The Curse of Monkey Island
My favorite game of all time, hands down. I play it every year or so since I first played it, probably in 2000 where I bought it at a store that sold used video games that came in CD cases (this was a 2-CD game). There is one significant problem with this game: I’ve been searching for its equal ever since, and I’ve never found it. The gentle mix of humor, of lightheartedness, challenging puzzles, voice acting by Dominic Armato, the beautiful graphics and amazing musical score… Nothing comes close. I don’t think that the folks who created this knew what they were making at the time, it was just another game from LucasArts. Bill Tiller did the graphics, and there is something so soothing about the visuals. I think most importantly is the intelligence of the puzzles, where each item you get will be put to use in some creative form later on in the game in a way that makes you think about what you’re doing and what is possible, but doesn’t go too far in difficulty nor is it too easy, either. The fact that all of this came together in one game is truly remarkable feat.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best 1990's Remake Games.
I never got the chance to play one Monkey Island game until now, and this is actually my first eventhough it’s the third xD. I’m clearly missing a lot of references to the first and second game, there are some characters that I can tell is not the first time “we” met so I’m clueless to most of the funny bits regarding these ones.
The humor is the best part of the game, at least to me. I had lots of fun with the dialogs and incredibly horrible dad jokes. Puzzles are sometimes hard to understand, there may be very very very little objects you thought you clicked on but you didn’t , maybe you thought you could solve the puzzle certain way because it’s the most logical to you but NOT and the solution is one of the silliest you could ever think of. So yeah, puzzles are not exactly unfair but rather… weird? You just gotta get used to the game’s logic, that’s all.
– Real player with 11.9 hrs in game
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
I’ve been playing various Lucasarts graphic adventure games for the past week, and this is probably the worst so far. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to where you are supposed to go, and it loves wasting your time by padding the game with horribly repetitive mazes everywhere you go. The characters are almost non-existent. Barely any lines are spoken between characters aside from Zak uttering a newspaper headline every once in a while. There are also unknowable fail states, which are unacceptable in a game filled with nonsensical puzzles and pixel hunting.
– Real player with 13.6 hrs in game
Although “Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders” is a not one of the famous LucasArts' game, it’s one of their oldest point and click adventures that certainly pushed the genre forward with some creative ideas. Gameplay mechanics like controlling multiple characters or traveling freely everywhere were unique for back then and made the game less linear. That doesn’t mean that the puzzles are perfect. Many puzzles have weird logic or they don’t give you enough clues to proceed to the the next one. A lot of times you’ll try things by luck. Dead ends, repetitive deaths, pixel hunting and obsolete controls can be frustrating too. Nevertheless it is a game that packs lovely pixelated graphics, a crazy story, adorable characters, good sense of humor and it is entertaining enough to give it a try.
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
Between Me and The Night
Between Me and the Night captured my attention. The ability to be someone else is something that I’ve long wanted to be. It’s not that I hate myself but I always wanted to be something more than what I turned out to be. I was a promising basketball player at one stage and had scouts looking at me but illness as well as the fact that I stopped growing when I was 5’7″ and was never an athletic freak good enough to make up for a lack of height stopped me from becoming a professional. I wanted to excel professionally in other athletic ventures but was never very good at anything other than basketball. Other dreams included becoming an air force pilot (my eyesight was never good enough) or an astronaut (I’m fairly intelligent but not when it comes to the required sciences) so being a talent scout, writer, marketer and business person were my limits. Not bad but certainly nothing spectacular. Therefore the premise here was perfect for me. I tend to believe most of us can relate to the young boy in the story who is confronted with the realities of a modern world – including hot topics such as school bullying – and needing to escape it.
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
Between me and the night is a creative artistic game that amplifies certain phases of life a man can go through. You follow the role of a nameless boy with red hair who is plagued by various illusions of his nightmares. The game is technically very short and sweet (unless you give your best for the achievements). Before you buy, consider there was a bug in the game in the “house level”. Unless you don’t go through a particular order in the house level, you are guarantee to get stuck and go no further. So it’s best to follow a walkthrough before finishing the first level unless you want to get frustrated. The bug could be bypassed so I did not consider it as a major flaw.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
Quest for Glory 1-5
I began writing this as a comment following ‘Love letter to the developers.’ It outgrew the comment box, and this series deserves my full review so here goes (and then some!) Let me start by saying I am a long-time Point ‘n Click Adventure/RPG fan. Quest for Glory was not my first, but it was one of my favorite series! I began with QfG 3: Wages of War. It brought me much enjoyment! (I believe I enjoyed QfG 1+2 & 4 somewhat more though!) QfG 5 was part of the less-well-advised foray of Sierra into CGI animation. It was bold but basically misguided in my view, and I did not play Qf5 or any of the King’s Quest titles past VI (6) since they were effectively different genres (also I understand the writing suffered!) Trivial detail: King’s Quest 5 was actually my first P’n-C Adventure game and I will cherish that one in particular (darn you, Cedric!) alongside several QfG titles, notably 2, close to my heart FOREVER!
– Real player with 65.4 hrs in game
I grew up playing the third game in this series, and it wasn’t until I was about 18 that I was able to track down and play the rest. I immediately properly, wholly loved them. So glad these are finally available on Steam. This is an charming, enchanting series and there’s nothing else quite like it.
The worldbuilding in this series is off the charts. Each entry sees you in a completely different land inspired by real-world mythology (e.g., Egyptian mythology, Slavic folklore, etc.) It rivals anything of today and surpasses most of it. Coming from the current sea of the same tired Tolkien derivatives it’s a breath of fresh air. The individual stories are pretty good, some even great, but as a complete saga this is fantastic. And that’s really the best way to experience it (and the only way to appreciate the genre switched fifth game). So set aside a good chunk of time, and let yourself sink into this marvelous world.
– Real player with 42.6 hrs in game
D: The Game
As a fan of the late Kenji Eno (R.I.P) and the now defunct WARP Studios games, I was really happy to see that D (WARP’s first game to be released outside of Japan) is now easily accessible on Steam.
D was originally made for the short lived 3DO in 1995 and was ported to the Sega Staurn, PS1, and MS DOS (which is this version). The gameplay is akin to 1993’s Myst, with the entire game being an fmv. Yet, unlike Myst, everything is fully animated. So if you want to get somewhere, you are going to have to walk there using a pre-set path. It’s kinda slow, but it really helps build the atmosphere.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
I own this game on Playstation, 3DO, Saturn and now on Steam, and I don’t regret paying for it again, even though it hasn’t aged well, and even though this is a fairly mediocre DOSBox port.
D is an on-rails horror-suspense game from the 90s. You play as Laura Harris, daughter of Dr. Richter Harris, a famous physician who, for some reason, has suddenly decided to murder everyone in his hospital and disappear inside the building. You have two hours (in real time) to figure out why, with no saving, interactive movie-style.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
Little Big Adventure
An absolute classic adventure/platformer game, not the sort that you see get made anymore.
I really loved it many years ago and still a great game to this day.
Originally it was released on steam with just the newest version but after lots of feedback the classic version was added.
Both versions are good but play out differently, The enhanced edition is a little more simplified but also easier to control (moving around and attacking).
It’s worth checking both out and playing through them.
It’s a little unfortunate that you can’t unlock achievements on the original (Dos) version, so if you want them you have to play the enhanced edition.
– Real player with 82.3 hrs in game
Edit: Thank you for listening to us DotEmu! This review has been revised due to post-release changes to alleviate some of my and others concerns.
It’s fantastic to finally see the original Little Big Adventure on Steam! The “Enhanced Edition” now available on Steam contains a port of the mobile version along with the original emulated in DosBox. I really recommend getting this version not due to the mobile port, but rather due to the original bundled herein.
If you have never heard of this games series before and do not intend on playing the mobile port there isn’t much more to say; stop reading now and get this gem! You won’t regret it.
– Real player with 29.0 hrs in game
Sam & Max Hit the Road
It’s Sam & Max’s first Adventure made for MS-DOS/Windows 3.1/95/98 PCs & is considered one of the best Inventory Adventure games created. Sam & Max Hit the Road is based on a 1989 Comic Adventure of the Freelance Police called: “Sam & Max On the Road”. The Sam & Max Franchise had a Cartoon Series that used to air on Fox Kids from 1997-1998 on the Fox Network Channels. Sam & Max are Dog & Bunny who operate as a Freelance Police Force.
In this adventure, Sam & Max have been tasked by the Commissioner to locate a Bigfoot that’s gone missing from a local carnival, but along the way, they run into all sorts of Zany things that makes the game feel & look fun leading into an ending that makes complete sense of the situation or not at all.
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game
This was a surprise find for me.
I was looking for a different sort of game, one that hadn’t been over-recommended by Steam’s algorithm– and by almost impossible chance I stumbled on this. Not only did I get the sense that this was a very old game, but by reading its initial release was back in 1993– and by staring at its graphics– I immediately understood.
This game is a classic. (Unquestionably).
And Sam & Max are a familiar pair. I’ve heard of them but have never formally introduced myself to their video game counterparts.
– Real player with 11.4 hrs in game
Fenimore Fillmore: 3 Skulls of the Toltecs
After i’ve finished the second of Fenimore adventures, i wanted to take back the very older first one,that i abandoned many time ago in its first release, now in this new remastered version it gains new shining light and value revealing to be a really solid game.
Now that i finally was able to complete it i have to say i am amazed and speechless from how good the puzzles were, i never expected this but this first one is even better than the second, altough i was stuck for few days in some nasty puzzles, after solving them i can say that altough the average level here is set on Hard, nothing is impossible or too much illogic, all has its own sense and works like a charm.
– Real player with 28.6 hrs in game
This was one of first adventures I played at the time of release in 1996 and I have good memories of it. There were some serious problems with distribution back then and today the English only copies are very rare collector items and extremely expensive (I saw copies offered for thousands dollars). So it’s good that it is available again for affordable price as a digital copy.
The remastered version was not released in perfect state with some bugs and missing features but developers do care, already improved lots of things and listen to the players suggestions.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
Sam & Max: Season Two
The Next 5 Monthly Episodes of the Entire Sam & Max Trilogy. Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space (Season 2) delivers the best in Point & Click Adventure Games. The connection between the episodes is more loose and complicated than in the first season. Season 2 builds on Season 1 with more dynamic NPCs, an updated engine, a hint system, support for widescreen monitors, more realistic animations & more minigames within each episode.
Season 2 features a calibration assistant when first run, which allows the player to set their graphics and difficulty settings before playing. Help Sam & Max on their exciting Adventures as they go Beyond Time & Space!
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
I’ve played through all three seasons of these Telltale Sam & Max games now and I really enjoyed them all. They all sort of blend into one another in my mind, but I think season 2 was the most humorous and it certainly upped the craziness in terms of plot and the locations and situations that Sam & Max find themselves in. This season also introduced many new characters and started to phase out Bosco, who was really becoming tedious and tiresome for me over the course of the first season.
Backing up a bit: these episodic games from Telltale are point-and-click adventure games with quirky characters and surreal humor. If you know anything about the Sam & Max characters, then you should already own all three seasons as you will most likely enjoy them.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Sam & Max 201: Ice Station Santa
The Next 5 Monthly Episodes of the Entire Sam & Max Trilogy. Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space (Season 2) delivers the best in Point & Click Adventure Games. The connection between the episodes is more loose and complicated than in the first season. Season 2 builds on Season 1 with more dynamic NPCs, an updated engine, a hint system, support for widescreen monitors, more realistic animations & more minigames within each episode.
Season 2 features a calibration assistant when first run, which allows the player to set their graphics and difficulty settings before playing. Help Sam & Max on their exciting Adventures as they go Beyond Time & Space!
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
I’ve played through all three seasons of these Telltale Sam & Max games now and I really enjoyed them all. They all sort of blend into one another in my mind, but I think season 2 was the most humorous and it certainly upped the craziness in terms of plot and the locations and situations that Sam & Max find themselves in. This season also introduced many new characters and started to phase out Bosco, who was really becoming tedious and tiresome for me over the course of the first season.
Backing up a bit: these episodic games from Telltale are point-and-click adventure games with quirky characters and surreal humor. If you know anything about the Sam & Max characters, then you should already own all three seasons as you will most likely enjoy them.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game