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Anyone recommend some puzzle adventure games?

Swimmingdancer

Bluelight Crew
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Hi guys,

I'm not a huge gamer, but I really liked some of the old puzzle adventure style games like Schizm: Mysterious Journey or Myst: Riven. I'm having trouble finding anything recent that's similar aside from the Submachine series, which I really enjoyed. I also tried Machinarium which was ok.

Perhaps there wasn't a big enough market for this genre so game companies stopped putting so much time/money into these kinds of games? Mostly all I can find now are simple flash games that are usually strictly linear and where it's often about guessing and constantly randomly hovering your mouse around to see if anything is clickable.

But any recommendations for old games are fine too, as long as I can play it properly on a modern/current computer operating system (Mac would be awesome, but Windows is ok if necessary). EDIT: I actually just tried playing Riven and it wasn't nearly as good as I remembered, I got frustrated with it after about an hour and thought it was too difficult, so maybe it hasn't aged well and newer games would be ideal?

Basically some of the things I am hoping for include:

- great puzzles that require thought/logic (and ideally seem realistic/make physical sense, like operating mechanical contraptions and deciphering codes/symbols, etc)
- good graphics
- a plot would be nice
- good movement and interaction (nice if you can walk/move/explore, feel like you are in the world of the game, can orient yourself easily and not be totally confused as to where you are, don't have to pixel-hunt for the elusive path to some hidden location, etc)
- good sound effects and background music would be nice but aren't vital

Anyone get what I'm talking about and like these kinds of games?
 
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Na dude the trailer doesn't do it justice. They show violence in the trailer b.c violence is what sells. What u need to search for is gameplay. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0vEGGXHjq3o the entire games filled with different puzzles. Same with the drake's fortune series

Judging by ur OP this is right in the ballpark of what your looking for, u can get the POP:sands of time for pc for real cheap so if I were u just try it out and worse comes to worse return it.
 
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I haven't played too many of them. Actually, I think the only game of this type that I've played is Burn Cycle. Easily a classic.
Isn't Burn:Cycle from like 20 yrs ago? Wondering if it will have horrible resolution on a modern computer... Or is there even a version available that can run on a modern computer? :?

Na dude the trailer doesn't do it justice. They show violence in the trailer b.c violence is what sells. What u need to search for is gameplay. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0vEGGXHjq3o the entire games filled with different puzzles. Same with the drake's fortune series

Judging by ur OP this is right in the ballpark of what your looking for, u can get the POP:sands of time for pc for real cheap so if I were u just try it out and worse comes to worse return it.

Cool thanks :) I'm gonna see if I can just download a Mac version online (or a Windows version and a wrapper to play it on Mac), as I'm way too lazy to go to the game store.
 
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Legend of Zelda: Ocarana of Time
Thanks, I'll check it out :)

Swimmingdancer, I'm sure it will have horrible resolution. you could play it if you had dosbox.
Cool, thanks for the tip about DOSBox :). I guess I don't mind the res etc being bad as long as it doesn't make the game unplayable or incredibly frustrating. Sometimes it's kind of nostalgic to play old games.

There is a recent (2010) game called Digital: A Love Story that is set in 1988 and presented entirely through an accurately-replicated interface of a 1980s computer running an Amiga OS, where the game play takes place on online Bulletin Board Systems. They've tried to recreate everything realistically, so you get that familiar (if you're old enough!) dial-up sound and accessing a BBS requires the knowledge of the phone number for that board, which you have to type in manually. For boards that require a long-distance telephone number to reach you have to use illegally obtained long-distance calling card numbers that you get from hackers and such. The game's free. It gets kind of tedious typing in phone numbers but it's a cute game and nostalgic for people who were alive at the time the game is set in and would be appealing to geeks for numerous reasons.
 
If youre looking for games in the same 'vein' as Myst, what you want are games like The Walking Dead, the Sam & Max series, and Back to the Future: The Game. In fact, from what I've heard of these games, you'll probably think they're the best games ever if you enjoyed those older games. Less emphasis on insane puzzles though and more on story and emotional investment.

If you dont mind an FPS game along with puzzles and thinking, HL2 is THE GAME. Arguably the greatest video game in history. At minimum the best single player FPS in my humble opinion. If you want "realistic physics puzzles" this is the game that invented them. The story, the emotions, the physics puzzles, all of it is here in a big way. While it is a very far reach from Myst, and nothing like the previous games I recommended, the story is sublime. One of the best stories told in the history of gaming. In fact the only game I can name that rivals HL2 in terms of story (and all around quality) is Zelda Ocarina. Once again though these games are a bit out of your stated comfort zone.

I honestly dont know how anyone could recommend PoP based on a guy saying he liked MYST. Has anyone here even played Myst?
 
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I think Dishonored fits your criteria nicely. It's marketed as an Action/Stealth game, but the whole game is like an open-ended puzzle game where you're dropped in a map and expected to reach a certain location using whatever means at your disposal. You can choose the easy way and simply kill everybody, but the game eventually punishes you for such mayhem. The real meat of the game comes from deciding NOT to kill anyone (in fact, you can beat the game without shedding a single drop of blood) and requires some serious critical thinking ability in order to navigate each level bloodlessly and without alerting any guards. The game gives you a variety of unique powers and gadgets to accomplish these tasks, but the use of them is entirely optional - you could, given enough patience and forethought, complete the game without a single gadget or upgrade. Playing the game sneakily is great fun and will test your problem solving abilities to their limits.

- great puzzles that require thought/logic (and ideally seem realistic/make physical sense, like operating mechanical contraptions and deciphering codes/symbols, etc)

Dishonored isn't a 'puzzle' game in the traditional sense, but each map is essentially its own puzzle for you to explore, navigate, and conquer. Because you are given so many options, the game has great replay value.

- good graphics

Check. The art design was done by the same guy who did the art for Half Life 2 - very stylized Steampunk setting.

- a plot would be nice

Check. The plot is solid and provides some interesting narrative moments.

- good movement and interaction (nice if you can walk/move/explore, feel like you are in the world of the game, can orient yourself easily and not be totally confused as to where you are, don't have to pixel-hunt for the elusive path to some hidden location, etc)

Check, check, check. While Dishonored's isn't as free-roaming as some other games, the environments are immersive and the movement abilities are some of the most satisfying of any game that I've played recently.

- good sound effects and background music would be nice but aren't vital

The sound design is solid. Music only plays during cutscenes and when you've been detected and isn't particularly awesome, but it provides an additional level of aesthetics.
 
Counter Strike

KZ maps (climbing zone maps)

An example illustrated beautifully while I was on 4 hits of acid I did this map...

I created the video by putting a clip of me jumping from the very top to the very beginning before I showed you me climbing the whole thing. %)



Enjoy!

The last few jumps before getting to the ramp that led up to the finish were so hard and I felt SO amazing to be able to finish it. =D
 
^Wow, I was scared you were going to fall off and have to start over. That looks very challenging. I'm just not that into jumping puzzles unfortunately. Maybe it's because I like puzzles that are more about thinking than having any particular skill with the mouse or keyboard, and a lot of jumping puzzles IME seem to require the latter.

This is one of my recent favourites as far as free games: Submachine 3 - the Loop
From the Submachine series (all of which I liked a lot), probably makes a bit more sense if you play them in order but this one is kinda different from the others anyway.
 
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