The adventure game genre is one in which an interactive story is essential. Although the setting and scope may differ from game to game, the player's objective is usually to solve a mystery by paying attention to clues that are provided within the story.
Adventure games are categorized according to the style of the gameplay rather than the type of story or content of the game. In adventure games, players interact with the environment and other characters to solve puzzles or to progress through the game. Because of the game's emphasis on story and character, most adventure games are single-player games, and multiplayer adventure games most often overlap with other game genres.
Subgenres include text adventures, interactive fiction, graphic adventures, and hybrids. Although text adventure games are a subgenre of adventure games, because of the nature of text-based rather than graphic-based gameplay, we have opted to list text-based computer games separately.
In a video adventure game, players assume the role of a protagonist, but they are not able to choose their game character, or customize their character, as in a role-playing graphic game.
Video graphic adventure games were the most popular computer games from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s but, during the 2000s, they were overtaken by first-person shooter games, which are in the action game genre. Action-adventure games, a subgenre, could fall within the action or the adventure genre, depending on whether the focus is on the action or on the exploration of the game world.
Games that are typical of the adventure game genre include exploration, storytelling, and the solving of puzzles that are presented during the game. In an adventure game, combat situations and reflex actions on the part of the layer are limited or altogether absent, which is what differentiates the adventure genre from the action genre.
Adventure games generally require the player to solve a variety of puzzles, which might include finding and using various items, finding ways to open locked doors, and discovering new locations. They also often make use of inventory management features, in which players pick up objects that may be put to use later in the game.
Adventure games are usually dependent upon a story to complete the player experience. As in roleplaying games, adventure games might immerse the player in a fantasy world, varying the game setting from chapter to chapter in order to maintain the player's interest. However, since the player in an adventure game does not create or customize the player's character, as he would in a roleplaying game, dialogue or narration from voice actors are often employed in order to fill the player in on his role during the game.
Usually, the player is presented with a quest, or a series of quests, within the game. The primary goal is to complete the quest. Some adventure games employ a scoring system, which served as a secondary goal, but this is not as often used today as it once was.
Some adventure games use a point-and-click interface, where the player controls his character using a mouse, trackpad, or similar pointing device. The player clicks to move his character through the game.
The objective of some adventure games is to escape a room, using clues found through the solving of logic puzzles. Although more common in text adventure games, graphic adventure games employ this as well, although they tend to be short games.
Puzzle adventure games are more common. They focus on a variety of puzzle challenges, the solution of which opens more of the game world up to the player, often expanding on the storyline. These games usually don't include non-playable characters, although some do.
Narrative adventure games are focused on player exploration, and often don't include any type of gameplay other than player movement and interaction with the game environment. In such games, there are often no puzzles to solve, nor are there any win-lose conditions.
In recent years, some adventure games have been presented as interactive movies, using pre-rendered or full-motion video with live actors on a set. Usually, the game will present a scene, after which the player will have to input the correct moves with a joystick and button to continue on to a new scene. Such games are sometimes augmented with computer graphics.
To determine whether it is an adventure game or an action game, the focus of the game needs to be evaluated. When the point of concentration in the game is on exploration rather than rapid player action, it's probably an adventure game. When the game requires rapid hand-eye coordination or rapid decisions on the part of the player, it's an action game. When both are required, it's an action-adventure game, which would be a subgenre of either the action or the adventure genre.
Recommended Resources
Created by Hans Persson and maintained by Stefan Meier for a time, Adventureland was an attempt to list all adventure games (interactive fiction), including text adventure games and their graphical descendants, but not role-playing games. A more detailed definition is presented. Although the archive has not been updated or maintained for a while, it remains as an archive that includes a large number of the earlier representations of the genre. Companies, game systems, and authors are included.
http://adventure.if-legends.org/
Anonymous Game Developers Interactive is a game development company specializing in creating or recreating adventure games, in the hope of reviving the adventure video game genre. Currently, its games include King’s Quest I, II, and III, Quest for Glory II, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, and Mage’s Initiation, with links to the game portal for the first four, which may be downloaded for free, and further information found, and to where the latter two can be purchased.
http://agdinteractive.com/games/games.html
Released in 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and for Nintendo Switch in 2018, the adventure game is set in the Wyoming wilderness in 1989. In the role of Henry, a fire lookout whose job is to find smoke and to keep the wilderness safe. Henry’s supervisor, Delilah, is available at all times over a small, handheld radio, the only contact with the world. Screenshots and trailers are provided, along with a tech support area and development blog.
http://www.firewatchgame.com/
Gamebooks are interactive adventures, where the reader gets to choose how the adventure unfolds. Each section of the narrative concludes with choices that the reader has to make, and these choices alter the direction of the story, taking the reader/player down new paths, which new choices to make. Some of the featured adventures are free to download, while others may be purchased online. Once purchase allows download of the PC, Mac, Linux, and Android versions.
https://gamebookadventures.com/
Available for Windows, Mac, and Linus operating systems, as well as for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and in the Apple App Store, the first-person exploration video game was first released in 2013. Set in 1995, the player assumes the role of Katie, and the gameplay takes a first-person view. In that role, the player can move around the house, view objects, and interact with them. Players are rewarded when they explore new areas of the house.
https://gonehome.game/
The interactive film video game is available for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, as well as for mobile devices using iOS or Android. Originally released in 2015, the story focuses on a series of fictional police interviews with Hannah Smith, a British woman, whose husband, Simon, had gone missing, and is later found to have been murdered. An overview of the game and an upcoming sequel are featured, and the game may be purchased online.
http://www.herstorygame.com/
The Life is Strange series consists of Life is Strange, a prequel known as Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and Life is Strange 2, published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and both iOS and Android mobile devices. The series plot began with Max Caulfield, the protagonist, who discovers that she has the ability to rewind time, leading to the butterfly effect. Another game, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, is also featured.
https://lifeisstrange.square-enix-games.com/
Individually owned and operated, the site includes a game list, largely focused on adventure games, text adventures, interactive fiction, puzzle games, educational software, and kid’s software, as well as reviews of the games that the author has personally played, previews of games in development, walkthroughs and hints, and a section on where these games can be downloaded or purchased. A separate Wonderful World of Zork section is devoted to this classic game.
http://www.mrbillsadventureland.com/
Mystery Manor can be described as a directory of adventure games, presented as an adventure game itself. Its pages, the grounds, the gardens, wine cellar, billiard room, library, chapel, study, nursery, conservatory, dining room, attic, sewing room, carriage house, ballroom, and guest room, each include links to other adventure games, as well as interviews, reviews, ratings, forums, game companies, publishers, developers, and other information related to adventure gaming.
http://www.mysterymanor.net/
NITW is a single-player adventure game developed by Infinite Fall, an Australian studio, and funded, at least in part, by a Kickstarter program. The game is focused on the story, exploration, and character. The player takes the part of Mae, an only child, who returned home to Possum Springs, a town populated by zoomorphic humans. The game was released in 2017 for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, and PlayStation 4 platforms, followed shortly thereafter by versions for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
http://www.nightinthewoods.com/
The first-person shooter game was developed by Overkill Software and published by Starbreeze Studios for the Microsoft Windows platform, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Loosely based on the zombie-themed comic by Robert Kirkwood, the game is set in the comic book series’ universe, but its four playable characters are original. Focused on teamwork, the four playable characters form a team, in which each character has its own skillset, play style, and background story.
https://www.overkillsthewalkingdead.com/
Developed and published by Frictional Games, Soma is a survival horror adventure video game for Windows, Mac, and Linus operating systems, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam. The game takes place on a remote underwater research facility that includes machinery that begins to take on human characteristics. The protagonist, Simon Jarrett, blacks out during a brain scan, and awakens to find himself in what seems to be an abandoned submarine research center.
https://www.somagame.com/
Available for purchase as a direct download from the site, or it may be added to a Steam account, or purchased from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. However, the mobile versions do not have the accessibility features for the blind or visually impaired gamers that are included in other versions of the game. Promotional videos are available, and a description of the game and an introduction to the author, Bob Bates, are included. Other games are also featured.
http://www.thaumistry.com/
The interactive graphic adventure game is written from the perspective of April Ryan, a young art student who becomes aware that there is more to her world than she initially thought. Gaining the power to pass between worlds as others pass from waking to sleep, she journeys across twin worlds, encounters a cast of interesting characters. Its awards are highlighted, and the game can be purchased individually or in one of two available bundles. A demo is available.
http://www.longestjourney.com/
Released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in 2016, and later for the Xbox One, Nvidia Shield, macOS, and iOS, The Witness is a first-person puzzle game in which players explore an open-world island filled with natural and man-made structures, with progress in the game achieved through solving puzzles, based on interactions with grids presented on panels around the island or hidden paths. A video trailer, development blog, and media page are featured, and purchases may be made online.
http://the-witness.net/
The site teaches the VIM text editor program in the guise of a maze game. The user navigates through the maze, using Vim commands. A built-in help system offers full explanations and examples of what a key does, and how it’s used. Other resources include a keyboard overview, user statistics, in-game statistics, and policy information. After a free sample, users can continue learning VIM commands and motions on the quest to save Textland by purchasing a license.
https://vim-adventures.com/
