Game Sommelier, Part Two: Adventure Games

Welcome to the second installment of our blog on the truly worthy interactive experiences which have emerged in these first few decades of the art form. While it used to be the case that so few games were released in any given month that one might hope to play most or even all of them on a particular platform, Steam and its competitors provide us with hundreds of options for interactive entertainment every day.

Game Sommelier can help! Here, we sort through the mountainous pile of interactive experiences and review the ones which thoughtful gamers might be rewarded to consider. These games both new and old deliver quality experiences which have the potential to both entertain and edify, delicious yet wholesome meals for the consumer of games.

Today's Category: Adventure Games

One of the very first genres to emerge from the marriage between writing, interactivity, and color graphics was what we then (c. 1980s-90s) called "adventure games". Adventure games were different from most arcade experiences because in an adventure game, you don't run around killing everything in sight until something kills you. Instead, it paints a 2-dimensional world, custom-made screen by custom-made screen, and puts you in it to explore its mysteries. Adventure games were more about thought and world exploration than an immediate act of skill, and featured physically weak protagonists who had to use their heads and occasionally hearts to solve problems. Though the first few tried to have traditional game trappings such as a score of points, most adventure games didn't, prompting some to question whether they were really games at all.

Yet games they were.  They represented a form of play, of role-play, even, which allowed for the telling of a more deep and interesting story. Sierra On-Line was an early giant in the field, with its King's Quest, Space Quest, Hero's Quest (renamed Quest for Glory after someone sued them), Eco Quest and others exploring interesting settings and tropes one by one, weaving stories which were amalgams of other stories and yet distinctly also their own story. While some were serious and some ridiculous, they all had a healthy sense of humor, great graphics for the time (though someone today would likely find the early ones almost unplayable), and interesting puzzles, mostly inventory-based but also some logical, social, and deductive ones. The characters and story were the greatest one could find in the video game industry in those years, and "smart people" played them quite a lot.

With the invention of the computer mouse, telling the character onscreen what to do via text input was abandoned in favor of simply clicking on things and utilizing a simple yet varied interface to issue orders to your avatar. Using this new "point n' click" formula, LucasArts gently and respectfully lifted the Adventure Crown from Sierra's brow and crowned itself monarch of the still-young genre, earning lasting acclaim for almost anything it ever did, beating Sierra in graphics, story, and especially humor to become the pastime of choice for the young intellectual gamer. You laugh, and think, and if you don't give up and stay mentally flexible, you win and the story is completed.

The Pont N' Click genre remains the foundational fare of several other studios and represents some of the best stories and narrative arcs in games. Today, we honor four of these imaginative and creative studios with ranked labels in Game Sommelier; may their games long be played and enjoyed.

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Machinarium

Label: Bronze

Studio: Amanita Design

Amanita Design weaves dreams into beautiful experience of color and sound. The visuals of its first games, made over 15 years ago, are still unlike anything else you've ever seen. Go ahead; look up their flagship "Samorost" series, about a space gnome which drifts about the cosmos on a gentle yet noble mission, embracing special moments like one would embrace a fragile butterfly, holding in gently in mostly-open hands for a moment, then letting it go, blessing it and moving on.

While many of Amanita's games are digital dreams, the most lucid of them thus far is Machinarium, set in a sometimes-cruel, sometimes-funny, sometimes-beautiful and life-affirming world of sentient robots. In this game, as its nameless, speechless protagonist (no Amanita game has ANY words in ANY language, making them truly universal and easy for everyone to enjoy) will go from the local landfill to the highest tower in his mighty quest to simply get by, and maybe try to do a good thing, when he can.

No game is more "handmade" than this one, and it's the essence of what handmade can mean at its very, very best. Every inch crafted with love and thought, oozing beauty of kinds both dark and light. It's fun to play with others, too; I played Samorost 3 with my daughter just this week, and had a lovely time solving puzzles by sharing ideas. None of them are too difficult and technical, and any human being could sit down with this one and enjoy the experience.

You should by no means play Amanita's "Happy Game" unless you're really, really sure, but all of their other titles from Samorost to Botanicula are thoughtful, inexpensive, gorgeous, and always crafted with love.

So why not a higher rank? While very pleasant experiences, I have seldom learned or been changed by an Amanita game. It's been a wonderful escape and perhaps a small mental workout/art appreciation session, but if I have to fight over which ideas I get to keep in my next life I won't be giving up too much for Amanita's games. Go visit them for a dream worth your while, though, if your aim is to do just that: dream a lovely dream, then move on.

Chains of Satinav/Memoria

Label: Silver

Studio: Daedalic

While 256 colors and visible pixels were common in the golden age of adventure games, some have continued to use the traditional formula while bringing every aspect from art to story into the future. Daedalic Studios stands as perhaps the foremost creator and publisher of traditional 2D handmade adventure games today. Daedalic's primary trademark is its beautiful, hand-painted worlds, rife with both darkness and light and populated by fascinating inhabitants. While many of their games are worthy of note, such as the humorous trash-planet Deponia series and the wonderfully magical Night of the Rabbit, the studio's most powerful story to date was a combination of two games, released separately but constituting a single indivisible storyline. Individually, the games were called "The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav" and "Memoria", but they are spiritually one game, one epic story of love and magic, and should be experienced together.

"Die Schwarze Auge", usually translated as The Dark Eye, is a slightly-dark fantasy world which, though very popular in Germany and a few other places, remains little-known among the English-speaking crowd of today. Unabashedly Tolkien-inspired yet also possessing its own deep lore, it is one of the most popular fantasy settings for German speakers and has been featured in a host of games from hundred-hour RPGs to quick mobile cash grabs. It was a pair of adventure games, though, which would fully reveal the setting's potential to tell a beautiful story.

Chains of Satinav and Memoria have a few playable characters, but the story centers around Geron, a poor, weak peasant living in the relatively backwater kingdom of Andergast. He ekes out a living as a birdcatcher and is often bullied by those around him, but he possesses a single magical talent: the ability to break fragile things with his mind. He keeps this a secret to avoid the wrath of the xenophobic and magic-hating populace, but when he meets a wayward fairy princess with the power to magically repair broken things, an incredible relationship forms between peasant and princess which would take them across time and space and in the end challenge Fate itself.

The Dark Eye's lore really shines in this tale, and you'll spend time with tribes of orcs in the steppes, sorceror-monarchs in mountaintop palaces, and many, many others as Geron attempts to guide his faerie friend through a dangerous world in which human (or humanoid) hatred and mistrust is deadlier than any dragon. The world is portrayed with incredible realism and every one of its hundreds of characters play a fascinating and believable role in it. Many gamers have put on the robes of a fantasy monarch, paladin, or mage, but the life of a peasant is rarely portrayed. This series proves, however, that being on the bottom rung of the social ladder comes with its own special experiences, challenges, tragedies, and joys, and the way in which Fate is ultimately outwitted is a true stroke of genius.

Chains of Satinav, the first game in the duet, is short and sweet, and if you enjoy it, Memoria continues and completes the story beautifully. Those interested in the less-trammeled paths of life in a fantasy world are highly advised not to miss this beautiful tale. I will love Geron and remember his incredible journey for all of my days, and this game may make you an instant fan of the Dark Eye fantasy setting.

Primordia

Label: Silver

Studio: Wadjet Eye Games

(For the record, the familiar Egyptian symbol which many call the "Eye of Horus" or the "Eye of Ra" was called by the Egyptians the udjat, the Wadjet Eye, named for the kindly yet powerful serpent-goddess of lower Egypt. The studio is, I believe, getting the name right.)

Wadjet Eye bet its existence on an idea which seemed unlikely: you could still make a flat, pixellated, 1990s-looking point-n-click adventure game in the 21st century and succeed. More than a few doubted this. Times had moved on, they said, and games didn't need to look like that anymore. 256-color pixellated graphics will drive people away.

But Wadjet Eye proved everyone wrong, showing that it's just as much fun to play a Lucasarts-style story-focused narrative adventure game now as it ever was. Its protagonists are diverse in the extreme, and one can play as nearly every kind of person if one plays through their catalog, from a middle-aged Jewish rabbi solving a murder mystery despite himself to a Muslim swordswoman in modern New York who can climb drain pips in high heels. The worlds feel alive, tight, and realistic, with little wasted time; the story pulls you forward very naturally, and you can play through most in just a fraction of the time it would cost to play, say, an Assassin's Creed game, which features far weaker characters, stories and puzzles.

Primordia, another robot story, took a surprisingly warm and philosophical look at post-apocalyptic Earth. Beyond the fall of mankind, a robot and his friend embark on a quest to retrieve something of importance to them. Travelling through an artificial civilization which, though imperfect, has its own triumphs and glories, they meet some wildly creative synthetic lifeforms, engage in excellently-written conversations, solve ingenious puzzles, and in the end, make a very important decision which will change the course of robot society.

Characters worth caring about are a hallmark of Wadjet Eye games, and Primordia has them in spades. Their more recent game Unavowed, about a small cadre of working-class mages living in Brooklyn, is also very much worth your time, especially if you enjoy the modern fantasy or magical realism genres. Their 20-game catalog is rife with gems, and it's hard to go wrong with a Wadjet Eye experience. Their stories and characters will stick with you for a long time, and remain some of the best ever seen in adventure games.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Label: Gold

Studio: LucasArts

In the early 1990s, Lucasarts creatively beat Sierra in a series of fair fights which brought out the best in both companies, standing as proof that creative competition can be a Very Good Thing. While the title might seem too silly to deserve a Gold Label award, Monkey Island 2 was, for many years, simply the best game I had ever played. Its 256-color pixel graphics were magical, with warm, fat stars hanging over the Caribbean nights, fantastic music (using the even-now-advanced iMuse system), and writing that never fails to make one laugh out loud time and time again.

The protagonist, Guybrush Threepwood, was the Wimpy Kid of the 16th-century Caribbean; a nebbishy weakling who is constantly up against forces far greater than himself in every respect. But Guybrush's irrepressible charm, belief in himself, and Robin Williams-level sense of humor, combined with some considerable problem-solving abilities of your own, can win the day and tell a very fun story along the way. By the end, none can deny that he is, despite all evidence to the contrary, a Mighty Pirate, and his plucky journeys can inspire you while simultaneously incapacitating you with laughter.

The series as a whole is an interesting one, and I personally recommend the first, second, and third in the series to prospective fans. Remakes were recently released in which you could play one and two with either the classic graphics or a modern update of them. The later 3D ones lost much of the original charm, but still had their moments. Guybrush's adventures are not to be wholly missed by any true gamer, and if you've never had the experience, you're in for a memorable treat.

Regarding the rest of the LucasArts catalog, the funniest game they ever made was Sam and Max, but Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Grim Fandango all told stories which stand strong even thirty years later. Though LucasArts has closed its doors and its developers have moved on to other companies such as Telltale and Double Fine, it left an indelible mark on gaming, as proven by the constant resurrection of its many gems through remakes and sequels. May they be blessed.

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I hope you have enjoyed this latest look into history's golden games! Though the point n' click adventure genre doesn't make nearly as much money as most other genres today, it played a key role in the history of gaming, and many rare treasures exist to be found. Whether you're looking for a good mental challenge, a wonderful story, or simply to laugh out loud, adventure games have much to offer. Most of the games on this list are under $5 during Steam sales. Try slipping on a pair of good boots and having an adventure of your own with these great interactive experiences.