After a lengthy hiatus from adventure gaming I purchased a new laptop (HP Pavilion dv7, sweeeet!) and decided to try again to find some good adventure games. I was misled by some reviews into the "hidden object" games (ugh!) but did find a few others I found enjoyable (Secret Files 1&2, Gray Matter, Lost Horizon) and I just finished Black Mirror II. I started with the original Myst way back when and played dozens of the better games that came along in the years following, most of which are now listed in the GB HOF. I've never found anything that topped the Myst series (for my tastes) but am hoping I might get a few suggestions from the forum as to what I might try next. I will probably purchase Secret Files 3 when the price drops a bit and was planning to finish the Black Mirror series until the reviews (and an overdose of dialog and sarcasm in BM II) scared me away. I know this question gets asked a lot but I haven't seen it in a while and decided I'd be the pest this time.

BTW, Lost Horizons was the weakest of the bunch for me (sooo linear) but I thought the ending concept (having a partner in the past) was fantastic! What a cool game idea. Kudos to the devs for that one!

What I like: a decent storyline, non-linear exploration, realistic graphics, machinery, contemplative puzzles (but not to the extreme (e.g. RHEM)) and sensible progression.

What I don't like: anything timed, excessive dialog, inscrutible puzzles or mazes and excessive "re-treading".

What I hate: fighting or any kind of "action" sequence unless it's very forgiving (e.g BM II). Even then I find it annoying and disruptive to the sensibilites of a true adventure gamer.

Well, that's about all I can think of for the moment. Thanks for any suggestions from anyone who can manage yet another reply to yet another Myst-like topic.

CNO

i would definitely finish MM series....I just replayed it and really enjoyed BM3

I'm rethinking that idea tonight as I haven't found much else yet and, having just finished BM2, I'd at least be familar with the story. I do like to finish a series anyway so I may try BM3 afterall. I actually do like the RHEM series too but can't play every day and it's a hard series to complete on an intermittent basis. I'm collecting them and saving them for retirement!

One popular title I missed is 'The Lost Crown' and I see it's available for downloading and compatible with XP and Vista. Has anyone tried it with Win7?

Thanks,

CNO

The Windows 7 game thread over in Glitches forum says that The Lost Crown plays just fine in Win 7.

Check the Windows 7 and Games Thread (***link***) for what games work natively in Windows 7.

If you're OK playing older games with older graphics, gog.com sells some of them that have been updated to work on Windows 7.

If you liked the Myst series, you might like Mysterious Journey 2, which works in Windows 7, at least on some computers. It's less difficult than the first Schizm game, however it does have a maze. A similar game (made by the same company) is Sentinel, and according to ***this*** it will run in XP if you install and play using compatibility mode set to XP and Run as Administrator.

You might also try one of the recent Nancy Drews, like Warnings at Waverly or The Lost Queen. Some of the Nancy Drew games have mazes or timed puzzles in them, so check reviews.

Thanks for the suggestions and pointers to additional resources. I have played some of the titles mentioned (but not all) so it looks like I'll have plenty of good choices to enjoy over the coming winter months (with a nice fire buring of course!). I didn't buy it for this purpose but the laptop will be terrific since I won't be tied to my usual spot!

CNO

Thanks for the prompt to finish the Black Mirror series as I enjoyed BM3 quite a bit. The Windows 7 thread will be quite helpful and GOG.com looks like a great resource for the future. Oddly I had never played any of the Gabriel Knight games and thought they were too outdated to play now. But GOG has updated versions of this series (and many others) so I'll try these next.

Thanks again for all the good pointers!

CNO

Hey CNO; if you're really interested in harkening back to those thrilling days of "MYSTeryear"(I am) take a look at The Five Cores. It's as much a MYST game as we've seen in a while. I loved it.

Excellent! I had done some reading about 'The Five Cores' and was a little undecided. Maybe you have to be an old Myst lover to find it worthwhile and that's definitely me too. I did try to install the first episode of 'Gabriel Knight' and found problems with the video on this new laptop and Windows 7. As I awaited word (still waiting) from GOG I discovered an unfinished 'Still Life' on an old PC and am working through it now. I had stalled at a puzzle and planned to write a spreadsheet "solver" for it but never got around to it. Now, two years later, I found that puzzle wasn't so difficult and have progressed on (now I'm stuck on the lockpicking puzzle, grrrr!) but I like to hold out as long as possible before giving up and getting hints so I might be here for a while. Anyway, after SL I might try 5C. I wish I could play MYST again but I still remember it too well!

What other games have you found that strike you as at least similar to MYST or that give you a similar gameplay enjoyment?

I absolutely enjoyed "Still Life." It's one of my favorites. Do not fail to play "Outcry." It's a first person joy. I also liked the entire 'Last Half of Darkness' series.

CNO -- have you tried Aura: Fate of the Ages and its sequel?

I second Becky's suggestion. Two excellent games.

I did enjoy Aura (as best I recall) but I can't remember if I ever tried Aura 2 so I'll need to investigate. I'm just starting The Five Cores now while I continue to ponder the next puzzle in Still Life (memoirs). Additionally I'm still trying to find ways to adust the graphics format for Garbiel Knight 1 so it will display in an acceptable way on this 1920x1080 screen. I've gone from famine to feast! Thanks for the continuing suggestions!

Aura 2 is also called The Sacred Rings. There's a review here by Inferno.

Hello,
I've never played any Myst-clones games I really liked, and I've played many: Aura, Schizm, even the five cores (which to be honest I really didn't like). Myst isn't only about surreal words, it's brilliance spreads between fantastic plot (some would disagree) and ingenious puzzles.

The Gabriel Knight series has nothing to do with Myst-like, but it is by far the best game-series I've played alongside Myst. I'm a hardcore Jane-Jensen fan ever since (which is also the author of Gray Matter, in case you missed that). My favorite Gabriel Knight is the third one, but many would argue

I did enjoy Rhem for what it is but I cannot compare it with Myst. I'm still waiting for someone to really excite me with a Myst-like game, unfortunately it hasn't happened yet.