Looking for good adventure games

[Menegrothx]

I've played a fair share of LucasArts adventure games (Maniac Mansion, Secret of Monkey Island, LeChuck's revenge, Sam and Max hit the road, Day of the tentacle, Zak McKracken and the Alien mindbenders, Indiana Jones and the Fate of the Atlantis, Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango) and a few other adventure games (Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, Discworld, Tiny Toon Adventures: The Great Beanstalk, Myst) and I'm looking to move on the next best thing; Sierra.
There's a huge amount of games put out by them and I don't know where to start. I know I should give all the major game series a try (King's quest, Police quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Space quest), but there's 6-8 individual games in all of those series alone! I know that Sierra games are kind of infamous for having dead ends, player death and action sequences. To be honest I dont care that much about solving puzzles on my own, I can enjoy the games while playing them with a walkthrough guide so bad/too hard puzzles and dead ends aren't a that big of a problem to me, but I'd rather not have any mandatory action sequences. The ones in Freddy were doable, but still I'd rather not have any.
What I like about adventure games is the beautiful hand-drawn graphics that often resemble artful paintings, comic book-esque look and cartoony character animation (Sam and Max, Discworld and Day of the Tentacle for example) and the abundant, often witty, humor. The games dont have to be cartoony, I can appreciate realistic/semi-realistic (Freddy Pharkas) look as long as the pixel art/graphics and scenery is beautiful. I prefer to mostly play games released after 1992/1993 since I'm looking for games that look aesthetically pleasing.
I'm also open to trying out some of the less humorous and more serious adventure games that focus on the storyline (Laura Bow games, Gabriel Knight and King's quest-series, Phantasmagoria etc?) as I'd like to play/try out all the "mandatory" classic adventure games, but I doubt I have the patience to play through ALL of them. So I'll give games like King's quest a shot, but I doubt I'll go through the whole series. I'll just play through the best game in the series first to see what it's like and if it's worth to try all of the games later on.
So in short
Recommend me funny and good looking adventure games like Curse of Monkey Island, Sam and Max Hit the road, Discworld and Freddy Pharkas

Tell me which of the more serious adventure games I should definately play and which I can skip/save for later when I've played through all the essentials.

I should also point out that I am willing to try out all classic adventure games, not just the ones by Sierra. I don't mind trying out modern games either, as long as they're done well enough (Vampyre Story looks promising), but I'd rather play through the 1990s adventure games first before moving on to the new stuff.

Here's a list of games on my "to try out list" at the moment:
Discworld 2
Full Throttle
The Dig
Beneath a Steel Sky
Pink Panther's Passport To Peril
A Vampyre Story

[J T]

Ben There, Dan That! is a very funny and cartoony homage to the Lucas Arts days, along with its sequel, Time Gentlemen, Please!.
The first one is free:
http://www.sizefivegames.com/games/ben-there-dan-that/

Also, you didn't mention it, but Full Throttle is a classic from the Lucas Arts days that was funny, witty, and had great cartoony graphics. If you haven't played that one yet, it's a must.

Another funny and quirky set of adventure games are the Puzzle Agent games. They have an odd vibe to them that is almost spooky, but full of humor. The puzzles are more like a Professor Layton game and can usually be solved via deduction rather than trial & error.

For a more serious adventure game, I would most recommend Gabriel Knight 1 & 2. They are both expertly written by Jane Jensen. I would also recommend the recently released Gemini Rue, which has a very Blade Runner-esque vibe to it. Speaking of which, the Blade Runner adventure game was also quite good.

For an unusual first person horror take on the genre, try out Amnesia: The Dark Descent, its predecessors The Penumbra series, or it's long ago grandpappy The Realms of the Haunting.

There's also been some whimsical and beautifully hand drawn games to come out of Germany. Check out The Whispered World, The Book of Unwritten Tales, or Deponia for that flavor of adventure game.


Don't forget to check out http://www.adventuregamers.com/ They are a great resource.

[Stark]

I'm a huge adventure game fan and recommend you start King's Quest with number 1 and work your way through.

Also I agree with JT's suggestion of Ben There, Dan That, although I haven't finished it yet. And to add to his wondering why Full Throttle is missing, The Dig is another great one from Lucas Arts.

The Broken Sword series of games from Revolution are awesome! Definitely give those a look see, it's one of my favorite Adventure game series.

I'm currently working on Runaway: The Road Adventure from Pendulo Studios. It's pretty rough around the edges, but was their first game. I'll let you know what I think, when I finish it.

[Menegrothx]

For an unusual first person horror take on the genre, try out Amnesia: The Dark Descent, its predecessors The Penumbra series, or it's long ago grandpappy The Realms of the Haunting.

Don't forget to check out http://www.adventuregamers.com/ They are a great resource.

I forgot to mention that as much as I like Grim Fandango (Amnesia and Penumbra are also nice), I'm sticking to 2D adventure games for the time being. As funny as the writing might be in the new Sam and Max and Monkey Island games, nothing beats the visual look and style of Curse of Monkey Island in my eyes. Unless there's a new game done in the similiar style with even better graphics. There are just things that you can't do in a 3D type of game like that.

I'll try asking the folks at that forum

Also I agree with JT's suggestion of Ben There, Dan That, although I haven't finished it yet. And to add to his wondering why Full Throttle is missing, The Dig is another great one from Lucas Arts.

Here's a list of games on my "to try out list" at the moment:
Discworld 2
Full Throttle
The Dig
Beneath a Steel Sky
Pink Panther's Passport To Peril
A Vampyre Story

I'm currently working on Runaway: The Road Adventure from Pendulo Studios. It's pretty rough around the edges, but was their first game. I'll let you know what I think, when I finish it.

Sure! Feel free to send me a PM when it's finished

[Solus_Emsu]

If you get a chance check out The Longest Journey by Funcom (PC).

http://www.longestjourney.com/

[Gunstar Green]

Some of the newer ones by Telltale Games are pretty good, especially Back to the Future.

[Stark]

If you get a chance check out The Longest Journey by Funcom (PC).

http://www.longestjourney.com/

Ooh! +1 to this.

[johanesek]

I see nobody has mentioned Syberia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syberia yet, my absolute favorite adventure ever. Great characters, intriguing original story and foremost excellent atmosphere supplied by great ambient music.

[Stark]

Syberia is great too, I agree.

@OP I noticed you put Beneath a Steel Sky on your list, this is a game from Revolution Software before they did one of my favorites, Broken Sword. I think the writing is stronger in Broken Sword, but Steel is a good place to start.

[awesomenick]

I see nobody has mentioned Syberia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syberia yet, my absolute favorite adventure ever. Great characters, intriguing original story and foremost excellent atmosphere supplied by great ambient music.

Damn you beat me to it. Syberia is one of my favorite adventure games.

I really liked Serria's Quest for Glory series, the first two have been remade.
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/174/Q ... o+VGA.html First Game by Serria
http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html Second Game by AGD