. Last true PnC game I really enjoyed was Machinarium.
My personal favorites are Curse of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango, all duking it out for 1st place. They all excel at different things (CoMI excels at humor and the incredible cartoony hi-res graphics, GF is one of the best stories in games and has superb world-building, DoTT sports exquisite puzzle design, mind-blowing implementation of time travel as a game mechanic, and some of the best pixel art ever).
It really depends on what your focus is when playing an adventure game. For me, the story, characters and atmosphere are definitely the highlights of the genre, and as long as they're not downright inane I can let a few weird puzzles slip. YMMV, though. I really don't care much for puzzle games without a story, and I really prefer said puzzles to be enmeshed in the world and narrative. It really takes me out of it when I have to navigate mazes or solve sliding puzzles just for the sake of it.
What do you guys consider to be your favorite PnC game? I'm curious since I've been going through what I've seen to be considered the classics (Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island 2, Broken Sword), but they always seem to include a few moon logic puzzles that sour my experience. I can understand why a lot of adventure games moved on with a greater focus on narration rather than gameplay, but, then again, you don't get that joy of lateral thinking. Last true PnC game I really enjoyed was Machinarium.
There are a lot of examples of classic adventure games with good puzzle design. You mentioned a lot of the ones I think people should be cautious of recommending to genre newcomers. Except for Day Of The Tentacle, I actually think the puzzle solving in that one is really good overall and I was able to complete it without a walkthrough. Monkey Island 2 is just ridiculous in spots, although it does have the easier difficulty setting. Grim Fandango is a phenomenal game but absolutely does have a few blatant walkthrough-bait puzzles.
My favorite adventure games are Sam & Max: Hit The Road, Life Is Strange, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney, Phoenix Wright: Justice For All, Technobabylon, The Walking Dead S1, The Blackwell Epiphany, The Secret Of Monkey Island and Curse of Monkey Island. All of which I feel have well designed puzzles and are doable without a walkthrough.
Other games worth checking out that I found were solid on the puzzle front: Gemini Rue, Kathy Rain, The Book Of Unwritten Tales 1 & 2, Paradigm, Thimbleweed Park, Full Throttle, Another Code: Trace Memory, Hotel Dusk Room 215, Resonance, Dropsy, Primordia, Back To The Future, The Red Strings Club and Shardlight.
I've also heard really good things about Fate of Atlantis but I haven't played it yet.
I'm hyped. September isn't even particularly far away but it already feels like a long wait. Luckily Captain Spirit drops in a day so we can get a taste of whats to come.
Grim Fandango's puzzles are as brutal and nonsensical as the game's story, atmosphere and characters are amazing. Games really needed to be long back then to justify the purchase, and I don't think there's another game where that's more evident. Still one of the greats, though.
Played through The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. I was fairly completion about it (did every objective/puzzle except for that impossibly hard one) and my final playtime was 3 hrs. Really enjoyed getting a taste of where the DontNod team is going with Life Is Strange 2. I think they managed a convincing child-like demeanor with Chris and yet again crafted a familiar world that I enjoyed exploring & pouring over every detail in.
I was slightly disappointed at how closely some particulars of Chris' family life mirrored what we've already seen in the series (parent died in car-crash, abusive father figure, etc). As well as some of the puzzle solving (looking through personal effects for relevant passcodes). But there's enough going on here that's unique to Chris' life & his environment that I felt satisfied overall. Especially for a free teaser game.
It's good to see DontNod isn't resting on their laurels either. The visuals have improved noticeably, I'm most thankful for decent lip sync. The real time response mechanic should make conversations feel more natural. Reminiscent of releases by Night School Studio like Oxenfree and the upcoming Afterparty. They've also made inventory more relevant & you can scroll through items now. I get the feeling that may come up more in the full game.
The end was of course intriguing with people speculating as to whether or not Chris can levitate or perhaps the neighbors helped him with telekinetic powers? Either way it seems the series is branching off from time travel and getting into some new strange business. Here's hoping it'll be interesting, wherever they take it.
I'm not too particular when it comes to controls. I tend to think as long as it works for the game I'm satisfied. That being said of the options presented 9-Verb and Verbcoin (click to open) are my favorites.
I do like the added level of interaction & thought you get from 9-Verb. Having to actually think to push a bookshelf (for instance) rather than just clicking on it and knowing the default action will always be correct. It was a real treat getting back to that in Thimbleweed Park last year. Verb coin offers a similar degree of interactivity, just more streamlined.
No love for the Parser, tho? Lol haven't played too much Sierra but I liked it in Laura Bow.
If anyone is interesting, there is a new PnC on Itch.io called The Funny Boneyard that has some pretty favorable reviews for the demo out now. I'll be adding it to my list but though I'd post it here for ya'll as well.
Woop, finally completed Unforeseen Incidents! Was able to do the whole thing no walkthrough. Always happy when I'm able to complete an entire AG without it. Some of those puzzles got devious. Especially that second to last one where
you have to decipher Cardero's riddle to answer the questions correctly.
But they were never unfair. Overall I really enjoyed it. The story is elevated by the sheer likability of Harper and Helliwell. Harper's humorous responses in particular really helped the game from becoming too serious for its own good. Grounded humor too, never anything too goofy. A good mix of self deprecation and dry wit.
Toward the end of the game it did feel like the limited animation style couldn't fully carry the emotion come scenes called for. The voice cast did a good job but the mostly static characters held some of those final scenes back. Also at certain points Harper's joking feels at odds with the plot.
Jokingly singing songs to yourself while infiltrating a creepy death cult lair is a bit off.
Ultimately, though, these are small hurdles to overcome when the core of the game is so strong. Consistently had fun with it throughout and shout-outs to the character designer for giving everyone such awesome kicks. The sneaker game in Unforseen Incidents is next level. Definitely keeping my eye on Backwoods Entertainment from here on out.
I'm playing Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, and I'm loving it so much. It's a sort of "Hogwarts' Simulator" (so far) from the authors of Quest for Glory. An old-school game without the old-school annoyances. My only issue is that the days feel a bit too short.
I find the absence of reviews baffling.
It's great, there should be more games like this and the developers deserve your money. Buy it.
Does anyone have any recommendations in the vein of The Last Door? It's my second time playing it, and I absolutely adore that game. The lovecraftian story and simple, challenging but not too challenging gameplay create the perfect peanut butter and chocolate situation for me. Not to mention the pixel graphics and amazing soundtrack. Somehow I just find that game so immersive.
Starting playing Fran Bow. Decided it was finally time after a few years of seeing positive impressions of it. Was initially upset that there was no VA but I got over that quick enough. I'm having a good time with it so far. Reminds me of old "slave labor graphics" comic books I used to read in junior high. Particularly "Lenore: The Cute Little Dead Girl" and "Squee!" So i'm getting a lot of nostalgia for the gothic, macabre mixture of childlike innocence with unrelenting human horror.
The game really throws an non-stop stream of terrible things at you and it doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon. Although, the Forrest area was a welcomed, relatively light-hearted, change of pace. I stopped for the time being at chapter 2 part 2, right after the
Siamese twins (?) kidnap Fran and dress her up as their kitten.
I'm interested to see the main thrust of the plot pick up a bit. As far as tracking down the person who killed Fran's parents, finding out more about her aunt and her family.
There are a few design choices that could have been smoothed out. I don't really get moving through areas by clicking eyeball icons. Seems like a design choice made for mobile and it's not consistent. Whenever there's a room with multiple doors, transitioning between screens works the same way it does in any AG. So at times I'd forget about the eyeball icons altogether. Also there's no descriptive text for hotspots (unless you're using an item) which can be annoying since it's not always clear what is individually selectable vs a collective hotspot. Like for instance an individual book vs an entire book case. For some particularly busy scenes I've found myself selecting an item I have no intention of using just to get the descriptive text and definitively see what can be interacted with.
Fairly minor gripes though since nothing has really tripped me up or frustrated me thus far. I'm just always kinda surprised when people deviate from the standard with something less functional. Looking forward to playing more tonight.
thanks TripleSun for this great post/topic/thread. Had to get a NeoGAF account after I read it and glad it got approved.
I was (still am) excited about so many great looking adventure games being released in 2018 and googled all titles on the list to see what got released so far (have played Unforeseen Incidents last month but hadn‘t heard about the others). It seems as quite a few won‘t be released in 2018, some probably not at all. Hope you guys don‘t mind a little update (+ two games I haven’t found mentioned here so far):
Future uncertain (cancelled?):
- Kinky Island apparently is in development hell (the idea for the game‘s from 2001) and the devs are reimbursing IndieGoGo backers from their 2010 campaign atm. They said the game is still in production but the post on their page doesn‘t sound optimistic for a soonish release date - If for any at all.
- Splittown: This makes me especially sad as I digged the DoTT style but it looks as if this game is cancelled. At least there is very little info to find about it and the dev has been quiet on Twitter about progress. The biggest hint for cancellation though is that the link for the game‘s website has expired (don‘t know if allowed to post links here but to be on the safe side: splittowngame dot com)
- A Night at Camp Ravenwood: Nearly no info to find about this game. Adventuregamers says digital release 2018. Development seems to have started 2011, video trailers are from 2012 and it‘s by the same devs as Kinky Island. Both were originally slated for release 2013.
- Couldn‘t find any info on Drawn Down (not even on the Studio Hazy website)
Pushed back (2019+):
- Asylum Senscape was announced 2010 with a Kickstarter from 2013. Although they released a gameplay video in December 2017 and are in Alpha now judging from some (dev) forum comments probably the soonest we can expect the game is 2019.
- Trüberbook got pushed to Q1 2019 (planned release, info from June 28 dev Kickstarter update)
- Lancelot‘s Hangover still has 2018 as release date on its homepage. Its last Kickstarter update was from May 2017, last steam entry 2016). Still 5 months of hope left though
- The devs of Lona: Realms of Color got some not so good feedback about some aspects of their game at an IndieGoGo event this year. So they planned to rework those portions which is going to push the planned release quite a bit back. This one is probably also gonna be 2019 at the earliest.
- Rainswept: The game is apparently complete in terms of Gameplay and story but the dev just started an IndieGoGo campaign on 24th July to be able to fund adding missing content like cutscenes, dialogue etc. Atm the game is slated for release in January 2019
- Blacksad also got pushed back to 2019
On track for 2018/Slightly delayed:
- Mage‘s Initiation couldn‘t hold up Q1-Q2 but on their Kickstarter they‘re hopeful for a release in Q3 or Q4 2018
- Guard Duty got its internal Alpha underway today. It won‘t be their targetted early 2018 release date but with a bit of luck we‘ll see it by the end of the year (or 2019)
- Lamplight City was slated for April - End of June. Didn‘t happen but still looks good for a 2018 release date
- Even though Strangeland doesn‘t have a definitive release date atm the game is said to be almost done after having been in development hell for a while
- Whispers of a Machine, The Poisoned Pawn: A Tex Murphy Adventure, Lorelai and The Last Crown: Blackenrock also seem on track for 2018.
- Gibbous: A Cthulu adventure (can’t wait for this one, it looks amazing) has its finishing touches put on
- And as you all know, Unavowed is due in about 2 weeks
Released (for completion’s sake)
- The Council (first three episodes)
- Pillars of the Earth last chapter
- Adventure: Welcome to the Genre
- Unforeseen Incidents (loved this game, especially Harper but agree with Vampire on Titus near the ending it lost a bit of its steam)
Not mentioned:
- I haven’t found Odysseus Kosmos mentioned anywhere in the OP or this thread. It’s a charming classical Point and Click adventure in pixel art about a lazy guy stranded on a spaceship with his board computer being his only companion. Played the first episode so far. The puzzles are neatly balanced and I like the game’s humor, the protagonist really cracks me up. Episode 3 just got released on steam.
- And even though it got released by the end of 2017 I have to mention Darkestville Castle in the off chance somebody of you hasn’t heard about it. I absolutely adored this game. It reminded me a lot of Monkey Island 3. The humor was top notch and the puzzles had the rare quality of being neither too easy nor too hard. It’s a pity the game got so little attention but anybody who hasn’t tried it yet should really consider giving it a go. The dev would definitely deserve some more sales
That’s it so far. Hope this post was helpful. Happy adventuring
I'm playing Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, and I'm loving it so much. It's a sort of "Hogwarts' Simulator" (so far) from the authors of Quest for Glory. An old-school game without the old-school annoyances. My only issue is that the days feel a bit too short.
I find the absence of reviews baffling.
It's great, there should be more games like this and the developers deserve your money. Buy it.
This got me excited, loved the screenshots. Was afraid it would get abandonded or cancelled down the line like most fan remake projects but the creator already announced cancellation on 7/20 after posting about the remake 6 days before (due to him taking on a new project) ... Pity, that was fast
After New Frontier a wait a see approach is a must with this series. Really, anything TellTale. But that being said having watched this gameplay trailer I'm confident they're taking several steps in the right direction. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the new consequence actions. I'm hoping TTG can really hit this one out of the park and give a proper ending to Clementine's story.
This got me excited, loved the screenshots. Was afraid it would get abandonded or cancelled down the line like most fan remake projects but the creator already announced cancellation on 7/20 after posting about the remake 6 days before (due to him taking on a new project) ... Pity, that was fast
P. S.: On the plus side the dev will try making the new project also in DoTT/Sam & Max style with some storytelling help from an AGS member. If that one will be seen through, maybe the cancellation is a blessing in disguise
After New Frontier a wait a see approach is a must with this series. Really, anything TellTale. But that being said having watched this gameplay trailer I'm confident they're taking several steps in the right direction. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the new consequence actions. I'm hoping TTG can really hit this one out of the park and give a proper ending to Clementine's story.
Wow, thanks for the video, looks amazing. I thought I was all Telltaled out after playing all of their choice games up until GoT and The Last Frontier (I miss their Point and Click remakes but makes sense they abandoned them for the more profitable route. Alas, they overdid the ‘same old same old’ formula after a while). Their last TWD game wasn’t bad but a little too much on the been there, done that side again. Also, Clem only was a peripheral character :/
But this looks great with some new ideas and hopefully choices will even matter more this time around. Getting a conclusion to Clem’s story and being able to shape A. J.’s worldwview with her now being in the exact same role that Lee had towards her in Season 1 is definitely something to look forward to!
you guys have any good suggestions for me adventurewise? I love the classical Lucas Arts adventures, especially DoTT and MI3, Simon the Sorcerer or King’s Quest VI (an amazing game which - shame on me - I have never played until a few months ago - Pity that V and VII weren’t as good).
Regarding newer games from this century it’s also preferably in that classical vein like: most of Daedalic’s adventures (Whispered World 1, Deponia series, Edna & Harvey, Night of The Rabbit), Wadjet Eye games, Runaway, The Inner World, Thimbleweed Park, Anna’s Quest and of course Darkestville Castle.
From the games in the OP I most look forward to Gibbous, Strangeland, Lamplight City, Unavowed, Blacksad and Mage’s Initiation.
I also liked Paradigm, especially the humor and dialogue but imo it was a bit light on puzzles.
Probably forgot quite a few games now but you get the gist.
Any suggestions (no matter the game’s age as long as it has a point and click interface ) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
you guys have any good suggestions for me adventurewise? I love the classical Lucas Arts adventures, especially DoTT and MI3, Simon the Sorcerer or King’s Quest VI (an amazing game which - shame on me - I have never played until a few months ago - Pity that V and VII weren’t as good).
Regarding newer games from this century it’s also preferably in that classical vein like: most of Daedalic’s adventures (Whispered World 1, Deponia series, Edna & Harvey, Night of The Rabbit), Wadjet Eye games, Runaway, The Inner World, Thimbleweed Park, Anna’s Quest and of course Darkestville Castle.
From the games in the OP I most look forward to Gibbous, Strangeland, Lamplight City, Unavowed, Blacksad and Mage’s Initiation.
I also liked Paradigm, especially the humor and dialogue but imo it was a bit light on puzzles.
Probably forgot quite a few games now but you get the gist.
Any suggestions (no matter the game’s age as long as it has a point and click interface ) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
You ever try Quest for glory? 1,2,3 and 4 are fun adventure games with light rpg elements.(5 sucks but has an amazing soundtrack) (The second game in the series had a fan remake done which was really well done)
The original creators of quest for glory, just released a new game called HeroU, which exists in the same universe, and is enjoyable as well.
Glad to see PAC adventure game have been growing after years of being in the dark , last one I played/ completed was Siberia and currently playing on WiiU Secret files : Tunguska.
You ever try Quest for glory? 1,2,3 and 4 are fun adventure games with light rpg elements.(5 sucks but has an amazing soundtrack) (The second game in the series had a fan remake done which was really well done)
The original creators of quest for glory, just released a new game called HeroU, which exists in the same universe, and is enjoyable as well.
Thanks for all the tips guys. Alas, played most of them (I played about every Lucas Arts adventure from Maniac Mansion upwards except The Dig and Loom). Also Kathy Rain, Gabriel Knight and both BoUTs (I agree, all great games) of course
I never got that much into Sierra games though. As kid I only played one Leisure Suit Larry (still have the original box somewhere ) but to this day the Larry series never quite clicked with me. That‘s why I was so blown away by how great King‘s Quest VI is and that I’ve never played that one until being in my 30s. Probably because I‘ve always been put off by perma death in adventures (which a lot of Sierra‘s games are somehow notorious for) but gotta give some of the „Quest games“ another chance now (Quest for Glory, Police & Space Quest). Thanks for all of your replies! Of course, if anybody has more suggestions, keep em coming
And great news about about Lamplight City! Can‘t wait!
Glad to see PAC adventure game have been growing after years of being in the dark , last one I played/ completed was Siberia and currently playing on WiiU Secret files : Tunguska.
We‘re lucky to have crowdfunding otherwise it would still be dark. Daedalic - which was a huge part of the PnC adventure revival (especially in middle Europe) - has stopped publishing/developing Point and Click adventure games altogether just a few months ago because according to them „there‘s no more money to be made with the genre". They even canned their project the Devil‘s Men which already has been in development for a while. I hope they‘re wrong. Of course it could also have to do with the fact that they‘ve ran out of innovation with their latest games.
All in all Point and Click adventures have been declared dead multiple times over the last 20 years and luckily those claims were never entirely true - But without Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Co. we probably wouldn‘t see 90% of the releases listed here.
Thanks for the updates Fforgedbygeeks
I've been kind of slacking on the OP for a while. I cleaned release dates etc a bit but will delete some that are pushed to 2019 and add more that have yet to release in 2018 soon enough.
That's really depressing to hear from Daedalic considering they are a PnC powerhouse. It hurts that the genre will always be niche and most of the games won't get the attention they deserve (if they even come out)
Personally I don't really tend to think in terms of point and click vs anything else. I just like adventure games and the interface isn't paramount to my enjoyment of the games. By that criteria there's always the occasional adventure game that breaks through. Syberia did 3 million, Life Is Strange sold 3 million copies, The Walking Dead S1 sold 28 million episodes, Detroit was Quantic Dream's biggest debut and hit 1 million in two weeks.
If we're talking specifically 90's fashioned indie point and click adventure games, then yeah, It's very niche. Especially the super retro styled, low res, pixel art games (though looking at the steam leaks there's some decent sellers). But if we're just talking the entire genre then there's definitely some games that have managed to tap into a wider audience. Especially in the last 5-6 years.
Thanks for the updates Fforgedbygeeks
I've been kind of slacking on the OP for a while. I cleaned release dates etc a bit but will delete some that are pushed to 2019 and add more that have yet to release in 2018 soon enough.
That's really depressing to hear from Daedalic considering they are a PnC powerhouse. It hurts that the genre will always be niche and most of the games won't get the attention they deserve (if they even come out)
No problem, happy to oblige (If you mean me by forgedbygeeks - I was forged by geeks alright but the username was already taken )
The PnC community is small enough as it is - The genre had gotten a nice boost mainly thanks to mobile up until recently but it seems the revival of the classical adventure genre has died down a bit again. Just returned from iOS to PC again as no original stuff at all gets released on mobile anymore and if there’s some adventuring left it’s mainly happening on PC.
Not counting the „Choose your own adventure" games in the vein of Telltale and LiS adventures of course but classical adventure stuff with focus on puzzles seems to have a hard time again. That’s why I’m really glad there is crowdfunding - The comparatively small group of PnC adventure outliers can band together and support a few great ideas this way no publisher would’ve ever picked up otherwise.
I’m hungering for new Point and Click adventures so much atm and was really glad to discover your list, exactly what I was looking for. On top of this most of the games seem to be due within the next 12 months. And even if half of them won’t ever get released that’s still quite a bunch of great looking Point’n’Click adventures to look forward to
And yes, it’s a real pity about Daedalic. They had been a PnC beacon when everybody said Point’n’Click adventures were dead. Germany is still Point’n’Click land no1 and it’s discouoraging to see one of their most popular developers give up on the genre. On top of that, King Art (devs of BoUT) said something similar pessimistic about the potential revenue with adventures. But suppose there’s always hope somebody else will fill their shoes and the next heyday can always be around the corner.
This list and the support these games get on crowdfunding platforms definitely is a good start
No problem, happy to oblige (If you mean me by forgedbygeeks - I was forged by geeks alright but the username was already taken )
The PnC community is small enough as it is - The genre had gotten a nice boost mainly thanks to mobile up until recently but it seems the revival of the classical adventure genre has died down a bit again. Just returned from iOS to PC again as no original stuff at all gets released on mobile anymore and if there’s some adventuring left it’s mainly happening on PC.
Not counting the „Choose your own adventure" games in the vein of Telltale and LiS adventures of course but classical adventure stuff with focus on puzzles seems to have a hard time again. That’s why I’m really glad there is crowdfunding - The comparatively small group of PnC adventure outliers can band together and support a few great ideas this way no publisher would’ve ever picked up otherwise.
I’m hungering for new Point and Click adventures so much atm and was really glad to discover your list, exactly what I was looking for. On top of this most of the games seem to be due within the next 12 months. And even if half of them won’t ever get released that’s still quite a bunch of great looking Point’n’Click adventures to look forward to
And yes, it’s a real pity about Daedalic. They had been a PnC beacon when everybody said Point’n’Click adventures were dead. Germany is still no1 for the genre and it’s discouoraging to see one of their most popular developers give up on it. On top of that, King Art (devs of BoUT) said something similar pessimistic about the potential revenue with adventures. But suppose there’s always hope somebody else will fill their shoes and the next heyday can always be around the corner.
This list and the support these games get on crowdfunding platforms definitely is a good start
For me after Indy Jones fate of atlantis and Full Throttle (playing each from time to time) next up on my list to see is: Flight of the Amazon Queen, Beneath a Steel Sky and The Dig! ...knowing with Full Throttle being the first and last release for the story of Ben and the Polecats....I'm am taking my time in my replay of it after all these years...
Not counting the „Choose your own adventure" games in the vein of Telltale and LiS adventures of course but classical adventure stuff with focus on puzzles seems to have a hard time again. That’s why I’m really glad there is crowdfunding - The comparatively small group of PnC adventure outliers can band together and support a few great ideas this way no publisher would’ve ever picked up otherwise.
I wouldn't lump all the new stuff in together in that regard. Many modern adventure games haven't checked puzzle solving at the door the way TellTale has. Life Is Strange has a bunch of puzzles. Recently released episodic adventure game, The Council, has quite a few as well. Particularly in the 2nd episode. Detroit has some clever stuff too. The King's Quest reboot was another modern AG with narrative choices and a ton of puzzles. The difficulty level is certainly much easier than the classic games but they're still there in a lot of cases.
Also, funnily enough, TellTale's games have actually gotten less popular as they've exponentially phased out gameplay. The sweet spot (popularity wise) was The Walking Dead S1, which still had simple puzzle solving and exploration. They know this as well, and have said as much in interviews, that's why we're seeing all the changes for TWD4. Inventory matters again, incorporating branching paths into the gameplay itself, collectibles and side objectives reminiscent of LiS.
The PnC community is small enough as it is - The genre had gotten a nice boost mainly thanks to mobile up until recently but it seems the revival of the classical adventure genre has died down a bit again. Just returned from iOS to PC again as no original stuff at all gets released on mobile anymore and if there’s some adventuring left it’s mainly happening on PC.
I'd be interested to know why you, and everyone else, thinks that is. The mobile component is something I've never considered but an interesting angle.
As far as I could tell the conversation around adventure games changed dramatically back in 2012. Largely due to the release of The Walking Dead S1 and the success of the Double Fine Adventure kickstarter campaign. Around that time is when everyone started writing articles about how adventure games are back. Usually citing one or both of those projects.
Unfortunately half of the hype surrounding the genre's "return" was built around a game that never lived up to its promise. Broken Age, specifically the 2nd act, was a big disappointment to a lot of people. It being split into two acts was a disappointment itself. Due to the massive amount of media coverage Double Fine's record breaking kickstarter received; I feel like a lot of gamers' general impression of the genre was wrapped up in the success story of Broken Age. Certainly the narrative surrounding "the return of adventure games" was inexorably linked it. Having it come out the way it did was sorta like "this is what all the fuss was about?" If Broken Age had turned out as good as Thimbleweed Park I think the genre would be healthier for it. Broken Age the game just wasn't a satisfying conclusion to the Cinderella story of that KS campaign.
The other half of the post 2012 hype was TellTale games. The many problems of that studio are well documented. Suffice it to say they found a winning formula and proceeded to simultaneously water it down & bleed it dry so severely that just a few years later there wasn't much left. A rising tide lifts all boats. I think the health of TellTale is vitally important to the health of the genre overall. Anecdotally I've seen countless LPers / streamers get interested in AGs through TellTale and then wind up playing indies as well. For that reason I think that TellTale's diminished popularity in the last 2~3 years has affected the whole scene to some degree. Including the more traditional indie titles.
Side note: Detective Pikachu possibly could have been for adventure games what Pokemon was for JRPGs. Exposing a whole new, younger, audience to the genre (not on the same success level as Pokemon, but still). I haven't played it yet, but unfortunately it seems like it just wasn't good enough to have that kind of crossover appeal.
It's also possible my notion of the throwback style's struggle is exaggerated. Dave Gilbert had some interesting comments relating to this in a 2017 PC Gamer article.
Dave Gilbert said:
...those articles usually come out after a high-profile adventure game is released that's less than stellar," says Dave Gilbert, founder of point-and-click revivalist Wadjet Eye. "Suddenly a game speaks for all adventure games, and the whole genre is dead. This is a narrative that only seems to apply to adventure games. Roguelikes 'died' then came back. So did the platformer and the RTS. But people love talking about how adventure games died, or are dying. Even developers themselves! But I've been making them for 11 years and they continue to sell and support my family, so it's hard to take that kind of thing seriously."
The article also has comments from other developers, including Ron Gilbert, that are interesting. Not entirely related but a good read.
I don't want to come off too down with this topic, though. This year does feel like a genuine upswing. From a fan's perspective things are undoubtedly going well. The Red Strings Club & Unforseen Incidents were both great. If Unavowed, TWD S4, Lamplight City, LiS 2 and Strangeland all end up good this will be the best year for adventure games in a long time. I hope they're all successful as well.
I wouldn't lump all the new stuff in together in that regard. Many modern adventure games haven't checked puzzle solving at the door the way TellTale has. Life Is Strange has a bunch of puzzles. Recently released episodic adventure game, The Council, has quite a few as well. Particularly in the 2nd episode. Detroit has some clever stuff too. The King's Quest reboot was another modern AG with narrative choices and a ton of puzzles. The difficulty level is certainly much easier than the classic games but they're still there in a lot of cases.
Also, funnily enough, TellTale's games have actually gotten less popular as they've exponentially phased out gameplay. The sweet spot (popularity wise) was The Walking Dead S1, which still had simple puzzle solving and exploration. They know this as well, and have said as much in interviews, that's why we're seeing all the changes for TWD4. Inventory matters again, incorporating branching paths into the gameplay itself, collectibles and side objectives reminiscent of LiS.
As far as I could tell the conversation around adventure games changed dramatically back in 2012. Largely due to the release of The Walking Dead S1 and the success of the Double Fine Adventure kickstarter campaign. Around that time is when everyone started writing articles about how adventure games are back. Usually citing one or both of those projects.
Unfortunately half of the hype surrounding the genre's "return" was built around a game that never lived up to its promise. Broken Age, specifically the 2nd act, was a big disappointment to a lot of people. It being split into two acts was a disappointment itself. Due to the massive amount of media coverage Double Fine's record breaking kickstarter received; I feel like a lot of gamers' general impression of the genre was wrapped up in the success story of Broken Age. Certainly the narrative surrounding "the return of adventure games" was inexorably linked it. Having it come out the way it did was sorta like "this is what all the fuss was about?" If Broken Age had turned out as good as Thimbleweed Park I think the genre would be healthier for it. Broken Age the game just wasn't a satisfying conclusion to the Cinderella story of that KS campaign.
I loved King’s the King’s Quest reboot. Beautiful story and especially the first 2 episodes had great puzzles too. Alas, it doesn’t seem as if the game was much of a commercial success.
I agree about TWD having helped the genre as a whole but Telltale also had moderate success before with it’s Sam & Max and their Monkey Island remakes as well as the (imho) underrated Tales of Monkey Island. Around this time adventure games on mobile also started to get a big boost with many developers/publishers specializing in the genre and regular releases. After all, as long as the screen size is sufficient (tablets) adventures are perfect for portable devices as the games usually don’t need complicated controls and go easy on computing power.
It’s true Broken Age was a big disappointment. Not just the game itself but also how the whole thing was handled (a lot of delays, then the breakdown into two parts) - I agree that if TWP and Broken Age had switched places it could have been a much bigger and better boost for the entire classical PnC genre.
And yes Telltale had rested on their laurels for too long. I’m not certain if this has to do with a lack of puzzles in their newer games though. I rather think the main problems were that:
Their games were often much too similar just with a different skin/franchise and
people started to discover that the whole “the story is tailored by the choices you make" wasn’t as accurate as Telltale liked you to think - Not counting some different dialogue and a few other rather minor differences. For example
no matter who you saved in TWD 1 - s/he died shortly thereafter)
.
Thankfully LiS definitely raised the bar regarding impacts of choices and I also want to clarify that I like a lot of those games. Despite it’s flaws the first TWD was one hell of a ride and I have played most of Telltale’s installments barring the newer stuff (like Guardians Of the Galaxy or Minecraft 2). Same with Life is Strange and I’m also looking forward to give The Council a try.
I'd be interested to know why you, and everyone else, thinks that is. The mobile component is something I've never considered but an interesting angle.
Mostly due to some developments I’ve observed lately, the dying down of new App Store premium adventure releases, Daedalic leaving, no major publisher touching classical PnCs, some comments from people in industry etc.:
Thimbleweed Park despite the big names of Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick behind it and big publicity (especially for an adventure) just broke even 5 months after release but not enough coming in for a new project. Not to mention that Gilbert also worked for free during the entire development of the game. He probably won’t touch a new adventure for a while.
As I already mentioned, Daedalic left the adventure business because their last Point’n’Clicks haven’t been a financial success and they don’t feel like this will turn around anytime soon.
Jan Theysen (from KING Art, creators of BoUT) also had some interesting things to say about the current market in an interview from 21th December 2017 (in German). When they partnered up with THQ Nordic one important focus was to tone down on the puzzles and emphasize on story and mechanics. On the other hand they just had an unsuccessful Kickstarter for their new classical PnC adventure Shakes & Fidget.
He basically said that reaching financial success is getting harder as their budget for a big release is high 6 or low 7 digits. If a game costs 1mio they have to sell about 70k units for €29.99 each which isn’t impossible but getting harder out of a few reasons:
- According to him the target group for adventures is rather getting smaller than bigger (more fans of classical PnC games began playing in the 80s and 90s and there are more old players leaving than new ones entering the genre)
- He also says the games have little replay value and there are quite a few people who rather watch Let’s Plays from their favorite Youtuber
- Adventures age better than other games and a lot of people rather buy them one or two years after release when the game only is a few euros/bucks anymore
- And probably most important: (Probably because of a mix of the reasons above and the market conditions in general) people aren’t willing to pay as much for games anymore. 2009 they were able to charge €45.99 for Book of Unwritten Tales 1. Nowadays, Theysen says, €29.99 is already considered as too expensive by many with 19.99 often being the threshold.
Another anectodal example seeming to fit into his narrative: The Inner World 2 apparently sold much worse than its first iteration. I also certainly have seen less media coverage around it (I know that’s not representative but just compare the number of ratings on metacritic)
Theysen’s last point is even worse on mobile where I routinely see complaints about every price point. For a lot of people even 0.99 has become “too expensive”. This is especially bad for the adventure genre as (luckily) it’s nearly impossible to implement free to play mechanics into classical adventures and most of them cost 4.99 or 9.99 upwards (which I think is incredibly cheap anyway but the majority of gamers seem to disagree)
On mobile around the same time you mentioned (beginning around 2011, 2012) quite a bunch of developers and publishers for adventure games began springing up (Firemaple, G5, Artifex Mundi, Big Fish, Glitch and many more). Lately, most of them have stopped releasing new adventure games, changed genres, went freemium or significatly slowed down releasing new stuff.
I remember a time on mobile where there were new adventure releases nearly every other day. Now it’s very hard to find anything new.
Of course we got some great PC releases this year (and a single Glitch game for mobile). But tbh, most of those are Indie Projects funded by Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. No major publisher or developer is touching the genre anymore. With the exception of some choice adventure games and Wadjet Eye.
Just to clarify: I’m not at all saying that classical PnC adventures are dead, I heard that swan song in the 2000s already. They’ll never die. I’m just saying that all in all, the hype we had around them a few years ago has definitely died down. A few small and big names left the genre, others are struggling and without Indies and crowdfunding the number of new releases atm would be tiny. It’s a niche genre and the market conditions don’t seem to favor it at the moment.
Luckily there are still quite a few titles to look forward too - I could always do with more though
It's also possible my notion of the throwback style's struggle is exaggerated. Dave Gilbert had some interesting comments relating to this in a 2017 PC Gamer article.
P. S.: I think Wadjet Eye’s life is a bit easier compared to their competition with much cheaper production costs due to their usage of pixel graphics and the freeware Adventure Game Studio. (Of course, the great quality of their writing certainly doesn’t hurt either)
Vampire On Titus
Man that trailer is exciting! Looks fabulous and comes out same month as the PnC book from Bitmap. Gonna be a good month. Now we just need a release date on Lamplight City. Wadjet Eye & Grundislav Games are so talented.
