# Great computer games that aren't shoot-em-ups
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [March 20, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471 "2013-03-20T17:35:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SweetiePotato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetiePotato)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/1 "2013-03-20T17:35:17Z")
I know some of you can help me!
I grew up playing Kings Quest, Day/Return of the Tentacle, Myst, Zork, etc.
I’ve been out of the “gaming” world for quite a while, but, whenever I look into a new, engrossing computer game, they all seem to be shooting games or RPGs.
Are people still making the “walk around solving puzzles” genre of game? Is there a name for it?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/2 "2013-03-20T17:36:56Z")
The genre is generally referred to as “adventure.”
> **[Adventure game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game)**
>
> An adventure game (rarely called quest game) is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres. Most adventure games (text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since the emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult.\[ Ad...
If you look towards the bottom of the article you’ll see Double Fine mentioned as a company that put out a couple of well-received modern adventure games.
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### Author:  [@SweetiePotato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetiePotato)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/3 "2013-03-20T18:30:05Z")
Thanks **Johnny Bravo**! And thanks to the mods for moving this to the right forum… d’oh.
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### Author:  [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/4 "2013-03-20T18:38:28Z")
Adventure games are experiencing something of a comeback lately, and there are a fairly large number of competently built entries in the genre that have released lately.
We actually had [a thread about this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677751)not too long ago. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/5 "2013-03-20T19:04:28Z")
I’ll also recommend [Portals 1 and 2](http://www.thinkwithportals.com/). They’re not adventure games but have elements of puzzle/problem solving.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/6 "2013-03-20T19:31:37Z")
Adventure games you might like:
- Did you play the old Monkey Island games? They’ve been redone with some really nice 2D artwork and a more modern UI, in case you want to relive the old days 🙂
- The Cave
- To the moon
- Syberia I & II
- Longest Journey series. The third chapter is due out next year thanks to a successful kickstarter.
- Lone survivor
- Sword and Sorcery
- Gemini rue
- Machinarium
- The Walking Dead
- Still life
- Gray Matter
- Indigo Prophecy (if you can find it)
- botanicula
- book of unwritten tales
- Yesterday
- Kentucky Route 0
- Back to the Future
Some other games you might like - not really adventure games, but I notice a lot of adventure game fans tend to like something about them - whether it’s the atmoshphere or the puzzle solving, who knows?:
- FTL: Faster than light
- Limbo
- Braid
- Amnesia Dark Descent
- Cryostasis
- Mark fo the ninja
- Portal and Portal 2
-
Upcoming I’m loking forward to:
- Stasis
- Reset
- Cradle
- Moebius
- Cargo
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### Author:  [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/7 "2013-03-20T19:35:19Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#):
>
> I’ll also recommend [Portals 1 and 2](http://www.thinkwithportals.com/). They’re not adventure games but have elements of puzzle/problem solving.
More than just “elements.” The entirety of the game is solving puzzles!
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### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/8 "2013-03-20T19:35:23Z")
Are any of these adventure games online for multiple players? If yes, links please, and thanks.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/9 "2013-03-20T19:57:11Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#):
>
> Are any of these adventure games online for multiple players? If yes, links please, and thanks.
Adventure games have never really made that cross over to multi-player. It’s about being immersed in the world and the story and multi-player rarely succeeds at that kind of thing.
Portal 2, not an adventure game int he traditional sense, but a great puzzle game with an interesting story running in the background might be a candidate - however, even here, the multi-player is restricted to a series of puzzle rooms you can team up to solve (you can also download community created puzzle rooms to try out). The main, story driven campaign is single-player only.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/10 "2013-03-20T20:48:58Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#):
>
> - Indigo Prophecy (if you can find it)
Warning about Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit (same game, name depends on locale). It’s really good until it gets REALLY BAD. Apparently it was going to be a trilogy, but they ran out of money or the other two got cancelled or something, and they rolled the other two games into the ending of the first. And it shows. The sheer amount of utterly bizarre plot twists that hit in the last 1/3 of the game are staggering, and it becomes the strangest combination of The Matrix, Dragonball Z, and stereotypical paranormal fiction I’ve ever seen. I think the game is worth playing, and I’ll go out on a limb and say that when it gets bad, at the very least it’s **entertainingly** bad. The plot goes so far out the window you basically can’t stop laughing at how utterly ridiculous it gets.
I will mention though that the game relies heavily on things called “Quicktime Events”. This means that little prompts come up on the screen and you have to press or mash buttons correctly to proceed. By the end of the game, I legitimately started getting hand cramps at certain points, they get rather unforgiving (though there may be a difficulty setting for them, can’t recall).
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/11 "2013-03-20T21:09:50Z")
Depending on how old-school you want to go, I highly recommend RinkWorks.
> **[RinkWorks](http://rinkworks.com/)**
>
> Free online entertainment -- humor, movies, books, puzzles, sci-fi & fantasy, computer games, and more. We're always adding new material and updating old. Stop by and have some fun.
On the left side, look for “Games and Puzzles.”
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### Author:  [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/12 "2013-03-20T21:38:07Z")
Also check out [Good Old Games](http://www.gog.com), you might find some of the games you used to play on there.
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/13 "2013-03-20T21:48:42Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#):
>
> Adventure games have never really made that cross over to multi-player. It’s about being immersed in the world and the story and multi-player rarely succeeds at that kind of thing.
I think the only attempt at a multiplayer adventure game was URU, which was a Myst sequel. Despite several attempts at making it viable, it failed.
Speaking of Myst, that was a pretty good point-n-click adventure game for the time. I’ve played it and its sequel, Riven.
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### Author:  [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/14 "2013-03-21T00:16:08Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#):
>
> Also check out [Good Old Games](http://www.gog.com), you might find some of the games you used to play on there.
Seconding this. You may want to check out the entire Quest for Glory series from there. You may also enjoy “To the Moon”
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### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/15 "2013-03-21T00:23:54Z")
I will always nominate XCom (the old version from the 1990s), and apparently their new version that came out last year (Also called XCOM, available on Steam), was really good as well if you like tactical sorts of games.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/16 "2013-03-21T03:27:37Z")
If you want a game that is more like the old adventure games, and not the newer easier ones, check out this free indie game: [Out of Order](http://www.hungrysoftware.com/#/games/outorder/).
And, while it may be too twitchy for your tastes, all the modern Zeldas, despite technically being RPGs, are full of puzzles that you walk around and solve. Particularly the 2D ones.
Finally, for a series near and dear to my heart, I recommend looking into Ace Attorney. It’s a series of adventure game where you play a lawyer and solve cases in a very farked up justice system. They started on Nintendo’s portable system, but they’re becoming available on more and more platforms.
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### Author:  [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/17 "2013-03-21T07:50:13Z")
If you like puzzles, [The Fool and his Money](http://www.fools-errand.com/05-the-fool-and-his-money/index.htm) is _bastard_ difficult.
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### Author:  [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/18 "2013-03-21T19:11:32Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> And, while it may be too twitchy for your tastes, all the modern Zeldas, **despite technically being RPGs** , are full of puzzles that you walk around and solve. Particularly the 2D ones.
Er, no, Zelda is pretty much the iconic console adventure game. Which is different, certainly, from the PC variety, but Zelda has VERY FEW “RPG traits” and is basically all about getting the item that will allow you to solve the puzzles in the next area.
Still, somewhat more action oriented than PC adventure titles. (And probably a lot more popular too, so… YMMV.)
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/19 "2013-03-21T19:25:34Z")
These guys put out some good adventure games, and it looks like they’re coming out with a new turn based RPG that is looking mighty interesting:
[http://www.daedalic.de/en/games/?PHPSESSID=94cjugcfdrhjimask6rbqc0i41](http://www.daedalic.de/en/games/?PHPSESSID=94cjugcfdrhjimask6rbqc0i41)
Here’s an article on the RPG:
> **[They Make Some of the Best Adventure Games. Now They're Taking on Turn-Based...](https://kotaku.com/they-make-some-of-the-best-adventure-games-now-theyre-5991761)**
>
> Germany's Daedalic Entertainment has spent the past several years making a name for itself as one of the top adventure gaming companies, consistently hand-crafting unique point-and-click experiences for fans of the genre. Now the developer prepares...
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-computer-games-that-arent-shoot-em-ups/653471/20 "2013-03-22T12:01:21Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#):
>
> Are any of these adventure games online for multiple players? If yes, links please, and thanks.
the Lego games are all co-op, some only local multiplayer and some have online multiplayer
my favorite is the harry potter one
> **[Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Harry_Potter:_Years_1%E2%80%934)**
>
> Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 is an action-adventure game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game is based on the Lego Harry Potter toy line, and its storyline covers the first four books by J. K. Rowling and its film adaptations in the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and Harry Potter and the Goble The...
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