Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition
I would recommend you not to read too much about the game. Play the demo first, it’s a good representation.
If you, after completing the demo find the game interesting and, want to continue your experience I would suggest that you back up your saves, before the purchase, because Steam will just delete it all upon installation of the full game.
I was a bit sceptical about the game at first, especially in regards to the new boy’ish look of Gabriel Knight and this silly southern voice that is being used, but also in regard to the changes of design. It took me awhile to get past that change and I was just barely ahead of it at the end of the demo.
– Real player with 37.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Classic Games.
I was afraid something like this would happen when playing a 20th anniversary edition… Gabriel Knight: Sins of the fathers was the first adventure from Gabriel (the Shadowhunter) in 1993 and the first game created by Jane Jensen.
At the time it was a fantastic game, it was one of the first games to include a dark subject, not exactly suited for kids, not because of the violence or blood (that was something that other games always had) but also because of the dark, dramatic, almost ghotic nature of the main story and characters. Something different at the time (and still to this day) was the research that jane did for these games, mixing historical facts, real places, with of course a good dose of fiction to create her own story, and not just an historical retelling. It was always fun (and amazing) to go looking for these places after finishing the game, and see how much of the real world was put into the story. For me the most amazing story of all that jane had created was the one for Gabriel Knight: the Beast within, the second game, about the legend of king Ludwig II and Richard Wagner.
– Real player with 37.1 hrs in game
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition
realMyst is a very simple yet sometimes complex puzzle game that was made back when home computers were just starting to find their way into households. In other words, don’t expect there to be a huge amount amount of gameplay here. If you buckle down, you can beat this game in one sitting. That’s not to say that there’s no challenge to it as there certainly can be at times.
For the most part, you’re playing to find out about the unfolding story. This game used to be a point and click adventure. It seems to have upgraded to being a free roam First-Person which can ultimately betray any new comers to the game leading you to believe there’s more to the puzzle than what there really is. You can now roam in unchecked corners and behind bookshelves which you could never do in the first place so if you’re stumped on a puzzle, it’s best not to start checking every nook and cranny. To be safe, they’ve added a feature so that you can use the point and click system which at times can be pretty difficult to use since there’s multiple things to click on so you have to be pretty precise about what you want to inspect.
– Real player with 17.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Classic Games.
“I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written.” - Atrus
And thank the great Guildmasters of The Art because this series went on to produce many other excellent games, Riven being the height of exceptionalism.
In a time before the internet I played this game and I remember being so frustrated at points. Rather than Google, we had friends who would hang out together and connect their brain processing power to try and find solutions to the puzzles. There really was nothing like this in the history of computers. This hypercard, photoreal, puzzle game with live action cutscenes and fully immersive worlds. It was jawdropping back then. If you are new to the game it may lack the punch it had from 30 years ago but it is still an incredible game today and while I understand the graphics weren’t up to a lot of people’s expectations in this remastered edition, I found the game to be very much at home as a first person free roamer on the Unity Engine. If you are a puzzle lover you will soon understand why the game is referenced so much and you will see how modern puzzle games have adapted the levels, environments, puzzles etc for use today in games like The Witness, Quern, The Room and ASA.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Broken Sword 2 - the Smoking Mirror: Remastered
A true point&click classic
This game is a true classic. This is my favorite point&click game. Probably one of the reasons is that it was my first. I fell in love with this game right from the beginning and couldn’t stop playing. Remember that when it came there was no internet and youtube walkthroughs, there was no hints and highlighted objects. I spent couple of weeks or even more until I completed it (I understood only half or less English text back then and couldn’t understand a single spoken word) and it felt so rewarding and this was the day when I knew I want more drawn point&click adventures.
– Real player with 11.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Singleplayer Games.
Even though my guess is that most of the people who’ll buy this game are familiar with the version that came out 19 years ago, I’d just assume there are new gamers who want to know whether it’s worth checking out. So, here we go!
Broken Sword 2 - the Smoking Mirror is an adventure game that has its fair share of flaws. But oh boy, is it fun!
The game was released in 1997, back in the golden era of point and click adventure games (after the huge success of the first game), and I’m so happy to say it’s aged quite well. In fact, I found the character portraits/facial expressions which are exclusive to the remastered edition completely unnecessary. Most of them are plain bad (starting with George’s and Nico’s) while others bear no resemblance to the actual characters they represent.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
The Ship: Remasted
The Ship is an overlooked gem! The remastered version introduces some nice polish to the original an with a few more tweaks it will be an even more enjoyable. I have been a gamer for about 25 years an this game really hits the sweet spot for me.
It has:
Strategy:
*Micro-managing your characters needs. Think of yourself as a murderous sim. It adds a layer of depth to the gameplay an forces the player to interact with the env. if you want to keep your character functioning. It provides hunters oppurtunities to take out their prey in a moment of weakness (like sleeping, socializng, showering, eating).
– Real player with 38.0 hrs in game
I was in the closed beta for this game before it was released onto Steam, and I’ve left it a good many months before making sure I leave a review to keep things fair. So far, the game is in Early Access - so you MUST definitely, absolutely, clearly understand that the game is going to have bugs at this time. Too many people seem to misunderstand this with many games that are in Early Access.
But onto my review - as a huge fan of The Ship ever since the first free HL1 mod, it’s been fantastic to see how well the game has been developed throughout the years with all the new changes, new gamemodes, and now - a whole new engine! Whilst the game has had its ownership transferred through multiple companies (along with some developers joining said transfer) the game still has its incredible style you would come to expect from the game’s series.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Broken Sword: Director’s Cut
I played the original Broken Sword for the PS1 back near when it first came out and was absolutely addicted to finishing it. I loved it and felt it fully deserved the acclaim it received. In the years since, I’ve played it through again a few times although more for the nostalgia and amusing dialogue - alas, I could always remember the path through the game, so it didn’t present any further challenge. So finding out there was a Director’s Cut seemed brilliant. More Broken Sword!
Having now done so, my feelings are unfortunately leaning to the negative. But there was a mix of good and bad. Here in my opinion what was done right:
– Real player with 23.5 hrs in game
How can an American’s vacation in Paris go wrong? especially when all he planned on doing is visiting the Eiffel tower, buying a small figurine of it, and stopping at the first cafe he spots that have an attractive waitress working in it??
well, not if the whole cafe gets blown up and he miraculously survives the explosive just to find out that he always wanted to play detective… and here is his chance!
a wannabe detective and a Journalist meet one another by pure luck or a twist of fate not knowing what they are dealing with whatsoever or that they are going to look behind the curtains which no one is supposed to look behind. and one could argue that it’s the best part of the game, how things evolve from nothing to a multi-layers complex narrative that starts with a clown’s red nose and ends in the Syrian desert or at the end of the world, West.
– Real player with 20.7 hrs in game
Broken Sword 5 - the Serpent’s Curse
As a die hard fan of original Broken Sword: Shadow of Templars, I really dislike this game. However, if I’m about to be fair, it’s slightly above average. Adventure games aren’t that common these days, and if you’ve never heard about Broken Sword series, for the price, it’s not that bad.
Synopsis
But if you’re a Broken Sword fan like me, I would either not recommend the purchase, or buy it, thinking of it as kind of spin off game that has little to do with what made original great. For me particularly, it’s the writing, acting and music.
– Real player with 25.4 hrs in game
The nostalgia
Broken sword is back! Finally they dropped that ugly looking 3D graphics and annoying controls and got back to the roots.
The game looks amazing and it feels like old good Broken Sword.
From the very beginning you can feel that broken swordish atmosphere and hear the great music, nostalgia conquers you and finally you start your adventure with George and Nico.
The story is good as always and it’s very broken swordish too. Religious symbols, some legend, people who want to destroy the world, you know all the usual things.
– Real player with 18.1 hrs in game
The Forgotten City
This game is pretty good and I love it, tho it does have some problems but I do recommend anyone play it.
A very interesting an engaging story, a gameplay loop that’s pretty fun, and a lot of fantastic quality of life.
Pros:
-Fine Gameplay
-IMO brings the strengths of Skyrim of movements and conversation trees
-A Good story and mystery
-fantastic graphics
Cons:
-Combat is a bit janky
-Sometimes the animations and interactions bug out
Overall: This feels like another one of my favorite games Paradise Killer in that its a interesting mystery that engages you with story and compelling characters. I am excited to see more from this dev in the future.
– Real player with 43.1 hrs in game
Honestly a really good way of using a loop mechanic, it’s a bit of a gimmick at this point and usually not the most fun to have all progress made depending on resetting all progres. But with Galerius it’s not as tedious.
So the game story wise is pretty fun with some very interesting story lines. It first and foremost being a skyrim mod comes through here as it has a greater focus on many small stories to build the world around you. This ties together nicely to give the main story and the “canon ending” great build up and makes it feel organic.
– Real player with 14.3 hrs in game
The Crimson Diamond
The Crimson Diamond is an EGA text parser mystery adventure game where you play as amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple. Nancy is born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where she works as a clerk for the Royal Canadian Museum. She dreams of attending university to study geology and mineralogy, and she’s prepared to venture into the unknown to achieve her goals!
Follow Nancy as she travels north to the ghost town of Crimson, Ontario to investigate the discovery of a massive diamond in the area. Eavesdrop on conversations to learn more about the eccentric cast of characters who find themselves gathered at Crimson Lodge. Explore the lodge and its environs to evaluate the diamond claim, and maybe solve a mystery or two along the way! The Crimson Diamond is a cozy mystery that encourages reading and engaging in the story over devious arcade challenges.
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Explore Crimson Lodge and the surrounding wilderness
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Listen and talk to a cast of characters with different personalities and motivations.
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Uncover secrets, discover hidden areas, solve mysteries!
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
A cult classic with a unique approach to storytelling and a polarizing third act.
2005’s “Fahrenheit” or “Indigo Prophecy” (the latter was the name given to the censored version released in the USA and other countries) was marketed as the first interactive film. At a time where few games dared to be like movies, David Cage (who was lead director and writer) aimed to bridge the gap and show that video games can also tell deep and meaningful stories. Whether Fahrenheit actually did this successfully is up for debate, but what’s known for certain is that David Cage changed the landscape of video games in a huge way.
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
Information
Title: Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Developer(s): Quantic Dream, Aspyr
Publisher(s): Aspyr
Genre(s): Interactive movie, action-adventure
Release Date: 29 Jan, 2015
Mode(s): Single-player
Review
+ Merits:
When it comes to combining the cinematic media with the interactive storytelling genre, Quantic Dream unequivocally wins the gold medal. Instead of watching a movie and being constrained by what the writer intends, you are the one who pulls the strings of its events. Back in 2005, Indigo Prophecy was way ahead of its time in capturing the dramatic, pictorial elements of a film and implementing these elements in an atmospheric game that’s driven by a thrilling crime story to create a unique experience of cinematic gameplay.
– Real player with 15.2 hrs in game
The Silver Case
The Silver Case is a great debut from Goichi Suda featuring a hard-boiled detective story, which also somewhat an unpolished experience with too many ideas which didn’t exactly follow through with interesting conclusions.
The presentation of this VN is a departure from “NVL” or “ADV” formats we’ve known from other contemporaries such as Enix, 07th-Expansion, Key and other developers. It’s a mixture of not only text, background and limited 2D character animation, but also live-action sequences, 3D exploration(although the scope is very limited – it’s pretty much on-rail), and full-motion video shot in documentary-style. Not to mention the highly stylistic character designs.
– Real player with 40.0 hrs in game
The Silver Case would be very difficult (nigh impossible most likely) to review in a standard fashion. I will note upfront that this is my first experience with SUDA51’s work so I won’t be able to make comparisons there.
This VN is very unconventional. It has fantastic music but the typewriter effects sound more like a jackhammer (you will eventually acclimate to this I hope – I did – and I recommend having the effects volume around half the music volume). The visual layout consists of panels everywhere, all the time — sometimes 2d, sometimes 3d, and sometimes FMV. Sometimes all 3 at once. Scene, time and location transitions happen frequently with 3d model illustrations and sometimes a brief exploration sequence suddenly appears – with an old school gaming clunky-but-completely-serviceable interface.
– Real player with 36.4 hrs in game