6 ms·

Thimbleweed Park is the first game of this type I’ve ever played. It was so good and the story was fantastic. I recommended it so some friends and they didn’t

Thimbleweed Park is the first game of this type I’ve ever played. It was so good and the story was fantastic. I recommended it so some friends and they didn’t care for the story or the art style so I’m not sure why my recommendation fell flat but I felt like I was playing a game version of Twin Peaks. Quirky but captivating! I’ll have to give Delores an ol play-a-reno!

martin_bech 6y ago
Then you should absolutely play Monkey Island. Its available in a good "remastered" edition. https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Special_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monke...
- dividuum 6y ago
  And Monkey Island II as well as Day of the Tentacle. Both also remastered: https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacle_Remastered/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacl... https://store.steampowered.com/app/32460/Monkey_Island_2_Special_Edition_LeChucks_Revenge/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/32460/Monkey_Island_2_Spe...
  - pengaru 6y ago
    DOTT is particularly special for being a sequel to Maniac Mansion, a Gilbert game I had briefly played somewhere on the original NES. The entire Maniac Mansion game is also included in playable form within DOTT, on a virtual computer found within the game's environment. I remember first playing DOTT on the PC and discovering the embedded Maniac Mansion. Up until that point I hadn't realized I was playing a sequel to that NES game I'd long forgotten about. They're fun games, quirky with a great sense of humor and playful innocence about them.
    - unixhero 6y ago
      What's strange is that it is unclear to me which build the Maniac Mansion embedded version is. It is not the PC one. As a kid I tried to replace the lfl files from the maniacm subdir in DOTT om the Maniac Mansion root folder. It didn't work. :)
  - jonny_eh 6y ago
    Even though the first two entries in the Monkey Island series are classics, my personal favourite is the 3rd, The Curse of Monkey Island. Gorgeous artwork, beautiful music, and hilarious writing and voice acting.
    - riffraff 6y ago
      I agree, but art-wise the remastered editions are also pretty nice.
      - WorldMaker 6y ago
        Though take the time to revisit the original art because some of it is a master class in early pixel art, and Monkey Island II was a master class in early MIDI work that stands nearly unbeaten in what it did dynamically and adroitly (search keyword for technical tales: iMUSE), and the lone full collaboration between all three of LucasArts' composers. One of the great things that both Monkey Island remasters did was make it a one button push to switch between original and remastered art and music (including the ability to do it mid-scene).
    - klipt 6y ago
      We'll fight you in the harbor We'll battle you on land When you meet singing pirates They'll be more than you can stand.
tempodox 6y ago
The signals are strong tonight!
HellDunkel 6y ago
I used to play a lot of these games when they had state of the art graphics. I loved the art style but the story&characters didnt really grow on me.
wolfgke 6y ago
A cyberpunk-themed adventure in pixel-art style was released very recently in May 2020. I mention this since I can imagine that some people in the HN audience might love it: VirtuaVerse * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VirtuaVerse&oldid=962642930 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VirtuaVerse&oldid... * https://www.gog.com/game/virtuaverse https://www.gog.com/game/virtuaverse * https://store.steampowered.com/app/1019310/VirtuaVerse/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1019310/VirtuaVerse/
- shmerl 6y ago
  I just finished it not long ago. Some puzzles are very hard but the game is pretty good. The soundtrack is superb too: https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/album/virtuaverse-ost https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/album/virtuaverse-ost See also: https://valenberg.tumblr.com https://valenberg.tumblr.com
- the_af 6y ago
  Thanks for posting this! As a fan of adventures, cyberpunk and pixel art, I somehow missed this. It looks just like my cup of tea. I don't know if this will repay your helpful post, but be sure to check out Gemini Rue, also an old-fashioned point-and-click scifi game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/80310/Gemini_Rue/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/80310/Gemini_Rue/
  - wolfgke 6y ago
    Even thoughit looks like I would like the story setting of Gemini Rue, I am not sure whether I would like this game or not. The reviews mention action sequences; these are rather not my cup of tea.
    - the_af 6y ago
      I don't remember any action sequences, so they must be minimal. It's a point and click adventure.
      - 6y ago
rmetzler 6y ago
I think it is a must to play the monkey island adventures then! If you want to compare this to a movie or show, Pirates of the Caribbean would probably be mentioned, but monkey island was first. I grew up with this kind of games and the Lucas arts games were the ones I liked the best. Zak McKracken, Day of the Tentacle and lots of other adventures was what I like to play in the 90s.
- Chazprime 6y ago
  Fun fact: Pirates of the Caribbean began life as a film adaptation of Monkey Island at ILM. Quite a few details survived the script rewrites...remember the jailhouse dog with the keys in its mouth in the first Pirates? I believe Gilbert has petitioned Disney a few times now for the rights to Monkey Island to create new games, though I don’t think they’ve responded.
  - squeaky-clean 6y ago
    I always thought the jailhouse dog was an homage to the part of the Disney ride where a dog is holding a key in its mouth in front of a bunch of prisoners. I've never played any of the Monkey Island games to know if that's significant in them though. https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(ride)?file=WaltDisneyPOTCPrisonDog.jpg https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(ri...
    - WorldMaker 6y ago
      The Monkey Island game was heavily influenced by the Disney ride and (as sibling comment noted) Tim Powers' book On Stranger Tides. The Venn Diagram of who influenced who is nearly a circle, as the game was influenced by the Disney ride and the book and the movies were influenced by the ride and the games and the book and now the updates to the ride are influenced from the movies and the book. Disney even owns the Monkey Island games now in buying Lucasfilm, so all your pirate fictions are belong to Disney. (Yarr.)
  - teddyh 6y ago
    Fun fact: The true inspiration for most of Monkey Island was, in fact, the 1987 novel On Stranger Tides¹ by Tim Powers (no, not the 2011 Jack Sparrow movie). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=On_Stranger_Tides&oldid=914339025#Influence_on_other_works https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=On_Stranger_Tides...
koski_pindora 6y ago
You might like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis too. That is an awesome game. I like it as much as any of the films. (Or even more. There are at least 3 different ways to play it through.)
bdefore 6y ago
Welcome to a new style of gaming! There's a lot of hidden gems out there. Since you're into quirky I highly recommend Dropsy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/274350/Dropsy/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/274350/Dropsy/ ... Really unique and excellent character development.
silveroriole 6y ago
I really wish HN had spoiler tags so I could give a warning about why lots of people will find the story disappointing compared to classic adventure games. I guess maybe I can say that if you were ever annoyed by the ending of Monkey Island 2, stay far away from this one.
- Trasmatta 6y ago
  I loved the ending of Monkey Island 2, so maybe I would enjoy this game.
  - sedatk 6y ago
    I loved it too. I loved how they connected it to the first game in the ending chapter and all the fourth wall breaks.
- talideon 6y ago
  Too "fourth wall" for you, I'm guessing? I mean the whole game was heavily fourth wall from the beginning. (That's as close to a non-spoiler as I can get.)
- someguyorother 6y ago
  I completely agree. There's a sort of modern sentiment that a reference is funny in itself, and that fourth-wall is funny just by being fourth-wall. I also had the feeling it was a little too proud of some of its (other) jokes, and wore them out.
  - silveroriole 6y ago
    In this case it’s not even that modern, since Gilbert was responsible for the MI2 ending. So in the last 30 years he still hasn’t realised that ending with “it was all a dream” isn’t really that clever!
    - someguyorother 6y ago
      That's part of it, but there's also the part that values shout-outs or references for their own sake. There's much more of that now than there was in MI2's time.
rob74 6y ago
Happy to see there are at least some new players introduced to the adventure genre by Thimbleweed Park - I honestly wasn't sure it would be enjoyable without the "nostalgia factor". I can only agree with the other posters: if you enjoyed Thimbleweed Park, you'll probably enjoy the original LucasArts games even more! My personal favourites are Monkey Island 1/2 and the Indiana Jones adventures (Last Crusade & The Fate of Atlantis). As for Thimbleweed Park, I'm sorry to say I never finished it - at some point, it seems to lose focus with lots of locations you can go to, several characters to play and not really a clear sense of what you should do next...
- leetrout 6y ago
  Yes! It gets overwhelming and a bit frustrating. I had to google a couple of the puzzles.
ekianjo 6y ago
If its the first game you have played in that category, you havent played the best.
ponker 6y ago
You are in luck because Thimbleweed Park is like a 4/10 game and you still loved it. Try Grim Fandango next.
rasz 6y ago
Pixel Art adventure games like Thimbleweed Park, http://darksidedetective.com http://darksidedetective.com, http://snailtrek.com http://snailtrek.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unavowed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unavowed, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordia_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordia_(video_game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Rue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Rue, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technobabylon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technobabylon work mostly on people who grew up on LucasArts 'Monkey Island', 'Sam & Max Hit the Road', 'Day of the Tentacle', Revolution Software 'Beneath a Steel Sky'/'Broken Sword', and maybe Sierras Kingsquest/Spacequest.
mikewhy 6y ago
Something you may want to check out is Backbone (https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Backbone/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Backbone/). While not true point-and-click, it is the same style of gameplay. There's only a demo available right now.

martin_bech 6y ago

Then you should absolutely play Monkey Island. Its available in a good "remastered" edition. https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Special_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monke...

dividuum 6y ago
And Monkey Island II as well as Day of the Tentacle. Both also remastered: https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacle_Remastered/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/388210/Day_of_the_Tentacl... https://store.steampowered.com/app/32460/Monkey_Island_2_Special_Edition_LeChucks_Revenge/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/32460/Monkey_Island_2_Spe...
- pengaru 6y ago
  DOTT is particularly special for being a sequel to Maniac Mansion, a Gilbert game I had briefly played somewhere on the original NES. The entire Maniac Mansion game is also included in playable form within DOTT, on a virtual computer found within the game's environment. I remember first playing DOTT on the PC and discovering the embedded Maniac Mansion. Up until that point I hadn't realized I was playing a sequel to that NES game I'd long forgotten about. They're fun games, quirky with a great sense of humor and playful innocence about them.
  - unixhero 6y ago
    What's strange is that it is unclear to me which build the Maniac Mansion embedded version is. It is not the PC one. As a kid I tried to replace the lfl files from the maniacm subdir in DOTT om the Maniac Mansion root folder. It didn't work. :)
- jonny_eh 6y ago
  Even though the first two entries in the Monkey Island series are classics, my personal favourite is the 3rd, The Curse of Monkey Island. Gorgeous artwork, beautiful music, and hilarious writing and voice acting.
  - riffraff 6y ago
    I agree, but art-wise the remastered editions are also pretty nice.
    - WorldMaker 6y ago
      Though take the time to revisit the original art because some of it is a master class in early pixel art, and Monkey Island II was a master class in early MIDI work that stands nearly unbeaten in what it did dynamically and adroitly (search keyword for technical tales: iMUSE), and the lone full collaboration between all three of LucasArts' composers. One of the great things that both Monkey Island remasters did was make it a one button push to switch between original and remastered art and music (including the ability to do it mid-scene).
  - klipt 6y ago
    We'll fight you in the harbor We'll battle you on land When you meet singing pirates They'll be more than you can stand.

tempodox 6y ago

The signals are strong tonight!

HellDunkel 6y ago

I used to play a lot of these games when they had state of the art graphics. I loved the art style but the story&characters didnt really grow on me.

wolfgke 6y ago

A cyberpunk-themed adventure in pixel-art style was released very recently in May 2020. I mention this since I can imagine that some people in the HN audience might love it: VirtuaVerse * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VirtuaVerse&oldid=962642930 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VirtuaVerse&oldid... * https://www.gog.com/game/virtuaverse https://www.gog.com/game/virtuaverse * https://store.steampowered.com/app/1019310/VirtuaVerse/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1019310/VirtuaVerse/

shmerl 6y ago
I just finished it not long ago. Some puzzles are very hard but the game is pretty good. The soundtrack is superb too: https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/album/virtuaverse-ost https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/album/virtuaverse-ost See also: https://valenberg.tumblr.com https://valenberg.tumblr.com
the_af 6y ago
Thanks for posting this! As a fan of adventures, cyberpunk and pixel art, I somehow missed this. It looks just like my cup of tea. I don't know if this will repay your helpful post, but be sure to check out Gemini Rue, also an old-fashioned point-and-click scifi game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/80310/Gemini_Rue/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/80310/Gemini_Rue/
- wolfgke 6y ago
  Even thoughit looks like I would like the story setting of Gemini Rue, I am not sure whether I would like this game or not. The reviews mention action sequences; these are rather not my cup of tea.
  - the_af 6y ago
    I don't remember any action sequences, so they must be minimal. It's a point and click adventure.
    - 6y ago

rmetzler 6y ago

I think it is a must to play the monkey island adventures then! If you want to compare this to a movie or show, Pirates of the Caribbean would probably be mentioned, but monkey island was first. I grew up with this kind of games and the Lucas arts games were the ones I liked the best. Zak McKracken, Day of the Tentacle and lots of other adventures was what I like to play in the 90s.

Chazprime 6y ago
Fun fact: Pirates of the Caribbean began life as a film adaptation of Monkey Island at ILM. Quite a few details survived the script rewrites...remember the jailhouse dog with the keys in its mouth in the first Pirates? I believe Gilbert has petitioned Disney a few times now for the rights to Monkey Island to create new games, though I don’t think they’ve responded.
- squeaky-clean 6y ago
  I always thought the jailhouse dog was an homage to the part of the Disney ride where a dog is holding a key in its mouth in front of a bunch of prisoners. I've never played any of the Monkey Island games to know if that's significant in them though. https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(ride)?file=WaltDisneyPOTCPrisonDog.jpg https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(ri...
  - WorldMaker 6y ago
    The Monkey Island game was heavily influenced by the Disney ride and (as sibling comment noted) Tim Powers' book On Stranger Tides. The Venn Diagram of who influenced who is nearly a circle, as the game was influenced by the Disney ride and the book and the movies were influenced by the ride and the games and the book and now the updates to the ride are influenced from the movies and the book. Disney even owns the Monkey Island games now in buying Lucasfilm, so all your pirate fictions are belong to Disney. (Yarr.)
- teddyh 6y ago
  Fun fact: The true inspiration for most of Monkey Island was, in fact, the 1987 novel On Stranger Tides¹ by Tim Powers (no, not the 2011 Jack Sparrow movie). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=On_Stranger_Tides&oldid=914339025#Influence_on_other_works https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=On_Stranger_Tides...

koski_pindora 6y ago

You might like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis too. That is an awesome game. I like it as much as any of the films. (Or even more. There are at least 3 different ways to play it through.)

bdefore 6y ago

Welcome to a new style of gaming! There's a lot of hidden gems out there. Since you're into quirky I highly recommend Dropsy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/274350/Dropsy/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/274350/Dropsy/ ... Really unique and excellent character development.

silveroriole 6y ago

I really wish HN had spoiler tags so I could give a warning about why lots of people will find the story disappointing compared to classic adventure games. I guess maybe I can say that if you were ever annoyed by the ending of Monkey Island 2, stay far away from this one.

Trasmatta 6y ago
I loved the ending of Monkey Island 2, so maybe I would enjoy this game.
- sedatk 6y ago
  I loved it too. I loved how they connected it to the first game in the ending chapter and all the fourth wall breaks.
talideon 6y ago
Too "fourth wall" for you, I'm guessing? I mean the whole game was heavily fourth wall from the beginning. (That's as close to a non-spoiler as I can get.)
someguyorother 6y ago
I completely agree. There's a sort of modern sentiment that a reference is funny in itself, and that fourth-wall is funny just by being fourth-wall. I also had the feeling it was a little too proud of some of its (other) jokes, and wore them out.
- silveroriole 6y ago
  In this case it’s not even that modern, since Gilbert was responsible for the MI2 ending. So in the last 30 years he still hasn’t realised that ending with “it was all a dream” isn’t really that clever!
  - someguyorother 6y ago
    That's part of it, but there's also the part that values shout-outs or references for their own sake. There's much more of that now than there was in MI2's time.

rob74 6y ago

Happy to see there are at least some new players introduced to the adventure genre by Thimbleweed Park - I honestly wasn't sure it would be enjoyable without the "nostalgia factor". I can only agree with the other posters: if you enjoyed Thimbleweed Park, you'll probably enjoy the original LucasArts games even more! My personal favourites are Monkey Island 1/2 and the Indiana Jones adventures (Last Crusade & The Fate of Atlantis). As for Thimbleweed Park, I'm sorry to say I never finished it - at some point, it seems to lose focus with lots of locations you can go to, several characters to play and not really a clear sense of what you should do next...

leetrout 6y ago
Yes! It gets overwhelming and a bit frustrating. I had to google a couple of the puzzles.

ekianjo 6y ago

If its the first game you have played in that category, you havent played the best.

ponker 6y ago

You are in luck because Thimbleweed Park is like a 4/10 game and you still loved it. Try Grim Fandango next.

rasz 6y ago

Pixel Art adventure games like Thimbleweed Park, http://darksidedetective.com http://darksidedetective.com, http://snailtrek.com http://snailtrek.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unavowed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unavowed, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordia_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordia_(video_game), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Rue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Rue, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technobabylon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technobabylon work mostly on people who grew up on LucasArts 'Monkey Island', 'Sam & Max Hit the Road', 'Day of the Tentacle', Revolution Software 'Beneath a Steel Sky'/'Broken Sword', and maybe Sierras Kingsquest/Spacequest.

mikewhy 6y ago

Something you may want to check out is Backbone (https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Backbone/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/865610/Backbone/). While not true point-and-click, it is the same style of gameplay. There's only a demo available right now.