Adventure Games for a Beginner

dino-irl

Looking for suggestions on a good adventure game for someone who hasn't been gaming in many years and looking to start something again.

I'm not really interested in shoot em up games or big strategy games like Civilisation. More interested in story type games where you have to complete tasks and solve puzzles to progress. I call them adventure games but not sure if that is the correct genre for them.

There was a guy on The Last Word a couple of weeks ago discussing the launch of a new instalment of a very popular adventure game that has piqued my interest again but I can't for the life of me remember anything about it and now can't find the show on playback again!

Anyone willing to suggest something?

Oh and I'm looking for PC games as I don't have a console.

Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis is an old game but you should check it out if you've never played it. Really enjoyed that game.

more recently Syberia (3 or 4 years old) was another one that I played that was good although some puzzles were a bit strange and I had to cheat and look them up.

Broken Sword is a classic that was remade recently enough I think.

Genghiz Cohen

I quite enjoyed Might & Magic: Dark Messiah
First person sword & magic adventure with some simple RPG elements.
Tenner on Steam.

Zillah

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

I quite enjoyed Might & Magic: Dark Messiah[/URL]

Er...

dino-irl wrote: »

More interested in story type games where you have to complete tasks and solve puzzles to progress.

Dark Messiah is nothing like this.

calex71

I know you say no shooters, but Fallout 3 is too good not to suggest. Exploration is king in that one, shooting is a consequence.

im...LOST

Curse of Monkey Island
World of Goo

Mr Bloat

You should have a look at Good Old Games, they have a good few Adventure Games that would be considered classics. They have a few free ones (Beneath a Steel Sky in particular is brilliant) but ones you pay for range between €4 and 7, so it won't break the bank if you get a duff one. I'd personally recommend the Broken Sword games, Myst/Riven and the aforementioned Beneath a Steel Sky.

Other than that if you are looking for "story type games where you have to complete tasks and solve puzzles to progress" you have to check out Portal or Portal 2 at some stage. I guarantee you will be blown away. Both are available for download on Steam but you may pick them up cheaper elsewhere.

Sofox

Let's see...
You can legally download Beneath a Steel Sky (futurisitic) and Flight of the Amazon Queen (Indiana Jones-esque) for free and they are both good quality adventure games (check out SCUMMVM in order to play the above games, and many others, on every sort of computer).

If you want to go for indie adventure games, check out Out of Order and 5 Days a Stranger (both free).

This should give you an adequate introduction to Adventure games without spending a penny!

I suppose if you do want to spend some money.... Broken Sword, Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle (though you may want to play the slightly frustrating Manic Mansion first) and... well, check out sites like http://www.adventuregamers.com for more.

Big Knox

Dark Souls!!

It's everything a Beginner wants...

Odaise Gaelach

The Longest Journey.

carlcon

Have you played any of the Fable series?

Lots of exploring, hunting, tasking, etc, with some sword/arrow/magic play thrown in to keep you on your toes.

I suppose they're more about finding things than doing puzzles... but there's an element to the game (talking head doors) as a "bonus" that only allow you to gain access to their treasure if you solve their riddles... which counts, I guess.

I too took a break from games. The last game I played before about a week ago was Fable for the old Xbox about 6 years ago. I just got a 360 with Fable 2 and 3 and both were great for helping me get back into playing a console.

They're available on PC too.

B0X

The monkey island remakes: Great games http://store.steampowered.com/sub/6183/

ShadowHearth

I heard cod is great for beginners....

On Seriuosly now:

"Orcs must die" is a new tower defence/ trap game. Prety easy to start off and not too complicated. Will teach how to control a third person character ( for other games ) amd it has great element of puzzles with traps.

It's on all 3 platforms for around 13 eu. Wel worth it

pixelburp

One caveat about the old-school adventure games such as Broken Sword & the Monkey Island series; as awesome as the games were generally (and they were awesome), the 'puzzles' were frequently eye-wateringly obtuse. They often defied reasonable logic, where the player was expected to simply know to combine two otherwise unrelated items from their inventory to form a solution. It wasn't uncommon to be faced with a world puzzle and have simply no idea how to solve it.

Sofox

pixelburp wrote: »

One caveat about the old-school adventure games such as Broken Sword & the Monkey Island series; as awesome as the games were generally (and they were awesome), the 'puzzles' were frequently eye-wateringly obtuse. They often defied reasonable logic, where the player was expected to simply know to combine two otherwise unrelated items from their inventory to form a solution. It wasn't uncommon to be faced with a world puzzle and have simply no idea how to solve it.

You know, I always feel that's part of the challenge. If you knew how to solve a puzzle the moment you met it, would it really be a puzzle?

For me personally, the reward of solving a problem that had me stumped a moment ago, is immesurable. It's not just logic you have to use though. Sometimes lateral thinking, sometimes remembering something you saw in a book, movie or cartoon, sometimes it's by analysing various parts of the map and the unused items on the map, sometimes by doing mental overview of the story and see where the developers are going with things, and sometimes you just have follow a sudden urge to do something random.

ShadowHearth

Sofox wrote: »

You know, I always feel that's part of the challenge. If you knew how to solve a puzzle the moment you met it, would it really be a puzzle?

For me personally, the reward of solving a problem that had me stumped a moment ago, is immesurable. It's not just logic you have to use though. Sometimes lateral thinking, sometimes remembering something you saw in a book, movie or cartoon, sometimes it's by analysing various parts of the map and the unused items on the map, sometimes by doing mental overview of the story and see where the developers are going with things, and sometimes you just have follow a sudden urge to do something random.

Professor Layton would be great for that. I played it for awile. Some of puzzles I could solve from general knowledge, but good few puzzles I had to think quite alot, but when you solve it on your own, it's really satisfationary.

Few times I had to use a tip on a puzzle. Then you go: oh **** yeah, that's right! How I didn't see it in beginning!?

Skerries

there are some good adventure games that can be played in your browser
http://machinarium.net/demo/
http://www.addictinggames.com/life-style-games/crimsonroom.jsp
http://www.kongregate.com/games/ExtropiaGames/bela-kovacs-and-the-trail-of-blood
http://sarien.net/
http://www.kongregate.com/games/zeebarf/the-several-journeys-of-reemus-chapter-2
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pastelgames/the-trader-of-stories
there are also games that have gone freeware, have a look at this list and try thr ones marked adventure
http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/company.php?name=Freeware

dino-irl

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Off now to try some of them out

pixelburp

By the by, just bumping this thread as I thought of another good adventure game worth checking out, going by the name of Gemini Rue. Mentioned only because it has appeared on Steam for extra handiness:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/80310/

It's a sci-Fi point n' clicker, with a distinct Blade runner / film-noir vibe, as the screenshots show. There's a demo available too. Worth checking out.

ED E

Machininarium is great, deffo check that.


Might be worth picking up Humble bundles as they're released, nice shorts for casual gaming, often puzzle based.

Have to give a thumbs up to FO New Vegas too, despite the guns.