I used to frown upon these hidden object adventure games but one time something just clicked on me and I've kinda started to enjoy them quite a bit.
They are games with single static screens where you interact with objects and move to other static screens. Kind of like Shadowgate, a bit.
There are puzzles every now and then and you also encounter several "hidden object" screens where your aim is to look for objects listed on screen. One or more of these items will end up in your inventory for later puzzles but mostly it's just a bunch of more or less unrelated objects thrown in the screen for you to mess with. Sometimes the items in these hidden object screens require you to solve some minor puzzles (like, if there is a "burning candle" as one of the items you need to find, you have to find a match, find something to set the match on fire and then click on the candle).
I used to hate these hidden object puzzles and thought they are really stupid, but nowadays I like them. These games used to be mostly based on the hidden object puzzles but they have become more and more "regular" adventures as years have passed by. They feel more Shadowgate now than just "hidden object adventures" and the hidden object parts have actually become a bit more clever too.
The art and the music are top notch in these games usually. Lots of atmosphere there. And the mysteries can be really interesting too.
However, this is very much true:
Yeah, different places, different characters, different settings, different stories, but the games pretty much all go through the same patterns. Only if you are interested in going through a new mystery while playing the same gameplay game after game, playing more than one of these is recommended. If you enjoy one of them, you will most certainly have a lot of fun with the others too.