Nine Obscure Adventure Games We Wish Had Sequels

Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher was a masterpiece. Policenauts took it a step further.

Born of Kojima’s dream to be either an astronaut or a murder case detective in Los Angeles if his dreams of being a director didn’t pan out, Policenauts was science fiction at its best.

After an accident in a space colony leaves Jonathan Ingram unconscious for twenty-five years, he wakes up to discover the world has gone on without him. The narrative has Ingram investigating the disappearance of his ex-wife’s husband in a space colony. Its flashes of Lethal Weapon-esque intrigue give way to the deep metaphysical meanderings that makes for the usual Kojima mind meld on top of fantastic production values and mesmerizing art.

After a proper English port, we would love a proper sequel.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner was the original dystopian film that influenced and shaped the visual flair of every dystopian title after it. This PC adventure game ran parallel to the events in the movie and set the world of Blade Runner in a playground. The sense of mystery, the tense futuristic atmosphere, the cities painted in neon, and the forlorn desires of androids seeking to be human all complemented each other to make a product that in some ways transcended its film roots.

A game based on Blade Runner might not seem obscure, but it doesn’t seem like enough gamers have played this, which amazes us. It deserves a sequel, if only to explore a world where androids can dream of electric sheep.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Five antiheroes, one of the most depressing narratives ever told, and a super computer voiced by Harlan Ellison make for one of the most provocatively disturbing adventures game we’ve experienced.

The computer, AM, punishes humanity forever for its crimes. It’s a harrowing work that’ll trigger a lot of discomfort in the way it broaches the darkest aspects of life. As with all of Ellison’s work, it is brave, unflinching, and at times offensive. It’ll also haunt you long after it’s over.

Sanitarium

There used to be a tagline somewhere that goes something like: can a video game make you cry? Sanitarium did.

Uninvited

Shadowgate and Déjà Vu on the NES were two of the first adventure games we played. While both intrigued us, it was Uninvited that scared the crap out of us.

Ghosts, monsters, witches, crimson-faced skeletons, and a gigantic mansion that presaged Resident Evil…we’d love a sequel as long as it maintains the original atmosphere and story. Basically, going the road less traveled, veering away from the uninviting Shadowgate 64

Bad Mojo

If Kafka made a video game, he probably would have made this roach simulator. Unlike in his stories though, you can alter the ending and actually have a family relationship that doesn’t end in conflicted angst. Even though we’re not big fans of insects, life as a roach made for a fascinating, if disgusting exploration of sewers and souls.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

What happens after you die? You return as a Phantom Detective of course! The Nintendo DS has had a surprisingly high number of great adventure games, from Ace Attorney to Hotel Dusk: Room 215. In Ghost Trick, you can possess inanimate objects and go back in time four minutes before a person is killed to alter their fate.

Wait, did the bedroom door just open by itself? What is that weird sound coming from the kitchen? Did someone just alter our fate?

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure

These days we spend our time tracking treasures with the Wii U gamepad. But before the endearing adventures of Captain Toad, we used the Wii remote to search for Barbaros’ treasure in Zack & Wiki. Pointing and clicking was fun with the Wiimote, so were the Wiimote wag abilities that turned our chatty monkey pal into a bell that transformed enemies to tools to help further our quests. When treasure was nearby, nothing could stop us! All we needed was that keen sense of pirating adventure and a bar of chocolate to keep us going.

Conclusion- Loom:

Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and the Monkey Island games were some of our favorite LucasArts adventure games. The reason we didn’t include Grim Fandango was because it had such a great arc that we don’t know what more they’d be able to explore. But Loom from LucasArts was conceived (or at least retroactively thought of) as part of a trilogy.

A fantasy game taking place in the year 8021, it had an experimental interface revolving around a distaff and drafts as musical tunes (think Link’s ocarina). It was also the first game to incorporate the LucasArts rules of adventure games.

I (Peter) played this back when I was preparing to test Escape From Monkey Island. The company gave us a few months to play all the old adventures game and I was enchanted by how different Loom was, from swans metamorphosis to the Guild of Weavers to a final battle with Chaos.

All these adventure games instilled us with a sense of wonder that had us clicking mouses on the puzzles that were our own lives and made sense in a loose, game-logic sort of way. We hope adventure games loom forever.