pretty much the title. i have played most of sierra, lucasarts and telltale catalogues so if you are suggesting one of their games i’ve probably already played it. it doesn’t have to be a copycat, homage or in the same style as these companies’ games either, just that it must satisfy the vague definition of being an “adventure game” and have a good story. thanks in advance, can’t wait to see your recommendations!
EDIT: thanks for your recommendations i couldn’t reply to everyone. i can’t to play (most of) them when i got time.
I really feel like Disco Elysium treads the line between RPG and old school Adventure Game.
If you want story, its got it in spades.The Longest Journey. It’s my favorite point and click of all time. Epic, beautiful, and fun. A couple of Babel fish-level puzzles, but otherwise a steady and engaging story with a very likable lead. The much-delayed sequel, Dreamfall, tried some things and mostly failed, but was still a pretty interesting story extension. I haven’t played the last episodic entry, Dreamfall chapters, because I’m slowly working my way through the first two again first.
sounds interesting i will check it out. thanks for the recommendation.
It’s really stretching the adventure game definition but if you are open to first person games without combat with great stories I would recommend :
- “the outer wilds” : really nice puzzles, good story, wonderful setting, definitely not linear.
- “SOMA” : a little dark, engaging story, this was an amazing experience.
Did you mean The Outer Worlds or Outer Wilds?
He surely meant “Outer Wilds” based on his description. Fantastic and memorable game that will make you sad reminiscing your playthrough. Go in completely blind
Have you tried the titles from Amanita Design? They’ve made quite a few old-school point-and-click games, with hand-drawn graphics and cute stories despite the characters never talking.
My favourite is Machinarium.
absolutely i’ve played a shit ton of their games when i was a kid. i was surprised to see their games are not that famous since where i live most young people have played at least Machinarium.
had a good couple short playthroughs of Firewatch
played firewatch before, it seems like a linear game with maybe some different dialogue. is a second playthrough worth it?
there are some secrets and collectables that i got on my 2nd playthrough but used a guide
I like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Sorry if either of these already got mentioned:
- Call of the Sea
- Quern (this one is light on story, but it’s a solid Myst-like game)
Ohh Querns a fantastic game! And was developed by university students. They really captured the myst vibe for sure.
Hollowknight if you like metroidvanias. Id definitely consider it an adventure due to the exploring aspect. Up to your discretion though.
Story is fantastic imo and the visuals are stunning. Its pretty combat heavy if you’re into that.
That game is fucking hard. Only play it if you like cursing a lot.
I was about to say something about it not being that hard but my second favorite game is darksouls 1 so maybe I’m biased
There’s a beauty and peacefulness to it that’s hard to describe. The music will stick with you, too.
Basically the entire Wadjet Eye catalogue, and the first two games in the Broken Sword series (then stop - the 3D ones are crap)
broken Sword 5 is good went back to 2D and 6 looks to be the same. but nothing is as good as the first two. the music was killer
Unavowed is so good. Different party members mean different ways to solve the same puzzles. Great narrative.
So, I’m playing adventure games (and similar games that work in the setting) with friends most Fridays. We’ve been doing this for years and have quite the list by now.
I’ll list some favorites of mine from that list. But let me know if you’re also interested in some more niche/janky games (not everything we played was good, some of it was so bad it was already entertaining again, especially when enjoyed in a group).
- Heaven’s Vault
- The Case of the Golden Idol
- The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
- Chants of Sennaar
- Pentiment
- Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
- West of Loathing
im ok with niche/janky as long as it doesn’t fry my laptop it’s fine, so hit me with your best.
heaven’s vault was great. i really liked it especially the new game+ and the story. the translation mechanic didn’t really impress me but it’ll sometimes produce some head scratchers.
the case of golden idol was a brilliant detective game no notes. one mistake i made was disabling automatic highlight of keywords, it doesn’t add anything to the puzzles you just spam click until you hit a keyword.
i didn’t like chants of sennaar that much. its art is good but it was too easy and it just didn’t click with me as much as it should have.
west of loathing is awesome, i’ve played the original kingdom of loathing and was glad to see it was as much silly and funny as its predecessor. i would also recommend shadows over loathing alongside west of loathing to anyone that hasn’t played these games. kingdom of loathing is a really old browser game and is more of a daily type of game so i wouldn’t exactly recommend it. all of them are set in the same universe but in different time periods so you don’t need to play all of them or play them in order in order to just play one of them.
haven’t played the rest so i’ll definitely check them out. thanks for the list!
Outer Wilds felt like an adventure game to me.
It’s not really an adventure in the classical genre definition, but maybe Return of the Obra Dinn is something for you if you like solving puzzles and fancy murder mysteries.
i have played return of the obra dinn. it’s one of the greatest puzzle games i’ve played and i feel like most people that have played it say the same. actually solving all identities is legitimately hard, the story is interesting and the presentation is top notch. not an adventure game as i would define it but i highly recommended playing it to everyone that haven’t played it.
If you have access to a PS4 or Nintendo Switch: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
A crazy and interesting sci-fi game, mixes point-and-click adventure with tower defense action stages. Story is amazing and I absolutely love Vanillaware’s 2D art.
unfortunately have access to neither, nor switch emulation capable hardware. im not really a fan of anime artstyles so it doesn’t look like much of a loss to me. thanks for your recommendation anyway.
Another vote for Disco Elysium. For an old-school classic dripping in atmosphere, check out the 1997 Blade Runner PC game.
