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+--- Thread: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? (/showthread.php?tid=716)
"Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - Valanice - 07-07-2026
I bet this discussion was already made, but what better words we can use to define adventure games?
"Story Driven" is Being use to all games with good story, even RPGs. Besides, It also include "walking simulators" that have next to none puzzles (don't get me wrong, I love many walking Sims!) . If I've not mistake, the first Alone in the Dark had the "Adventure game" tag, but today it would be a survival horror.
I've hear "plot and puzzles" that could be a good fit. Helps to make a difference from the "walking simulador" and shows a little bit of the main mechanic in the game.
Many people say that Visual Novels are not "adventures", well if this is true so neither are multi-choice text-adventures from the old.
What do you guys think?
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - Disembodied - 07-07-2026
That's a good question. Whenever I'm asked what type of games I like and I say adventure games, I usually get the reply "what do you mean by adventure?". Then when I describe what I mean they'll say "oh you mean point & click?". It's hard to describe what I like in just a few words.
People say the term "adventure games" is outdated as a genre but I'm glad it is still used in places like AGH. "Plot and puzzles" covers a lot of ground but doesn't cover walking simulators or pure puzzle games (like The Witness) which I also enjoy on occasion. It's nice to know I won't miss being informed about those types of games here and elsewhere.
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - DIYDeer - 07-07-2026
I can't type much rn due to repetitive strain injury and a visitor but I made this video/framework for this issue.
https://youtube.com/shorts/HK7GVY3_BzM?is=Uwv6_vk2dCrJ1Ekt
Also its less about story more about theming.
questions are welcome as this is for an upcoming full essay
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - Nici - 07-07-2026
Hi, very interesting question. I've been thinking about this lately too, also trying to find a fitting label to describe my own game, so people are not disapointed expecting something else
What I arrived at is rather simple:
- "Adventure" is the very broad main genre. Zelda, Battle of Olympus, Shadow of the Colossus, Monkey Island, maybe even Lolo 3 (debatable), Guardian legend or Blaster Master (also debatable). In My view all can be called "adventures", as they all have elements of story, exploring, and different levels of puzzles and/or action.
- Adventure has several Subgenres. "Action Adventure" means your (finger) skills are probably as important as, or more important than, puzzle solving skills. "Puzzle Adventure" is the other way around, puzzle is dominant (I'd probably call my own game like that). "Point and Click Adventure" is in my view a subgenre of Puzzle Adventure which focus on steering with the mouse and object/item interactions and different kind of action (take, talk, look, etc.).
Maybe I see it to simple
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - BobVP - 07-09-2026
Great topic! I linked it to DIYDeer, we talk about this stuff a lot. I like what Disembodied and Nici had to say as well. I'll riff on these contributions. Shoutout to Blaster Master and Lolo 3.
Adventure is a broad genre with many sub-genres. To complicate that idea: Adventureplay refers to several forms of gameplay with a specific relationship between player and designer. The gameworld is often quite static. Most of the dynamics play out in your mind, making progress by figuring out the author's exact intent. This offers a lot of freedom, very limited in what actually works. In other words: you can type any action you can imagine into the parser, you can click anywhere, try every object on everything - but often only one thing will work. Some puzzles may have a secondary solution, but every solution is fixed. You only progress once you do it exactly as intended.
Because the lack of dynamic systems, adventures often rely on plot and story to push the player forward and suggest things are actually happening in this world. This can also be achieved by offering exploration and discovery. A sound effect, points, a way to solve the next puzzle.
Adventureplay makes the player feel smart and appreciated for doing what the deisigner wants them to do. Adventureplay is reflective, rather than reactive/proactive. This can be combined with more dynamic gameplay, like the push-and-pull of action games, or figuring out deep systems with stats and attributes, coming up with efficient strategies. The degree to which other forms of gameplay are pushed to the foreground seems to determine whether it becomes a sub-genre or not.
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - BobVP - 07-09-2026
Disclaimer: I'm drawing heavily from terms coined by DIYDeer - and not doing them justice!
I love the name of our genre. It has a history with the term, from Collosal Cave Adventure, I think? I appreciate how long we've been holding on, even though other kinds of games have been sending players on all kinds of adventures for a couple of decades now.
It can be hard to explain, or find the games you're looking for on itch.io or steam. Plot and puzzles seems like a good categorization - I often resort to adding tags like point & click or parser when looking for AGs. I like Plot and Puzzles more than "point & click".
We could add other traits like "Pathfinding and Exploration", "Deduction and Interrogation" and "Survival and Resource Management". The risk is we can end up with games that include all these forms of gameplay - and you get a genre description that's like a twenty-four word salad.
RE: "Plot and Puzzles"? "Story Driven"? - Joshua AGH - 07-11-2026
Great discussion. Something I really enjoy discussing. Jack has been hard at work, interracting with the staff, getting opinions and creating a 2 part article on the subject. His personal insights on the subject are incredibly impressive and I can't wait to share the articles in the world. I'm going to hold my personal thoughts until the article drops but I'm enjoying reading everyone's thoughts in this thread.