The fine folks over at Adventuregamers.com have taken on one of the most herculean tasks in video-game-list-writing: They have assembled a list of not the top 10, not the top 20, but the top 100 adventure games of all time. It's a really good list, too.
The list was part of a multi-part series they ran, and each game has its own entry along which nicely includes a list of "If you like this, you might like" suggestions. I highly recommend checking it out. Just for fun, I thought I'd assemble the full top 100 list here, just to see how it looks when you can see 'em all at once.
Personally, I think it looks pretty good! I certainly can't argue with the #1 choice, which is one of my very favorite games of all time. And not just because of the music, which is both a symptom and a cause of that particular game's awesomeness.
I dare you to read this list and not want to go back and play at least one of these. For me, it was Tex Murphy, which I barely got to play when I was younger, even though I remember reading printed walkthroughs just so that I could experience the game in some form.
Here's the list, with links to their respective adventuregamers.com pages:
100. Titanic: Adventure Out of Time
99. Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor
98. The Space Bar
97. Runaway: A Twist of Fate
96. Gold Rush
95. Ripley's Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu
94. Faust (aka Seven Games of the Soul)
93. Toonstruck
92. The Dig
91. The Feeble Files
90. Spycraft: The Great Game
89. The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
88. Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, The Wizard, and the Wardrobe
87. Penumbra: Black Plague
86. Dark Fall
85. The Dark Eye
84. Colonel's Bequest: A Laura Bow Mystery
83. The Black Mirror
82. The 7th Guest
81. Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
80. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
79. Gemini Rue
78. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
77. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
76. Drawn: The Painted Tower
75. Kings Quest: Quest for the Crown
74. Shadow of the Comet
73. Discworld II
72. Maniac Mansion
71. Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!
70. Amber: Journey's Beyond
69. I Have no Moutn, and I Must Scream
68. Shadow of Destiny
67. Pepper's Adventures in Time
66. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
65. Hotel Dusk: Room 215
64. The Book of Unwritten Tales
63. Black Dahlia
62. Obsidian
61. Loom
60. Another Code
59. Myst III: Exile
58. Star Trek: Judgment Rites
57. Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit)
56. In Memoriam
55. Syberia II
54. Samarost 2
53. Return to Mysterious Island
52. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
51. Zork Nemesis
50. Infocom Text Adventures
49. Sam & Max: Season Two
48. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
47. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
46. The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
45. The Curse of Monkey Island
44. Simon the Sorcerer
43. John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles
42. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
41. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
40. Myst IV: Revelation
39. Last Window: The Secret of Cape West
38. Full Throttle
37. Stacking
36. Sanitarium
35. The Neverhood
34. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
33. L.A. Noire
32. Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
31. Portal
30. Bad Mojo
29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
28. Sam & Max Hit The Road
27. Discworld Noir
26. Heavy Rain
25. Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
24. Police Quest 2: The Vengeance
23. Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
22. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
21. Blade Runner
20. Still Life
19. Beneath a Steel Sky
18. Myst
17. Machinarium
16. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
15. Syberia
14. The Secret of Monkey Island
13. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
12. Zork Grand Inquisitor
11. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
10. Portal 2
09. Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive
08. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
07. The Last Express
06. The Day of the Tentacle
05. Riven
04. Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
03. Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within
02. The Longest Journey
01. Grim Fandango
Some thoughts: Nice to see Amnesia get some love in there, and also nice to see Gabriel Knight 2 above the original. While Sins of the Fathers will always have a place in my heart, I too prefer the second one. Shadow of the Templars really is great, isn't it? I'm several hours into the iOS version, and while I haven't played in a while, this made me want to return.
I also like how this list includes current-gen adventure games (it is an "all time" list, after all). There are some great ones, from Gemini Rue to games you wouldn't necessarily think of as "Adventure Games" like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire. I don't know if I'd really call Portal an adventure game, and I don't know how I feel about putting all of the Infocom text adventures in one category (or about ranking them 50th!) but then again, I think I get it. Otherwise they would have taken up twenty or so spots.
Anyhow, head on over to the site and check out the full write-ups. It's a well-curated collection of games that are entirely worth celebrating.
Top 100 All-Time Adventures [Adventuregamers.com]