Every Last Point-&-Click Adventure Game Ever Made, in Excrutiatingly Chronological Order
A definitive and growing list of all third-person, fixed-perspective, puzzle-based adventure games. They're listed in release-date order as much as humanly possible, though the exact release dates of many '80s and '90s games have been lost to history, and Backloggd's dates are in many cases wrong. I even include some titles I don't quite consider proper adventure games but which are popularly thought of as such, like the Quest for Glory games which have combat elements, or the Wadjet Eye games most of which are dialogue/cut-scene fests with little actual puzzle-solving. The soul of the point-&-click is the painterly composition, so I don't include games where the camera follows you around 3D-wise like an action platformer (ever so sorry, Telltale). If you know of a game you think qualifies, chime in in the comments. Following is a brief list of the more notable adventure games I know of that don't currently have entries on Backloggd.
Earthrise: A Guild Investigation (1990) by Interstel
Armaeth (1991) (Short)
Gobliins 2 (1992)
Avvy: Denarius Avaricius Sextus (July 1992) by Thorsoft
An American Tale: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends (1993) (Short)
Lone Eagle: Colombian Encounter (1994) by W.D. Bledsoe DVM
Tom Long: The Time Adventure (1994) by Promotion Software
Donkey Island (May 1994) by Pterodon Software
7 Days and 7 Nights (1994) by Pterodon Software
Lord Avalot d'Argent (1994) by Thorsoft
Time Paradox (1996) by Flair Software
Léto s Oskarem (Summer with Oskar) (1998)
Horké léto (Hot Summer) (1998) by Maxon
Hariboy's Quest (1998)
Horké léto 2: Majer se vrací (1999) by Centauri Productions
Rocky Horror Interactive Show (1999)
Cirque de Zale (2004) by Rebecca Clements
Stargate Adventure (Oct. 2005) by Sektor 13
Meteorhead (Feb. 2008)
The Vacuum (Aug. 2008) by David Proctor (Freeware)
The Tales of Bingwood: Chapter 1 - To Save a Princess (Nov. 2008) (Short)
The Legend of Crystal Valley (March 2009)
Patchwork (Jan. 2013) by Ilyich (Short)
The Bum (April 2013) by Gribbler and Parafia (Freeware)
Broken Windows (2020) by G.O.C. Games
Lucas Mendoza: Amateur Detective (Sep. 2021)
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon (Sep. 2022) by Two Guys Far from Sirius
—
Endless additional hordes of itty-bitty, ultra-independent games can be found at places like adventuregamestudio.co.uk and YouTube channels like Future Vintage Gaming and AGS Showcase. Knock yourself out.
Earthrise: A Guild Investigation (1990) by Interstel
Armaeth (1991) (Short)
Gobliins 2 (1992)
Avvy: Denarius Avaricius Sextus (July 1992) by Thorsoft
An American Tale: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends (1993) (Short)
Lone Eagle: Colombian Encounter (1994) by W.D. Bledsoe DVM
Tom Long: The Time Adventure (1994) by Promotion Software
Donkey Island (May 1994) by Pterodon Software
7 Days and 7 Nights (1994) by Pterodon Software
Lord Avalot d'Argent (1994) by Thorsoft
Time Paradox (1996) by Flair Software
Léto s Oskarem (Summer with Oskar) (1998)
Horké léto (Hot Summer) (1998) by Maxon
Hariboy's Quest (1998)
Horké léto 2: Majer se vrací (1999) by Centauri Productions
Rocky Horror Interactive Show (1999)
Cirque de Zale (2004) by Rebecca Clements
Stargate Adventure (Oct. 2005) by Sektor 13
Meteorhead (Feb. 2008)
The Vacuum (Aug. 2008) by David Proctor (Freeware)
The Tales of Bingwood: Chapter 1 - To Save a Princess (Nov. 2008) (Short)
The Legend of Crystal Valley (March 2009)
Patchwork (Jan. 2013) by Ilyich (Short)
The Bum (April 2013) by Gribbler and Parafia (Freeware)
Broken Windows (2020) by G.O.C. Games
Lucas Mendoza: Amateur Detective (Sep. 2021)
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon (Sep. 2022) by Two Guys Far from Sirius
—
Endless additional hordes of itty-bitty, ultra-independent games can be found at places like adventuregamestudio.co.uk and YouTube channels like Future Vintage Gaming and AGS Showcase. Knock yourself out.
507 Games
To my knowledge the first adventure game to use 3D-modeled backgrounds, albeit ultra-low-resolution ones. Very good-looking. Famously awful game design, sorry to say. Westwood Studios exits the stage.
One of the top ten adventure games ever made, sez I, although it could've used a bit less plot and a little more game (I know there was a peyote-trip sequence that was nixed). The first to use the 'grab'-type verb interface that should've been instantly made the universal standard for all eternity. Beware the uglified 'Remastered' version.
One of the only adventure games to come out of East Asia (Taiwan in this case) and it's Finnish-themed, of all things. Quite good-looking.
The half-wrecked city this opens in has some of the best-looking backgrounds I've ever seen.
The opening chapter has some of the simplest and loveliest live-recorded pieces I've heard in an adventure game. Some really great backdrops too. Sadly, can't really say the same for most of the rest of the game.
Some pretty lousy game design, some really good-looking graphics and one of the douchebaggiest protagonists in memory.
One of the top twenty adventure games ever made, sez I.
Lots of quite beautiful 3D-rendered areas.
The Land of Mists area is one of the most beautiful swamp settings I've ever seen in a game. Well worth checking out for that alone.
Sloppy design, but loads of just GORGEOUS old-school 3D-rendered backgrounds. Well worth checking out.
Pretty damn hokey design, dialogue et cetera, but a strangely enjoyable, authentic vintage-adventure-game experience nonetheless, I find.
From Slovakia. ‘Fifth-best video game of all time,’ sez Slovakian website Gamesite.sk
Another one with super-low-res' 3D-rendered backgrounds I find quite attractive. Really huge game too, wow.
Video-captured characters. Ghastly.
Play as a full-motion-videoed Christopher 'Doc from Back to the Future' Lloyd and his cartoon purple thingy sidekick voiced by Dan 'Homer Simpson' Castellaneta. Get mixed results.
And on that note, our oldest player Sierra exits the stage.
Known everywhere but on this website as Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. Pretty good Curse-of-Monkey-Island-style backgrounds. Often a bit like walking through hardening cement. Coulda used a bit more personality.
Graphics like a slightly less advanced Grim Fandango. Run-down city in vintage-3D-render-O-vision. Really quite beautiful to my eye.
Kinda nice-lookin'. German. Super-sexified blond gal with a pig's nose. Mmmkay.
Somewhat nice-lookin' early 3D renders.
The 3rd-greatest adventure game ever made, sez I. In its offense though, the Three Sheets to the Wind chapter is INCREDIBLY ill-conceived and tedious and the insult jokes are unendurable.
Super-clunky prerendered motion and sloppy design, but an absolute must-see for fans of early digital rendering.
Apparently quite good by all accounts.
Not brilliantly designed, but just BEAUTIFUL computer-rendered environments. One of the best-looking adventure games that absolutely no one's heard of.
Pretty silly (and short) game, but another one that digital-rendering fans will want to look up.
The 4th-greatest adventure game ever made, sez I. Cleverest writing in the whole world. Even so, DAMN those puzzles can be clunky. In this case the Remastered version's actually better than the original: The characters are in better resolution, the game's way less buggy, and the scenery's unaltered.
Consists largely of 'puzzle' puzzles.
Falls a good ways short of the first three, but a lotta nice environment renders and a TERRIFIC soundtrack. Went way overboard with the anachronisms and goofiness — just give us a pirate story in a pirate world, guys. As with Grim Fandango, lotta fidgetiness with the controls and puzzles; 3D models just aren't a great fit for this medium. LucasArts exits the stage.
Some real purty 3D business goin' on here actually.
5 Comments
Due to my ignorance about how to reply on this site, I answered @Tendog's question over on one of his lists. Anyone interested can see our conversation here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/tendog/list/flash-point-and-click-escape-games/
Maniac Mansion
LucasArts' first adventure game, the first in the world to use an actual point-&-click interface, and the first in the world not to kill you if you screw up.
Absolutely not, this game is quite happy to kill you off and screw you over via a multitude of ways. Its actually 'The Secret of Monkey Island' which fits the non-kill bit.
LucasArts' first adventure game, the first in the world to use an actual point-&-click interface, and the first in the world not to kill you if you screw up.
Absolutely not, this game is quite happy to kill you off and screw you over via a multitude of ways. Its actually 'The Secret of Monkey Island' which fits the non-kill bit.
@Jamesbuc Boy is my face red. I admit I haven't actually played that one. Now I'm confused; I remember Gilbert talking about how cruel he thought Sierra games were for killing players all the time, and how he wanted to find a different way to design games like this. Are there just considerably fewer possible death traps? And none of the LucasArts games between that and Monkey 1 avoid deaths? (Monkey 1 does technically have that one drowning death.) I've played most of Loom and I didn't think that had any.
Loom I couldnt remember if it did or not but...
- Maniac Mansion - You can outright blow up the house in several ways, die by radioactive microwave water, die from several characters killing you for one reason or another like the hamster incident and theres at least two ways to completely ruin the game if you pick the wrong kids as theres at least one combination that locks off almost every single way to beat the game.
- Zak McKracken - There's a heap of ways to permanently miss items, lose items and generally make the game unwinnable. Most are fair and basically come as a result of doing things stupidly or in the wrong order but theres the odd weird one. Also some deaths here and there not including the copy protection failure.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Several ways to die here, mostly involving letting Nazi's beat Indy up or by falling for certain traps. Also you can punch Hitler and get an instant game over.
Technically there is 'one' way to die in Monkey Island... though its more of a easter egg since it involves standing around underwater for just under ten minutes. Which is a silly thing to do.
- Maniac Mansion - You can outright blow up the house in several ways, die by radioactive microwave water, die from several characters killing you for one reason or another like the hamster incident and theres at least two ways to completely ruin the game if you pick the wrong kids as theres at least one combination that locks off almost every single way to beat the game.
- Zak McKracken - There's a heap of ways to permanently miss items, lose items and generally make the game unwinnable. Most are fair and basically come as a result of doing things stupidly or in the wrong order but theres the odd weird one. Also some deaths here and there not including the copy protection failure.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Several ways to die here, mostly involving letting Nazi's beat Indy up or by falling for certain traps. Also you can punch Hitler and get an instant game over.
Technically there is 'one' way to die in Monkey Island... though its more of a easter egg since it involves standing around underwater for just under ten minutes. Which is a silly thing to do.
tendog
9 months ago