Independent Gaming

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Top 20 freeware adventure games released in 2006 (roughly). [show all twenty entries on one page, part 1 only]

11. Dungeonman 3
12. A Cure for the Common Cold
13. The Winter Rose
14. The Marionette
15. Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
16. Nearly Departed
17. Trilby's Notes/6 Days a Sacrifice
18 - 20. 1213 Episode 1, 2, 3

Best Browser Adventure Game Category:

11. Dungeonman 3

Dungeonman 3 is another sequel to Videlectrix popular text-based adventure, but this time they have included awesome jaw-dropping graphics and animation. You're bound to be impressed by the gorgeous backgrounds and detailed character portraits.

If that isn't going to floor you, then the humor and poor usage of fake Old English will. The game is rather short and easy puzzles are of no help, but what you get in return is a satisfying experience and an amazing tribute to classic adventure titles from the past.

Name: Dungeonman 3
Developer: Videlectrix
Type: Browser Adventure Game
[ play now in new browser window | walkthrough ]

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Bit Too Early/Too Late Category:
November 2005/January 2007 releases.

12. A Cure for the Common Cold

A Cure for the Common Cold is a short AGS adventure game by Marina Siu-Chong, also currently developing The Hatmaker's Tale.

After spending years as a starving artist, you've managed to catch the eye of a influential gallery director. He wants to see some new work, and you've got a terrible cold that is draining your creativity. You'd better find a cure for the common cold, and fast!

Name: A Cure for the Common Cold
Developer: MashPotato
Size: 3.89 MB
[ direct download link | walkthrough ]

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13. The Winter Rose

The Winter Rose is an excellent adventure game by Alex van der Wijst which took a year and a half to develop. The story is about Rose, a young archer on a quest to save her father and rid the land of the evil ice-dragon.

For a solo effort, the game does showcase excellent use of limited resources. Backgrounds are hand-painted, and a lot of nice touches have been added to create the right atmosphere. The animation is great, snowflakes are beautifully animated, and throwing in footprints is genius.

But what is most impressive about the game is the writing. Every item has a description based on your actions, a feat rarely seen in other AGS titles. You will be rewarded with quite a few chuckles if you attempt to click on everything you see, because of the witty script.

Verdict? Fans of classic adventure games won't be disappointed with this one.

Name: The Winter Rose
Developer: Alex van der Wijst
Size: 8.28 MB
[ direct download link | walkthrough ]

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14. The Marionette

In The Marionette, you play as a struggling sculptor named Martin. One evening he finds in his mail a strange white envelope, unmarked except for the number '1011' written in the top right corner. Inside is a photograph of a room with ropes hanging from the ceiling. He has barely registered that fact when he is struck unconscious, and later wakes to find himself in completely unfamiliar surroundings, with only a house nearby to offer any hope of help...

Name: The Marionette
Developer: Team Effigy
Size: 13.1 MB
[ direct download link | walkthrough ]

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Demo Category:
Short demo versions of full games, scheduled to be released in 2007.

15. Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World is a new adventure series from Naphtalite Productions, featuring a slightly absentminded titular character, his sidekick and an accompanying robot.

Graphically reminiscent of classic 2D LucasArts titles, a verb coin called The Badgotron is used for interaction with objects and characters. The story kicks off with a rescue mission, but soon after Kaptain Brawe finds himself branded as a fugitive from justice for a crime he did not commit.

Name: Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
Developer: Naphtalite Productions
Size: 21.7 MB
[ direct download link | walkthrough ]

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16. Nearly Departed

Nearly Departed is an adventure game made using a relatively new scripting engine named LASSIE. As a professional illustrator working for Disney, John Green has done an amazing job with the graphics for this upcoming release.

The final version will include voice acting. No full screen option for the demo, unfortunately.

Name: Nearly Departed
Developer: John Green
Platform: PC, Mac
Size: 16.3 MB
[ direct download link | walkthrough ]

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The Special Edition Category:
Special editions for each of these games are for sale.

17. Trilby's Notes and 6 Days a Sacrifice (note: released in January 2007)

18, 19, 20. 1213 Episode 1, 1213 Episode 2, 1213 Episode 3

Walkthroughs: Trilby's Notes and 6 Days a Sacrifice

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The OROW Category (Best Three):
The Heist, A Gunshot in Room 37, The Loathesome Man [The Heist, A Gunshot in Room 37, The Loathesome Man review]

The 'Too Difficult' Category:
What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed

The 'King's Quest' Bandwagon Category:
The Silver Lining, King's Quest III

The 'Ben Jordan' Category:
Ben Jordan Case 5, Ben Jordan Case 1 Deluxe, Sven Gordan Paranormal Parody

'Narrowly Missed It' Category:
Sydney Finds Employment, The House That Ate My Soul, Chicken vs. Road, The Game That Takes Place on a Cruise Ship

Labels: adv2006

Posted at 8:18 AM by Tim

Recent Comments

Top 20 Adventure Games: Part 2 Where's Part 1? I'm guessing part 1 is coming up. Brilliant, brilliant! Can't wait for part 1... I'll blog you as soon as everything is ready. Cheers! Isn't The Marionette still at demo stage? Hallway of Adventures and was easily the best OROW game. Common Cold is 2007 and Winter Rose 2005. Oh, I missed the too early/too late part. Reactor 9 was the best game 2006. Winter Rose, The I downloaded this game because I am a GREAT fan of point & click and the game is running ok (so far) but my problem is, I have no audio (failed to initialize). I have XP Media Center and I have changed compatability to OS95 and 640 x 480 res. Can anyone help? Thanks. Anybody knows where I can find a walkthrough for this game? I haven't found any walkthrus for The Winter Rose but if you go to this link (don't know why you can't click on it) www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk and then click on Hints & Tips on the left & then go to page 2 towards the bottom (there may be lots more but haven't checked), you will find SOME info on it. Might help. Good luck. i just thought i'd let you know.
under the recommended screenie of this game on the left hand side it says "the white rose" and not "the winter rose".

:) im not sure where to post this.
anyway, i love the animation in this game. News News So, does Underside use most of the graphics and possibly engine of Cave Story? Or is it all just recreated to look identical to Cave Story?

I'm confused. hmm.this seems to be another kings quest case. rather than earning your own fans, you go and steal the fans of a very famous game. hopefully this person won't get arrogant like some king's quest developers i won't mention. atleast underside has its own story. The Underside is made using MMF2 and none of the graphics. They are just very very similar. He's just making a game like a game that he loves...like what most people in the freeware scene do I guess... I WANT TO HAVE THE UNDERSIDES AUTHOR'S BABY! NOW, DAMMIT! omygod! the work of Paul Robertson looks awesome! such a wierd imagination, phew! makes me extremely happy to read so much comments today (and on other days as well) :) most people in the freeware scene don't make a game that make you shout CAVE STORY the 1st second you see it.
neither any other game.
there is nothing wrong with making a game like a game you love, just don't make the game you love.
if his game didn't look like a splitting image of cave story (except for his own bad character sprites), then i doubt we would even have heard of it by now. and you can bet a lot of people will download it JUST because it looks so much like cave story. i mean, some of those tiles look 100% copied from cave story, and then he just changed the colours, eg, those blue spikes were red in cave story.
the problem lies in the fact that his own sprites don't really fit in well with somebody else's tiles. The Underside does look an awful lot like a rip on Cave Story...

But it's The Podunkian! That's a name that means quality.

...Right? Actually, I thought the sprites were well made and fit right in with Cave Story's style, it's just kind of odd that someone would go to such a length to imitate someone else. Right now, all I can imagine is the creator sitting down and trying to plot down Cave Story pixel for pixel (no pun intended), but making little errors here and there.

Don't get me wrong, I'll definitely play this, but I think I'll end up having as much fun with it as I do while playing something like MUGEN, or Beats of Rage. Ok anonymous, if it ends up being a bad game, I'll take your side. well, it might be an awesome game, that's not the point . . . Wow. Now, I like Cave Story as much as the next guy, but this looks like a Great Giana Sisters-level ripoff... I have no problem with it personally. People want a sequel to Cave Story and maybe this is the closest thing they will get. If it plays well, who really cares.

As long as no undue credit is taken, there shouldn't be any problems. Pod may be a dick sometimes; but he wouldn't rip somone else's graphics. I've played an early version of the Underside (Pod's promised me a version to preview over at TIGS as well), and yes, it DOES feel a bit like Cave Story, only a bit more fast paced.

Also there's an early preview up over at www.clickzine.net. News Top 20 Adventure Games: Scores Indy got a 10 for visuals?! The graphics are old school, but very artistically done. I don't get it. Oh, that stood for 100. I was gonna say. My bad. I don't know what is so appealing in graphics of this game. Well, they look crappy, but are so lovely. That's probably because it reminds me my childhood (AMIGA games). News Also, The Shivah lands a review at The Onion A.V. Club, because they're that indie.

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Duty and Beyond	Wandering Adv.	79, 90, 92, 91	[352/400]
Reactor 09	Bernie	94, 89, 88, 91	[362/400]
Cedric	Bernie	96, 88, 90, 91	[365/400]
Spooks	The Ivy	85, 87, 86, 92	[350/400]
Knightsquire	buloght	88, 82, 86, 85	[341/400]
The Family Treasure	buloght	87, 85, 89, 85	[346/400]
Indiana Jones: FoY	Screen 7	99, 81, 81, 85	[346/400]
Automation	Mr Colossal	92, 84, 88, 81	[345/400]
Heartland	LimpingFish	96, 91, 66, 79	[332/400]
A Cure for the...	MashPotato	75, 73, 88, 77	[313/400]
The Winter Rose	BaRoN	88, 85, 90, 88	[351/400]
Trilby's Notes	Yahtzee	82, 92, 85, 92	[351/400]
6 Days a Sacrifice	Yahtzee	86, 89, 86, 86	[347/400]
1213 Episode 1	Yahtzee	66, 71, 63, 66	[266/400]
1213 Episode 2	Yahtzee	77, 84, 72, 77	[310/400]
1213 Episode 3	Yahtzee	83, 85, 72, 83	[323/400]
The Heist	AJA and MadReizka	85, 75, 65, 70	[295/400]
Hallway of Adv.	Wandering Adv.	96, 85, 97, 90	[368/400]
Linus	Vince Twelve	92, 88, 79, 83	[342/400]
King's Quest III	Infamous Adv.	78, 70, 71, 75	[294/400]
Ben Jordan Case 5	Grundislav	80, 80, 81, 80	[321/400]
Ben Jordan 1 Deluxe	Grundislav	81, 77, 75, 73	[306/400]
Sven Gordan	buloght	93, 81, 77, 80	[331/400]
Sydney Finds...	iSTVAN	83, 75, 86, 81	[325/400]
Chicken VS. Road	Strange Visitor	79, 86, 85, 85	[335/400]