Last year saw a multifaceted adrenaline rush in the adventure game genre, and not just because we got our hands on a brand new Monkey Island game. In 2022, adventure games will spread their wings beyond the formulaic boundaries of a hero’s journey, and it’s great to see more games getting experimental and weird, sometimes with appropriately ambiguous endings.
It’s also been a great year to see how different games’ approach to role-playing, choosing, characterizing, and exploring has enhanced the genre with greater scope and nuance. A good adventure isn’t just about following a narrative plot of discovery, it’s a metaphor-rich medium for exploring emotions, revelations, and, if you’re lucky, really good jokes. .
Norco
A year of outstanding adventures is still fresh in my memory—Norco (opens in new tab). Area-specific commentary (such as from @roaringblood, lived in a neighboring town and had a great livestream playthrough), I know Norco will survive the persistent bouts of short-term memory that plague the entire industry. Away, I’ve come to think of it as a sort of weird time capsule (filled with menacing little galettes, of course): climate change, and just great writing. Norco is a modern-day fable that draws players deep into the heart of capitalism’s worst excesses of corruption, without completely losing its sense of hope, wholeheartedly, and perhaps most importantly, be told.
When I recall a brief conversation earlier this year where someone jokingly mocked the idea of point-and-click GOTY, I’d like to keep the same answer.
Pentimento
As an avid fan of The Name of the Rose and similar monastic mystery novels, Pentimento (opens in new tab) It was a no-brainer for me. The meticulous attention to history and historiography extends far beyond the text to the superb artwork and presentation as an illuminated manuscript. The full extent of Andreas’ journey through time is a feat of storytelling. history puzzle An absolute delight, if you’re a sucker for sly contextual humor, Pentiment’s sharp wit is a treat. This isn’t just another-time adventure, it’s a heartfelt leap into storytelling, myth-making, and the practice of author role and influence.
Admittedly, it’s a much slower burn than some of the other games mentioned here, but Tassing (and the game’s quirks) will come naturally to you once you start exploring.
citizen sleeper
It’s also been a great year for story-driven RPGs, which I consider to be part of the adventure game canon. citizen sleeper (opens in new tab), for example, was a very personal journey (I stocked up on all the DLC for fun during breaks), quietly immersed in the darkness by the light of the monitor. As I struggled to survive, I quickly developed a complicated relationship with the game’s dice-rolling checks, but over time, I carefully built relationships, built routines, and lived in spite of my contraband body. I didn’t want to because I found a way to thrive without stopping (you don’t have to).
It’s a quieter taste of adventure that speaks to exploring intangible parts of human nature, such as place, belonging, and identity, and it does a beautiful job of integrating the player into the actual reality of that world.
Betrayal at Crablow
Another dice roller I loved was Betrayal at Crablow (opens in new tab)—To be fair, I’ve yet to meet a Cosmo D game I didn’t eat at once, and Club Low is no exception. It’s a surreal exploration of the strange city life. I play a humble pizza chef/secret agent of him who is tasked with infiltrating a famous club and rescuing a fellow spy. Lots of powerful dances, poses, pizza deliveries, and really, really painful physical exams, all wrapped up in the loose fictional world of his off-peak City, but Club Low is his most compelling work to date. I feel like Because the dice check forced me to either go big or go home.
Of course, the game is less about pie-making than it is about the microcosm of the club world, and what it reveals about the city and its inhabitants. Off-Peak City is a place that always calls for exploration but denies the satisfaction of exploration.
AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative
AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative (opens in new tab) It was another unconventional adventure that won my heart. In the second installment, we improved the puzzles and made the escape room-style mechanics a more consistent experience. A runaway murder mystery investigation in which Tokyo’s secret organization “Advanced Brain Investigation Team” sneaks into people’s dreams to solve heinous crimes. It’s almost impossible to describe the minutiae of the game without sounding like a lunatic, but it’s a chaotic deep dive into conspiracy theories and bizarre half-body serial killers that don’t really seem like anything. is.
Much like Somnium’s first game (which certainly felt like it had a stronger main plot), it’s a character-driven story that captivates players with irrepressible charisma and vigor, and nothing compares to it. There is no other.
point out, click
In addition to these fun digressions, 2022 also had some great straight-up point-and-click adventures. Excavating a hob barrow (opens in new tab) A folk horror treasure that didn’t disappoint. You may or may not be toying with unnatural forces, who can say no to the controversial excavation of wheelbarrows in rural Victorian England? A slow creeper with enchanting pixel art scenes.On the other end of the horror spectrum was something totally funny nightmare frame (opens in new tab), which tackles the classic point-and-click approach to humor and self-awareness much more closely. Get involved in a scavenger hunt.Me love all LA pixelsBut it’s also a serious homage to filmmaking and film culture as a whole, right down to the ’80s trivia arcade machines.
I also had the feeling that wayward strand (opens in new tab)is a meditative, narrative-driven game set in an alternate version of a 70’s Australian airship converted into a hospital. It is dialogue-driven and focuses on immersive character studies through the eyes of up-and-coming young authors. The exploration side of the adventure has its limits. A ship is a compact, finite space, and the only way to expand the tiny floating world around you is to learn about its patients and their histories, and choose carefully what to pay attention to. Star Voice Cast of Australian Iconsincluding the legendary (and instantly identifiable) Michael Caton who dominated my school’s movie nights Darryl Kerrigan in “The Castle”.
Finally, a few short words to the King. 1.5 hours long Gibbons: Over the Trees (opens in new tab) Not a traditional “adventure” and without dialogue, it tells a strong and cohesive story about the plight of gibbons in the face of human greed. It takes a second to get used to the controls (especially using the keyboard), but this is a great example of a short moving narrative that relies on momentum and the gibbon’s smooth swing/leap/throw mechanics, and its vulnerability and the relationship between gibbons and their increasingly dangerous environment (missing a jump and ‘dying’ makes me feel very, very sick).
Shaking Skulls: Grim Tidings (opens in new tab) It’s an amazing little gem that walks the line between story-driven exploration and some really dark roleplay elements. , players live in a sun-drenched desert outpost with a train-less station. It takes less than two hours to complete, but in that short amount of time the game offers very rich narrative detail with devastating economics. ) or just looking for a dark, well-written story.
