2014: A Year of Adventure

[Frogacuda]

So 2013 was pretty much a bust. Leisure Suit Larry, Beyond: Two Souls, and Phoenix Wright were the only games on this list that actually came out, but the good news is that 2014 going to kick off big.

Broken Sword 5 just released its first half as an early access thing, with the full game coming in January. By all accounts it seems to be a return to form, very similar to the first two games, with most of the complaints revolving around the small size of the preview/episodic release.

Broken Age is doing the same thing, of course, with the first half coming in January, and the next following a couple months behind. It apparently features some all-star voice talent, including Elijah Wood and Jack Black.

Gabriel Knight's remake is official now. It's looking pretty darn nice, although I'm not so happy about the voices being redone with new actors:
Click for full size


Jane Jensen's big original project Moebius is also slated for January and looking pretty sharp:


Tex Murphy has been pushed back to February, thanks largely to its expanded scope, but it's shaping up to be very impressive, considering the budget. It's now larger and longer than any of the old games, which were pretty massive by genre standards to begin with.



If you haven't heard, a spiritual successor the The Neverhood is coming. It's called Amikrog.


SpaceVenture and Hero U are kind of a mess. Both have released playable demos to backers, but still seem very, very early considering the amount of time they've spent in development. Both also look better than the mockups shown during the Kickstarter, but the ambition has taken its toll on their time table. Who knows if we'll even see them in 2014.

[Dolemite]

That might be the first screen I've ever seen from Amikrog...that character looks a hell of a lot like Klaymen. Yeah, totally a spiritual successor to The Neverhood.

[Frogacuda]

So lots of adventure game happenings right now.

Jane Jensen's Moebius just launched, and the consensus seems to range between "It's alright" to "It raped my mother." Budget constraints and a fairly inexperienced dev can shoulder the blame for some of the weak graphics and animation, but a lot of it seems to just be that the writing wasn't that strong. Too bad.

Broken Sword 5 is finally complete. The second "episode" (actually an update that makes it one complete game) is out and reportedly improves on the first part, and most are calling it a return to form for the series. I played a little bit and it's definitely solid.

Tesla Effect got pushed back a couple more weeks to May 7, but there's a demo out and it seems to hit all the right marks. Expectations are very high for this one on the adventuregamers boards, and I'm very excited.

[James]

Normally I wouldn't link to my own article, but check out the comments underneath. George Broussard decided to shit on Tex Murphy as "Unfunny, uninteresting, unengaging and absolutely out of touch with modern gaming." Just... wow.

James

[Frogacuda]

That's a troll post. He also posted on the article about Prince reuniting with Warner Bros "Puple CRAP! Renew Metallica's contract." And on a post about Two and a Half Men he just starts talking about Duke Nukem 2 for no reason.

Notice he dismisses the games as interactive movies as if he's never seen them, but then two seconds later he knows the whole developer history and how they were sold to microsoft and made golf games. It's not George, it's just a troll.

Tommy Tallarico, on the other hand, is a real TNLer.

[Frogacuda]

Bumping this thread for more adventure talk. It continues to be a great time for the genre, something of a renaissance. In the near future we have:

Armikrog, August 18.

The spiritual successor to The Neverhood, the animation in this is looking absolutely gorgeous. Comes out soon!

King's Quest, July 28

Episodic midquels to the old games. I was initially pretty skeptical of this, but the preview buzz has been very good and it's much more of a real adventure game that initial snippets seemed to suggest.

Life is Strange (ongoing, Episode 4 launching soon)

This series came from nowhere and has been a sleeper GOTY contender. Gets better with every epsiode.

The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendoca and Pizza Boy (September)

Gorgeous-looking indie adventure based on a Portugese graphic novel. After a successful Kickstarter, this got some publisher funding for polish and voice acting.

Obduction (Q4 2015)

The spiritual successor to Myst, done in real-time in UE4. This is shaping up to be very promising, though I'm increasingly skeptical of the 2015 launch timeframe.

Anna's Quest (out now)

Recently released "full" version of the episodic indie from a few years back. Fairy-tale inspired and humorous, I've been hearing good things on adventure game forums.