What’s that expression about bad things coming in threes? Following the two dangers detailed in my previous blogs, that means there’s still one more ominous storm cloud hanging over the genre. Thank goodness for small mercies, as this last one is probably the least threatening of the three. On the other hand, it’s perhaps the most disappointing.

Today’s threat to the health of adventure games: Nintendo.

No no, you didn’t get sucked into a vortex that thrust you back in time a decade, when console games were widely cited as driving yet another nail into the genre’s coffin. (Not that I knew that at the time: I was too busy jumping on Goomba heads and collecting Tri-Force pieces to care back then.) As we all know, adventures survived that onslaught, and even rebounded to form the thriving little niche market as we’ve come to know it.

But now Nintendo is a threat again, albeit for entirely different reasons. The issue this time is specifically ports of PC adventures. Now, on the surface you’d think this notion is not only wrong, but in fact completely the opposite. After all, ports expose whole new audiences to adventure games, and that’s never a bad thing, right? Well… not so fast.

First of all, let’s sidestep momentarily and ponder what happened to the Wii and DS as the potential champions of the genre we once believed they could be. Remember this Wii article? The uncharted future was so promising then. But two years later, that future still hasn’t been charted. The only original adventures to reach the Wii in that time are Zack & Wiki (which some claim isn’t an adventure anyway), Harvey Birdman (itself a cheap Phoenix Wright rip-off), and Strong Bad (simultaneously released on PC). Not a very imposing lineup, and there are no potential bright lights on the immediate horizon other than So Blonde’s alternate console version and Another Code R.

The DS has fared a little better, but not much. The early success of Another Code/Trace Memory and the Ace Attorney series had us practically giddy with anticipation, and the Hype-o-Meter routinely featured a new handheld adventure or two. But while Professor Layton delighted puzzle lovers, Cing delivered again with Hotel Dusk and now has another new game in the works, and Capcom may or may not be able to squeeze a little more life out of its quirky courtroom series, lately we’ve been left to pick through underwhelming offerings from Touch/Mystery Detective to Unsolved Crimes to Jake Hunter. Even then, almost everything is from Japan. That’s not a problem – the Japanese often make great games, and they could be from the moon for all I care where a game originates – but the fact that no Western developers are embracing the opportunity is disturbing. There are some German companies with plans for DS versions along with PC or console counterparts, and that’s fine, but none designed exclusively (or even primarily) for the handheld system.

Clearly, then, neither platform has come close to realizing its abundant adventure game potential. And while we’d like to naïvely believe that there’s hope yet, the reality is that we’re now getting ports instead. Adventure Gamers will be increasing its coverage of ports for both systems, so this issue will soon come into greater focus, but we’re talking about the likes of:

Agatha Christie (twice), CSI, Sam & Max, and Nancy Drew for Wii

Myst, Syberia, Ankh, CSI, Runaway, Secret Files, and Sherlock Holmes for DS

Good games for the most part, but ones we’ve already seen before, and they’re now outnumbering their original game counterparts. Is this a blip? A phase soon to pass? Maybe. But let’s face it, publishers aren’t renowned for sacrificing the bottom line for the benefit of creative expression. Porting games is undoubtedly cheaper and easier and carries far less risk than investing in new games. Hmmm!

It’s not just adventure ports that are a threat, though. There’s also the small matter of adventure game publishers diverting focus to console endeavours of other genres. The buyout of Lighthouse wasn’t the only time the company was in the news last year. They also proudly announced their license to begin making games for Nintendo systems. Not adventures – any games. The Adventure Company had done the same thing not long before that. Probably just a coincidence that those two publishers are the most noticeable examples of meagre upcoming adventure schedules, huh? Now City Interactive, one of the genre’s more prolific current publisher/developers, has just made a similar announcement.

The catch with these announcements is that they’re always spun as good and positive things for everyone: “More platforms means more games, more players, more money, more development, more growth, more more more! Yah, baby!” But often it’s not more at all. It’s simply different. What once was in a company’s left pocket is now in its right. What once was on the front burner might now be on the back. Sure, theoretically a company could hit it big in new markets and really expand, but that’s not about to happen with the kind of titles pushed by our “adventure” companies broadening their horizons. No knock on Monster Band or Puppy Trainer intended, but as a shareholder I wouldn’t be counting my millions just yet.

What we end up with, then, is the same number of dollars, the same number of resources, the same number of manageable projects before… except now they’re spread out. Where before there may have been the budget to publish six new adventures a year, now there’s budget for three new adventures and three ports. Or one new adventure, two adventure ports, one original non-adventure Wii and two non-adventure DS titles. The numbers are entirely random just to illustrate the point. Whatever the actual distribution, the attention formerly dedicated to new PC adventures is now spreading thin and spreading fast.

It should go without saying, but I have absolutely nothing against the DS or Wii. I have one of each and I’ve been a big fan of Nintendo since the very first NES system. I don’t care if adventures come out on PC or Wii or DS or any other platform. This isn’t about preference; it’s simply about numbers. More isn’t always more; more is sometimes less. In this case, more platforms can mean more product on shelves, but fewer actual games and still fewer original adventures.

The Nintendo influence may not seem like a big deal. And in isolation, it isn’t. But as with the two problems before it, the issue is that the adventure market is so (relatively) tiny, its corporate participation so limited, that it takes so very little to disrupt its ever-delicate balance. Can the genre withstand the influx of ports over new adventures? Sure, all things being equal. But these days things are anything but equal. On top of a crumbling economy AND North American developers potentially bailing out AND the casual market cutting in with serious competition AND with cheap ports replacing original adventures… pretty soon you have a problem.

I realize these last three blogs have painted a bleak picture for the genre, and again I want to emphasize that there’s always room for hope. Often when one door closes, another opens, and so long as there are enterprising developers with a passion for the genre, we’ll continue to get new adventures some way, some time, somehow. But this is the road before us. It’s not one filled with fertile fields but rocky obstacles. It’s a journey we still plan to take right along with you, but let’s at least move forward with eyes wide open.

Now, please excuse me, as I need to go play Safecracker on Wii for review.

Note: This article's subtitle has been changed from "Killing a genre softy" to avoid any potential confusion. The original phrase was purely facetious, and was never meant to be taken literally. The threat is real, but any adventure fan knows the genre will never die! And certainly not if Adventure Gamers has anything to say about it.

I’m sure we’ve all heard the argument that “Doom killed the adventure genre.” And true enough, id Software’s phenomenally successful 1993 shooter literally blew the doors wide open for 3D action games. It didn’t kill adventures, though. It mercilessly shot the genre with a BFG, wrestled the mainstream gaming crown from its pacifistic head, and even kicked it a little when it was down, but Doom didn’t kill it.

You know what might? I-Spy.

Okay, I promised in my last blog that I wouldn’t speak of the death of the genre (but hey, it worked better with the Doom imagery), and Scholastic’s children’s games are barely known in wider circles, let alone a threat to topple the once-mighty adventure. But the I-Spy games were a precursor to a very real and imminent threat, and in the second of three attempts to depress the hell out of everyone (no, not really, but it may have that effect), the subject is none other than: casual games.

Casual games aren’t new, of course. They’ve been around practically forever, and come in all shapes and sizes and gameplay types. Until recently, there’s been enough separation between “us” and “them” that it hasn’t been much of an issue. But in recent years the “hidden object” games have exploded in popularity, and as evidenced by the start of our recent feature focus, they’ve now become impossible to ignore.

There are two central concerns where these seek-and-find games are concerned, and each has the potential to impact adventures significantly. The first is that adventures are becoming more and more like casual games, and the second is that the casual games market itself is quickly forming a shadow that looms over the entire genre.

Let’s begin with the issue of adventures becoming more casual. For the sake of convenience, we’ll include episodic gaming in this topic, even though there’s nothing inherently casual about shorter, episodic games. The fact that those released (most notably from Telltale so far) have trended along these lines, however, indicates a correlation if not causation. (And I promise that’s the last time I’ll sound all science-y).

Let’s face it, today’s adventures are getting easier. Not insultingly easy, but easier than the olden days of weeks-to-solve puzzles, help hotlines, and mail-order guide books. With walkthroughs at everyone’s fingertips and the pace of life getting more and more hectic, fewer and fewer people are willing to devote the same kind of time and energy to complex puzzles, and developers are accommodating us. Simpler puzzles and in-game hint systems abound, and the days of Myst are over. Some say good riddance, some lament, but few would argue the point.

But now games are going even further. By their very nature, adventures are still perhaps the most demanding, least rewarding games on the market. Who likes wandering around for half an hour not knowing what to do, or slaving over one puzzle just to run smack dab into the next obstacle? Well, we do, but only to an extent, and that “extent” has begun to slide. Seeing this trend early, adventure giant Jane Jensen was among the first to embrace it, co-founding Oberon Games and creating the Inspector Parker series and BeTrapped!. Revolution’s Steve Ince went the casual route with his first solo effort as well, albeit in the more action-oriented Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso.

For a long time, however, the “trend” seemed stuck in neutral. But the trickle-down effect has finally begun. While not replacing their regular adventure counterparts (merely adding to them at this point), both the CSI and Nancy Drew series have now launched distinctly casual installments. And it doesn’t stop there. From the new indie series Casebook to the upcoming Three Cards to Midnight by still another genre legend (the creators of Tex Murphy), it’s clear that this is now indeed a trend, not a fluke. It’s even working the other way, as more adventure elements are being added to casual games, like in the recent Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst.

No point hiding our heads in the sand and hoping the trend passes. Trends do pass, but we’re only at the beginning of this one, and even when it finally subsides, I suspect the genre won’t ever be the same. Not dead… but not the same.

Having said that, we’d be lucky if that was the only challenge posed to the genre by casual games. The other one is even more ominous: namely, that the casual games market will severely erode the adventure game market in its own right. We’ve been lulled into a false sense of security in recent years by the genre’s increased prosperity, all the while oblivious to the ground swell of popularity of the genre’s nearest competitor.

For those who haven’t played them, hidden object games are basically “adventure lite” experiences. They’ve got a story framework, they’ve got puzzles, they’ve got pretty pictures. They rarely give you any freedom or exploration, but instead offer the one thing that adventures so desperately lack: a constant sense of challenge and fulfillment. Ten minutes of an adventure means practically nothing. Ten minutes of seek-and-find games means twenty small victories. Sure they’re largely ongoing “pixel hunts”, but it’s this continual feedback loop that makes the casual games so much more appealing than adventures for many people.

And guess what? They’re cheap. The adventure genre was basically kept afloat by DreamCatcher in the last dark period by offering adventures at “budget” prices. And budget games always do well, almost regardless of quality. Now most adventures have edged back up into regular game price ranges, and suddenly a purchase is not so automatic. The economy’s in the tank, and everyone’s looking for value, and you can’t afford to be wrong with that extra $10-20 dollars. The new “budget” value, then, is casual games. More rewarding AND cheaper begins to look better and better.

Publishers and developers love them, too. As Jensen noted in a recent interview, ”casual games have a short timeline and lite budget. So things happen very fast. You have a month to do the design, in another month you’re seeing weekly builds and in 5 months you’re shipping. A big adventure game takes a lot longer all the way around.” What does that mean for the consumer? It means the market is being flooded with them, and those that like both hidden object games and adventures now have to choose. And if there are twice as many new casual games released at half the cost of an adventure... well, you do the math.

Can the two co-exist? Yes, but not comfortably. There will always, ALWAYS be room for full-fledged adventures. Snacks are great, but people will inevitably crave full-course meals from time to time. Still, the two share the same general demographic market, and whenever competition exists, something has to give. Will already-reluctant publishers still be as willing to invest in new adventures as they become increasingly speculative?

If there are any positives stemming from the influx of casual games, it’s in their ability to popularize digital distribution and draw attention to adventure games that didn’t exist before. The existing adventure community has always been slow to embrace change, and the acceptance of downloadable games is no exception. But because casual games are typically offered only by download, they’ve helped force the issue. Whether that ever translates into more adventures routinely downloaded remains to be seen, but at the very least popular casual game portals like Big Fish Games are now offering adventures as well. It’s small consolation, but it’s a start.

Love them or hate them, then, casual games are here to stay, and the genre will need to find its way through this new reality. No, I-Spy won’t kill adventures, but in keeping with the spirit of its name, take a good long look at the gaming landscape now, because it may not look that way much longer.

Next week (or thereabouts), stay tuned for part three of this “reasons to make you investigate new hobbies” series. (Just kidding. I hope.)

I mentioned in my new year's post that I saw three very ominous trends forming in 2008 that could seriously jeopardize the future of the genre. Not "kill" it... let's for once abandon the overused rhetoric about ever being dead. But you don't need to be dead to be suffering. Badly. And without some unforeseen boons in the coming months, that could very well be what we're facing. Of course, the troubling economic climate has many predicting doom and gloom on all fronts, but since the gaming industry is supposedly one of the few that's recession-proof, or at least recession-resistant, such financial uncertainty shouldn't be crippling in and of itself. In conjunction with other trends, however, the outlook becomes pretty bleak.

I'll explore the trends one by one in separate blogs, but for today the topic is: the sudden dearth of North American publishers.

For several years now, the three biggest North American publishers have been The Adventure Company, Lighthouse Interactive, and Got Game Entertainment. All three are still around, and will no doubt continue to publish adventures in 2009 and beyond. So far so good, but the first sign of trouble is the list of original adventures that the three companies combined have announced for the year to date:

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel

That's it. One game. One localized adventure (from Lighthouse) that's already been significantly delayed. Now, any or all of the companies could announce a slew of new adventures any day, and I'm not professing to know otherwise. I'm merely observing how unusual it is for all three not to have at least a few games on the visible horizon between them. Of the three, I have the least concern about Got Game. As a smaller company, it's been more inclined to function game-to-game over the years, never looking too far ahead but always having something on the go or in the works. Should Got Game unveil a new project any time soon, it'd be business as usual for them.

It's much stranger for TAC and Lighthouse to have such a bare (forecast) schedule for such an extended period. Having just published the high-profile A Vampyre Story over the Christmas season, perhaps TAC was simply pouring all its energy into its current properties before gearing up for an as-yet-unrevealed next wave. Perhaps. Or perhaps it's a sign of a company that's limiting its involvement. Last year was also the first in four that the company didn't produce a new Agatha Christie adventure, though the debut of the Hardy Boys series makes that a wash. Really it's been hard to get a read on TAC since DreamCatcher became part of the "JoWood Group". The merger/acquisition was made to solidify the strengths of both companies in each other's territories, but even that has proven to be a shaky proposition. Anyone know what happened to Everlight in the UK after its announcement of imminent release? Neither do we. Certainly JoWood's influence has done nothing to strengthen the genre's position in North America. But at least we can get the Gothic RPGs rebundled.

Lighthouse, meanwhile, made a big splash in the North American market not long ago and seemed poised to be a major genre player, but all of its recent activity has been in Europe. While that's great for Europe, it nevertheless represents a clear shift of focus. Is it any coincidence that the company was purchased by SilverBirch this year? It seems ironic that a buyout from a Canadian company would lead to reduced North American activity, but the results speak for themselves, and at least one prominent adventure proponent based in North America is no longer with the company. Have we seen the last of Lighthouse on this side of the ocean? Hard to say, but they certainly don't appear to be the genre champion they did so very recently.

But perhaps there are new champions to fill the void, no? Indeed, the re-emergence of Microïds as a significant contributor is one of the more promising signs in recent years. However, the jury is still out on its North American distribution prospects after its initial deal with Encore expires with the release of Still Life 2. Encore signed four titles that have been marketed aggressively as its "Mystery Adventure Games" series, with only one left to come. After that? Who knows. Probably not even Microïds or Encore at this point.

Other scheduling holes have been filled by various publishers over the years, from Viva to Strategy First to Aspyr. The concern is, none of them ever seem to come back for more, and at some point the well is going to run dry. One of the other genre mainstays, Tri Synergy, was bitten hard by the Limbo of the Lost plagiarism scandal, and has since failed to release one of its two planned adventures.

Now, don't get me wrong: North America is far from the be-all and end-all of the genre's success. But despite the disappointingly small audience, it's still ahead of the UK for English language distributors, and therein lies the trouble. Without at least North America secured as a viable market, we can probably kiss prospective localization efforts goodbye. Few publishers or indie developers will foot the bill for English versions of games no one will sell. So Blonde and Simon the Sorcerer 4 are recent but rare examples of those that have indeed released in the UK but not in North America, but anyone thinking that Eidos and Playlogic are going to carry the genre for long had better think again.

Digital distribution remains a ray of hope, if a somewhat divisive one. It's made great strides in a short time, but it's still in its infancy and clearly experiencing some growing pains. Regardless, that alone may not be enough to atone completely for the disappearance of physical product on store shelves, so the overall problem remains.

For now we can still look at the Hype-o-Meter and be enthused at the prospects. But I'll admit, no longer do I feel confident that we'll even see all ten at any given time. Oh, they'll be released in their native territories, but I suspect that more and more games will never reach English markets. Strictly off the top of my head, Tony Tough 2, Tanita, Goin' Downtown, Treasure Island, Tale of a Hero, Mozart, Edna & Harvey, and Ankh 3 are all well overdue, and smart money says some never make it. Will there be more, including those we currently take for granted?

So that's trend number one. Don't look now, but there are two more yet to come.

Happy new year, adventuredom! I trust everyone has had an enjoyable (and safe) holiday season, preferably with a new game or two in hand.

The turn of a new calendar year is always a time for both reflection on days past and anticipation of days future... and occasionally the odd hangover, possibly for the same reasons. I had every intention of doing a kind of “year in review” wrap-up of 2008, but I’ve always been more of a forward-looking sort of guy. (Having a memory like a sieve might go a long way to explaining that.) So I won’t spend long on the year now left behind. We all lived through it, so it’s not like I’d be telling you anything you didn’t already know.

I will say that the year felt… shall we say, underwhelming from an adventure perspective. Oh, we had our fair share of games, and plenty of good ones at that. But few are destined to be considered classics. Perhaps somewhat uncomfortably, the notable exceptions include individual game episodes, a portable puzzle collection and a genre-blending hybrid that was originally released in 2007. That’s not to diminish those games in any way, as each stands as a worthy example of the genre’s diversity, which is part of what we love about it. Still, it highlights a rather distinct void of truly standout titles among the more traditional adventures for the year. Some would argue that’s been an ongoing issue since the “golden era”, but it did feel more pronounced last year than in others.

On the topic of “best of” considerations, I’m sure many have noticed that Adventure Gamers has never done an official year-end awards feature. Rest assured that we’re not against it on principle (no matter how incredibly clichéd), so it’s for entirely practical reasons that we’ve rejected the idea so far. The problem is simply that none of us have played all the games, or even enough of them to compare fairly. If ten games are nominated and most of us have played no more than four or five, there’s simply no viable way of measuring games against each other. There are ways to ignore this insurmountable issue, but no legitimate way to overcome it. So to date we’ve chosen not to adopt one of the lesser, compromising solutions. But having said that, we will once again take a close look at the notion this year, and if there’s a high enough degree of staff input, the tide may finally turn. (I’m not being a tease – I don’t know either!)

Before turning our gaze to the year to come, I’ll make one final observation about 2008, as what began in the old will impact the new. I’ve noticed at least three separate portents of bad news for the genre emerging these last twelve months. Now, there’s nothing easier than predicting doom and gloom. The appeal of being cynical is that it’s the one time you don’t mind being wrong. But I’m not trying to be cynical, nor am I pronouncing disaster. What I am saying is that there are some trends occurring which don’t bode well for the genre’s success. How much tangible evidence we see in 2009 remains to be seen, as it could be more relevant to 2010 and beyond, but it’s coming. This time I am being a tease by not naming these issues, but only because I plan to cover each individually in future blogs. If I open the can of worms now, they’ll be crawling everywhere.

So… 2009. With 365 untarnished days ahead of us, I considered writing another list of new year’s resolutions for the genre. But then I revisited last year’s resolutions and realized to my great dismay (but no surprise whatsoever) that so few of them were realized in 2008, or accomplished on such a limited scale, that the list would look almost identical this year. Sigh. Hopefully I can put check marks beside more of them a year from now and move ahead to new and loftier goals.

As far as individual games, even with dark clouds visible on the horizon, there’s good stuff to keep an eye on. First and foremost is Jane Jensen’s long-awaited (and several times thwarted) return to the genre with Gray Matter. Will we actually see the game this year? Impossible to say, for anyone at this stage. With a release “date” of only “2009”, it’s clear even the developers don’t have a firm grasp on the timeframe just yet. The new interactive movie-adventurelike-quicktime action thingie from Quantic Dream, Heavy Rain, should gain some traction this year as well, though that seems an even longer shot for release this year than Gray Matter. And with the likes of a new Telltale series starring the beloved claymation characters Wallace & Gromit and the first feature-length adventure from the developer of Samorost coming, there’s even more to look forward to. Much of the remaining excitement can be summed up in one word: sequels! Chances are, at least a handful of anyone’s most-anticipated games this year will have a number at the end. It may not be the most original approach, but more of what we already like is never a bad thing.

On a site level, Adventure Gamers will once again look to make improvements in key areas. We have at least two exciting new features planned, with many other enhancements under consideration. The only issue – as always – is simply finding the time necessary to make it all happen. There’s never as much as we need, and one result of that will almost certainly be a new (volunteer) hiring spree. We consider applications on an ongoing basis, of course, but at some point we’ll probably make a more widespread appeal to nudge those still on the fence. But if you’re reading this and are interested in helping, why not beat the rush?

Apart from that, more games, more coverage, more screenshots, more articles, more blo…. well, hopefully more blogging! Remember what I said about time? So we’ll see, but we’ll try.

And with that, I’m off. It is a holiday, after all, and I need more aspirin. Happy gaming, folks, and best wishes for a great year from all of us here at Adventure Gamers.

Remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? Waking up so early that your parents would kill you if you roused them at that hour… fervently hoping that Santa had come and deposited your special wish under the brightly decorated tree… anxiously willing the clock to move, tick-by-unfreakingbelievablyslow-tick… finally, unable to contain your excitement any longer, bounding down the stairs to bask in the glow of another holiday bonanza…

Do you actually remember? It’s often hard nowadays, with all the stress and spending, the traffic and noise, to recapture those memories of innocence and magic and joy. Lucky for you, there’s Christmas Quest! That’s right, with that special day approaching fast, we are pleased to draw your attention once again to not one, not two, but all THREE holiday adventures from the staff right here at Adventure Gamers. It's like gold, frankincense, and myrrh, only more practical and easier to spell. These games give a whole new meaning to the term “evergreen” adventures!

I’m afraid there won’t be a new CQ this year, as the trilogy is now complete (plus we didn’t want to miss a fourth consecutive holiday season in a mad scramble to make another). Instead, we decided we’d make good use of the entire year to finally iron out those final few (tiny, almost imperceptible) wrinkles in each game, enhance them with improved animations and effects, and convert them all to Flash to play online… except then the whole year passed without doing any of those things, so we’re releasing them exactly the same as before. (It’s the thought that counts, though, right?) On the plus side, they’re still free, and all three games have in fact been updated at least once since original launch, so even if you've downloaded them before, make sure you have the latest version before you play this year.

Whether experiencing Christmas Quest for the very first time or revisiting them to rekindle those warm Christmas feelings (and have a blast doing it), enjoy!

Christmas Quest: The Best Adventure Game Ever!

No, we’re not claiming this is the best adventure game ever (though we won’t strenuously object if anyone else does). Our very first game (a fact that quickly becomes apparent) tells the story of a young lad who wishes for the best adventure game ever(!), only to wake up on Christmas morning to find that adventure awaits in more ways than one. Part homage, part parody (whichever best excuses its flaws at any given moment), you’ll find puns and puzzles and packages galore. And pans! (An AG in-joke that we’re not sure even we entirely get; the alliteration is an extra bonus.)

Christmas Quest 2: The Yuletide Flows In

Our sequel takes place a whopping ONE SECOND after the end of the first. That’s right, we were episodic before it was cool! Just call us Adventure Trendsetters. In this second game, our lovable but dorky protagonist is all set to finally play the best adventure game ever(!) when – get this – something goes wrong! Who’d have guessed that happening in an adventure? Nevertheless, an unnatural disaster threatens to wash away Christmas for good, though fortunately a straggler elf is left behind to help repair the damage… or at least razz your attempts to do so yourself.



Christmas Quest 3: Santa’s Little Help Desk

The third and final adventure begins a whole MINUTE after the conclusion of the second (what happens in that time, we’ll never tell!). This time around, Christmas as we know it has been saved, but the same can’t be said for our young dork’s aging PC. In order to play the you-know-what, some radical repairs are in order with a little help (cough) from tech support and a whole lot of inter-dimensional elf magic. (What, isn’t that how everyone does it?) And when all is said and done, maybe – just maybe – you’ll discover the best adventure game ever(!) for yourself.