Focus On: Adventure Games

Adventure games, as a category, have done reasonably well for us--partly, of course, because there are few high-budget, major release adventure games any more (although Dreamfall, which we sell as an affiliate, is one such). So adventure game fans pretty much need to look around online to find good titles.

From an independent developer's standpoint, adventure games are a good place to go, since there aren't a lot of huge-budget titles to compete against--and because there are tools, like Adventure Game Studio that make it feasible to develop something pretty decent without a huge amount of effort. Of course, AGS games run the gamut from ones with graphics that approach major studio quality (like Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine) to ones with far more retro graphics (like The Shivah).

One a unit basis, The Shivah is our best-seller to date, in fact; it helps to have a subject as unique as a murder-solving Rabbi, of course, as that's the kind of thing that it's far easier to get press for than something more mundane (and indeed, The Shivah has been mentioned by Reuters, CNN online, Wired, PC Gamer--and The Jerusalem Post). The price helps too (it's only $5)--and even though the graphics are quite retro, they feel appropriate to the game.

Dave Gilbert, Shivah's designer, recently released The Blackwell Legacy, which is a personal favorite; it's got better graphics and takes a little longer to complete than The Shivah, but has the same excellent voice acting, and a stronger dollop of humor. We don't expect it to sell as well, since the subject--a medium with a ghost sidekick out of a Damon Runyon story who helps ghosts come to peace with their deaths and "move on" to the next world--doesn't have the same easy promotional hook. Which is too bad, as this is an excellent game, the kind of thing that any fan of the Monkey Island series or Grim Fandango will enjoy (though it's much shorter than those games).

If you'd like a longer game that's also reminiscent of the best of the LucasArts adventures, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine is the place to turn; indeed, the eponymous protagonist, a dweeby 40-something guy, is strongly reminiscent of Leisure Suit Larry, and a bit of Guybrush Threepwood. Good writing and voice acting, clever puzzles, from a development team that first came to the adventure gaming community's notice with excellent remakes (with updated graphics) of Kings Quest I and II--people who love adventure games beyond reason, in other words. What more could you ask?

A little older, but still games we like are the Delaware St. John series--The Curse of Midnight Manor and The Town With No Name. If Al Emmo and Dave Gilbert's games are remniscent of LucasArts adventures, the DSJ games are perhaps reminiscent of Myst--the game played on a series of nicely executed still images in a first-person view. At least, if Myst featured a paranormal investigator looking into eerie goings-on. Both games are from Big Time Games, the vehicle for Bryan Wiegele's designs--as is Inherent Evil, an older title for which a sequel is in progress.

The Witch's Yarn is an oddball title that takes an unusual tack; it's not so much about puzzle-solving, but about telling a story--and depending on your choices, the story can vary quite a lot from playing to playing. It was a 2006 IGF finalist, but it's also hard for us to figure out quite how to reach the right audience for this game--given its nature and subject (the story of a witch running a wool store), that's probably not old-school adventure gamers, but a broader audience interested in interactive stories with female protagonists. (There's a Mac version, too--we'd like to have more Mac adventures, and we understand that doing Mac [and Linux] versions with AGS isn't that hard.... Hint, hint...)

Kishi Kawaii/Cute Knight is equally oddball--and with strong appeal to women, too--and has done surprising well for us, perhaps because of a cult following in the anime community. As much an RPG as an adventure game, you play an 18-year old girl in a fantasy world who must find a life path before she turns 21. There are 50 potential endings, in fact. Graphics are anime-cute, but quite limited; it's mostly played in text, and it's surprisingly engaging for a game that hardcore gamers would probably think is primitive in its approach.

Altogether, we're quite proud of our adventure game catalog, and it's an area we plan to focus on in future. And indeed, if you know of good-quality independent adventures we may have overlooked--do let us know.