Topic: The Adventure Games Thread

@F-ZeroX Norco sounds interesting, I might've seen it on Steam at some point. I'll have to check out that demo later.

Broken Age is a game I'm largely ambivalent towards. As an adventure game on its own merits, it's fine. It's a decent experience with some great production values, strong writing, and puzzle design that's a bit scooty for my liking. As an adventure game that was hyped as a big return for the genre? It misses the mark in a lot of areas and doesn't feel up to par with the high standards set by adventure games of yestertyear or the level of quality from Double Fine's other titles. I do have more respect for it nowadays, though, because in a lot of ways, it ended up shaping the path that would end up getting us Psychonauts 2. A lot of lessons were learned during BA's development, and they went and applied almost all of them to a much bigger project, an effort that I feel paid off*, because Psychonauts 2 is genuinely fantastic and it was kind of thanks to Broken Age.

*By the way, go check out the Double Fine Psychodyssey documentary if you haven't. Covers every area of Psy2's development and is a much bigger beast than the DFA doc.

oh hey it's page 3

@N00BiSH Cool yeah I saw there was another documentary series. Nice how Broken Age led to bigger and better. Only ever played the first part, maybe worth getting back to. I kinda wanna play Firebird though atm (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1633860/Firebird/).
Really loved Norco!

So this just came out:

Ok so I'm buying Return to Monkey Island. Never played a game in the series, but I adore the art style and apparently it's not too hard either (there's 2 difficulty levels, I play point & click more for the art, story and atmosphere than the puzzles). On Android it's only 8.99€, instead of 25€ on GOG, Steam or Epic store! Reviewer here story says the mobile version is fine and his preferred way to play, though he's referring to iOS, but I can't imagine there's too big of difference: https://toucharcade.com/2023/07/27/return-to-monkey-island-mo...

Read the ending's disappointing but other than that a fun game with modern QoL, decent story and dialogue and excellent voice acting and storyline. It doesn't hold any nostalgia for me (Full Throttle is that game for me), but will be happy to check it out.

@N00BiSH Watched the intro. May watch more of it after I've played Return to Monkey Island. Thanks for posting 👍

@F-ZeroX I'd recommend playing the previous games before Return, as it does rely on some knowledge and you'll just get a fuller experience overall. As for the ending, it's definitely a point of contention amongst players; it has a point to make, but whether or not you agree with that point is your choice.

@F-ZeroX Return is pretty accessible, you don't need to have played the earlier entries to 'get into it' - but you'll miss some throwbacks and references etc.

I would say though that MI1 and MI2 are much more difficult than Return though, so if difficulty is off-putting for you, then maybe just jump into Return which is a bit easier.

Can't like your comments to let you know I've read them, but thx for the feedback. Feel no need play the older games so will just jump right in.

Edit: On difficulty: I don't like getting stuck much. It gets tedious and frustrating and trying everything on everything isn't much fun. I guess I'm not that good at solving puzzles. That's one of the reasons I liked Norco so much. I didn't really get stuck and the game is so atmospheric and hypnotizing, I just got sucked into it's world and story, with great dialogue and beautiful pixel art. You get the satfisfaction of figuring out things on your own, not having to consult a walkthrough, and there were some innovative gameplay section, like in the cult where you have to tape record stuff. Some people may like the challenge of hard brain-teasing puzzles. To each his own.

@F-ZeroX I'd recommend some of the recent Wadjet Eye games - for example "Unavowed" - which are lighter on puzzles, and more focussed on narrative/choices. Still a few puzzles, but pretty easy. Good games if you're looking for less mind-bending challenge!
(I think Monkey Island 1 and 2 will frustrate you, based on your earlier comment)

@CJD87 Thx for the recommendation.

Has anyone ever played OU? It just went on 50% sale for $10. It was mentioned in a NintendoLife YouTube video a year ago and looked interesting and very pretty so I wishlisted it but it never got a review.

https://www.nintendolife.com/games/switch-eshop/ou

The description includes the line "OU disguises itself as something else --an adventure game--to meet and interact with reality"