Adventure games are one of the oldest popular gaming genres. In just a few decades, they have come a long way: becoming iconic, almost disappearing, and then coming back in new forms. In this part, we will remember where it all began, and which games became symbols of this genre at one time. And in the next part, we will see what adventures have become over the past ten or so years.
But first, it's worth understanding what is meant by the word "adventure".
What are adventures?
Once upon a time, in the 1990s of the last century, adventure games, that is, games of the Adventure genre, began to be called "quests" in the press of our country and some neighboring countries. And this semi-local nickname has taken root as firmly as "xerox" for a copier or "pampers" for diapers.
Usually, "quests" are understood as an adventure game with a plot, where there is a global secret or a specific goal. It has an inventory with items that must be found, often with the help of the notorious pixel hunting, and used, sometimes in combination. Logic puzzles and Point-and-click style controls are not always added: hover over an object and click to activate.
Unlike action or strategy games, there are usually no strict time frames or complex tactics. Instead, there is a search for answers and a desire to know what will happen next. Classic adventure games did not give clear instructions, but threw up puzzle situations: here is the problem - now guess how to solve it. It could be exciting, or it could be annoying: it all depended on the logic of the developers.
The main difference between the genre is the priority of plot over action. In the 1980s, most games either did without a story at all (arcades) or required serious immersion in complex mechanics (role-playing games or simulators). Adventure games became the golden mean for those who love stories: accessible to beginners, but at the same time with a full-fledged narrative.
Origins of the genre
Initially, adventure games were a kind of interactive books, where the player partly wrote the story himself. The pioneer was the game Adventure aka Colossal Cave Adventure (1976) by William Crowther, where players explored the underground labyrinth of Mammoth Cave using text commands. It seems strange now, but at that time PC users were accustomed to text input. In fact, this game gave the name to the whole genre.
Even more successful was Zork (1977), by MIT students, in which the player explored the Great Underground Empire by entering commands in natural language. Both games laid the foundation for interactive fiction, adventure games, and role-playing games.
With the advent of the graphical interface, adventure games became visual. One of the first was Mystery House (1980) by On-Line Systems, later Sierra On-Line for the Apple II - conventional but stylish graphics served as illustrations for the textual plot. Mystery House is perhaps the very first graphic horror adventure.
However, it was an important first step. After Mystery House, Sierra began releasing legendary games with the word "quest" in the title, which is where the local nickname in the post-Soviet press came from. The first technological breakthrough with color graphics, sound, and freedom of movement was King's Quest (1983).
In parallel with King's Quest, Space Quest (1986) was also developing - a humorous science fiction saga about a janitor named Roger Wilco, who was supposed to save the galaxy, but more often than not, he saved his own skin from absurd deaths and bad jokes from aliens.
As technology advanced, pixels became sharper, colors became richer, and monitor resolutions became higher. By the 1990s, we had a whole galaxy of quests that would forever mark the genre: Space Quest; Quest for Glory (1989); the sequel to King's Quest; and, as serious as it gets in the world of Sierra, Police Quest (1987). These games were so popular that they outsold some of the shooters and platformers that are now considered cult classics. For example, King's Quest VI (1992) or Police Quest III (1991) sold more copies than Wolfenstein 3D (1992) or the original Prince of Persia (1989) in the first few years after their release.
But along with their popularity, they also gave players the genre's signature flaws - illogical puzzles that could be solved either by chance or with the help of a clairvoyant, and sudden deaths lurking around every corner. Well, at least King's Quest V. Imagine that you didn't pick up a pie somewhere at the beginning of the game, and after several hours of torturous puzzles you reached the yeti, and there's no pie... No pie - no passage, thank you, start over. Or Roger Wilco from Space Quest just got out of the elevator... and instantly flew into the air, because it's a "forbidden zone". Logic - zero, warnings - too. The game designer just decided that you have to die here. But... these "deaths" were incredibly creative, so they could not only annoy, but also be quite entertaining.
Sierra's main competitor in the 1980s and 1990s, LucasArts (originally LucasFilm Games), watched all this and decided that it was enough to torment players. Their philosophy was simple: "A game should entertain, not punish." In 1987, they released Maniac Mansion, and a little later, The Secret of Monkey Island (1990), and with this they practically revolutionized the genre. In the LucasArts world, the death of a character was not a cunning joke, but deadlocks were a rudiment that should be gotten rid of. Even if you managed to do something frankly ridiculous, the game gave you a chance to fix it. Sudden deaths here turned into a joke or a scene that could only be seen intentionally.
The gameplay at LucasArts was thought out to the smallest detail. The basis was point-and-click: instead of text commands, the player simply selected an action from a list ("take", "look", "talk") and clicked on an object or character. This not only saved the hassle of choosing the right words (Sierra still had text input for a long time), but also made the game more accessible to a wider audience. So, in The Secret of Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle (1993), you simply pressed "Use" and pointed at a banana - and the hero already performed the action, without any errors like "You can't do that here".
Thanks to this system, true legends were born, such as Day of the Tentacle - a crazy time travel game that stretches players through three eras at once. The very stylish biker Full Throttle (1995) with fights, races and the coolest soundtrack of the era. And also the unforgettable Grim Fandango (1998), a film noir-style adventure in the world of the dead, which is still considered a masterpiece today due to its unique atmosphere and script.
LucasArts set the tone for the genre, but it wasn't the only one. Other studios also created hits. For example, The Longest Journey (1999) from Funcom with its deep plot and magical realism, or Broken Sword (1997) from Revolution Software with its European detective atmosphere.
In the late 1990s, a new phase began - the transition to 3D. It was inevitable: technology was developing, the market demanded "three-dimensional" graphics. LucasArts tried to adapt the genre in Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island (2000). But although these games have become legendary, they are still criticized for their control system. But not for the plot ... and certainly not for the music.
Decline and the beginning of rebirth
The reasons for the decline of quests are not limited to the transition to 3D. The problem was deeper. If in the early 1990s the computer was still something elitist, and most games on it were aimed at the attentive, patient player, ready to ponder over the puzzle for hours, then at the end of the decade more dynamic genres took over the market. Shooters like Quake (1996) and Half-Life (1998), strategies like StarCraft (1998), and later large open world projects offered a faster pace, spectacular graphics and instant rewards. Against this background, quests with their slow rhythm, the need to read dialogues and collect inventory seemed anachronistic. And also… imagine being stuck in a game for a long time. What does a modern player do? That's right: open the Internet and look for a hint. Or simply go to another game. There used to be fewer games and it was harder to find cheat sheets.
An additional blow was the growing popularity of consoles, for which the classic Point-and-click was simply inconvenient. Developers adapted the games: they converted them to 3D, changed the controls to a gamepad, reduced the puzzles and focused on the plot in order to attract a wider audience. However, often these changes took away the "soul" of the genre, when the pleasure was not only in the unfolding of the story, but also in the process of its slow, measured passage.
Quests found themselves in a strange niche – too slow for the mass market, but too expensive to produce for a narrow circle of fans. Some studios, like LucasArts, abandoned the genre, others tried to survive with small experiments. In the early 2000s, it seemed that the era of large adventure games was over forever.
However, the history of classic quests did not end there. In the early 2000s, the famous and incredibly beautiful Syberia dilogy (2002) appeared. It sold well, became famous all over the world and inspired thousands of players.
But its success did not lead to the revival of the genre as such, because all the "sores" remained: repeated wandering through the same locations, illogical puzzles, getting stuck in place. The phenomenon of Syberia is explained not by impeccable gameplay, but by something much bigger. There was a wonderful setting, beautiful drawings and a very heartfelt, even poetic story about how lawyer Kate Walker, who goes to the edge of the world, gradually gives up her usual, material life to help the hero-inventor Hans Voralberg fulfill his old dream. And in fact finds her own. It was a story about hope, about finding oneself, which resonated in the hearts of players. Therefore, Syberia was primarily an individual artistic expression, and not a revival of the genre.
Already in the 2000s, the genre began to slowly revive thanks to independent studios and new distribution methods. With the development of digital platforms such as Steam, games could be released without printing large quantities of physical discs. This reduced the risks for small teams and opened the way for bold experiments.
Gradually, projects appeared that preserved the atmosphere of classic adventures, but took into account the needs of the modern player: better graphics, intuitive controls, convenient hints, saving at any time. And also - crowdfunding allowed authors to work on projects that might not interest everyone, but found their audience. In addition, enthusiastic developers and small studios were added, for whom the main thing was not commerce, but, above all, expression.
So gradually "updated" adventures appeared: simpler in mechanics, but full of meaning and emotions. More about them next time.
Remakes of classics and new parts of old games: the return of legends
And finally, in this part of the article, let's mention a few remakes and new parts of adventure classics. Judging by the number of such releases, players are very willing to return to familiar worlds.
Grim Fandango Remastered (2015) - The LucasArts legend comes to life with updated graphics and sound.
Day of the Tentacle Remastered (2016) – the classic comedy gets a modern technical makeover.
Full Throttle Remastered (2017) - the iconic biker story from LucasArts has received updated graphics and soundtrack.
Monkey Island: Return to Monkey Island (2022) is a new chapter in the legendary series that returns to the world of pirate adventures with classic style and humor.
Syberia 3 (2017) is a sequel to Benoit Sokal's cult series, developing the story of Kate Walker in a world of mechanical wonders. But it's not always successful.
Syberia: The World Before (2023) is a new part that preserves the philosophical search and atmosphere of the previous games.
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice (2020) – we didn't mention the old ladies' man Larry in the main section, but I suspect that the "oldies" never forgot about him. And in the 2020 version, nostalgia is combined with modern graphics and humor.
Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy (2025) is a remake of the classic adventure by Jean-Luc Kahl, where the player travels through exotic lands, uncovering secrets and legends. The author of the original is Benoit Sokal.
Continuation of the material – Adventures Yesterday and Today. Part 2. Resurrection.