other obscure and awful adventure games on steam

[natha]

despite this game being so awful, I found it very entertaining to play. I bought 15 days (on sale obviously) after finishing this since it was by the same company, but that game is just so damned boring. Are there any other games in a similar league to this one in terms of WTF moments that seem to think they are serious? Preferably ones on Steam.

[Risingson]

You know what happens? During a long time adventure games were still being made, and quite a lot of them, though they did not appear on popular magazines. They were usually popular in specific zones, like Germany (mostly the adventure game saviours of the 21st century), so to the question you make? There are THOUSANDS.

Just check the point n click tag and see what is on offer. Art of Murder may be a very similar experience, though the model for these games is Still Life - whose model is Gabriel Knight Sins of the Father - whose model is Sherlock Holmes the case of the Serrated Scalpel which I hope it will be brought to Steam shortly. Mystery of the Druids is one of the few investigator point n click games whose character is male (ironically).

From the same company the best game, by far, by very far, is Moment of Silence, but Overclocked is interesting. Nah, go for Still Life, really. It is still weird as ♥♥♥♥ and still is the best of those bunch.

[carl]

Originally posted by natha:

despite this game being so awful, I found it very entertaining to play. I bought 15 days (on sale obviously) after finishing this since it was by the same company, but that game is just so damned boring. Are there any other games in a similar league to this one in terms of WTF moments that seem to think they are serious? Preferably ones on Steam.

Sanitarium

[Risingson]

Sanitarium is a masterpiece, hey.

Been playing a bit more adventures lately and there are some godawful/interesting ones you may want to check, natha

- The RSK adventures like Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933. Incredibly uneven, badly translated, with a lot of graphical artifacts, but still unique in the sense that they try to copy Still Life in a Persian environment. Also a fantastic clue system to be honest.

- The City Interactive adventures, Art of Murder. Another case of super clunky adventures with some good parts, some absurd ones, some slightly racist ones.

- The Secret Files saga. These ones are better because people there really knew how to make puzzles (and even when they get to moon logic there is only a few hotspots, which can be activated with space).

- Memento Mori is actually better than I expected it to be, but yeah, clunkier parts in its story about conspiracies and all. As it happened with Art of Murder, they take the latin based language countries as illiterate brutes, oh well. You have to like these czech developers.

- Cognition is uneven as hell. At times I loved it and at times I hated it. I did not get to finish it. The wild tonal shifts between casual kind adventure and brutal gorey puzzle solving one are too much.

- And I am asuming you played Still Life, still the epitome of those wild tonal shifts and a game I still love to bits.

- Culpa Innata is too long for an ending that barely resolves anything, but there are good pieces of world building and quite a few nice wtf moments as well.

So there, you have a bunch to waste your time on.

[carl]

the longest journey

[Risingson]

ok people aren't even bothering to read the question before answering

[Priest of Syrinx]

Harvester - old FMV game that can't decide between being a wacky comedy and a gory horror. Laughs mostly come from how weird and offensive the game is, so expect very sensitive subiects like child abuse, suicide and inappropriate sexual relationships being handled with delicacy of an elephant.

Dark Inside Me - rather new; edgy Hellraiser-wannabe. Laughs come from how it wants to be serious and be taken seriously but ends up being edgy cringe. Dumb puzzles and pixelhunting included.

[carl]

doom eternal ... it doesnt take itself seriously when u loop a grenade insade of monster mouth makes this burping noise

[Priest of Syrinx]

Originally posted by Risingson:

From the same company the best game, by far, by very far, is Moment of Silence, but Overclocked is interesting. Nah, go for Still Life, really. It is still weird as ♥♥♥♥ and still is the best of those bunch.

By no means awful and not that obscure for point and click adventures fan.

Originally posted by btimofte100:

Sanitarium

By no means awful - actually one of the best psychological horror adventure game ever.

Originally posted by btimofte100:

the longest journey

Neither awful not obscure (it spawned two sequels and put the developers in the mainstream)

Originally posted by btimofte100:

doom eternal ... it doesnt take itself seriously when u loop a grenade insade of monster mouth makes this burping noise

Neither awful nor obscure nor point and click :)

Originally posted by Risingson:

- The RSK adventures like Murder in Tehran's Alleys 1933. Incredibly uneven, badly translated, with a lot of graphical artifacts, but still unique in the sense that they try to copy Still Life in a Persian environment. Also a fantastic clue system to be honest.

Need to check this one out :)

Originally posted by Risingson:

- The City Interactive adventures, Art of Murder. Another case of super clunky adventures with some good parts, some absurd ones, some slightly racist ones.

I'd call those (Art of Murder and Tree of Life series) some of the most mediocre games ever made. Well, the last AoM was decent.

Originally posted by Risingson:

- The Secret Files saga. These ones are better because people there really knew how to make puzzles (and even when they get to moon logic there is only a few hotspots, which can be activated with space).

Hated them with passion. Came for X-files-style paranormal thriller, got awful romcom. Just like being tricked into watching Kate and Leopold by being told it's a time travel story.

Originally posted by Risingson:

- Memento Mori is actually better than I expected it to be, but yeah, clunkier parts in its story about conspiracies and all. As it happened with Art of Murder, they take the latin based language countries as illiterate brutes, oh well. You have to like these czech developers.

On my 'to play' list :)

Originally posted by Risingson:

- Cognition is uneven as hell. At times I loved it and at times I hated it. I did not get to finish it. The wild tonal shifts between casual kind adventure and brutal gorey puzzle solving one are too much.

Loved it! Then again I grew up with Gabriel Knight, still have the first one on CD :)

Originally posted by Risingson:

- And I am asuming you played Still Life, still the epitome of those wild tonal shifts and a game I still love to bits.

I'd say it's one of the best detective games from that era.

Originally posted by Risingson:

- Culpa Innata is too long for an ending that barely resolves anything, but there are good pieces of world building and quite a few nice wtf moments as well.

Tried to get into it several times and controls and camera always push me away.

And some more recommendations:

Phantasmagoria - one of the pioneers of FMV revolution, an interesting attempt at serious gothic horror. You get it all: old mansion, old mystery, overacting, underacting, sexual abuse, rubber corpses, cringy CGI demon, some dose of ineptitude on the protagonist's part. It's like playing Roger Corman's movie.

Phantasmagoria 2 - it has nothing to do with the first one, this one is a sci-fi horror. The plot is insane (starts of like your regular psychological thriller with someone killing your co-workers, ends up in another dimension), overacting is present, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-ish protagonist too. Some moonlogic (or a walkthrough) is required for some puzzles.

Jack Orlando - on the surface it's your typical Philip Marlowe-sque detective story, but absolutely atrocious English dub, moonlogic puzzles and ability to pull out your gun or your fists on every character in the game (usually ends with said character trash-talking you and you hiding your weapon in shame) makes it worth checking out. And of course Jack can be a real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if you pick proper dialog options.

[PillarOpposition]

Obscure, but not awful
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

[Meep]

Probably this:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/400370/Normality/
It actually holds up alright from 1996. It's just very strange.

[MeltingPotOfFriendship]

Originally posted by juliuszhorst:

Harvester - old FMV game that can't decide between being a wacky comedy and a gory horror. Laughs mostly come from how weird and offensive the game is, so expect very sensitive subiects like child abuse, suicide and inappropriate sexual relationships being handled with delicacy of an elephant.



Dark Inside Me - rather new; edgy Hellraiser-wannabe. Laughs come from how it wants to be serious and be taken seriously but ends up being edgy cringe. Dumb puzzles and pixelhunting included.

iirc, wasn't Harvester made to basically mock the whiners,the finger-waggers, and the ESRB ratings on how those violent videa gems create murderers and cause school shootings?



Also define "edgy cringe". Also sorry for how this reply is structured, steams' quote/reply thing busted again.

Originally posted by Meep:

Probably this:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/400370/Normality/
It actually holds up alright from 1996. It's just very strange.

And don't forget, it has Corey Feldman in it! Ah the 90's!

[Carlton BEaEnkEs, no E]

From MandaloreGaming's gloriously cursed streams, look up Moment of Silence (same devs as Mystery of the Droods iirc), Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen 1/2 (good luck finding them though, much less playing them), Anonymous Agony (debateably a point-and-click adventure), and Limbo of the Lost (literally a scavenger hunt of stolen assets with nonsense logic, lost media and cannot legally be sold but it's probably out there somewhere)

[MeltingPotOfFriendship]

Originally posted by Carlton BEaEnkEs, no E:

From MandaloreGaming's gloriously cursed streams, look up Moment of Silence (same devs as Mystery of the Droods iirc), Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen 1/2 (good luck finding them though, much less playing them), Anonymous Agony (debateably a point-and-click adventure), and Limbo of the Lost (literally a scavenger hunt of stolen assets with nonsense logic, lost media and cannot legally be sold but it's probably out there somewhere)

Oh man, mandalores reviews are always something else. Oh man, I remember Anyonymous Agony. I got so much "owtheedge" from what mandalore showed of it in his review. SSeth is also a lulz reviewer too.

[Carlton BEaEnkEs, no E]

Originally posted by Venom Chris:

Originally posted by Carlton BEaEnkEs, no E:

From MandaloreGaming's gloriously cursed streams, look up Moment of Silence (same devs as Mystery of the Droods iirc), Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen 1/2 (good luck finding them though, much less playing them), Anonymous Agony (debateably a point-and-click adventure), and Limbo of the Lost (literally a scavenger hunt of stolen assets with nonsense logic, lost media and cannot legally be sold but it's probably out there somewhere)

Oh man, mandalores reviews are always something else. Oh man, I remember Anyonymous Agony. I got so much "owtheedge" from what mandalore showed of it in his review. SSeth is also a lulz reviewer too.

He streams sometimes too, and his streams are even better, gloriously cursed and the calm and collected demeanor completely falls away in the best way. He has a twitch, and there are a couple VOD channels on Youtube from before he figured out VODs on twitch

[MeltingPotOfFriendship]

Originally posted by Carlton BEaEnkEs, no E:

Originally posted by Venom Chris:

Oh man, mandalores reviews are always something else. Oh man, I remember Anyonymous Agony. I got so much "owtheedge" from what mandalore showed of it in his review. SSeth is also a lulz reviewer too.

He streams sometimes too, and his streams are even better, gloriously cursed and the calm and collected demeanor completely falls away in the best way. He has a twitch, and there are a couple VOD channels on Youtube from before he figured out VODs on twitch

I usually binge watch SSeths' old streams/videos. Had no idea mandalore streamed though.