Okami HD

Okami HD

I wish I’d played this when it came out

Real player with 44.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best Adventure Great Soundtrack Games.


A beautiful adventure game with “retro” design sensibilities that must be experienced at least once in a lifetime.

A classic tale of an epic, heroic journey to defeat a powerful evil being, paired with a huge and fantastically crafted world to explore. Presentation is definitely this game’s strength, to the point it can sometimes become overwhelming. A few things I didn’t like was that the game draws out for too long on some parts of the story and because of this, the combat can become tiresome due to it not being used to the fullest. Port itself is excellent and while 60 fps would have been amazing, the 30fps cap is understandable and doesn’t get in the way.

Real player with 38.5 hrs in game

Okami HD on Steam

Jotun: Valhalla Edition

Jotun: Valhalla Edition

Jotun is a game that suffers from a lack of direction. It’s a tremendously beautiful game (minus a few small quibbles), but doesn’t seem to understand if it wants to be an atmospheric exploration game, or a slow paced dark souls / shadows of the colossus style boss slayer. In trying to do both, it sort of fails in all angles. On the plus side, it is relatively short, so the downsides of the game don’t overshadow the nice bits too badly. I would say a roughly 5 hour game, depending on how much trouble you have with the bosses.

Real player with 19.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Adventure Action Games.


Jotun

Platform: PC Windows

Genre: Action/Exploration

Introduction:

Thunder Lotus Games first title Jotun, another positive outcome of a successful Kickstarter campaign, is an epic trot through a world of Norse mythology. It’s a top-down action exploration game that pits you against large foes and beautiful, yet treacherous landscapes. Jotun delivers challenging boss battles, but it also focuses heavily on building atmosphere and anticipation rather than throwing countless of enemies at the player. The considerable amount of downtime before these fights might put off some gamers, but if you’re able to absorb yourself in the world through its beautiful hand drawn visuals, powerful soundtrack, and epically cool voice-overs, you will also find the boss battle well worth the buildup. It might also make you want to read up on your Norse mythology knowledge.

Real player with 10.6 hrs in game

Jotun: Valhalla Edition on Steam

Argonus and the Gods of Stone

Argonus and the Gods of Stone

Argonus and the Gods of Stone is an interesting update to the point and click adventure genre. If games like Shadowgate, Myst, or Gone Home were enjoyable for you then this may be up your alley.

Pros:

+Large island filled to the brim with Greek mythology.

+LOADS of quality voiceover work. Almost every actor was quite good to excellent.

+Clear objectives. There aren’t overly obtuse puzzles that need massive FAQs to decipher.

+Little secrets and world building scattered throughout plus nods and references to things like Shadowgate and Clash of the Titans.

Real player with 48.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Adventure Puzzle Games.


You are blinded by the sun as you awake on the beach. Slowly you lift your stiff body from the sand and look around. You recognize friends and members of your crew scattered all along the beach in frozen movement. When you step closer and touch Tiphys, helmsman of the Argo, you feel the cold, rough surface of stone. Everyone you examine is petrified. Only their eyes still seem alive.

‘Argonus and the Gods of Stone’ is a first-person puzzle game that takes you back to the year 1242 BC. You are a member of the Argonauts, sailors of the Argo, led by Jason to find the Golden fleece. In case you’re old enough you probably remember old Hollywood movies telling his story. And as in the movies the game portraits many of the famous creatures. Cyclops, one eyes giants. Gorgons, snake haired woman whose gaze turns you into stone. Sirens, luring nearby sailors to shipwreck with their enchanting music and singing voices. Harpyr, half men half bird. Hydra, dragon-like serpents with venomous breath and several heads, etc.

Real player with 13.8 hrs in game

Argonus and the Gods of Stone on Steam

Clarevoyance

Clarevoyance

I do like the nostalgia of being back in Southwestern Nova Scotia. It’s kind of neat with the folklore twist and the questing. I appreciate the history that’s shared. I have told my kids about various bits of history from back home like Samuel de Champlain and the Expulsion. I showed them the Clare Lore that backs up the thing I knew. There’s so much more I didn’t know or forgot from 6th grade social studies class

One thing I wish were better, some scenes are pretty laggy. I’m kind of surprised given the simple layout of the game.

Real player with 8.8 hrs in game

This game was a trip. Clarevoyance is a visual novel with light resource management elements set in the Acadian municipality of Clare in Nova Scotia. The images in the game are all taken in the region and all dialogue is voiced by locals in Acadian French with English subtitles. I am from New Brunswick originally so it sounds pretty nostalgic.

You play as someone visiting relatives in Clare over the summer. As you travel around doing different activities and “spinning yarns” with the locals, you start to realize that things are not quite as they seem. The story incorporates local legends in a way that was pretty clever and fun. The resource management portion involves earning money, buying food and managing your “well being”, a sort of HP gauge that decreases when you use your powers to interact with the local mythology and increases when you do certain fun activities. There is also a time system where activities use up certain amounts of time in a day, and some things can only be done at specific times of day. There isn’t a time limit though so you can take as long as you want to proceed through the story.

Real player with 5.2 hrs in game

Clarevoyance on Steam

Skabma - Snowfall

Skabma - Snowfall

Skábma - Snowfall is a never before seen representation of indigenous Sámi stories and culture. Explore Nordic beauty in a world where the old northern campfire tales come alive! Use your wits to solve environmental puzzles and platforming challenges in this narrative 3rd person adventure.

Save your home!

The daily life of a Sámi village is disturbed after an accident at a nearby Tar-Burning Pit. An odd disease starts spreading across the area, affecting everything from the land to the people and animals.

You play as Áilu, a young Sámi herder searching for a runaway reindeer doe. The mystery of the growing disorder starts to unravel when Áilu finds an old enchanted drum, Goavddis. Time is running out for the infected, but the long lost knowledge of Sámi healers, Noaidis, is still beating within the drum.

What is lost can always be regained! Find the four Familiar Spirits and reconnect with nature to find the source of the disease. It’s your time to become a new Noaidi for a new era!

Key features

Story-driven

An unique story tied to the northernmost indigenous people of Europe, Sámi. Embrace the cutscenes fully voiced in Northern Sámi and immerse yourself in this narrative adventure.

Familiar Spirits

Find four familiar spirits, Skuolfi - The Owl, Guovža - The Bear, Čámsa - The Trout and Rieban - The Fox, with varying powers affecting your movement and ability to Attune the Disorder spreading through Sámiland.

Drum and Explore

Use your drum and Familiar Spirits’ powers to reveal invisible elements in the arctic nature. Follow the trails leading to collectables, spirits of people and trees that will help you through obstacles and environmental puzzles.

Immersive Northern World

Discover mysterious landscapes across the physical and spiritual worlds with spellbinding music including traditional Sámi yoik-singing from award-winning Hildá Länsman. Explore Áilu’s world, find grandfather’s family treasures, notes on outsiders’ view of Sámi culture, catch hares and talk to spirits to learn more about the game world and Sámi stories.

Jump into an adventure through wilderness and spirit worlds!

Skabma - Snowfall on Steam

The Frostrune

The Frostrune

The Frostrune is an elegant point-and-click adventure, with strong, authentic Norse culture.

The story is set in and around an abandonned, coastal hamlet. The environment feels great. I used to live in Norway, and could see the familiar lighting and landscape features in the portrayal in the game). The hand-drawn art style is consistent and rich - a quick look at the trailer on the Steam Store page will give you a feel for it. The animations are simple, but very effective. Overall, I like it very much.

Real player with 7.0 hrs in game

The Frostrune is a point-and-click adventure game. It’s set in ancient times on a Nordic island, and its story is drenched in Norse mythology.

As soon as you launch the game, it’s clear The Frostrune is a basic production. You’ll find an option to change the game’s resolution and language, and that’s it. The latter option is crucial, though. Since the entire game’s narrative is in Old Norse speech, you’ll rely on subtitles to understand what’s actually being said. Subtitles are available in English, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Arabic, Norwegian, Russian, French and German.

Real player with 6.9 hrs in game

The Frostrune on Steam

The Mooseman

The Mooseman

The Mooseman is a beautiful walk through the myths of the Perm Chud tribes, of whom I knew nothing before playing this game.

You play as Mr. The Mooseman, one of seven The Moosemen Brothers, and a shamanistic figure who can (a few minutes into the game) see freely into the spirit worlds. You are tasked to go through three worlds, discovering the ways your spirit vision, and later another ability, can help you solve puzzles and move forward. There are some skill-based challenges, but they’re very gentle, and if you just want to see the way everything plays out the puzzles you need to solve to get to the end are pretty simple. Things get a little more complicated if you want all the collectibles, with more exploration and observation of subtle environmental cues needed.

Real player with 4.8 hrs in game

Note: A key was provided by the developer for the purposes of the reviewing but it does not change my opinions of the game.

The Mooseman

Gameplay

I’ve always been fascinated by various myths associated with different cultures. Reading about them was the most fun I had in my cultural classes so when I saw The Mooseman, I was immediately interested in the way it was presented. The game puts you in the shoes of the Mooseman, a person who can see and interact with the spirit world.

Real player with 3.7 hrs in game

The Mooseman on Steam

Apotheon

Apotheon

Apotheon is a 2D game about Greek mythology. Apotheon means “exalted to the state of godhood.” The Ancient Greek gods that we know from Greek mythology and their powers are on display in this game. The storytelling feels quite accurate and would make anyone with knowledge of Greek mythology feel welcome to play this game from the beginning.

The protagonist is Nikandreos. Nikandreos means “victory of a man.” Combine Apotheon with Nikandreos and you can imagine what direction the story of this game will be taking. As Nikandreos you will traverse the map ascending to Mount Olympus and be asked to topple Zeus, the father of the gods. The art direction is quite impressive for a 2D game, which includes patterns, shapes, and figures known to be found on Greek pottery. There are diverse weapons and armor that appropriately reflect Ancient Greece. The weapons and armor tend to wear out from use, so you must find or buy new weapons and armor. This is when marketplaces such as Agora and Acropolis come into play. Agora and Acropolis are marketplaces that include weapon merchants, armor merchants, and black market merchants are selling their items. Black market merchants sell the rare weapons, weapons you will find that have unique properties.

Real player with 47.6 hrs in game

As a casual player I liked this game a lot: A God-of-War-like plot, classic platforming, a great variety of arms and enemies (though I hated all dog-like creatures, as I do in every game) and nearly everything of your heart’s desire (if you’re into platformers) apart from platforming challenges (as you can find them e.g. in Ori and the Blind Forest) make it really a great game. What I probably liked best was that every bossfight had its very own gimmick, so you don’t just hit and roll and rinse and repeat all over hoping you can finally kill the boss and then do the same thing all over again with the next one, no, the devs have been really creative in designing customized bossfights (Yet Poseidon is a tough nut to crack and also the pre-final fight against Zeus packs a punch, but all the others are less difficult. Personally I liked best the fight for the Aegis of Athena, since in my eyes it’s the most creative one and the reward one of the most useful in the entire game). Also the difficulty level is absolutely acceptable: It’s neither too hard nor too easy, even on Olympian difficulty it absolutely remains playable and does not even become as difficult as e.g. Salt and Sanctuary ordinarily is. All in all a fantastic game.

Real player with 45.1 hrs in game

Apotheon on Steam

The Fold: Ingression

The Fold: Ingression

Developed solely by one of the devs on Through the Woods - introducing a first person thriller adventure with worlds inspired by the Norse people, old Norwegian legends and horror elements from the Lovecraft universe. Follow the dark story of Amund Vreim as he explores worlds, old and new.

Norwegian Amund Vreim is a part time exterminator and has received his first assignment at Eikherad stave church in Telemark, Norway. Through curious exploration and mysterious obstacles he finds himself in increasingly strange situations and quickly learns that he’s not alone, nor is the job as relaxed as first expected. The massive structure dates back to the end of the viking age and both church and surrounding areas hold many secrets.

It’s a relatively linear game, following a main story, but with several outcomes and variations to the story and environments. The story is based on old Norwegian stories, Norse mythology and traditions with horror elements inspired by the Lovecraft universe. ‘Ingression’ is the first installment in the ‘The Fold’ universe and will take the player on an introduction to those they call ‘The Fold’ and their mysterious ancient worlds.

The Fold: Ingression on Steam

Through the Woods

Through the Woods

The air is cold, the night is dark, and the woods are thick. Here my friend, cozy on up to my campfire, and let me tell you a tale. It’s a dark and unsettling one, so best cling tightly to your sweater and scarf and, whatever you do, don’t look too closely into the fire, for fear of what might lurk deep within the cinders…

I own a laptop. Actually, I own three laptops, but the one I use for Steam purposes is pretty powerful and can play, y’know, almost all those games which are notoriously troublesome on other people’s DESKtops - including AAA games like The Evil Within - with little to no worries. Yet for some strange reason, this new indie release is the first game I’ve had to dial down to 1280 X 720 and Low quality.

Real player with 13.2 hrs in game

“It’s the silence that scares me. It’s the blank page on which I can write my own fears. The spirits of the dead have nothing on it. The dead one tried to show me hell, but it was a pale imitation of the horror I can paint on the darkness in a quiet moment.” Mark Lawrence

Through the Woods is a third person horror, adventure by Antagonist (published by 1C Company). The game is set in a forest on the shores of Norway, and is heavily influenced by Norse mythology and folklore, which it also takes some of its monsters from. Searching the woods for your son, you play as a female protagonist who is deceptively complex. At first, she evokes sympathy but this wanes as we discover more about her and her past through encounters and triggered dialogue in a kind of reverse character development. Unfortunately, I did occasionally find myself being dragged out of the narrative by questionable dialogue and flat delivery. I guess things could have got lost in translation from the original Norweigan but I played the version after the mother’s voice had been rerecorded with a new actor.

Real player with 12.5 hrs in game

Through the Woods on Steam