10 of my favorite adventure (adjacent) games

The past couple of years I played a variety of games that stood out to me. Usually they weren't traditional point 'n click adventure games. No Sierra or LucasArts clones. Instead games that tried something else with their gameplay; and succeeded very much as far as I'm concerned. They might not always be the first of their kinds, and you might easily compare them with other and perhaps even better titles, but this is my personal list of 10 games I played and enjoyed the most.

*In no particular order*

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

I don't know if this counts as a point 'n click adventure, but I've played Return of the Obra Dinn and finished it in an intriguing 10 hours!

It's a mystery you unravel piece by piece, and out of chronological order. The Obra Dinn is a ship that once disappeared but suddenly returned, with its entire crew of 60 either dead or gone missing. It's your job, with a special timepiece which takes you back in history, to figure out the identity of all passengers, and how they perished exactly.

At first I was daunted by the task, but when the pieces started to connect and I discovered the fate of the first people (you're always notified when you get three of them right) and when I started to get the hang of the gameplay, it became loads of fun.

There are certainly some hard ones to figure out, but you really have to pay close attention to all details. Sometimes I got some names switched, sometimes I was too fast to make assumptions regarding the ways people died, but it was by looking around a bit more I found the truth. But I admit that several times I just had to guess, or try out several possibilities until I got it right.

But I was so sorry when I finished the game. I want more of this! I so wish Lucas Pope, its developer, would make a new game. Similar style, similar gameplay, just a new mystery to solve. I'd buy it in an instant.

 

Chants of Sennaar (2023)

Finished Chants of Sennaar in a little over 12 hours!

It's totally mouse-controlled, so definitely point-and-click! You solve puzzles, talk to people, open doors, and sometimes even use inventory items. So yeah, point-and-click.

Sennaar refers to the region where once stood the fabled tower of Babel. Your unknown main character suddenly shows up at the bottom and needs to make their way to the top, solving puzzles to get past doors but also learning the languages of the different people inhabiting the tower.

I'm not sure I understand everything that went on in the tower, but Chants of Sennaar definitely makes my list of best games ever. This is a great example of not only a game, but a work of art. It had just the right difficulty level for me. Often you just go through the motions of solving puzzles in adventure games, but here I really got that feeling of accomplishment after figuring out the languages, similar to getting the deaths right in Return of the Obra Dinn. I can totally recommend it for people who are looking for a different challenge than the traditional point 'n clicks.

The Last Express (1997)

I'm very surprised but I finished The Last Express in only 6 hours time; I had imagined a more difficult experience with lots of retries. But I had to rewind only a couple of times during the on-board concerto. I had a hard time finding a particular item, and I died a couple of times because someone brained me, and also I accidentally blew up the train a couple of times.

There's an in-game hint system that basically tells you where to go and what to do in the form of Robert's thoughts and I refrained from using it for the first half of the game, but it was too tempting for the second half.

The game felt a lot like that movie Source Code for a bit, which is funny because Jake Gyllenhaal stars in that movie, and he also plays the Prince of Persia.

I just wasn't very good searching the cabins, or getting inside them to begin with. And at one time I couldn't even get out anymore (I got in through the window and wanted to leave that way too, but it turned out I just had to use the door. Go figure.) There's actually a lot to read in this game, and I always skimmed through the text fast because I was afraid a passenger would walk in on me. Which never happened, actually.

And the infamous top-of-the-train fight kept me busy for a while, too. I also got a bad ending because I didn't acquire a certain item, so had to rewind again. But to be honest, the gameplay wasn't as difficult as I feared. Though I still feel there's a lot going on in that train I'm not aware of in this single playthrough. I think it's definitely a game I'll revisit someday.

The Lost Crown (2008)

I finished "The Lost Crown" in a little over 22 hours!

Okay, if anyone is interested in a serious, supernatural investigation game, then this is the one for you! It has its flaws, but the design of this game, the clues left all over the place, the necessary actions to progress the storytime, but also the way certain locations are sometimes temporarily unavailable, guiding you towards at least some general area where you need to go... Not to mention all the detail, the many characters, both living and dead, the backstory to it all...

Deep respect for Jonathan Boakes, this is amazing interactive storytelling with puzzles that may seem hard but aren't all that tricky. It doesn't have the complicated puzzles of the Dark Fall games, and I also prefer the third person perspective over the first person POV of those games, even if Nigel almost drops over dead, so slow is he.

The quality of this game stays consistent from start to finish. If there was a novelization of this story, I'd definitely buy it and read it

 

Eastshade (2019)

Not your typical adventure game, you are a painter going around the land of Eastshade inhabited by antropomorphic animals, doing simple quests for them, making paintings of the environment. There's no action whatsoever, very limited puzzle solving (I think there's only one real puzzle in the whole game) but lots of walking around beautiful scenery.

I spent 19 hours in this world and loved every minute of it. It's such a relaxing game. The variety of nature and civilization is amazing, walking from a rocky beach through a forest into a town, then following the river to the mountains. Also the different character types like the owls and bears, while they can look a bit unnerving in their clothes and regal statures, this community as a whole is such a convincing fantasy setting I gladly lost myself in.

Lake (2021)

10 hours delivering letters and packages in a town by a mountain lake. Sounds boring but Lake was right up my alley. It's more than a postman simulator, after all. The town isn't static, it's not only about finding your way around and do the deliveries. It's a game about the townspeople, who they are, where they came from, where they're going. There are countless stories being told here. There's never any real excitement, no action, no conspiracies, no catastrophies, just the people and their personal concerns.

Driving around the mail van, following the pointers on your GPS, feels like playing GTA but without having to fear driveby's. The strength lies in the conversations with the people you meet. They'll tell you about their lives, sometimes ask you to make special deliveries, inviting you to hang out at times. The game even has a DLC in the form of a prequel where you drive around as the main character's dad, and recently added an "endless mode" as well, where you can keep on making your deliveries after you finished the story mode. Driving around listening to the same songs on the radio over and over again has this relaxing routine about it that works for me, even though it might have the opposite effect on other, more action-oriented gamers.

The Council (2018)

Conspiracies and intrigues. That's The Council. It brings together several well known historical figures, like George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
It's not point 'n click but an investigative third person game in the vein of the Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares. You search a mansion for clues which help you make the right dialogue choices, which is basically its main gameplay part. There's some type of RPG element where you require new skills with which you can activate other choices. The fun part is that you can talk politics with these historic figures.

There's lots going on in this game, storywise. It was originally released in five separate episodes but I played it in one go after they were all released. It took me 18 hours to finish. I loved exploring the mansion, talking to everyone, figuring things out. The storyline branches out depending on your choices, and while usually you have this artificial feeling about such a thing in games, here it felt truly genuine.

This War Of Mine (2014)

Something totally different, and more of a survival simulator than an adventure game, This War Of Mine has already kept me entertained for a grand total of 32,5 hours. This includes two full playthroughs, because the first one didn't end very well so I tried again with the acquired knowledge of where to put my priorities to ensure a better outcome; or at least a better chance at a better outcome.

You're in a warzone, taking shelter in an abandoned but dilapidated house. Winter is coming, so you need to prepare through resource management. You can visit other locations to scavenge for food and materials. You can trade with others. You'll be joined by other people as well. You can decide to steal or to share. Everything you do will have consequences. Certain events will turn your world upside down. You can die in all kinds of ways, and your goal is to survive the winter until the city is liberated. It's a very addictive game that has since released lots of extra scenarios as DLC.

Not Another Weekend (2021)

Old school point 'n click adventure, that's Not Another Weekend! You play as Mike Melkout, bellboy at Hotel 404, with a hidden agenda. I have two days time to clear the hotel of all guests and staff and complete my secret mission. I'm not telling you yet what that mission entails; you'll find out eventually. But I also have a job to do, being the bellboy. My boss, the guests and other staff members will often beep me on my pager with one task or other. If I want to stay at the hotel, I'll have to please them as well as try to get them to leave the place themselves.

The game is divided into time segments. You start on Saturday morning and the game will take you all the way into Sunday night, with four time slots for each day, for a total of eight chapters. The story is awesome. I never lost interest. Everything fits together well. I love all the 80s references with the character names, Lethal Weapon, The Terminator, Indiana Jones, Weird Science, Married... with children, the Delorean, etc. Play this game, you'll probably discover lots more references than I did. One word of advice: remember the details. A puzzle solution is often hidden in one particular character's dialogue earlier in the game.

The Painscreek Killings (2017)

Who killed Vivian Roberts? You'll have to find out in The Painscreek Killings. In this first person murder investigation, you walk around the town of Painscreek looking for clues. And there are lots of them. After a while, I started taking notes in an actual notebook, because I was gathering so much information in the form of numbers, combinations, keys, I was losing track of it all and needed some structuring.

You move from location to location, house to house, following a pretty linear path, sometimes needing to backtrack, but the realistic environments and attention to detail - so many details! - is what makes this game for me. It's a bit creepy that the whole town seems to be deserted, giving you pretty much free range to explore; if you can locate the right keys and lock combinations, of course. There's a surprising finale that doesn't really fit the rest of the game, which can get a bit frustrating if you have to retry it a couple of times in a row, but the journey is certainly worth the effort.