The best Adventure game to date

[Top Goon]

I would write 'possibly' but as i wrote i had to correct- this *is* the best adventure game to date, and i will explain why.

TL;DR: Performance, budget and pacing(could be too slow for some) aside this is the game that most cleverly realized adventure tropes(and broke those) and shoul be a model to other developers. Characters and story are good, could be better, but excells at gameplay- where great adventures are know for their story, this is the best adventure GAME ive ever seen.

Before anything, keep in mind ive played the non steam version couple of years ago. Idn any particulars of this version.

We all have laugthed or were amazed by some of the great classic adventures. From Myths misteries and wonders to monkey islands and tentacles humour and adventure, or just the immersive and creepy (at the time) Alone in the Dark or Dracula 1. And more recently good branching storytelling with Tell tale.

This game have none of these wonders. Still is the most brilliant adventure game yet

It just so happens that, the more i love some adventure games they're far from greatness on what should be a core aspect: gameplay. In the end they're great stories and worlds to immerse into, and while amazing at that the gameplay is straightfoward, dull, pixel hunting or limited... puzzles vary from obscure to impossible to ridiculously easy... few tried to change trully and even fewer suceeded at that. Even Grim Fandango, one of my favorites by far, doesn't stir from gameplay tropes and their shortcomings.

Experience 112 is something else. From the moment i started to close to finishing it (or so i believe, lost my cd) i was baffled to have found the first and only (as far as i know) adventure game to have trully realized what adventure games should be. This comes two-fold, from the 'meta' twist to the puzzles themselves. Thats without mentioning a good story and setting.

Without spoiling, the game is about two people without memories waking in a misterious abandoned ship where clearly some kind of experiment was done, and as expected something went wrong; One of them a girl waking in a small room, the other... you. Someone who just awoke at the surveilance room and can't get out, but who can access all cameras and computers- and both must cooperate to get to the bottom of it all. I will come back to that later.

Puzzles
Even putting this gimmick aside, what stroke me the most while playing were the pacing and puzzles: ALL puzzles make sense. All of them seens natural, logical, entirely believable in the given context and in line with what we can/would think as possible solutions. This alone sets a standart every developer should look closely to take lessons, as its the most jarring non-sense (the lack of this) that still curses the genre. From all advenures ive played and they're quite a lot, none have compared to this. Gemini Rue perhaps (altought i still have to play it further).
That doesn't means easy puzzles. There are some more 'obscure' things to find, but it all makes sense- altought this games requires reading. Its common to think in a solution but something being amiss, but given the story and all that is found you know wich files to read up to find the missing piece- its brilliant and creates a immersion few achieved.

Pacing
Is slow, all about exploration, and fitting with the eerie place and storyline... but the main point is its alinearity: this is one of the most alinears and 'open' adventure games out there. As soon as you open the door from the first area, a whole lot of the ship is yours to go as you see fit. Surely you will find dead ends on various directions, all of wich you can trespass trought puzzles, some of those requiring things from elsewhere. Its intersting how some of those you don't really require much else, if not an insight you will have later on when more of the mistery is unveiled- but where someone really clever or by luck could also access way earlier.
As expected various areas are locked behind requirements you will only achieve mid to late game as expected, so the mistery unfolds at a right pace without big reveals too soon. Beyond those this game is one of the most open adventure games out there, like a metroidvania adventure, or a Alone in The Dark more open with better puzzles.

The 'Meta'-Twist Gimmick
By far the most noticeable and memorable feature, and brilliant at that: you don't play as the main character(the girl) on the screen but as someone behind a computer screen elsewhere on the ship- but with plenty of control with cammeras and many of the ship's systems.

This means a simulated cooperation, where you can only comunicate with Lea (the girl) using the cameras (things like Yes or No) and turning lights on and off. You turn the light close to a door she understands you're pointing her there. That creates some tense scenes when you try to alert her of impending dangers lurking around.

The dynamic is spot on and ties both together brilliantly. She have no clue about the ship as you do- you can access lots of cameras, open and close doors, access few files from the ship (ever increasing as you progress)- but you are enclosed in the surveilance room, she being the hands and physical presence needed to explore the ship.

That alone brings an experience without equal in adventure games, cleverly done. The game doesn't hold your hand but gives you lots of tools, clues and openess to figure things out.
One of the major points which helps avoiding illogical puzzles is that, with this dynamic, Lea figures a bunch of things by her own. Thus theres no 'how the devs wanted me to use/click with that?'- Lea will work things out at those moments, avoiding the most infamous point of frustration in adventure games.

Its also awesome being a game like this, a misterious and haunted place, being capable to peek in most of the areas from the get go- wich will only raise more questions to the puzzling mistery. And its ever-amazing all the way trought you knowing some of what lies ahead while she doesn't.

The Bad
Performance mostly. Im not sure how the game would fare nowadays, on my old computer it was really demanding, but this issue may be way less troublesome with today's machines.
The game isn't well optimized and you can notice that with the cameras. That is, it renders heavily each scene, so as you open more floating windows (the UI is like a computer desktop) you see clearly the performance lowering.

The budget also shows, the game ain't ugly but theres some rough edges.
Pacing and story are very subjective- the story won't blow minds but is well tought out and fitting with everything. In the sense of me calling it 'the best adventure game' it pales in story compared to some of the big hits adventure games. Its no less engaging, only in a completely different way. I found it very engaging and immersive being locked up without answers slowly unveiling things, but that may not be for everyone.

Worth it?
Do you enjoy, really, adventure games?
Then hell yes! I would even pay double the price for uniqueness alone.
Its on sale right now, will be many more times on the future given its a old game that was never 'AAA' so theres little excuses not to for any fans of the genre.

I would even dare say its worth it for anyone curious not into adventures. Truth is i play most adventure games in homeopathic doses because of the old and tired gameplay that always gets on my nerves at some point- this game changed that. Back in 2008 i didn't even called myself an adventure fan until ive found this game.

[sbN]

Definitely not best adventure game to date. The best for its time sure, but i've played way to many games that pushed the limits of the genre as much as this game did back in 2008.

Great game.

[dubesor]

The best Adventure game to date is still easily The Longest Journey.

[Evil incarnate]

Not the best adventure game to date but a very unique eXperience.

[Top Goon]

Originally posted by s.b.Newsom:

Definitely not best adventure game to date. The best for its time sure, but i've played way to many games that pushed the limits of the genre as much as this game did back in 2008.

Great game.

So please, do share their names! Im craving for more!

Theres many adventures i love, its just that i separate things when analysing what makes something good- and of all adventures ive played 'gameplay' never was what really made then so great.

Longest Joruney that dubesor mentioned is a good example, i simply love that game; The story, ease of interaction, the world(s), everything top notch but the core gameplay ain't remarkable (looking only at it), and theres also obtuse puzzles here and there.

The thing is... most of those games are great, and have amazing stories- but stories are stories, even if interactive and with puzzles along the way. Most have clever puzzles alongside boring and illogical ones and in that sense all other adventures (that ive played so far) failed to realize what the adventure genre proposes at its core. This one was the closest.

All good adventure games can be measured by how well they mask how linear they are. The only other i recall changing that is Telltale's games, but they left much of adventure's puzzles aside to focus on choices, and choose your adventures are far from something new. Most alarming (to me) is that they still fail to make me feel trully inside the story making those choices, and feel much more like 'go to the next point with a choice' (in comparison, Myst and Longest Journeys are more immersive 'you're there' then Telltale's, despite having little choice on outcomes).

Trully the experience 112 ain't yet what i believe an adventure should achieve, but it got way closer.

Edit: i just realized what makes this game ticks that no other adventure did...
And that is the believable choices (and limitations) in place.

In every adventure game my immersion is at all times limited by how things that the character should be able to do aren't allowed. Why can't i jump over that fence? Why couldn't i kick that off and had to use that makeshift tool instead? And that goes on and on, in all of them.

The Experience 112 avoids that completely- not by giving the ultimate open-ended interactive game but by context... you're locked inside a room with no means of exiting, all you have is the computer, what it can access, and someone out there who can barely communicate with you.

Thus all is laid out logically from the get go- and in no single moment i was faced with 'hey, i could/should be able to do that'. In short, i trully feel like the guy in there, with someone needing my help outside, all the while woven in an interesting story, with exploration, not too-linear, etc, etc

In that sense no other adventure have achieved that. Myst, Grim fandango, Telltale's games, Longest Journey, Sierra's Classics... all of them gives away the limitations. You can't go beyond the fence, go to that side of the town, do this or that where the reason why is cleraly 'cause its a game, go back to the tracks'.

[leo03]

Evidence : The last ritual was different but better in my opinion.

[General Plastro]

Tex Murphy, *any of them*, beats down on this.

Also, for a game that you say its not limited as the others, Edhen sure did got away with pretty basic and very limited security software plus crappy computers :P

By the end of the day its whenever you like "immersion" or not, i indiferent to it, while i appreciate games that try to make *me* the player character, i also have no problems with games in the third person.

Thus Tex Murphy (in particular Pandora's Directive) is my favorite Adventure game to date.

But hey, Experience 112 is looking very good so far, but i still have to beat it.

[[sMil3]]

Discworld Noir, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango were still more enjoyable to me. But will check this later.

[Top Goon]

Tex Murphy have been on my 'to play' list for quite a awhile and... last ritual? Never heard of it, i will definetly check it out!

Originally posted by コントロールを失う:

Discworld Noir, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango were still more enjoyable to me. But will check this later.

Don't misunderstand me, those will still (most probably) be more enjoyable then the experience 112, those 3 are amazing- But gameplaywise they're oldschool and unremarkable.

For example id compare the amusement i have playing Monkey Island to the amusement i have watching Monthy Python. Its not the puzzles/gameplay what trully makes it amazing.

In a analogy, its like most adventure games are like seeing a brilliant scripted movie with odd direction choices and detracting FX. You will still enjoy it, it will become a classic, but not for its cinematography, and we would have to overlook the bad distracting FX.
All the great classics i know of(like you mentioned) are amazing because they're so well written and engaging (id put Unwritten tales there as well), but are far from pinnacles of gameplay. Its amuzing seeing random comments and little bits of lore as we try to find what pieces the devs want us to combine and how, but it only hides how we're luck-guessing what deep down is just a jigsaw- and one where the pieces gives even less clue how to match.

The good ones embraces that making ridiculous solutions part of the fun, but thats it- the fun isn't from gameplay. So we enjoy these games not for their brilliant design but for their brilliant writting and creativity- and we overlook/forget the 'bad detracting fx' like the moments we become stuck or the few boring puzzles that only hinders the flow.

Experience 112 isn't a kubrik's either following the same analogy- deep down its the same jigsaw. But how the jigsaw is displayed, understood and explored is what makes it excel.

Originally posted by General Plastro:

Also, for a game that you say its not limited as the others, Edhen sure did got away with pretty basic and very limited security software plus crappy computers :P

Indeed lol
But see how it is perceived- we think 'how can they have such crap system?' and not 'how can't i do that?', theres a difference. The former varies the more you understand about computers, as the game's boat system is far from a proper design in security and usability (and i imagine a expert in the field playing the game would find it way more jarring then either of us). Its like noticing in a movie how that prop wasn't time apropriate or how something wasn't realistically represented.
Anyway, it hides way better the design's limitations in-lore. If it were a bit more self counscious (something ive missed, where its plenty in monkey island and others) the protagonist would make some comment about it now and them... just like i do frequently when using real computers; Bad design is also very real irl

[El Botijo]

In my opinion, this is not the greatest game ever. Actually, going for "greatest thing ever" is just going to attract trolls.

So I say it is not my cup of tea. I remember the game being slow, to the point I gave up mid-game. At some point you are going to go back for some clue or to open a door you could not done before. In those situations is where you notice Lea's movement is slow. You need to guide her through every corridor with the lights. And those are the only bad things I remember. I watched some last sections of a Youtube long play, and I would say the ending sections are ... not up to what I expected.

As for the good things, the game tries to break the fourth wall from time to time. Remember you are playing a character that is sitting in front of a computer at all times. And this gimmik is unique to this game (Omikron introduction, the game with David Bowie music, does not count!). Lea will remember how much time has passed since you last played the game. And if I remember right, Lea will ask you to do an internet search or something like that. Lea does not have much iniciative in this game, except for giving you hints. However, Lea is not somebody you may hate easily (not like the companion in Syberia that needs to tell you always your name).

As Lea has a partial view on what happened, most of the story is told via computer files. As usual, the more you play, the more you can read. You will see lots of strange things around, like the outcomes of some gunfights. And things get explained through the game.

I agree with other people here: the game graphics is bare. But that fits with the story: after all this is a normal large ship. And this ship was meant to be boring. Looking through video cameras gives you also a slightly distorted image - like what video camera feeds are.

As a concluding remark, I say the sci-fi story and the gimmik of the game fit together, but slow pacing can offset many people around.

[Uncle Cloud]

The matter of it being best overall aside, this game indeed has one of the best puzzle designs out there.
Though it might be the best 2nd person game, since there's not that many of those around.

[Plato Karamazov]

While it isn't the best adventure game to date (I'd give that to The Longest Journey or MYST IV), I can say that I do have a fairly high degree of affection toward it throuigh the course of my time with it (completed the game 1 3/4 times) mostly due to the atmosphere, the music, and how the game actually works. I felt a kind of affection for Lea, despite the fact that her personality was practically non-existent; I felt, in an intimate way, responsible for her.

The added layer of sorting through computer files was actually an excellent addition, contributing heavily toward the authenticity of the experience (not playing a game, but rather trying to solve an actual mystery and help this person escape). The game works extremely well on this level.

I'd give the game a 7.5-8, as, while it is very different, and it will grow on the player, it isn't for everyone.

[Top Goon]

Thanks, i wanted that word the whole way i wrote those posts: authenticity! That is it, english isn't my main language, i was struggling to remember that word. That sums it all: its the most authentic adventure experience ive seen. Not the best story to immerse into by far, but the most authentic gameplay

["Cactus Jack" Gamer]

Whether I agree with your assessment or not you did a great job of explaining your reasoning and I can't disagree. This game is a unique experience.