Arantor
Well-known member
- Joined
- 24 May 2022
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I love point and click adventure games, especially the ones made in recent years.
The 'adventure' genre grew and redefined itself a few times over the years but point 'n' click hasn't *really* changed structurally for 30 years, and in a lot of ways that's why I like it. It's comfortable, like a pair of old slippers, but the very best games take what works from the era and applies it with a bit of modern thinking.
So, for those not familiar with the genre, point and click games are where you take control of a character, you click on the screen, on a place or an item to indicate what you want your character to do. It might be looking at something/someone, it might be interacting in some fashion. But it's all about advancing the story with world and character interactions, usually in no massive hurry, all with a mouse click or two.'
Veterans of the gaming genre might point at The Secret of Monkey Island - it's certainly gone down in history as one of the finest examples of the genre - but for those who weren't there at the time, I tend to recommend newer games first, usually from the fine folks at Wadjet Eye Games, just because the introductory difficulty curve is gentler.
Would definitely recommend the entire Blackwell series (The Blackwell Legacy, Blackwell Unbound, Blackwell Convergence, Blackwell Deception, Blackwell Epiphany), as well as Unavowed, Resonance and often Technobabylon (but I should warn people this does have some action sequences in the latter half of the game). Other recommendations might be Lamplight City, Kathy Rain and Whispers of a Machine, they're all good games.
Older games had habits of poor design (or intentional design) around players getting stuck, or worse, dying frequently. They also often had action sequences that break the flow of the game. But most newer ones don't do that, they just tell a story, and it works.
And these games don't have ads or microtransactions shoved in your face; you buy the game, you get the game, you complete the game and... that's it. You're not being sucked in for hundreds of hours of grind or gameplay, most adventures are done within 8 hours these days. It's very chill.
I keep wanting to do a lot more on the subject of these games, deep dives, reviews, but I can never work out if it should be a blog or a forum hahahahaha.
The 'adventure' genre grew and redefined itself a few times over the years but point 'n' click hasn't *really* changed structurally for 30 years, and in a lot of ways that's why I like it. It's comfortable, like a pair of old slippers, but the very best games take what works from the era and applies it with a bit of modern thinking.
So, for those not familiar with the genre, point and click games are where you take control of a character, you click on the screen, on a place or an item to indicate what you want your character to do. It might be looking at something/someone, it might be interacting in some fashion. But it's all about advancing the story with world and character interactions, usually in no massive hurry, all with a mouse click or two.'
Veterans of the gaming genre might point at The Secret of Monkey Island - it's certainly gone down in history as one of the finest examples of the genre - but for those who weren't there at the time, I tend to recommend newer games first, usually from the fine folks at Wadjet Eye Games, just because the introductory difficulty curve is gentler.
Would definitely recommend the entire Blackwell series (The Blackwell Legacy, Blackwell Unbound, Blackwell Convergence, Blackwell Deception, Blackwell Epiphany), as well as Unavowed, Resonance and often Technobabylon (but I should warn people this does have some action sequences in the latter half of the game). Other recommendations might be Lamplight City, Kathy Rain and Whispers of a Machine, they're all good games.
Older games had habits of poor design (or intentional design) around players getting stuck, or worse, dying frequently. They also often had action sequences that break the flow of the game. But most newer ones don't do that, they just tell a story, and it works.
And these games don't have ads or microtransactions shoved in your face; you buy the game, you get the game, you complete the game and... that's it. You're not being sucked in for hundreds of hours of grind or gameplay, most adventures are done within 8 hours these days. It's very chill.
I keep wanting to do a lot more on the subject of these games, deep dives, reviews, but I can never work out if it should be a blog or a forum hahahahaha.
