Underrated Adventure games

Did you ever play a game that you just loved that did not seem to get the attention that it deserved? What do you think is the most under appreciated game that you have ever played? For me it has to be the Discworld games. I thought they had some of the best puzzles and the games were so funny. What game do you want to let other people know they are missing out on?

I have long felt that DROWNED GOD belongs in this category

The Dame Was Loaded, Anachronox, and Zelenhgorm.

And then there are two games from the Danish (defunct) developer Deadline Games: Black Out (1997), and Giften (The Poison - 1998), of which Black Out is bordering to a masterpiece. None of these games were translated into English. They made Swedish translations though, I'm happy to say.

In fact, these two games are so forgotten that I can hardly find any information about them at all on the internet. All I found was these screenshots from Black Out:

http://www.adventurearchiv.de/b/blackoutscreenshots.htm

and this page about Giften:

http://www.giantbomb.com/giften/61-29119/

If I ever made a top 20 list of my favourite games, these two would surely be on it.

Space...I agree...

The Discworld games to me are a classic..

I always thought Noctropolis was underrated - Alice was as well (if you go by sales).

Obsidian
Morpheus
Armed and Delirious
9: The Last Resort
all of Detalion's games from Reah through the Schizm games to Sentinel
and some of Arxel Tribe's games (Faust, Ring)

The kind of imagination that showed in the surreal design of the gameworlds in these games is something I'm really missing these days.

This is really an interesting thread. Thanx for all the input Boomers!!!!

Alida is one I would add to Jenny100s list

Hi Karsten

I actually have Black Out, but it's been so long since I played it.
I believe it came on 8 CD's, and I was quite annoyed with the disc swapping, lol.

As far as underrated, I wouldn't go that far - it was maybe innovative for its time, but underrated, nah.

I loved the Agatha Christie games, and most of all Evil Under the Sun. But all I've ever seen are people complaining about it. All the things they hated (comments between Poirot and Hastings, the fact that you are directing a character through another) I thought were wonderful...I thought that it was a unique idea!

"Noctropolis" for me too, InlandAZ !! It's a great game and one I still replay

And, skeeter93 .... I am one who certainly didn't hate the Agatha Christie series. In fact I too thought "Evil Under The Sun" was especially good

Anpther very old one that never gets a mention is "Dragonsphere".
Everything about it is totally ancient now of course but the story is excellent and it's another I still replay

I liked Evil Under the Sun too skeeter. I had a graphic problem but I changed a few settings in the game was was able to play.
Had fun too.
LOVED the ending hee hee

I've always thought that Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice were very under rated myself. These were both games based on stories by HP Lovecraft.

What a great topic!


Bad Mojo
Obsidian
The Dig

Loved Anachronox-a masterpiece if there ever was one! I am currently playing Psychonauts, another less well known 2005 game.

*Nightlong: A Union City Conspiracy* and one game that is a true classic but hardly anyone mentions *The Feeble Files*

Shadow of Destiny (called Shadow of Memories in Europe)

I never played Nightlong or Feeble Files but I have heard good things about both of those games.
I can't remember how much I liked the game Noctropolis but I do remember the graphics were beautiful. What a blast from the past. I had forgot all about that game.
Morpheus is a great choice. I am not a fan of third person games usually but I loved this game. The plot was very unique.
The music and plot of The Dig really won me over. Just about every game LucasFilms/LucasArts made was ok by me.
Thanks for all the great answers.

I second and third "The Feeble Files."

I guess I've been looking in the wrong places! Hello to the fellow fans Now if only they would make a new one for the PC... I got stuck 5 mins into ABC murders for the DS!

Hi,
Most of the games everyone has listed in this topic are quite old except for the newer Agatha Christie. I agree about Shadow of Destiny which I played on a console. I also agree with Nightlong although I could not complete it even with a saved game with the bug. Will try it one day on my older machine.
I was wondering about any newer games people thought were more deserving that aren't over 5 or 6 years?
Patty

Can't think of any myself

I feel most of the better "more recent" games got the good comments they deserved at the time they were released

Amerzone! Hands down, for me it was Amerzone! Found the game really cheap and played it 4 times! Just loved it!!

Great question!

Here is a game that I wanted to mention as deserving of praise. It isn't a game that you could play now due to how out of date the graphics are and the looping music but I thought it had some of the greatest puzzles that I have ever seen in a game. Did anyone else play Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders by Lucas Arts?

It's easier to identify a game that was underrated with the passage of time. A bit harder to do so immediately.

You might want to consider recent games that are a bit off the beaten track?

The Casebook games and Yoomurjak's Ring -- very good games that are FMV and have been available via download. The Enter the Story games -- based on classics of literature, also very good games available from the Enter the Story website. And you might want to consider Drawn: The Painted Tower, a casual adventure game, available via download or on disk in the US.

Hi becky, I noticed you liked shadows of destiny,
My question, did it take you a while to get into it,
I have started it a few times, and hated having to start over, thanks,

I liked this one a lot
Voyage: A Journey Beyond Reality (Journey to the Moon)

Also playing Alida, now, and dont remember hearing alot about it, love puzzle type games and enjoying this one
Marcia

Always had a 'soft spot' for "Golden Gate".

oh,heavenly - alida was one of my favorites - older but still good . at one point,there was talk of a follow-up,but i don't know if it ever happened, or will. hope you enjoy it.

becky - thanks for the info on drawn being available on disc - i found it as a download,and can't do it that way - will look for the disc.

Niteowl07 -- you're welcome!

HeavenlyJoy -- yes, it took me awhile to get into Shadow of Destiny. The keyboard controls were a trifle clumsy for me, and the gameplay isn't what I was used to. I played it with a partner who understood what was going on a bit faster than I did at first! If you find that you're confused, it might be worth peeking at a walkthrough until you get into the way the game works.

In the end, where there are many endings you really should see, again peeking at a walkthrough might save you time.

Space Quest, Zak McKracken is one of my favorite older EGA games, along with King's Quest IV and The Colonel's Bequest.

well i will give nightlong a try...thanx for the suggestion

The Riddle of Master Lu (Ripleys believe it or not) was a great game that you rarely hear about

Thanks Becky, I havent totally given up on it, put it on shelf, I will try it again, I liked the enviorment, just hated the starting over, think I will do as you said,

Nite owl, hope there is another, I love this game, just the right type of puzzles I love, and the hints, I love games I can go away and think about, come back with ideas..

I have never heard of Golden Gate, off to research it now..

Great thread for looking up the oldies but goodies.

I just put the Colonels Bequest on my Want list...

may have to get it on Ebay or something...

Marcia

Hope you are able to get a hold of The Colonel's Bequest, HeavenlyJoy. It's a great game.

It's also very re-playable, as there are so many things to discover in it that are optional.

A game that I just adored and haven't heard about in years is Ceremony of Innocence. It is not your usual adventure game, but is based on a bestselling book about a correspondence. It uses interactive postcards to display the messages and the narration is by some great actors. Solving the puzzles of the tricky postcards advances you though the game. It has some lovely background music.

One of my all time favourites is "The Watchmaker" by Trecision (the makers of Ark of Time and Nightlong): where you could change between 1st and 3rd person perspective at any time, change between the two main characters at any time and could exchange your inventory objects between them. Long playtime, challenging and interesting team puzzles. It got 'subterraneous' ratings just because of the bad English voice acting. Voice acting is not THAT important to me, even in German localized games, so it became my little pearl.

Slydos
Wow, I didn't know you could play Watchmaker in first person perspective. I am going to have to give the game another try if I can play it that way.

Venus I remember playing Colonel's Request. I think there was a second Laura Bow game that took place in a museum. I loved all of the Kings Quest games.
Hamer I also was a big fan Of the Riddle of Master Lu.

Obsidian and Alida are personally my two favorite games of all time; both were mentioned here earlier, so I'd definitely have to say those two.

Space Quest, yes the second Laura Bow game is called The Dagger of Amon Ra. It's a fun game, too, but I preferred the original. Still, the Laura Bow games are probably underrated in general.

Yes, I loved all the King's Quest games, too, except for the eighth game. I seem to recall that you feel the same way.

Pokey, I agree. An excellent adaptation of the books. Narration is stunning.
And I would certainly persevere with Shadow of Destiny nightowl.
And I reckon if Ico had had a pc release, it would have been a classic.

Space Quest Fan,

I didn't play The Colonel's Bequest because I hadn't started playing PC games at that time. A friend got me hooked and she loved The Colonel's Bequest. I played the follow-up game Laura Bow and The Dagger of Amnon Ra and it was great! It was the first PC game that I ever played and I kept hoping for another Laura Bow game but they didn't make one.

Ditto about the King's Quest series. I liked all of them except the last one (Mask of Eternity)I think was the name of it. Couldn't wait to get it and hated it! I stopped playing it because it seemed too much like a video arcade game to me.

gatsbygirl,
I felt the same way about Kings Quest 8 as you and Venus did. It was such a letdown because the first seven games of the series were so much fun. It just doesn't seem fair to call that game Kings Quest.

GameBoomer 'Coreoverload' had it up for sale in December. Was surprised to see the title. I don't think it received rave reviews, but as I remember, there was a lot to this game, and it was nice to see parts of the City sans people.. although more locations would've been nicer). It was a quiet mystery game as I recall. Nothing terribly scary (except the eerie silence of being alone). Also got to ride the ferry to Angel Island for parts of the game. Dated 1997, I doubt it would be Vista-compatible.

More recently Catbytes1313 has Golden Gate for sale HERE and still may have it

quest for glory series was also good

hamer,
I loved the Quest For Glory series.The fourth game Shadows of Darkness was my favorite. It was scary.

Well, since I mentioned it in its own thread, I will say I think Paradise is underrated. It's a shame the original version had so many bugs because I think it's actually a great game with an intriguing storyline.

And Space Quest, for your benefit, I will also mention Zak McKracken. Definitely an under appreciated game that was ahead of its time.

I really liked Paradise also and it wasn't buggy for me. i thought the story was great also and the ending was fitting.

Ana

Venus,

I used to love all the Lucasfilms/Arts games.
Zak, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, and Day of the Tentacle were some of my favorites.

One newer game that blew me away is Overclocked.

The game sort of proceeds backwards.

It is the coolest game among the more recent games I have found.

It kept my interest throughout, at every turn.

Unfortunately, not many newer games do that. I often get bored and bail out, but I figure I'll either get back to them or trade or sell them.

Space Quest, I was more of a Sierra fan in general, but I loved Lucas Arts as well. Zak is one of my favorite EGA games, and I love how expansive it is. Even though games have gotten more intricate story wise since then, I've never seen another game with such a huge span of locations.

Raj, I loved Overclocked as well. It felt like a page turning book that I couldn't put down. My only complaint is I wish it could have been longer.

Venus I am with you on Sierra. I loved Lucasfilms games but I think I purchased about every game Sierra ever made. The people were so nice at Sierra and they always went out of their way to help you. I think they may of had the best customer servive of any company I have ever dealt with. I also loved the Interaction magazine.

I agree with you on "Overclocked." I too find most of the new games rather boring. First little excuse, and i am out.