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+--- Thread: Adventure Game Starter Kit (/showthread.php?tid=386)
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Adventure Game Starter Kit - BobVP - 11-20-2025
If you were to make an introductory package for someone new to the genre, what would it include?
Besides games, you can add other (physical) media about/related to adventure games.
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - Legerdemancy - 11-20-2025
My starter kit would include three games, because you wouldn't want to overwhelm them with too many choices. The Haunted Carousel because it's considered the easiest Nancy Drew game. Brok the Investigator because it has a good quality hint system. And lastly Beneath a Steel Sky because it has very few detractors, nearly everyone loves it.
To sweeten the deal I will throw in a few Prima strategy guides, which are always fun to look at. Buy my starter kit now and you will receive a FREE OF CHARGE CRT monitor!
*taps on monitor with the swagger of a used cars salesman*
The only display technology to have multi-sync capabilities (displaying different resolutions of various games without the need for scaling).
Bob, are we about to become the next "Stan S. Stanman" of the adventure game world?
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - Boxblue Studios - 11-20-2025
I wholeheartedly agree about Beneath a Steel Sky!
I'd also like to suggest the return of the old big box pc game 'code wheels' and slide one of those in the packaging. Nothing makes you feel prouder of owning a game and then having to go to manual and search page 94, line 26 and find word 7 to actually be allowed to play it!
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - Hexenwerk - 11-20-2025
Yeees! I would definitely include Monkey Island with it's code wheel!
And I think I would include both Monkey Island 1 and 2, since both have their strengths and I am sure when the person given this box has played through MI1, they would love to play the sequel as well. So this would be the classic fundament.
I would add Machinarium and Samorost 3, for their amazingly detailed handcrafted artwork, the beautiful soundtracks and the unique atmosphere.
And I would add The Inner World, since it shows that adventures can tell serious stories in an entertaining and tactful way.
For the same reason I would also include Syberia: The World Before, to show them that good and deep adventures can also have "modern" 3D graphics, in case the person prefers that.
There are lots of more games I would like to add, but I don't want to give the person a pile of shame.
I would add a book about the history of point and click adventure games.
My box would come locked with a combination lock. For the combination, you would have to look into the included manual, which is actually a solo choose your own adventure game / interactive fiction book, which you have to successfully play through to find the needed combination.
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - srnickolas - 11-21-2025
I once brought some friends in my house and wanted to share this niche hobby of mine Adventure games. It's difficult to gather a lot of people and to palate to the tastes of everyone, to satisfy a crowd. I had to find something fast and entertaining, grapping, a game everyone could handle, relate a bit and interact. Not a favorite of mine, something i enjoy alone. It was a challenge but after some thought "Missing: An Interactive Thriller" was my choice, a short adventure, and it was a success, my friends had a nice time and me too because even with this "light" experience they grasped some of the magic of "adventure games". So i consider this FMV adventure a great crowd pleaser but also a great introductory experience. A episodic telltale game might work too in this aspect
But to be more on topic, I would say for a starter pack Secret of Monkey island or Loom from Lucas from oldies (no dead ends, deaths), Broken Sword - shadow of the templars ,The longest Journey, Syberia 1 and 2, maybe an Ace Attorney game (for something more text heavy), some of the easy Amanita games like Botanicula, Gorogoa , To the Moon, Papers Please, the Kathy Rain games and Abandoned planet would probably be my choices. I would bundle a combination of 5 maybe of these games catering specifically to the person I would suggest or gift
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - gary - 11-21-2025
The Walking Dead (season 1)
This was genuinely a lot of people's introduction to the genre through word of mouth buzz during release. It helps that while an older game, its not terribly old. It was a genuine genre-changing juggernaut, but still is compelling enough to stand out from other games that went on to riff its ideas. The Walking Dead is good.
Ghost Trick
Play Ghost Trick.
Ok for real this time: Your verbs are "Ghost" and "Trick". A page-turning supernatural detective mystery with heart-warming characters, Ghost Trick is a gem of a visual novel/adventure hybrid. It can be solved entirely with trial and error, and looks stylish as hell. One of the re-occuring main characters is a dog (you can speak to the dog because its also a ghost). Real game for pet lovers, and if you don't know why you haven't beat it.
Those are the first two that come to mind. Sorry that none of my examples were point-and-clicks. Yeah, like Monkey Island and Steel Sky are fine for that. I'd add either Full Throttle or Day of the Tentacle depending on which one i'm feeling that day. For all these games I'd suggest the modern remasters and special editions over the originals, due to the fact they all add in-game help systems which will be very useful to newcomers.
As for other media, I'd include paratext like instruction booklets and access to official websites. Official game guides if they exist, gameFAQs guides if not. The normal stuff.
And the fact of the matter is nobody has a perfect curated introduction to the genre. We all just get grabbed by something we stumbled into. There's a whole thread on the forums full of stories like that. https://community.adventuregamehotspot.com/showthread.php?tid=72 Its fun to imagine a perfect genre introduction as a thought exercise, but nobody's being introduced via adventure game homework lol.
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - Legerdemancy - 11-21-2025
(11-20-2025, 08:24 AM)BobVP Wrote: If you were to make an introductory package for someone new to the genre, what would it include?
We never specified age demographics, so if it was a younger audience I would include: Sam & Max Save the World, Spy Fox 2 and Pajama Sam 1. That period of Telltale Games was a comfortable balance between being family friendly whilst also having humorous non-sequitur jokes aimed at adults, such as Max not knowing what a shotgun wedding is. Those two Humongous Entertainment games mentioned are peak quality.
(11-20-2025, 08:48 PM)Boxblue Studios Wrote: I'd also like to suggest the return of the old big box pc game 'code wheels' and slide one of those in the packaging.
The packaging! No wonder my adventure game starter kit business was going broke! I would love to usher in a renaissance era of big box artwork becoming mainstream again. I thankfully never used code wheels though.
(11-21-2025, 08:28 AM)gary Wrote: The Walking Dead (season 1)
This was genuinely a lot of people's introduction to the genre through word of mouth buzz during release.
The irony is that I personally would not have gotten into the adventure genre based on that game, it was the downfall of the true Telltale from my perspective. I will spare you the details and just simply say that it's nice that people can go on varied 'wiki walks' to discover older adventure games.
(11-21-2025, 08:28 AM)gary Wrote: Ghost Trick is a gem of a visual novel/adventure hybrid.
I see you are a man of good taste! Excellent game choice, I also played it back in 2012 on iPad when it was new. Are you recommending the original (DS and iOS) or the remastered edition (Switch, PS4, Xbox, Windows) for absolute beginners to the adventure genre? I haven't played the remastered edition, so I have no yardstick to measure it by.
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - Guyra - 11-21-2025
I think a good trio of games with different vibes would be the best. And my personal choices would be:
The Longest Journey - One of my favourite games ever, no matter the genre. I think it has one of the best stories in any game I've played, too. Just an absolute gem! Incidentally also a bit of national pride for me, being Norwegian.
The Secret of Monkey Island - One of the most iconic adventure games ever made, and if the player likes it they can easily just continue with the four sequels, as well as Telltale's episodic MI series.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - Another of the great classics. It's just really good, it's got star power(Tim Curry & Mark Hamill), and the characters are superbly written!
This would give the player three very different vibes to try out: TLJ is a sci-fantasy epic with a perfect mix of humour and serious topics; MI is a cartoony, whimsical, and comical game with a pirate theme; Gabriel Knight is serious 90s thriller with dark, supernatural overtones. At the same time, all three games are really well written, they all have beautiful art and outstanding music. None of them are particularly difficult. They're all very memorable experiences. And I think that if the player being introduced to the genre doesn't vibe with any of these it's highly likely they won't really enjoy the genre at all. (At the very least not the point & click subgenre of adventure games.)
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - kamineko - 11-21-2025
I would go with a three game package as well.
Grim Fandango: it's easy, it's fun, it's an adventure game.
Torin's Passage: nested worlds of Strata are like five small adventure games.
The Whispered World or The Night of the Rabbit: a more modern looking game that prepares you for classic adventure games.
RE: Adventure Game Starter Kit - srnickolas - 11-22-2025
Wow kamineko! You found Grim Fandango easy? I consider it a very challenging game! You must be pretty hard-core
Really love this game, one of my favorites, played both versions!