-
Games
Top Games -
Articles
Essentials- The Secret World feature
- The Night of the Rabbit preview
- Police Quest: Open Season review
- Following Freeware: March 2013 releases feature
- Anna - Extended Edition review
- Videos
- Forums
#95 – Ripley's Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu
Before there was Indiana Jones, there was Robert Ripley. Believe it or not, there might not even be an Indy if not for Ripley, a real-world cartoonist and explorer who travelled the world in the 1930s to report incredible feats on his radio show and collect unique antiquities for his Odditorium museums. The whip- and fedora-clad one may be better known today, even in adventure gaming circles, but Sanctuary Woods’ 1995 Ripley's Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu gave the bow-tied, pith-helmeted hero his own chance to shine, and he didn’t disappoint. Although based on the real man, Ripley’s interactive adventure is entirely fictional, sending him around the world in pursuit of information about the tomb of the First Emperor of China, which was built and protected with traps by the ingenious architect Master Lu. Ripley’s not the only one seeking the tomb, however, as it’s said to house the legendary Imperial Seal, an emerald that can bestow mystical powers on whomever possesses it. With enemies ever nipping at his heels, along the way Ripley must also gather oddities to send back home to keep his ailing American museum afloat.
Your travels take you to such exotic locations as China, India, Peru, and Easter Island, which can be visited in any order, even coming and going as you please. Blending live-action characters and nicely pre-rendered backgrounds, each scene is jam-packed with detailed hotspot descriptions, many of them purely optional. The non-linearity and high degree of interactivity make this a fairly difficult game, and there’s some pixel hunting involved in overcoming the many inventory obstacles. Puzzles are cleverly integrated, however, including three timed challenges, such as rescuing Ripley’s friend Feng Li from a king cobra. You can die in this game, as befits the sometimes deadly nature of the opposition, but an auto-save wisely restores to a point just before your demise to try again. All told, The Riddle of Master Lu is a game with everything: diverse locations, engaging characters, and substantial gameplay. But don’t take our word for it: playing is believing.
You might also like: Secret Files series, Flight of the Amazon Queen
#94 – Faust (aka Seven Games of the Soul)
Suicide... Sexuality... Child slavery... Abuse... These aren’t your normal adventure game themes. Then again, Arxel Tribe’s Faust (or Seven Games of the Soul in North America) is anything but your normal adventure game. Exploring many mature, complex psychological themes, the game is loosely based on the 19th century poem by Goethe about a man who sold his soul to the devil. Here Marcellus Faust, an elderly black man, arrives at an abandoned amusement park called Dreamland, where a suave demon named Mephisto tasks him with helping settle a dispute with God. By travelling back in time through seven overlapping episodes, you must investigate the troubled lives of Dreamland’s bizarre inhabitants through their eyes to determine the fate of their souls and unravel the macabre history of the park. From the freakshow exhibits like the Siamese sisters and 550-pound woman to employees like the costume seamstress and tiger tamer, each harbours dark and painful secrets, and it’s up to you to find material evidence that will either implicate or absolve them of complicity with the devil.
Sound deep? It is, and its relentlessly disturbing focus on the seven deadly sins is only scratching the surface. The fragmented storyline is intrinsically multi-layered, offering mystery within mystery, puzzle within puzzle, and subplot within plot as each carnie’s intertwining history slowly weaves together to form a larger picture. The gameplay can be as challenging as the narrative, making this a true thinking gamer's adventure in every respect. The artwork is merely average, but musically the game is a triumph, with a wonderful blend of old jazz, blues, and classical vocals and instrumentals alike, and Mephisto is perfectly voiced as the debonair tempter who genuinely believes in his cause. The bulk of the game is spent raising more questions than it answers, which is what makes it partly intriguing, partly frustrating, but exploring the complexities of the human soul and the ambiguities of good and evil are what give the game its value. It is easily one of the more original adventures available, so play it for yourself if you won't take our word for it, oh ye of little faith.
You might also like: Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy, Salammbô: Peril in Carthage
#93 – Toonstruck
It may well be remembered as one of the straws that broke the back of the genre's Golden Age, but the commercial failure of Toonstruck has unfairly followed the game around for too long. Burst’s 1996 adventure features Christopher Lloyd as a depressed cartoonist who finds himself sucked into the cartoon world he created. The game, unfortunately, could never recoup its huge budget, but it deserves to be admired on its own merits, not its retail failings. The production values from film industry professionals are incredibly high, displaying quality drawings and animation, and there’s a huge cast of famous voice actors, including Dan Castellaneta of Homer Simpson fame. Compared to other titles at the time, the graphics were top-notch, and sound production was way above the average – no expenses were spared, whether that was a wise move or not.
Although the game makes use of a live-action protagonist inserted into an animated world – an obvious stylistic clash – the writing is so good that you really feel like you have entered a Looney Tunes cartoon, where bizarre logic rules and you have to be aware of comic conventions to solve some of the complex puzzles. The adventure is substantial, too. You complete your main objective halfway through the game, only for the plot to skew off in another direction and unlock a whole new series of locations and characters to find. The story, which plays on the stereotypes created by popular cartoons, is genuinely funny and cleverly combines the sarcastic wit of Lloyd's Drew Blanc (an outsider looking in) with the wacky sense of humour of the toons. The balancing act it walks is very fine, but the script manages to take knowing pot-shots at its influences while still paying homage to the medium that inspired it. A sequel was planned, but the numbers just never added up, leaving only this final reminder of a time when Hollywood, big budgets, and adventure games were once a reality.
You might also like: The Next BIG Thing, Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
#92 – The Dig
The Dig is often regarded as the runt of the LucasArts litter, never quite resonating the same way as its more famous brethren. Perhaps that’s because it’s a purely dramatic sci-fi adventure and people didn’t know what to make of it back in 1995. And while it’s a traditional point-and-click adventure similar to its comic contemporaries, the game’s puzzle design has more in common with the likes of Myst than any of LucasArts’ other franchises – something that didn’t sit well with all players. Strip away the preconceptions, however, and what’s left is a very good game in its own right, with a mature storyline based on an idea by Steven Spielberg and written by author Orson Scott Card, boasting a stellar production crew with contributions from Industrial Light & Magic.
The story focuses on a group of astronauts tasked with destroying an asteroid, only to be helplessly transported to an alien world in the process. It’s a serious affair that should appeal to sci-fi aficionados thanks to its otherworldly setting and excellent soundtrack, and it wisely (if unexpectedly) avoids any attempts at the developer’s trademark humour. Given its pedigree, it’s no surprise the CGI is flawless, and while the puzzle design is markedly different from the usual zany inventory fare, there are plenty who embrace such mysterious conundrums with open arms. It may never measure up to the widespread appeal of its comedic LucasArts counterparts, but it’s a compelling standalone adventure and a great addition to any serious gamer’s collection.
You might also like: The Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure, Frederik Pohl's Gateway series
#91 – The Feeble Files
Hell hath no fury like the puzzle designers of The Feeble Files. This offbeat sci-fi adventure should have come with a warning about possible injuries from fist/screen incidents when it was released by AdventureSoft back in 1997. Whether that’s a good thing is for you to decide. Following hot on the heels of Simon the Sorcerer II, this game introduced us to a whole new world of memorable characters. Headlining the case was Feeble, the titular mild-mannered alien lovingly voiced by Red Dwarf’s Robert Llewelyn, who unwittingly embroils himself in corporate espionage and anti-governmental shenanigans after a bad day at the office. An eclectic, entirely non-human cast was a novel take on the point-and-click adventure, and the game represented a step forward in presentation for the acclaimed British developer, while still managing to carry over the humour from the Simon series.
The Feeble Files is a treat for the eyes and ears. Its brilliant mix of pre-rendered backdrops and animated characters look great, it's skillfully acted by some stand-up British comedy talent, and Feeble proves to be a lovable loser-turned-hero that is easy to embrace. However, to truly enjoy this game you’ll need a masochistic bent, as the puzzles have few rivals in their difficulty. They vary from obscure inventory-based tasks to outright horrific minigames and math problems. The Arcade section in particular was so cruel it forced AdventureSoft to release a save file set right after the event so some players could carry on the story. For those who lament the loss of complex, challenging puzzles in the genre, it’s a dream come true. For everyone else… well, there’s always a walkthrough. It’s absolutely worth it, but you’ve been warned. Enjoy immensely at your peril.
You might also like: Rex Nebular and the Comic Gender Bender, The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble
Next up: #90-86...
Continued on the next page...
@Jackal
Congrats on great work. As someone already asked, could you put the games from the list on voting, so that we have users list too? For example, let us choose top 20 games of those 100 (assigning 20 points for best, then 19 for place number 2, and so on), and then you could publish cumulative results of users voting 
I don’t understand people complaining on the list. They are acting like their opinion is absolute and that they are the ones who decide what others should think. So it would be nice to let us all vote and make users top 20 list as an addition to your list, so they can finally stop complaining
Thanks a lot for the list! So many suggestions for the year to come.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars….......KING
Perhaps it’s now time to update some of the game reviews, especially those who got a very high ranking in the Top100, but not the appropriate revieuw score.
The teo that come to mind now are both # 1 and 2. The longest journey was considered a 5 star game at it’s days but was pushed back to 4,5 for lack of proper comparison…..
This Top100 proves this decision wrong!
I thinks it’s important to remember that this list is the work of 20+ people, who have very strong opinions on what constitutes their favourite adventure game. The fact that it ever saw the light of day is a testament to Jack Allin’s amazing skills of diplomacy (and as a hard fisted ruler of the empire…) : D. But in all seriousness if we put a vote out to the general public for a top 100 adventure games list, it would most likely come back looking like this (possibly in a slightly different order). The best part about the list, is not whether your favourite game made it on or if it was in the position that you wanted to be in, but rather all the unique opportunities you have to try games that may not have been obvious to you before. You may disagree with a position of a game being in front of your favourite title, but now you have a chance to go off and play that game and decide for yourself (and have some fun while your at it). If anything this is the ultimate Adventure Game bucket list and regardless of how you view each entry, you know the games are going to be good! : )
Nothingman, I’m certainly not opposed to doing a reader poll, but tabulating rankings would be very difficult. It would definitely require some kind of weighted points system. So maybe, but I’ll have to think about it. Might be best to leave it for a while. We’ll soon have this year’s Aggies to start preparing 
Subbi, there are some reviews on the site that I’d be happy to replace; mainly the older ones written before we developed any real editorial standards. But there are lots of games we’ve never reviewed at all, and it can be hard finding/getting older games to run, let alone finding time to review them all. So we’ll get to what we get to! But we won’t be replacing any reviews strictly for marginal score discrepancies.
Ahh…I meant classical, not baroque.
Of course, there is matter to disagree and show nerd rage, but aren’t we, adventurers, supposed to be part of the more mature and level headed demographic of the gamer population?
Plus this top 100 must have been a colossol task to make.
So thanks to the staff, and a happy new year to all!
What a great list! While I can’t say I agree with everything (for one I hate all the video-crap like Gabriel Knight sequels and also Curse of Monkey Island is in my personal top 5) this list is a great inspiration regarding missed games I need to pick up and play - and which to replay! I loved The 7th Guest as a child - it actually scared me so much it gave me nightmares - but I forgot its name and just now rediscovered it due to AG. Thanks for an EXCELLENT article - and a happy new year! May 2012 bring forth a lot of great adventure games.
I was surprised and happy to see a good deal of these games that I knew were available on console and handheld on this list:
#77 Silent Hill, Shattered Memories (PS2, Wii)
#73 Discworld 2 (PS1)
#68 Shadow of Destiny (PS2, PSP)
#65 Hotel Dusk, Room 215 (DS)
#60 Trace Memory (DS)
#59 Myst III, Exile (PS2, XBOX)
#57 Indigo Prophecy (PS2, XBOX)
#55 Syberia 2 (XBOX)
#52 Dreamfall, The Longest Journey (XBOX)
#49 Sam and Max, Season 2 (PS3, Wii)
#47 Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
#41 Ghost Trick, Phantom Detective (DS)
#40 Myst IV, Revelation (XBOX)
#39 Last Window, The Secret of Cape West (DS)
#37 Stacking (PS3)
#33 L.A. Noire (PS3, 360)
#31 Portal (PS3, 360)
#29 Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney (DS)
#26 Heavy Rain (PS3)
#20 Still Life (XBOX)
#18 Myst (PS1, DS)
#17 Machinarium (to be released on PS3)
#15 Syberia (XBOX, DS)
#14 The Secret of Monkey Island (PS3)
#10 Portal 2 (PS3, 360)
#8 Monkey Island 2, LeChuck’s Revenge (PS3)
#5 Riven (PS1)
#4 Broken Sword, The Shadow of the Templars (PS1, Wii, GBA, DS)
I’ve only finished 11 of these! Time to get adventure gaming! Thanks for making this list AG!
I have a number of disagreements regarding the games included on this list, yet I say KUDOS! You included my top three AGs in the Top 10 (GK2, BS1 and GF, in that order) and many more of my favorites, giving top place to my beloved Grim Fandango.
That’s what matters. As an adventure gamer of 23+ years, I think this is a mighty list that will serve as a good guide for future adventure gamers.
Worst thing about the lists of any kind, is that kinda “force” the reader to try the items (games on this occasion) which scored very high on that ranking, while his or her favorite-to-be game might be hiding on the bottom of the list, even out of it..
Yes, that happens to me all the time with best-of lists, and that sucks.
Still, when we’re talking about adventure games, this list might be a nice guide for a newbie because there aren’t like thousands of adventure games out there, but much less I guess.
But when we’re talking about music or movies for example, man I DO hate lists.
My advice on a newbie adventure gamer: Just pick a theme you like FIRST (for example horror, mystery, exploration, puzzle etc) and THEN forget about the rankings and just skip randomly through the appropriate games on that nice list. You might be surprised!
After all, it would really suck if you “had” to try 84 other games first, to experience the unique yet unorthodox “The Dark Eye” , for example.
What a bad advice from immortalwind! If you are a newbie adventure gamer you should definitely try the top ranked games in this top. You will have little to lose. You will try the best games of this genre and in the meantime you will develop your tase in adventure gaming as you play.
That was a really great ride down memory lane.
I approve (most ) of the list. But in the end, this isn’t so much a list of the best, but a list of games we loved and still love.
Thank you for making this and creating a new list after the so old one.
*11 thumbs up*
Totally disagree with you small dickie. If I were newbie and the first adventure game I tried was Broken Sword which ranked 4 on this list, I would probably never try another one.
But I didn’t. Instead, for me it was Riven and Grim Fandango that really got me into adventure gaming.
It all comes down to taste… and luck.
A lot of talk about Grim Fandango.
It is a great game (like most on the list), but it did come with a few flaws.
I hope Telltale will make a remake, just without the (awful) keyboard control and with (like any other game) hotspots.
Then it will be number 1! (or at least near number 1)
PS Machinarium higher than Myst, the mother of the 1st person adventure game? Ouch!
Very pleased to read such a comprehensive awards list. You were right to commit to 100, and not just 20 or even 10.
Also happy to see ‘Feeble Files’ on the list although I’m sad it was placed so low. I loved that game and very nearly completed it.
However there was a bug which made it possible to be unable to finish the game.
Without spoiling anything, the problem was that late in the game Feeble was in a location where he could leave without picking up a crucial item needed later. After leaving that location, he couldn’t return.
I played the original 4 CD version of the game so this bug might have been fixed but in any case, the solution is to just backup your save every time you finish.
Which you should do out of paranoia anyway. It’s a looooong game
Hi There,
there is no doubt about this order which was verified between classic games until the least very new ones, but i wonder does anyone here really agree that (the beast within) should take more credits the (sins of fathers) ..? How??
and one thing;
how come i didnt notice any LSL’s at this list at all ? , i Believe the 2 and 3rd parts should have been somewhere from 1-100 Adventures !
I can’t answer why you didn’t notice any LSL’s on the list, since there is one.
yea u r right its 71 , thanks.. i must have missed it
Mark1976 “PS Machinarium higher than Myst, the mother of the 1st person adventure game? Ouch!”
Well, agreed but… who knows, maybe Machinarium will be the mother of a new adventure era. At least, I hope so.
Excellent list. I think I have a set to-play list for the next long while.
immortalwind i it really hurts ! agree…, but i see also lots of other “OUCHs” around , we should have the chance to another round ,lol , something like a Poll for those Hundred
The list has now been linked at Kotaku, on their front page, which is pretty cool!
I don’t really care about lists normally, and this one is decent even if I disagree with lots of things.
But seriously Fahrenheit… better than Toonstruck or IHNM?
Why Portal is listed as an Adventure game? In that case Metroid Prime should be listed it has more adventure elements than Portal.
And a whole lot more combat. Apples and oranges. Portal is eligible for all the reasons we’ve specified since we started covering it. You’re welcome to look them up.
I enjoyed this list very much! Thanks for all the hard work put into it. I’m sure I’ll be referring to it when I need a game recommendation
Any reason why Machinarium (runner up in 2009 AGGIES) nails #17 on the list and Tales of Monkey Island (Winner 2009 AGGIES) is not mentioned at all?
Was it because of the hype that Tales won the 2009 AGGIES? Or the fact that Monkey Island was already featured 3 times in the TOP100 that Tales didn’t make it?
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the fact that Machinarium should be in the TOP100 and Tales not, simply because it’s really something different and therefore rightfully deserves a spot in the TOP100, but should Machinarium also not have won the 2009 AGGIES aswel then?
Different criteria. Tales was thoroughly enjoyable at the time, but it’s part of an already impressive series that’s well represented, and it doesn’t really distinguish itself above the others as an all-time achievement, whereas Machinarium is far more memorable even a couple years later. There are other possible factors too. New staff turnover since then that hold Machinarium more highly, more people having played the game than had at the time, etc.
Good top (it’s rare) but I think you have forget games that should be in top 100 before nancy drew for example: Prisoner of ice and Kyrandia.
@Jackal,
That makes sense. I was just suprised by the relatively high ranking of Machinarium and not winning the Aggies of 2009
Also why not Zac mac Krakhen?
Guys !
Where are the :
- Dracula series ?
- Necronomicon
- The Legend of the Prophet and the Assassin
- The secret of alamut
Comeonnnnn
Leaving away the ranking would take some fun away.
But then again the numbers really hurt more than they do good, imho.
I wouldn’t mind having a top ten or twenty and the rest presented more equally.
Because really, any kind of ranking can only be arbitrary and will lead to arguments. Which brings us back to the fun part and brings me here. 
Nonetheless: Thank you for the list and here is a suggestion for the next time, in case you want to do a ranking again. (Most probably.)
Perhaps make two lists. One where historical importance for the genre and innovations in gameplay are taken into account, (perhaps not ranked, simply a timescale) and one where every jurymember can shove that thought overboard and simply rate by fun/fear/headaches/immersion/whatever. Ok, Nostalgia will always play a part.
Even keeping one list, but openly showing two ratings could help understand the decision better. You already did a decent job, though, showing us the reasoning behind each decision.
Even so I got the feeling that the historical importance of some games was acknowledged or got them into the list in the first place while the one of others seemed to be neglected.
As for Portal: I haven’t played the second game but really enjoyed the first. I understand your reasoning for covering it here and applaud that.
Still I have to agree with those who say it doesn’t really fit into this list.
A very well thought-out list from the AG editorial team. The quality and consistency of writing in each of the entries is superb. And it can’t have been easy making a lot of those agonising decisions that inevitably push some personal favourites out of the list altogether.
Funnily, I had read through all the way to the top 10 (on the eve before it was published), then just got caught up in other things and didn’t read the final entries till just this evening. I was delighted to see most of my all-time personal favourites there, including Pandora Directive which is my #1 (IMO, it often doesn’t get the credit it deserves). And The Last Express!
As an aside, I was mightily chuffed to see that your screenshot for Gabriel Knight 3 (with Gabe in silhouette in the church) was from my original Games Domain review of the title when it first came out (though in retrospect, my review was… a bit over-exuberant. But, hey, we live and learn). Wherever did you find it? I recovered the review text and most of the screenshots from the Wayback Machine, but that was the one shot I couldn’t retrieve. I might just grab it back :-)
WHERE. THE. HELL. IS. SHENMUE?!?!?!?!?!
Probably hanging out with all the other action-adventures that weren’t considered for this list.
Was “Lost Eden” considered and did not make the Top100 or does it fall outside the Adventure category?
I remember playing this many years ago and it was quite nice
Lost Eden was definitely eligible for the list; just didn’t make it.
What a fun list! I was delighted to see Riven and The Longest Journey in the top ten, especially since neither game received the popular recognition it deserved. The Longest Journey sold well in Europe but not in the US (which is why the sequel took so long to produce), while Riven never approached the number of sales it deserved. The Longest Journey is still wonderful to play; I play it at least once a year and am playing it again now. About Riven, people need to know that it’s available for the iPhone/iPod, and it’s a wonderful iPhone experience. I play it all the time on my phone and it’s great to always have it in my pocket. If it sells well, Cyan might be persuaded to create an HD iPhone/iPad version.
I’m surprised “Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon†didn’t make it. It was not only an excellent game but was one of the few adventure games with a full, exciting, well-rounded ending. And, I’m surprised Dreamfall was on the list, and at as high a rating as 52. The sequel to The Longest Journey was delayed for lack of funding and it shows. Despite implementation of a 3-D environment, Dreamfall’s world seems far smaller and much more constricted than the world of The Longest Journey. And, it’s notorious for its spectacular lack of an ending. Dreamfall is not really a game; it’s a quarter of a game that leaves the impression it was never finished because Funcom stopped funding its development.
I agree that The Sleeping Dragon should have gotten a spot in this Top100. Probably somewhere in the lower half. It had excellent production values and I remember that Charles Cecil really tried to re-invent the Adventure genre with this game. We can all agree it was not a full success, especially due to some repetitive puzzles, but the gameplay felt more physical also due to some nice QTE’s. This was before Heavy Rain or Fahrenheit.
Coincidently Tornquist also tried to “re-invent” the genre a couple of years later with Dreamfall.
I think that both games, though they did not fully achieve their objective, deserve a spot in the Top100.
I know “Sleeping Dragon†was criticized for the box-moving puzzles, but I’m probably the only person who actually enjoyed those.
Also, I just downloaded “Broken Sword: Director’s Cut†to my iPhone and it’s fantastic! I’m almost shocked at how well the game works on the iPhone and how much fun it is, especially considering all of the detail and animation. If anyone wonders why I’m taking hour-long coffee breaks, “Director’s Cut†is the reason.
Speaking of “Broken Sword,†what’s the consensus on “The Angel of Death?†I thought it was so uninteresting that I never finished it. Should I give it another try? I enjoyed “Sleeping Dragon†so much that I was really looking forward to it and was disappointed when it came across as gray and dull, almost the opposite of the lightness and brightness of “Sleeping Dragon.â€
@Jackal: Oh, I see. lol. xD My bad.
Are we going to get a list of honourable mentions who didn’t quite make it? The biggest surprise for me is the omission of the Kyrandia series.
Just about every game that got serious consideration has been included in the alternate recommendations. Not in any kind of order, obviously, but that was one of the reasons for including them. Fun fact: Kyrandia did actually make the list before Book of Unwritten Tales was released and bumped it.
Ah, I’d choose Kyrandia over the Book of Unwritten Tales any day, but I do admit that it hasn’t aged that well, especially the first game. Is this list final or are there going to be occasional alterations to it eventually?
The plan is to revisit the list every year-end to keep it updated. Not with a big countdown like this, but each year a new list replacing the current one.
Okay, I’ve just finished “Azrael’s Tear”.
First of all, how in the name of seven hells it may be considered even remotely similar to “Amnesia: Dark Descent”?
Secondly, while I by no means state this to be a perfect game… why isn’t it in top100? I mean, it’s definitely NOT WORSE (and I personally consider it to be quite a bit better) than “Zork: Nemesis” (which is as high as being right in the middle of the list), for all it matters.
Tl;dr: Any chance it might get a closer examination by your team for the next year’s corrections to this list?
Who said the games are similar? As I pointed out already, the heading says “You might also like”. And the same people who like free-exploration 3D games with a touch of danger and action may well like both. The secondary recommendations are really a way to get other good games some exposure they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Are the associations a reach sometimes? Maybe. The alternative is to leave them out entirely. Would that be better? Revisiting AT isn’t a priority for future updates, but it is one I want reviewed on the site, so I hope to get to it at some point. We’ll see if it makes the cut if/when we do.
