4 ms·

I think the genre has gotten smaller, but higher quality. Games are more a work of love than a marketing hype. Thimbleweed Park, Kathy Rain, whispers of a mach

I think the genre has gotten smaller, but higher quality. Games are more a work of love than a marketing hype. Thimbleweed Park, Kathy Rain, whispers of a machine, Disco Elyseum, Unusual Findings, Sexy Brutale, Darside Detective, blacksad, obra-dimm, takes two, Orwell, unheard, shadows of a doubt, 12 minutes… I actually enjoy these slow-burn games a lot

ykonstant 2y ago
I do agree the quality has increased significantly; we view old adventure games through quite a bit of rose-tint and tend to ignore significant warts. To add to your great selection, I think the whole Blackwell series is a modern adventure game masterpiece.
pfdietz 2y ago
> blacksad Is that based on the comic?
- freetanga 2y ago
  I think so, never heard of the comic
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad
    - sersi 2y ago
      Yes it's based on the comic and absolutely worth playing if you like me love the comic.
cmiller1 2y ago
To be entirely fair, the guy who wrote this article CREATED Thimbleweed Park.
- freetanga 2y ago
  I know. And while I have lots of respect for him, I felt the ending was a bit meh
  - BeetleB 2y ago
    Meh is an understatement. The ending was terrible. Gameplay was great to that point though.
    - HellDunkel 2y ago
      The ending was uninspiring at best unlike the rest which is very enjoyable.
    - thaumasiotes 2y ago
      That's exactly how I felt about Escape from Monkey Island. The gameplay was great (although the 3D graphics were awful...), but the ending completely ruined it.
    - soneca 2y ago
      Just so it doesn’t seem that unanimous, I feel always obligated to say that I enjoyed Thimbleweed Park’s ending as well as Return to Monkey Island’s ending. RtMI ending actually grows in me each time I think or read about it. I consider now to be one of the best endings I ever saw in a game (I do not play that many games though)
  - sersi 2y ago
    Was disappointed also by the ending of Monkey Island 2 and Return to Monkey Island. Ron Gilbert seems to love going meta and breaking the fourth wall to the point where I'd almost be shocked if he released a game that didn't do that.
    - fsckboy 2y ago
      sounds like you need a game where the protagonist is clearly trying to break the 4th wall, but can't. It's a puzzle you need to figure out.
Gormo 2y ago
Don't forget Wadjet Eye's entire catalog, including the Blackwell series and especially Primordia, Resonance, and Technobabylon.
- toasteros 2y ago
  Resonance will always be quite funny to me. You start the game as a dorky blond named Ed who unravels a government conspiracy with worldwide ramifications. Only a few weeks after the game's release date was announced, we heard a dorky blond named Ed speak from a hotel room in Hong Kong.
parpfish 2y ago
I’m looking forward to see it how modern language models can improve these games. One peeve I’ve always had is that in a game like disco elysium, I don’t feel like I (the player) am solving a mystery because dialogue trees are always leading you to the answer. Instead I’m just watching the guy on the screen solve it. Dialogue with an explicit tree would be rad
- uniq7 2y ago
  Games like Return of the Obra Dinn or The Case of the Golden Idol may give you exactly that feeling.
quitit 2y ago
Adding these titles into the mix: - Hugo's House of Horrors - Maniac Mansion - The Goonies II - The Cave - Machinarium / Botanicula / Samorost (put together because they're, at their core, the same idea.) - Love you to bits. And I think these also give that adventure story feel (find objects & solve puzzles to progress a story), even if they don't transport the player to far-away locations - The Room series - There is no game - The Rusty Lake series - The Stanley Parable - Tangle Tower - Chuchel
- sersi 2y ago
  Hugo's House of Horrors -> That game commits pretty much every sin in the list. Machinarium / Botanicula / Samorost / Chuchel are all great fun (and can be played with relatively young kids even)
  - quitit 2y ago
    I give HHH a pass, it is still fun and predates Monkey Island 1 and the list itself. MI2 also break's Ron's own rules ... extensively, including a bunch of things he didn't list that should also be rules, like "don't use a deus ex machina as an ending device" (which he did again in Return to Monkey Island, he's absolutely butchered that IP.)

ykonstant 2y ago

I do agree the quality has increased significantly; we view old adventure games through quite a bit of rose-tint and tend to ignore significant warts. To add to your great selection, I think the whole Blackwell series is a modern adventure game masterpiece.

pfdietz 2y ago

> blacksad Is that based on the comic?

freetanga 2y ago
I think so, never heard of the comic
- pfdietz 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad
  - sersi 2y ago
    Yes it's based on the comic and absolutely worth playing if you like me love the comic.

cmiller1 2y ago

To be entirely fair, the guy who wrote this article CREATED Thimbleweed Park.

freetanga 2y ago
I know. And while I have lots of respect for him, I felt the ending was a bit meh
- BeetleB 2y ago
  Meh is an understatement. The ending was terrible. Gameplay was great to that point though.
  - HellDunkel 2y ago
    The ending was uninspiring at best unlike the rest which is very enjoyable.
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    That's exactly how I felt about Escape from Monkey Island. The gameplay was great (although the 3D graphics were awful...), but the ending completely ruined it.
  - soneca 2y ago
    Just so it doesn’t seem that unanimous, I feel always obligated to say that I enjoyed Thimbleweed Park’s ending as well as Return to Monkey Island’s ending. RtMI ending actually grows in me each time I think or read about it. I consider now to be one of the best endings I ever saw in a game (I do not play that many games though)
- sersi 2y ago
  Was disappointed also by the ending of Monkey Island 2 and Return to Monkey Island. Ron Gilbert seems to love going meta and breaking the fourth wall to the point where I'd almost be shocked if he released a game that didn't do that.
  - fsckboy 2y ago
    sounds like you need a game where the protagonist is clearly trying to break the 4th wall, but can't. It's a puzzle you need to figure out.

Gormo 2y ago

Don't forget Wadjet Eye's entire catalog, including the Blackwell series and especially Primordia, Resonance, and Technobabylon.

toasteros 2y ago
Resonance will always be quite funny to me. You start the game as a dorky blond named Ed who unravels a government conspiracy with worldwide ramifications. Only a few weeks after the game's release date was announced, we heard a dorky blond named Ed speak from a hotel room in Hong Kong.

parpfish 2y ago

I’m looking forward to see it how modern language models can improve these games. One peeve I’ve always had is that in a game like disco elysium, I don’t feel like I (the player) am solving a mystery because dialogue trees are always leading you to the answer. Instead I’m just watching the guy on the screen solve it. Dialogue with an explicit tree would be rad

uniq7 2y ago
Games like Return of the Obra Dinn or The Case of the Golden Idol may give you exactly that feeling.

quitit 2y ago

Adding these titles into the mix: - Hugo's House of Horrors - Maniac Mansion - The Goonies II - The Cave - Machinarium / Botanicula / Samorost (put together because they're, at their core, the same idea.) - Love you to bits. And I think these also give that adventure story feel (find objects & solve puzzles to progress a story), even if they don't transport the player to far-away locations - The Room series - There is no game - The Rusty Lake series - The Stanley Parable - Tangle Tower - Chuchel

sersi 2y ago
Hugo's House of Horrors -> That game commits pretty much every sin in the list. Machinarium / Botanicula / Samorost / Chuchel are all great fun (and can be played with relatively young kids even)
- quitit 2y ago
  I give HHH a pass, it is still fun and predates Monkey Island 1 and the list itself. MI2 also break's Ron's own rules ... extensively, including a bunch of things he didn't list that should also be rules, like "don't use a deus ex machina as an ending device" (which he did again in Return to Monkey Island, he's absolutely butchered that IP.)