The GWJ Adventure Game Club - Main Thread

lol well then I voted for 8 of 10 games, for however much that helps

That’s fine. Go nuts, that’s what it’s for.
In fact, you MUST vote for several games because any games that gets fewer than three votes gets put in probation or kicked off the candidates list.

And yes, definitely play Zork Nemesis soon. Alternatively, if that’s something you prefer, I can re-upload my playthrough from January. Just let me know if that’s the case.

Eleima wrote:

That’s fine. Go nuts, that’s what it’s for.
In fact, you MUST vote for several games because any games that gets fewer than three votes gets put in probation or kicked off the candidates list.

Oh no, I forgot about that - now I feel bad for sticking to backlog votes only this time.

Oh gosh, I only voted for one game.

:noobfail:

No worries, folks, only a couple of games have been kicked off the list of potentials, and you can nominate them anew if you're so inclined. The only I remember is Gemini Rue, which is kinda hard to recommend in 2021 with its clunky interface. But it has a spectacular story and soundtrack.

Thanks for the offer, Eleima, but I will pass on the offer of viewing a Nemesis stream, I do want to play it myself. I have such incredibly strong memories of playing that at my little desk on the family computer in my basement by the window back in 1996 or so as a 14 year old who learned to read and learned to use computers as like a 5 year old sitting in my dad's lap playing classic Zork with our invisiclues hintbooks and highlighters. It was sort of nostalgic to play Nemesis then (even tho there's not a ton of overlap between it and classic Zork that I can recall) so it'll be weird double-nostalgia to play Nemesis now. Some day!

There's some overlap, with nods to the Flathead dynasty, subtle jokes here and there, but yeah, the overlap is not that big. It's a great example of very, very different games existing in the same universe.

I almost missed voting this month, but it... looks... like I made the cut? I like discovering new games from this.

Yes, JollyBill, you made the cut, and I am LATE! I blame the handsome sword men. So without further ado, time to announce our game for May!

Eastshade!!

With 17 participants casting a total of 62 votes, folks voted for 3.6 games, an uptick from last month's 2.9 average.
Eastshade placed first with 12 votes (70.59%), a very clear win.
Blade Runner grabbed silver with 8 votes (47.06%).
Four games shared bronze with 6 votes each (35.29%): Full Throttle, The Sexy Brutale, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and King's Quest 5.
Lamplight City, King's Quest 6 and Dreamfall each got 5 votes (29.41%).
And last, in fifth place, Anna's Quest, with 3 votes (17.65%).
The King's Quest games have thus been saved from probation.

You'll find the thread for Eastshade over this way.

Cool! I started Eastshade a while back when it was added to Game Pass but did sputter out on it, I'm glad to have an excuse to jump back in. It's an odd one, but neat.

If Blade Runner can stick around on the list long enough, maybe that remaster will release by the time we vote for it

Just a heads up, but there's a Devolver sale on Steam this weekend and there are a bunch of great adventure games for sale: Red Strings Club is priced at 4€94, Observation is priced at 8€39, Gods Will Be Watching is only 2€24...

edit: oops, I'm too slow. This is not relevant anymore. Sorry!

Eastshade went on sale today for $12.49. It'll be at that price until May 17.

I snagged it. What the heck, right?

I don't know anything about it beyond the trailer I just watched, but The Lion's Song - free on Epic Game Store until the 20th - looks interesting.

I've played The Lion's Song and it's a very nice game. It's fairly light on the puzzle side, and more of a visual novel with some point-and-click elements thrown in for good measure. It's also a fairly short game. Definitely worth a look, I think.

Thanks for the heads up!! I've grabbed it, it looks gorgeous too.

It's good thing there's a ton of pollen in the air, otherwise it wouldn't feel like spring here, and yet... It's already time for us to vote on the 32nd game for our little club, the game for the month of June! Anyway, the survey is right this way, and will close at midnight on May 27th. Quick descriptions for this month's candidates with playtime estimates from HLTB (How Long To Beat) below.

  • Blade Runner (1997, HLTB 13) - This isn't a direct adaptation of the 1982 Ridley Scott movie, but a "sidequel" which nonetheless features extracts of the film's soundtrack! Set in 2019 Los Angeles, the game tells the story of Ray McCoy, an elite detective charged with hunting down a group of dangerous replicants (sound familiar?), and is considered a "real-time 3D adventure".
  • Gone Home (2013, HLTB 3) - The first game created by the developers of Tacoma. You play a college student return home during break, but your parents moved since you left for college. The house is unfamiliar and no one's home. It's up to you to piece it all together.
  • 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (2016, HLTB 4) - Attempt to survive as you play as Reza Shirazi, aspiring photojournalist, returning to Iran in the thick of the Iranian Revolution.
  • Forgotton Anne (2018, HLTB 7) - An adventure game with platformer elements, Forgotton Anne has you control Anne, an Enforcer who maintains order and sets out to extinguish a rebellion which could keep her from leaving the magical parallel universe of lost objects which she inhabits.
  • Full Throttle (1995, HLTB 5) - The third LucasArts game, and another Tim Schafer game, you follow Ben, the leader of a biker gang who has been framed for murder.
  • Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (2006, HLTB 14) - The sequel to Longest Journey focuses on Zoe, a young woman returning to her home in Casablanca after dropping out of college in Cape Town. Her life feels rudderless until her old flame Reza disappears. As she investigates, she learns about the worlds of Stark and Arcadia, and those that would bring the worlds into chaos.
  • Family (2020, ?) - A detective game of musical genealogy, Family has been called "a brief submersion into a time gone by, about relaxing in a warm memory."
  • Memoria (2103, HLTB 9) - Two stories, two main characters, one epic experience: in Memoria, players travel through different time periods, while following two distinct protagonists: Sadja, a southern princess who wants to be a war hero, and Geron, a bird catcher who wants to lift the curse which plagues his fairy girlfriend.
  • Detective Grimoire (2014, HLTB 3) - A murder mystery point and click. A mysterious creature is the prime suspect in a murder investigation in a swamp. It's up to you to determine who the true culprit is!
  • Eleima's Pick : Technobabylon (2015, HLTB 10) - Set in the cyberpunk city of Newton, the game tasks you with helping Latha Sesame uncover the truth about a recent attempt on her life. In a world where technology allows acces to the Trance, a virtual reality system people become addicted to, all is not what it seems. I chose this game as my pick, because it was super close in the list generated by the RNG, and it's a brilliantly done game which I'd love to replay.

Survey is right over here so remember to vote!

Ah, a lot of good games that I've played on this month's survey. Based on my recollection, Family is a very short game, maybe an hour long if not less, depending on how long it takes you to figure things out. It's a nice game that I enjoyed playing, though.

Picked a few, some of which I've played but wouldn't mind going through again.

Technobabylon was released 6 years ago (on May 21st to be exact). Which is totally something I had in mind when I made it my pick. Totally.

Greetings everyone, it's Friday and it's time for us to find out what our game will be for June!!

Forgotton Anne!!

With only 10 participants casting a total of 36 votes, folks voted for 3.6 games, which is stable compared to last month.
Forgotton Anne placed first with 6 votes (60.0%), a very clear win.
Technobabylon was right behind with 5 votes (50.0%).
Three games tied for bronze with 4 votes each (40.0%): 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, Blade Runner, Full Throttle.
In fourth place, Gone Home, Memoria, Detective Grimoire got 3 votes each (30.0%).
And in last place, The Longest Journey and Family, with 2 votes each (20.0%). Family is going on probation and TLJ, has been dropped from the candidates, as it already was on probation.

You'll find the thread for Forgotton Anne over this way.

Such a good game! I can't wait to see what everyone thinks.

Forgotton Anne looks like a great game, unfortunately for me, my old laptop is a bit too underpowered to run it. At least it will give me another month to catch up with my Adventure Game Club backlog

It was a close one with Technobabylon in second place. That's in my other backlog on Steam, hopefully it will return for another vote soon.

Neutrino wrote:

Forgotton Anne looks like a great game, unfortunately for me, my old laptop is a bit too underpowered to run it. At least it will give me another month to catch up with my Adventure Game Club backlog

Not to ruin your catch-up run, but you can also play this game on mobile (either Android or iOS).

Pink Stripes wrote:

Not to ruin your catch-up run, but you can also play this game on mobile (either Android or iOS).

Ah, so it is, thanks! I usually prefer playing these games on my laptop, but I'll definitely consider getting it on iOS

I was just browsing my backlog in the middle of a slow day, and I haven't seen new nominations in a while, so here are a few games I would nominate to see if other people are also interested in them:

Heaven's Vault - From the devs of 80 Days. It's a great looking adventure with archaeology and discovering a new language as the main theme.
The Procession to Calvary - A comedic point and click about British people doing silly things in the middle ages. I played the previous games from the same dev and they were very funny.
Over the Alps - This is more of a narrative game that came out in 2019 and was an Apple Arcade exclusive but then got released on Steam.

It's been a hectic month, so I think I forgot to vote. Forgotten Anne is a fun game, and I look forward to people's impressions.

Awe. I’m sad that I missed playing Eastshade with y’all. I had started it a while back but didn’t get too far. Not because I didn’t like it. Probably some new shiny piece of garbage distracted me. Oh well. My loss.

June is the grace month. You can still play Eastshade "with" the club

AUs_TBird is absolutely right, there's a month long "grace period", although, the threads never get closed or anything, so it's not like we're telling people NOT to play later on! I always keep an eye on older threads, and it's always awesome when someone stumbles in with their own experience.

Very good idea, Pink Stripes, let's add some more nominations to the mix! They all look awesome to me, so I'm second'ing them all.

Nominated (still needs two confirmations):
Riven (1997) - Minarchist
Detention - Neutrino
The Journey Down - Chapter One - Jolly Bill

Seconded (still needs one confirmation):
Myst 3: Exile (2001) - Eleima, Higgledy
Little Briar Rose (2016) - brokenclavicle, Pink Stripes
Fred Pohl's Gateway (1992) - Tanglebones, bbk1980
The Inner World (2013) - brokenclavicle, Jolly Bill
Heaven's Vault (2019) - Pink Stripes, Eleima
The Procession to Calvary (2020) -
Pink Stripes, Eleima
Over the Alps (2020) - Pink Stripes, Eleima

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