The GWJ Adventure Game Club - Main Thread

Cool. I have a couple of those on the pile.

Bonanicula is indeed on Android. As are Oxenfree, Gemini Rue, Book of Unwritten Tales 2 and Syberia.

My tablet is home to probably most of my adventure game pile as it goes.

Stevintendo wrote:

Will all of this month's 'losers' be back in rotation for the next vote? Or were you thinking your picks would be once offs?

Oh the ‘losers’ are all going back in the rotation, definitely. Wouldn’t be fair to kick them out just because they lost to a more popular game. My “picks” will just be games I picked deliberately from the list, and not randomized.

Eleima wrote:

Oh the ‘losers’ are all going back in the rotation, definitely. Wouldn’t be fair to kick them out just because they lost to a more popular game. My “picks” will just be games I picked deliberately from the list, and not randomized.

Sounds great!

I'm looking forward to seeing what gets picked. I ended up giving a vote to something I hadn't even heard of before because it looked fun.

I really like the "secret" voting. It adds a nice element of drama.

So, and forgive me I just got back from a local Oktoberfest, basically we're creating one giant pool we're pulling from monthly. Really dig that.

Yeah, pretty much. Large pool we’ll draw a smaller pool to vote on. So are doing monthly then? Feels like a lot of games are “small” as in 5-10 hours. Feels doable in a month, but depends on people.

I have nineteen votes tallied so far and I’m kinda surprised, results are interesting! Depending on how things turn out, I might even close the poll by Friday.

I can't believe nobody's nominated Night in the Woods (2017) yet.

Katy wrote:

I can't believe nobody's nominated Night in the Woods (2017) yet.

SECONDED

How did I not think of that?? It's sitting in my Switch's Watch List right now!

Updated list:

Nominated (still needs two confirmations):
A New Beginning (2010) - ClockworkHouse
Gone Home (2013) - Stevintendo
Fred Pohl's Gateway (1992) - Tanglebones

Seconded (still needs one confirmation):
Contradiction - Spot the Liar! (2015) - mrlogical, Pyxistyx
To the Moon (2011) - Bubblefuzz, Higgledy
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (2014) - Tanglebones, benign1
Machinarium (2009) - Higgledy, Eleima
Fran Bow (2016) - Bubblefuzz, Eleima
Anchorhead (1998) - Tanglebones, Pyxistyx
Night in the Woods (2017) - Katy, Stevintendo

Thirded (going on the list):
None at this time.

And don't forget!

Eleima wrote:

The survey is now live!

Stevintendo wrote:
Katy wrote:

I can't believe nobody's nominated Night in the Woods (2017) yet.

SECONDED

How did I not think of that?? It's sitting in my Switch's Watch List right now!

Thirded. I didn't nominate because it's not on the pile, but as it's up for nomination to go in the pool for future, I'll take any excuse to remedy that down the road.

Night in the Woods was an over sight. I'd like to play it.

Does 'The Stanley Parable' count as an adventure game? I suppose it isn't that far from Gone Home. I'd like to nominate it if it does.

Alright then!
Nominated (still needs two confirmations):
A New Beginning (2010) - ClockworkHouse
Gone Home (2013) - Stevintendo
Fred Pohl's Gateway (1992) - Tanglebones

Seconded (still needs one confirmation):
Contradiction - Spot the Liar! (2015) - mrlogical, Pyxistyx
To the Moon (2011) - Bubblefuzz, Higgledy
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (2014) - Tanglebones, benign1
Machinarium (2009) - Higgledy, Eleima
Fran Bow (2016) - Bubblefuzz, Eleima
Anchorhead (1998) - Tanglebones, Pyxistyx

Thirded (going on the list):
Night in the Woods (2017) - Katy, Stevintendo, Higgledy

I'll be glad to replay Night in the Woods, if only to try different paths. It's a slow burn, but once I clicked with it, it was amazing.

Don't forget to vote:

Eleima wrote:

The survey is now live!

There's a good chance I might do a final round with the top three, because it's a close thing.

Hi folks.

I won't be participating in the actual playing, as these Game Clubs don't really suit how I play - hopping and skipping from title to title, sometimes circling back months later, and very occasionally getting hooked and going deep on something. And more importantly, adventure games just ain't my thang - I've tried to enjoy many of the games that have already been nominated, and they consistently fail to hold my attention.

So I don't know if that disqualifies me from nominating titles...buuuuut....

The Red Strings Club is on my GOTY list for this year. Got it free somewhere (Twitch Prime? Humble bundle?), booted it up for a quick try, and then devoured it over the course of the next 3 days. And then thought about it constantly for weeks afterwards.

It's reasonably short - you'll be done inside of 4-5 hours. Deals with themes of transhumanism, societal order, totalitarianism and free will. It's some heady stuff, dressed up in an adorable pixel-art cyberpunk outfit.

Can't recommend it highly enough.

Have fun!

Night in the Woods was another I wasn't sure would get accepted as an adventure game, so I'm glad it's on the list.

I'll second Gone Home.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

I'll second Gone Home.

Thanks, SpacePPoliceman. That was getting embarrassing!

Jonman wrote:

The Red Strings Club is on my GOTY list for this year. Got it free somewhere (Twitch Prime? Humble bundle?)!

I'll second Red Strings Club, well reminded Jonman. It was a Twitch Prime freebie so it's on the pile and want to play at some point.

Nominated (still needs two confirmations):
A New Beginning (2010) - ClockworkHouse
Fred Pohl's Gateway (1992) - Tanglebones

Seconded (still needs one confirmation):
Contradiction - Spot the Liar! (2015) - mrlogical, Pyxistyx
To the Moon (2011) - Bubblefuzz, Higgledy
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (2014) - Tanglebones, benign1
Machinarium (2009) - Higgledy, Eleima
Fran Bow (2016) - Bubblefuzz, Eleima
Anchorhead (1998) - Tanglebones, Pyxistyx
Gone Home (2013) - Stevintendo, SpacePPoliceman

Unfortunately, The Red Strings Club was released in January 2018 and is thus disqualified. (try me again in 2019, though )

And the voting link:

Eleima wrote:

The survey is now live!

Stevintendo wrote:

That was getting embarrassing! :D

It'll make it on--I suspect history will show Gone Home was the most significant game of the decade, if not a marker in a change of epochs.

I think it’s a brilliant, beautiful game. But I don’t know that I want to replay it. I probably will, if it makes the list, though.
And this is definitely something I noticed regarding one game in particular which got very little votes in the current poll. I’m suspecting that if a LOT of people have already played a game (linear adventure games being what they are), it might not get as much votes as one would expect.
I’m rambling and being unclear. I’ll explain more fully another day.

I’m currently stagnating at 24 votes. I think I’ll give the rest of the day and close the poll. It’s a close thing, so I want to give people a chance to pick only one game out of the top three. Thoughts?

Eleima wrote:

I think it’s a brilliant, beautiful game. But I don’t know that I want to replay it. I probably will, if it makes the list, though.
And this is definitely something I noticed regarding one game in particular which got very little votes in the current poll. I’m suspecting that if a LOT of people have already played a game (linear adventure games being what they are), it might not get as much votes as one would expect.
I’m rambling and being unclear. I’ll explain more fully another day.

I’m currently stagnating at 24 hours. I think I’ll give the rest of the day and close the poll. It’s a close thing, so I want to give people a chance to pick only one game out of the top three. Thoughts?

I get ya. I know I've nominated and seconded games that a lot of people would have played when they first came out so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get a lot of votes.

I've already voted so I'm happy for the vote to be closed whenever you feel like you've gotten everyone or almost everyone's votes. I'm also happy to vote again on a top three if there isn't a clear winner.

Stevintendo wrote:
Eleima wrote:

I think it’s a brilliant, beautiful game. But I don’t know that I want to replay it. I probably will, if it makes the list, though.

I get ya. I know I've nominated and seconded games that a lot of people would have played when they first came out so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get a lot of votes.

Aye, I haven't thirded Gone Home precisely because have played through it a couple times (I was late to play it too). If it doesn't make the list, you should play it anyhow Stevinendo. It's a landmark game for me, so many games I have enjoyed since have followed in it's footsteps ( )

Thread of the week!

Bubblefuzz wrote:

If it doesn't make the list, you should play it anyhow Stevinendo.

Oh, I will definitely be playing this game at some stage. I've really liked everything I've heard about it and I was very pleased to see that it was coming to Switch.

PaladinTom wrote:

Thread of the week!

Spoilers!! What's the point of even listening to the Call now?

PaladinTom wrote:

Thread of the week!

I claim full responsibility for that. I shamelessly asked the powers that be for a shoutout.

Okay, so I'm calling it with 26 votes in! And it's kinda close. The final scores are:

  1. Oxenfree (2016, HLTB 5) - In first place with 11 votes! (GOG, Steam, HumbleBundle)
  2. Life Is Strange (2015, HLTB 14) - Second place with 10 votes! (Steam, HumbleBundle)
  3. Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth (2017, HLTB 15) - Third with 9 votes! (GOG, Steam, HumbleBundle)

Full list with results:

  • Oxenfree - 11 votes
  • Life Is Strange : 10 votes
  • Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth : 9 votes
  • Memoria - 7 votes
  • The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 - 7 votes
  • Eleima's pick: Torin's Passage : 7 votes
  • Syberia : 6 votes
  • Gemini Rue : 5 votes
  • Day of the Tentacle : 5 votes
  • Botanicula : 4 votes

It was a close race, so I'm suggesting we do a second run of voting. This time, everyone gets only a single vote! The second poll is now open.

It's worth noting that the three front runners are also on console. Oxenfree, Life Is Strange, and Pillars of the Earth are all three available on PS4 and Xbox One. Oxenfree is available on Switch, as well.

I think I voted. I didn't get a confirmation page when I submitted, though, so let me know if I need to do it again.

Yes, you're absolutely right, thank you, Clocky, I know consoles are a blindspot of mine for sure.

Done! I'll resist the urge to campaign for my preferred choice.

Wait, we could've voted more than once?! Counting the vote totals, it looked as though we'd have a nice club of ~70 people if everyone participated. There's probably only like six of us.

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