Adventure Game Game Overs are Bullshit

 

People these days like to often go on about "objectively bad game design".  Usually this is in reference to some difficulty related thing in a Souls game or used to try and talk smack about a game that a particuar person finds too hard but allow me to lay on you some ACTUAL bad game design and that is the Adventure Game game over.

You may think that when I say "Adventure Game" I'm talking about something like Zelda but I'm not, game overs in those games when you run out of HP or whatever make total and perfect sense.  When I say adventure I'm talking of mainly the point and click variety when referring to western games or alternatively what the Japanese refer to as "adventure games" which is what us filthy gaijin would call "Visual novels", for the most part 

This is the google image result for googling "adventure game" in Japanese, just so you know I'm not talking completely out of my arse.  

The point and click adventure, Monkey Island for example, is a mostly dead genre in 2022 but is an often fondly remembered genre from people who grew up playing PC games on Windows 98 and earlier.  For example a while ago I played Beneath a Steel Sky on Good Old Games and while it was a charming little game that I enjoyed playing overall, you can be hit with a game over screen if you move into the wrong place or click the wrong thing.

Probably implemented to stop the usual point and click strategy of "rub everything on everything" but annoying nonetheless when you haven't saved for a while and your curiosity decides to screw you over.  Usually in these games though you can save whenever you want so its more of a mild annoyance than anything else.

What I'm mainly talking about, and what prompted this post, are game overs in Japanese style adventure games, mainly the one at the top of the article called Twilight Syndrome: Investigations.  In this game you play as a group of 3 school girls investigating various rumors and spooky happenings and for the first 2 chapters its fairly basic stuff.  But when you get to the third chapter, there are a number of points where you can make an incorrect decision and be hit with a big fat game over.  This, at first, seems fine, but then you realize that the game has no dialogue skip, no mid-chapter select, no way to speed anything up.  If you game over you have to start the ENTIRE THING from the start and sometime the bad decision can be made right at the end of a chapter so if you fall upon that you have to watch the WHOLE THING play out again.  

For example, in the third chapter, there is a bit where one of the girls gets possessed by a ghost and you get the decision to run away or try and help her.  If you run away, you game over and if you help her the story continues.  I picked the run away option when I was streaming the game to see what happens and wasn't really surprised when the game punished me for just abandoning members of the main cast.  But later on you are hit with a similar decision after making a phone call but if you fuck up the phone call, a murderous teacher comes along and ends you.  The problem is that there's no real way to know HOW you fucked up the call when you do.  There are multiple, 3 choice questions at multiple points in the conversation and its not obvious which one leads to death and which one leads to the story continuing.  This call is also at the end of the chapter so fucking it up means you have to slowly watch the entire thing play out all over again and its tedious as all fuck.

Its not like this in all adventure games thankfully.  Kamaitachi no Yoru (on PS1 and 2 at least) as a "story branch" thing where you can select specific scenes and text boxes to jump around the game.  So if you picked an option that you think lead to your death, then you can quickly go back to that exact choice and try the other path.  Why Human Entertainment decided that I have to re-read the entire fucking game for a single bad choice is absolutely baffling.

Basically, Twilight Syndrome pissed me off and I wanted to have a cry about it.  Despite these annoyances the Syndrome games, Beneath a Steel Sky and most other games that fall under the umbrella of this genre are actually really good so go play them. 

Bring Back Point n' Click

What happened to this genre?  Back when I was a child shit like Sanitarium, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango were popular games but now this entire genre of puzzler has just dropped off the face of the earth.

If for some reason you don't know what I mean by "Point n' Click" it was a genre of puzzle game that involved a main character on some kind of adventure and the game play focused on solving clever puzzles using items you find in the world and exploration.  There was no combat in these games, just talking and puzzle solving all backed up by really good storylines.  Sure, there were shit point n' click games but the good ones were really good, memorable games that still hold up today if you ask me.

But then the genre just died and we barely see these games anymore.  Sure, we've had a couple attempt to do the whole point n' click thing but they are different and quite frankly, not as good.  To be honest I think it's a sad indication of games getting stupider.  In the age of checkpoints, set pieces and hand holding gameplay, the idea of a genre where the player is left to their own devices to explore and solve puzzles doesn't seem like it would sell many copies, which is a shame really.

The reason I make this post is because of my disappointment with a game called Gone Home, a title I haven't even played yet.

Now I'm not passing judgement on this game entirely because like I said a second ago, I've not actually had a chance to give it a go.  That said, upon first seeing it in the Steam store I got excited because I thought it looked like a point n' click game, something I would have been excited to try.  But then while browsing certain forums I came across a gif of the entire game being beaten in less than a minute.

Now I'm sure there is more to it than that, but the fact that this can be done means that it's probably not very good.  I've heard some things about the story and how it's really focused on that, but it isn't much of an excuse considering that Monkey Island had a proper story but still managed to be a suitable length and challenge.

Still, once it goes cheap on sale I'll still give Gone Home a try so I can pass some proper judgement, but it's a shame that it wasn't the point n' click game I hoped for.  It's not all doom and gloom though, if you do want to give this genre a try then there is a ton of abandonware that will run in Dosbox and Good Old Games is providing Beneath a Steel Sky, a really good Point n' Click for free, so go check that shit out and see what all the hubub is about.

Free Game Friday: Beneath a Steel Sky

 

What the hell are you doing here?  The Steam Summer Sales are still going, shit is like $2.50, and still, here you are, looking for some free shit to play anyway.   But that's not a bad thing, because sometimes its the free shit that is really awesome, like in this case!

Beneath a Steel Sky is an old as shit point and click adventure game that was released in 1994 for stuff like DOS and the Amiga.  The plot is really good but I played this a while back so I don't really remember.  What I do remember is that you play a guy called Robert (I think) and you get taken out of your home in the wastelands to be executed or something.  Anyway, you manage to get out of that and then you and your sass talkin' robot have to find a way to escape the city!  

OK so the plot is way better than that, but I beat this back in December so gimme a break.  The gameplay is standard point and click stuff, you find items, talk to people an solve puzzles until you uncover all the mysteries.  The setting and plot is engaging, the puzzles are interesting and the fully voiced dialogue is funny and well written.

What I'm trying to say is that this game is a fuckin' classic so just shut up and go play it for crying out loud.  

This game is available for free from Good Old Games (www.gog.com) along with a load of other classic games available for free and for purchase, brilliant website.