Any games like (fill in the blank)?

This question seems to get asked at least once a year, so I have dibs on it this time. I'm so hungry for a new game with the atmosphere of a Tex Murphy or Gabriel Knight or the Broken Sword series or Siberia or Longest Journey or even the wacky and wonderful quality of Grim Fandango or Monkey Island. I haven't found many successors to this sort of creativity and quality, but I know they must be out there! The last game I played that really held me was "The Lost Crown." It was wonderful. I look at the Best of 2015 list and see the same older games I've enjoyed so much being nominated each year. Most of them, I have played, but I wrote down a couple to check out. I don't see too many games whose names I don't recognize. Does this mean 2015 didn't offer many "Best of" status adventure games? Does everyone simply replay their old favorites? Are their some game companies that are doing a better than average job of putting out adventure games?

I have purchased a couple of games lately, but bailed on two of them (one because it involved repeated, frantic action sequences and the other because I could not save my game). I am about to buy Kings Quest VI and VII from GOG because I loved those games and know they'll be entertaining. And I still have many old games on DVDs on my shelves.

Just curious about the adventure genre in general.

I've been replaying old favorites right now (just finished The Longest Journey and now playing Under a Killing Moon), and I haven't played most of the newer games so don't have much of a basis for comparison. The only thing I can think of to suggest is the Black Mirror trilogy, if you are looking for a long and engrossing saga. GOG has them, but you have probably already played them.

You can see what people are currently playing here. It looks like a lot of them are indeed playing oldies but goodies.

If a game is like Broken Sword or Tex Murphy, you can generally find it fast enough by searching a key-word. You can be sure someone will say it if it reminds them of it.

Ana

Some people said Kathy Rain reminded them of Gabriel Knight.

I guess if you liked The Lost Crown you could try The Last Crown: Midnight Horror, though Midnight Horror was a short game.

If you liked Samorost, there is Samorost 3.

Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge is similar to some old Sierra

If you haven't played Broken Sword 5, there is that

List of adventure games from 2015 here
http://www.pagodagamedatabase.com/year.php?year=2015
From that list, there are Tormentum and Fran Bow if you like horror. Technobabylon for a futuristic world.

List of adventure games from 2016 here
http://www.pagodagamedatabase.com/year.php?year=2016

Have you played Dreamfall Chapters? It's the latest game in The Longest Journey series, and it's one of my personal favorites now. Also, if you don't mind "different" types of adventures, Life is Strange and Oxenfree show a lot of creativity, and I thought they were both excellent. Oxenfree has no puzzles, though, unless you count the radio mechanic and the optional search for letters. Dreamfall Chapters and Life is Strange have puzzles, though they're generally not very difficult. Dreamfall Chapters' stronger puzzles were a little harder than the puzzles in Life is Strange. All have very strong stories.

I'm also really enjoying the new King's Quest, though it has some action elements I could do without. Depending on your tolerance for those, if you're a King's Quest fan, you'll probably like it. Reactions can vary, though, so you may want to watch a YouTube video to get an idea as to whether or not you'll enjoy it.

If you're looking for a more classic experience, Technobabylon is one of the stronger recent ones. Also, if you haven't tried them, you may consider The Book of Unwritten Tales games. The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 was just completed early this year. They're great classic adventure type games, and they have elements of both Sierra and Lucas Arts.

If you don't mind very dark games, The Cat Lady and Downfall by Harvester Games are fantastic, particularly the former.

And hopefully, The Last Crown: Blackenrock will be out soon. Midnight Horror was definitely fun but more of an appetizer.

EDIT: I just realized you said you didn't like not being able to save your game. Unfortunately, several recent adventures are like this. I don't like it either, but I would be missing out on so many great games if I didn't tolerate it. So to let you know Dreamfall Chapters, Life is Strange, Oxenfree and the new King's Quest all have autosaves. I find them generally frequent, though sometimes it's a pain having to get to one. Oxenfree saves the game every time you enter a new screen, so in a sense, you can create your own save just by going to another screen if you like. But if creating your own saves is an important factor to you, I wanted to let you know this. The other games I have listed here do allow you to create your own saves, so no problems there.

Reenie,

Reading your list tells me that you enjoy the same kind of games that Venus does so I would take a close look at her suggestions. Someone else mentioned the Black Mirror games and I think you would enjoy that series.

Some of these might be too old for you but here are some games I think you might want to take a look at based on the games you mentioned:

Discworld 1&2
Secret Files 1&2
Ankh
Legend of Kyrandia
Runaway
Simon the Sorcerer 1&2

Yes, I saw that thread. Very interesting! That and the 2015 list were what made me wonder about "new" games, since (like me) many folks were replaying old favorites.

Oh yes, you are right on the money. I loved all of those, Space Quest!

I loved the Black Mirror games, too!

Venus, we seem to share a taste in games. Thanks for the hint on checking out game play on YouTube. What a great idea! Better than any short preview clip.

I didn't mind the action elements in the old KQ VIII, and I loved the game Outcast, but both of those were more than 15 years ago. Now, I can't handle the stress of action play. It actually will give me chest pain to run against a timer or be involved in combat. I am happiest with a lot to explore, tough puzzles to solve, clues to collect and a strategy to develop.

I did buy Dreamfall, after loving The Longest Journey, but I never got more than 1/4 of the way through. The camera stuff made me carsick and I couldn't master the compulsory kick-fighting. Just don't have the reflexes for that. So I never bought Dreamfall Chapters.

Technobabylon sounds very intriguing. I will look for that for sure! I played the sequel to The Lost Crown, and it was short. Do you know if Blackenrock will be longer. That series is such fun! I loved The Book of Unwritten Tales, both 1 and 2. Sure hope more games like that will be in our future. No, I don't usually play many "dark games. Sadism and the like are just too unpleasant. I did play the Dracula series, which was excellent, but I stay away from most horror.

It is a shame some games are autosaves now, because it makes you play on their schedule instead of your own. Real life often intrudes on my game playing. But I might give Oxenfree a try, since there is a workaround. Thanks for that!

The Book of Unwritten Tales???

Hi,

here is the list of some games I can recommend although I believe there are not many who have not played these already:

* Agon: The Mysterious Codex
* Agon: The Lost Sword of Toledo

* Keepsake
* Lost Horizon
* Machinarium
* Return to Mysterious Island 1 & 2

* Runaway: A Road Adventure
* Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle
* Runaway: A Twist of Fate

* Secret Files: Tunguska
* Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis
* Secret Files 3
* Secret Files: Sam Peters

A bit darker and or spooky games:

* Overclocked: The History of Violence
* Rhiannon
* Scratches

Timo

TJL, those are some of our favorites all right, but thanks for contributing. I missed the fact that there was a fourth Secret Files. Going looking now!

Reenie,

I thought of a couple of other games. Tony Tough is older but the Deponia series is a newer one. They might be worth a look to you.

If you liked the whacky humour of Grim Fandango, I'm going to also suggest Ceville. Mentioned already by SQF but the Ankh games are also good (I seem to remember the third game being the best).

Technobabylon is also well worth getting.

Oh, yes! I see Machinarium in TLJ's list... a great game which I absolutely loved.

Draclvr, I bought Machinarium, too. Loved the style, the humor and the puzzling aspects of it. I was unable to go very far, though, because of the timed episodes. Too stressful. Triggered chest pain. I was so disappointed because I was loving it before it came to the arcade stuff.

I did play the Ankh games, too. Wonderful.

I liked Machinarium but I the savegame function seemed unstable, even after I did what the game's support forum suggested. Shame as it was an interesting game.

Jack Keane is a little offbeat but you might find it worth a look. For some reason I think of it as being fairly similar to the Ankh games (even though in many ways it isn't).

Oh, shoot. I enjoyed the arcade games - played enough of them in my early life!

I liked Primordia and A New Beginning. They were both well drawn, had engaging stories and decent voice acting.

I liked A New Beginning too but the plot twist made no sense to me and that kind of ruined it for me.

Oh and I don't think anyone's mentioned The Next Big Thing - really enjoyed that one.

That is putting it mildly.
I was almost at the end of Machinarium and couldn't get past an arcade sequence. After trying to get past it for over an hour, I decided to put the game aside for a while and try again later. Next time I started up the game --> no saves.

I won't be playing that one again.
Better to watch it on YouTube.

If I remember correctly, if you ran CCleaner, it erased your saves for some reason.

Hi Reenie-

If you liked the Lost Crown, you might like the Dark Fall series (1-3) since it was done by Jonathan Boakes (if you haven't already played it). Also, you may want to check out Barrow Hill which is by Jonathan's friend, Matt Clark. Another game that comes highly recommended by some people is Life is Strange (episodic series). I've got it on my hard drive but haven't got to it yet.

Not the problem in my case. I didn't use ccleaner.
Ccleaner was only one of several things that could make your Machinarium saves disappear.
Apparently Machinarium used Flash saves, and using a web browser with Flash could delete them.
People have even reported the saves going missing as soon as they exited the game.
Like CaptainD said, the savegame function was unstable.

I didn't have the problem with Botanicula (2012), a later game by the same developer which I actually played first. I don't know why the developer didn't fix the problem in Machinarium (2009).

Some users have written scripts to back up and restore their saves automatically.
The one here is for Mac...
http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=463.45
So you'd think the developer could have added something like that.

So I wouldn't recommend Machinarium.
But I would recommend Botanicula -- very cute.

SQF: I loved Deponia. Sort of Monkey Islandish. Those kinds of games are a nice change from horror and sci-fi. I tend to mix them up, alternating one style with another.

Erggo, thanks for the rec on Primodia. I will check it out. I think GOG has it.

Ewl02, I will look at Dark Fall. Don't think I noticed that one.

Jenny, I'm sorry to hear you had trouble with Machinarium. It is very disappointing when what is a cute and original game turns on you with glitches you can't fix.

Has anyone mentioned Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet yet? If not, I'll mention it

Hi Reenie,

I have to add some more games on my list:

* Memento Mori (1) & 2 (Both share similar style with Secret Files games you like)

* Edna & Harvey: The Breakout/Harveys's New Eyes (Full of totally loony solutions and humor, certainly not for everyone but worth to try)

Timo

Timo, I enjoyed Memento Mori. Did not realize there was a sequel. Thanks!

Reenie, one more addition:

* Alternativa

It is from same developer (Centauri Production) and publisher (Bohemia Interactive) as Memento Mori 2 and very similar in gameplay.

I bought mine from Steam Sale, it was $0.99 or $1.99 if I remember right, but definitely worth more.

What it comes to Memento Mori 2, there is one curiosity from my point of view, the story takes the player to Finland and a place named Savukoski (Click) which is a real place and the in-game TV sends actual finnish program (ice-hockey and professional fisher interview) but there has never been any monastery even nearby. Neither have I ever been able to find any relation between real life and the in game (h/m)otel "Likainen Harri" (Dirty Harry).

Timo

Maybe I need to go back to Alternativa. I thought they absolutely nailed the cyberpunk atmosphere, as good as Westwood's "Bladerunner" in fact, but after a reasonably bright start the gameplay left me feeling disappointed.