Adventure Games For PC
Immerse yourself in a world of mystery, wonder and adventure. These PC adventure games combine narrating a story with solving puzzles in 2D or 3D environments.
Brutal Legend may not be a classic in the sense of traditional point-n-click adventures, but it’s a finely honed and incredibly satisfying piece of storytelling, with a real care for characters from an on-form Tim Schafer.
Day Of The Tentacle
The wacky sequel to Maniac Mansion reunites Bernard, Laverne and Hoagie for a battle against the sludge-eating Purple Tentacle who wants to take over the world. The game is a delight to play for both old fans of the genre and new gamers, with an easy-to-follow plot and plenty of logical challenges that make sense once solved.
Remastered by Double Fine, the pixel art has been updated to a crisp Saturday morning cartoon look (although it can easily be switched back to the original), sound is remastered and the user interface updated. The Boston Herald praised the animation and character design, while citing improvements to controls, audio and graphics as well as a reduction in dead ends. It isn’t perfect – it does have one glaring omission (see below) but it’s still a great experience overall.
April 1st
Adventure games feature a narrative that immerses the player within it, putting the story above everything else. They usually involve exploring the game world, solving puzzles and making decisions, often based on clues or deduction. They usually use a mouse-driven control system that lets the player point and click, and the avatar’s inner voice will suggest options or provide clues as to what they need to do.
In the early ’90s, Sierra was at the top of its game with Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and King’s Quest. Its last foray into the genre, DOTT, was a worthy winner in its own right. Double Fine have also produced a series of adventure games, including Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. They’re working on a remake of DOTT now, too.
Machinarium
The world of Machinarium is a charming, unique one, populated by little robots and an ancient clockwork city. The game is challenging, but judiciously designed, with every pencil drawn sprite in place for a purpose.
Jakub Dvorsky and his team have crafted an unobtrusive story, conveyed through the player-controlled robot’s thought bubbles and context clues. There’s no human speech to parse, no long dialogue trees, just an intense focus on puzzle design.
If you get stuck, the clever hint system will display an ink-drawn thought bubble doodle that explains what you’re supposed to do in the current panel. And if that doesn’t work, you can play a Defender-esque minigame to earn a nudge in the right direction. All told, this is a great example of why point and click adventure games still exist.
Samorost 2
Featuring the same photo-realistic bitmap graphics and Flash vectors that gave the original Samorost its illustrious charm, Samorost 2 is a point-and-click adventure game that feels like interacting with a rich painting. This sequel follows the adventures of a little space gnome whose dog has been kidnapped by aliens, and players must help him search for her throughout nine surreal worlds that are packed with colorful challenges and creatures to discover.
In the vein of the first game, there are no gameplay dead ends here; all puzzles are solvable no matter what you do. However, the amount of time it takes to solve each puzzle varies widely based on how stuck you are. The game also suffers from a frustrating save system and limited gameplay, though if you can overlook these flaws, Samorost 2 is worth your money.
Dragonsphere
Dragonsphere is an early point-and-click adventure game from MicroProse. It was their third graphical adventure (after Rex Nebular and Return of the Phantom) and the last to be developed with the company’s own Adventure Development System and 256-color graphics.
The player takes on the role of King Callash, who must journey through strange lands to stop an evil wizard named Sanwe from breaking out of his magical slumber. Despite its short length and cliched characters, the game has some very good puzzles.
Besides solving the main quest, players can also collect treasures throughout the kingdom, which contributes to their overall score. While this adds some extra gameplay, it doesn’t really enhance the experience much. The game’s graphical design is also rather disappointing, although the animation and digitized speech are still good.