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[nenjin]

+1 Quest For Glory. The remakes are pretty good, and if you're still playing the series by the 3rd, you're pretty much in for the whole ride.

And yeah, -1 for Alan Wake. Didn't even get an hour through it, I was so disgusted by it. And I generally even give bad games two hours. But between the bad writing (which is the foundation for the whole damn game) and how uninspired the rest of it is, I wish I could scrub it from my Steam list.

[mastahcheese]

+1 Quest For Glory. The remakes are pretty good, and if you're still playing the series by the 3rd, you're pretty much in for the whole ride.

And yeah, -1 for Alan Wake. Didn't even get an hour through it, I was so disgusted by it. And I generally even give bad games two hours. But between the bad writing (which is the foundation for the whole damn game) and how uninspired the rest of it is, I wish I could scrub it from my Steam list.

Oh yeah, I also endorse Quest for Glory, that is one of the best game series ever made, in my opinion.
And for the Alan Wake, I got it in a bundle with the second game, as well, and I haven't even installed the second one because screw that.

[Mech#4]

Hmm...

"I have no mouth and I must scream" is a horror themed game about 5 people being tortured for ages by a malevolent AI. They have to explore worlds created for them to come to terms with who they are.

Police Quest is a more serious series then say King's Quest and Space Quest. You play as a policeman tracking down a murderer. The only thing I would say negatively about it is that it's very picky over right procedure.

Gabriel Knight, at least the first one, is another series about investigation. Set in New Orleans you are investigating a series of brutal murders that have been happening there.

[Neonivek]

I've never really explored adventure games outside of The Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island series due to their linearity and they never really caught my fancy [I felt that they were mostly aimed for younger gamers].

Ohh you would be surprised but both those games... were made for adults! (though Day of the Tentacle likely was made more family friendly.)

Gabriel Knight

The first one is excellent except cripplingly difficult. While the second is easier but not as well developed.

Skip the third.

Broken sword if not mentioned already is excellent... but only the first one is. It has ONE "Unbeatable game" glitch in the first one, so I suggest saving after each location.

The second might be worth checking out if you liked the first... but it is like a quarter as good as the first (and ALSO features an unwinnable scenario)

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Phantasmagoria 1 and 2

Ok Phantasmagoria 1 is in my opinion an underrated game (a 6 out of 10) but the sheer amount of effort put into it and the subtle horror is what I like about it. It is one of the FEW horror games that take its sweet time to even attempt to scare you.

Phantasmagoria 2 is dreadful... it is horrible in almost everyway. The only good part of it is that it has the most progressive depiction of homosexual relationships in all videogames (where it tends to be at LEAST partially tongue and cheek in other games). HOWEVER! you will WANT to play it because it is so bad. It is one of the few hilariously bad point and clicks in existence and while some puzzles are overly complex, the story (and the easter eggs... Honestly FIND those easter eggs... they are worth it) is worth it.

And yeah, -1 for Alan Wake. Didn't even get an hour through it, I was so disgusted by it. And I generally even give bad games two hours. But between the bad writing (which is the foundation for the whole damn game) and how uninspired the rest of it is, I wish I could scrub it from my Steam list.

Honestly? That is what made me love the game even more. The sheer amount of "Show don't tell" with Alan Wake is amazing! They build him up as some sort of epic novelist but every single scene of the game contradicts this and makes him look like a terrible pulp fiction writer at best.

I mean I love how the novel papers and what happens on screen are so stark from one another. Alan writing a suspenseful supernatural thriller but what is going on onscreen is basically just "and then I mowed them down with my gun... and did it again"

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Tip for Point and click adventure games!

Try to see if they have a unwinnable situation or save after every major transition.

[itisnotlogical]

A Mind Forever Voyaging is a game where you play an AI moving through a simulation of the future. Although there's not very many puzzles, the writing is extremely effective and emotional (which is great considering that it's a text-only game). It requires you to run a second program called FROTZ through Dosbox to get it to run, but if you can get Dosbox to run in the first place then you should have no trouble. There's no legal place to buy it that I know of, unless you want to hunt up an actual floppy disk and play the game on a period computer.

Spellcasting 101. A very primitive graphical adventure, in that it's basically a text adventure with a small picture to help visualize the room. Imagine Leisure Suit Larry's sense of humor in the Harry Potter universe and you've got the gist of it.

Dragonsphere. I haven't played it much because the puzzles are fucking nuts, but it looks and sounds nice enough. Somebody who likes ultra-hard adventure games more could probably find something to like there.

the white chamber. A free point-n-click available here. It's pretty spooky, even though it's trivially easy to get the good ending without even realizing there were bad ones. The game was actually pretty easy as a whole though. Good for an hour or so of neat scares and not much else.

[mastahcheese]

And yeah, -1 for Alan Wake. Didn't even get an hour through it, I was so disgusted by it. And I generally even give bad games two hours. But between the bad writing (which is the foundation for the whole damn game) and how uninspired the rest of it is, I wish I could scrub it from my Steam list.

Honestly? That is what made me love the game even more. The sheer amount of "Show don't tell" with Alan Wake is amazing! They build him up as some sort of epic novelist but every single scene of the game contradicts this and makes him look like a terrible pulp fiction writer at best.

I mean I love how the novel papers and what happens on screen are so stark from one another. Alan writing a suspenseful supernatural thriller but what is going on onscreen is basically just "and then I mowed them down with my gun... and did it again"

Basically, it takes a certain type of person to appreciate that kind of game, and me and nenjin are not those kinds of people.
So, try it if you want, but you've heard it from both sides.

[Neonivek]

Dragonsphere. I haven't played it much because the puzzles are fucking nuts, but it looks and sounds nice enough. Somebody who likes ultra-hard adventure games more could probably find something to like there

I can vouch that this game is excellent albeit tough (sometimes unfairly so, some situations requiring perfect sequences of over a dozen possible actions). Yet once you get a hang of it, there is something very organic about the game.

My LARGEST warning is to save, and make multiple saves, often... You can easily end up in an unwinnable situation as there are tons of them. As well remember that you are timed in terms of moves you make. It isn't as hard as Gabriel Knight but it is on that side of the spectrum.

edit: WHOOPS! wrong game... Sorry everyone! Now I cannot remember what game I was referring to.

It was a game where you start out in some sort of endless maze dimension with monsters knowing a bit of magic.

[mastahcheese]

Oh man, I just remembered this game called "Endeavor". (You could probably find it easily by a google search) It's a free adventure game that you can find on some free internet gaming site where you play as a dwarf that lives in the sky, and it had multiple endings. I normally don't get much of an emotional response from games, but that one was by far one of the best games I've ever played, and I think everyone should go try it out.

[itisnotlogical]

-snip-

I ultimately ragequit at the puzzle in the fairy place, where you have to get past the sprites. Not only is it a pretty difficult logical puzzle, but there's a timed element for no good reason except to induce RAEG. And the sprites, the principle elements of the puzzle, are about four pixels in size and constantly moving.

[Mech#4]

Oo, got another one.

"Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest" is yet another game done by Sierra but it plays much more like a murder mystery. You have to spy on guests who move around the mansion as time passes. Set in the 1930's I believe, the characters are rather well done from what I've seen.

[The13thRonin]

I have seen a lets play of Harvester (I buy all my games legally and it was just too hard to scrounge up a copy when I found out about it years ago). That's exactly the vibe I'm going for.

I have no mouth and I must scream is the same deal... Couldn't get a legit copy (before it came to STEAM) so I watched a lets play of the whole thing.

Heroes quest doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, it sounds kind of generic-ish to me? It doesn't seem to have horror/mystery or a strong emotional pull?

I was super disappointed by Alan Wake, the atmosphere was all wrong and the monsters were just comical as heck. I had a similar experience to one of the other users here where I didn't even install the second game/addon.

I downloaded The White Chamber and I'm gonna check it out tonight.

I'll see if I can find 'endeavor' and have a look at it too, thanks guys, keep the suggestions coming .

I should mention a requirement should be that the games are easy to obtain legally preferably through digital distribution.

[Neonivek]

Oo, got another one.

"Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest" is yet another game done by Sierra but it plays much more like a murder mystery. You have to spy on guests who move around the mansion as time passes. Set in the 1930's I believe, the characters are rather well done from what I've seen.

HONESTLY Why hasn't ANYONE ever tried to make a similar game ever?

I will vouch that in terms of point and clicks this game is pretty much the Mona Lisa in terms of open point and clicks (and it has good old sierra death trap world... which I love!) and it is a crime that it isn't more well known.

Its only fault is that it is an extremely old game (and stupid copy protection). Basically just imagine if point and clicks didn't really have goals and you instead were trying to solve a mystery having full run of the mansion, can talk to who you want, spy on who you want, can find secrets and use them on different play throughs (some at least), and where the goal is not only to solve the crime but to discover everything that you need to. ALL in a package that is easy to digest.

But I will say you probably won't play this for very long. While the only fault of the gameplay is how old it is... IT IS FREEKEN OLD! and sometimes just leaving a room is a chore.

Heroes quest doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, it sounds kind of generic-ish to me? It doesn't seem to have horror/mystery or a strong emotional pull?

It is meant to be generic (if this is Quest for Glory you are talking about). What it does well is being excellent at what it does (except combat...).

It is a great game and outside a few puzzles a lot of the solutions are organic if you keep your wits about you. Heck I prefer its depiction of mages over most games.

The story is usually quite simple but told well with a very live and vivid world.

[itisnotlogical]

I have seen a lets play of Harvester (I buy all my games legally and it was just too hard to scrounge up a copy when I found out about it years ago). That's exactly the vibe I'm going for.

Have you heard of the Dark Seed games, II in particular? It's about the same "quality" as Harvester, although not anywhere near as weird.

[The13thRonin]

I have seen a lets play of Harvester (I buy all my games legally and it was just too hard to scrounge up a copy when I found out about it years ago). That's exactly the vibe I'm going for.

Have you heard of the Dark Seed games, II in particular? It's about the same "quality" as Harvester, although not anywhere near as weird.

I feel like the weirdness is an important part of what makes it great. Any digital retailers selling Dark Seed?

[Sinistar]

You can get both of Dark Seed games on Abandonia:
Dark Seed I
Dark Seed II

As for them being weird, well, H. R. Giger is credited as the main artist. Need to say more?