20 Essential DOS Adventure Games (ft. The Game Show)

[@onaretrotip]

Let me know your favourite DOS era adventure games! And don't forget to check out Matt's excellent channel here: kzbin.info

[@cluckeryduckery261]

onaretrotip Hugo's house of horrors series. Very old school, text based not even point n click. Really campy murder mystery series. Fun games. I learned how to spell some long words at a young age due to those games lol

[@onaretrotip]

Not played that one, but I used to love the old text adventures on the BBC Micro.

[@wireboar7321]

Dune 1992, though I don't know if it qualifies as an adventure game so maybe dark seed

[@youremybiggestfan]

Full Throttle is probably of the most nostalgic ones for me

[@youjitsuhoneybadgers8322]

The older king quests where you had to write commands were awesome, they really helped me learn english and sparked creativity.

[@tonymontana822]

Legend of Kyrandia is also a must play.

[@onaretrotip]

Not tried that one. I'll have to check it out!

[@05KAR]

@@onaretrotip Seriously, the second one in trilogy "The Hand of Fate" is really good. First one is ok, but it has a one annoying maze and you can get stuck outside if you don't pick up some objects before. Third one is weird, it has some moments but it looks like poorly scripted.

[@Osprey850]

Yeah, I hoped for the inclusion of at least one of the trilogy. I liked all three and it's kind of hard to choose between them. I may have the fondest memories of the third one, though, because getting to play as the bad guy was so refreshing and his comments were quite funny. My brother and I still quote Malcolm to this day. 😆

[@Dwedit]

Kyrandia 2, Hand of Fate is an amazing adventure game. Zanthia is such a fun character.

[@andrewdelvalle4622]

I love the kyrandia series but it could be the nostalgia talking.

[@meltedplasticarmyguy]

The nostalgia is hitting hard right now, it hurts.

[@onaretrotip]

Time is a cruel mistress.

[@Ozzy3000]

Studies led to the conclusion that the coping strategies that are likely among nostalgia-prone people often lead to benefits during stressful times...

[@DezorianGuy]

Please get help.

[@Ozzy3000]

@@DezorianGuy Who and why?

[@lucasgabrieldelimagoncalve5015]

1:23 The Dig - 1995 Lucasarts 2:36 Cruise for a Corpse - 1991 Delphine 3:40 Discworld - 1995 Perfect 10/Psygnosis 4:38 Maniac Mansion - 1988 Lucasarts 7:20 Beneath a Steel Sky - 1994 Revolution/Virgin 8:14 Flight of the Amazon Queen - 1995 Interactive Binary Illusions 10:49 Shadow of the Comet - 1993 Infogrames 12:04 Sam & Max hit the road - 1993 Lucasarts 14:12 Lure of the Temptress - 1992 Revolution/Virgin 15:17 Laisure Suit Larry - 1987 Sierra 16:45 Indiana Jones & the fate of atlantis - 1992 Lucasarts 17:45 Simon the Sorcerer - 1993 Adventure Soft 19:17 Gabriel Knight sins of the fathers - 1993 Sierra 20:27 King's Quest VI - 1992 Sierra 21:52 Monkey Island - 1990 Lucasarts 22:53 It Came From The Desert - 1989 Cinemaware 24:33 Space Quest V - 1993 Dynamix/Sierra 25:30 Full Throttle - 1995 Lucasarts 26:52 Star Trek 25th Anniversary - 1992 Interplay 28:05 Quest for Glory shadows of darkness - 1993 Sierra

[@onaretrotip]

👀

[@pjgathergood6987]

Excellent video, gentlemen. As an old-school PC gamer, adventure games have long been my primary love (ever since the 'text only' adventures from my beloved BBC B as a young boy) and always remember that sadness in the late '90s when the genre very much crumbled away on a mainstream level. I'll copy-and-paste my thoughts on both channels, my thoughts on some of the entries (LONG post ahead... I keep threatening to start my own channel as I love this stuff so much) * The Dig: An interesting LucasArts entry that indeed experiments with the 'serious' route over the trademark 'wackiness'. I did get a copy of this some years later (early 2000s) but for some reason was one of the very few golden-era LucasArts games that I just couldn't get into. * Discworld: It's famed for it's difficulty, but maybe that's why I rank it as one of the best adventure games of all time (bearing in mind it was v rare for me never to finally complete one, in the days long before online walkthroughs). I actually purchased this game before I knew what Discworld actually WAS, but was blown away by the quality writing, the suitable graphic style, and beyond all the stellar voice cast. I actually beat this without walkthrough - the only bit that initially stumped me for a bit was simply down to obscure pixel hunting. The sequel was okay but I actually missed the challenge of the original and didn't like the more cartoonish graphics. * Maniac Mansion - along with Monkey Island, once of the benchmarks in the genre. I actually played the NES version first (I was only a brief NES owner as they lacked many adventure games), which generally is superior, especially in terms of music, but does have famous censorship issues. The PC version shown here is from a later enhanced CD version which does improve on the chunky graphics of the original. The whole layout of the game is great - I love how you're free to wander around the house, not being 'shoehorned' into situations as with so many adventure games, and whilst I as equally love 'Day of the Tentacle', I do wish they'd continued with the "choose your characters" thing as it makes for so much more chances of game outcomes. * Flight of the Amazon Queen - I remember buying this game mid '90s and then having to wait several years as I hadn't realised my PC specs at the time didn't meet requirements! :) Either way, a really nice game, very LucasArts influenced. The humour and dialogue sharpness is nowhere near the LucasArts level, but as an independent release, it's a definite "If like the LucasArts games then why not try this as well" entry. The only thing I recall is that I found the ended a bit of a damp squib (you don't even even the game flying the Amazon Queen IIRC)... oh and I'd never noticed the '36D BRA' on the side of the plane before now! * Shadow of the Comet - Has been on my list of "to play" adventures for a year or so after seeing it on several retro game channels. Looks great... and I intend to play it very soon. * Sam and Max - Just as you thought LucasArts couldn't get any wackier, along came this classic. Seriously wonderful, and I think the key with LucasArts is that they don't allow the 'wacky' to eclipse the content (as some wannabes sometimes did) so there's still a decent challenge in there. I agree with those who say plotwise it's not the strongest, but there's so many fun locations and characters to meet that this is easily forgivable. The only thing I felt let down on was the last stages of the game, with the Bigfoot convention, and the rather limp "...What was THAT?" ending which didn't match the heights of the general overall quality. I know there was, years later, the episodic download series, but I always longed for an official LucasArts sequel and never knew why they didn't make one. * Leisure Suit Larry - I remember when my dad bought our first PC home, a chunky 386 that he had acquired from work, and a box full of 5.1/4 floppies of a few copied adventure games (I was in haven). In amongst a few early Space Quests and Kings Quests I found LSL, and knew instantly it was 'naughty'. Whenever my parents were out for the evening (frustratingly rarely!) I would boot this up, bluff my way through the 'age verification' quiz, and enjoy this so much. But it wasn't simply because it was 'a bit naughty' - I'd had a few other cheeky games over the years and 10 mins after the novelty had worn off they were pretty boring; but Larry thrived on good writing and being very well executed. I've always felt the early, crude DOS graphics suit LSL so well, and the later VGA actually loses something. The text input interface also works very well with LSL as there's far more mischief to be had which becomes limited by point-and-click-only. I've played the whole series but still consider the original DOS entry the best. * Simon the Sorcerer - Amazingly never played it (Amazing as I KNOW I'll love it); along with Shadow of the Comet it's on my "to play this Winter" list (I have actually got an old floppy disk version but am holding out for the CD talkie version) * King's Quest VI - widely considered the best of the KQ series, I do love this one but KQ4 (a very under-dog entry that doesn't get mentioned as much) has always been my favourite by far as I was so engulfed in the fairly tale world it created and was so sad when it was finally over. KQ6 is still a goodie though - maybe I'm not as close to it as it was the only entry I didn't get to play originally, only finding it online (ahem) many years later. It's better than the Disney-fied KQ7 and the "In name only" final KQ game, though. * Monkey Island - along with Maniac Mansion, the other benchmark of adventure gaming (maybe even more-s). Wonderful on so many levels. I have to confess... I love MI2 even more (it's an age old debate) though both are golden classics. The third entry when the resurrect the series was pretty good though I didn't take to the slight shift in graphic style (a bit over-cartoony) and humour style, as the series traipsed on and felt need to go 3D (one of the nails in the coffin for the golden era of adventures) I didn't much like at all, but the first two, maybe even three, are some of LuscaArt's best ever output. By the way, I agree that the original DOS version is best (there's a later CD enhanced version I've never yet played); the HD remakes felt somehow hollow; the only decent thing with them is that you can flip to the original graphics and finally have a talkie version of the original game. * Space Quest V - Space Quest III is the first thing I ever played on that chunky old 386 my dad bought home from work, and I was blown away. I still regard it personally as the best in the series (and not just for nostalgia reasons), rivalled only by SQ4, which had a great time-travelling premise but seemed rather short for it's era. Oddly, like KQ6, SQV is the only one I didn't get to play originally, filling in the gap some years later, so again maybe that's why it doesn't top my list. Either way, although LucasArt's gets all the attention in retro reviews, Sierra's output, especially with the Space Quest series, isn't to be overlooked - beyond the infamous number of deaths, there are some really good concepts and some very funny moments in the series. * Full Throttle - Mixed feelings on this one, as it was from a time when the adventure market was starting to get the wobbles, and LucasArts clearly wanted to do 'something new' (which is fine) to try and recapture the market. As a result I find it a game with some okay elements but is unsure quite what it wants to be, is all over the place in terms of it's content and it's tone. It's also quite short (apparently midway through production the project was seriously curtailed). I wonder if I played this now if I'd take to it more - I lent my CD to a then-workmate many years ago and never got it back...! * Star Trek 25th Anniversary - Quote "There is exactly one good Star Trek game..." ...have you ever played ST:The Next Generation's 'A Final Unity'? A very similar adventure game, again with full voice cast and like 25th Anniversary, is AWESOME, one of my favourite adventure games ever. Anyway, 25th itself is wonderful - and I get the gist of the "only good ST game" in that the adventure genre lends itself so PERFECTLY to the franchise. I really loved playing this one; I also recall some sort of follow up with more missions, I'll have to read up and refres my memory on that one. So there's my lengthy thoughts on each. Recommendations for more? (This video needs a part two!) 'Day of the Tentacle', obviously, as it's legendary (you know what, I only ever played this on floppy, the final game before I got a CD drive... I should actually play the talkie version one day). * 'Toonstruck' - Virgin's early exploration into the point-and-click market which famously lost them loads of money and a compromised development history similar to Full Throttle, but starring Christopher Lloyd and good fun, worth checking out. * 'Gobliiins' - Very bizarre won't be everyone's cup of tea in terms of the puzzles involved but I really enjoyed it. * 'TeenAgent' is in the vein of 'Flight of the Amazon Queen' in that it is extremely LucasArts influenced, Amazon Queen maybe does it better but is still a charming indie game that should please old-school fans of the genre. * 'Grim Fandango' has hordes of fans, deservedly so for it's concept and storyline, though it marked the move to 3D which I never liked much in adventure games. * 'Alone in the Dark' - early (and not very nice) 3D graphics that were dated even when the game was released; however look past that and there is a serious scare-fest in this (one of the very few games ever to creep me out slightly). ...Lengthy review over. I really should start that damned KZbin channel I keep threatening, considering the time I seem to put in on the bloody comments section, it would be easier!! :)

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks for the in-depth comments and suggestions. As I said on the other video, I'll definitely have to check out Gobliiins. I've not heard of Toonstruck though! Grim Fandango as on the shortlist for this video until we realised that it wasn't released on DOS. Ha, I started out playing the old text adventures on the BBC too. I loved those. You should! The amount of time it took you to write that, you could have edited a whole video! Hahaha.

[@MattyStoked]

Heyyyy!

[@markosporn8315]

Really a walkthrough in adventure games..however in my opinion is the CMI best in series and an logical ending of journey . There's another item...Grim Fandango...hate cursor movement and 3d,but my they made a masterpiece regarding plot/actors/soundtrack/humour... just loving it btw,what is your opinion about "newer" adventures like "Whispered world" or "Vampyre story" or good ol' Syberia ?? Tnx for answering ... click on 😊😉

[@4Legacy]

Did you ever start a channel? If not, you really should!

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Just want you to know how much I appreciate this video Pete, this genre is one of my favorites and I could watch PC gaming vids like this all day!

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you so much, Marcus. Really pleased to hear that mate!

[@knivesron]

i agree. alot of these videos are too short imo.

[@Baergrillt]

Bud Tucker in Double Trouble and Space Quest where nice.

[@onaretrotip]

Not heard of that first one.

[@SchafjuanS]

Days of Tentacle.. such a nostalgic memories of my childhood..playing with 1.44 floppy disks.. greeting from Malaysia..

[@onaretrotip]

Hi! Day of the Tentacle is one of my all-time favourite games. So much fun. I had it on floppy originally too!

[@izzynobre]

What a wonderful video. Wow.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much!

[@ronaldoperes1202]

Great list, there are some of those games that I didn't know about Thanks

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you!

[@AmbientWalking]

Wow! Thanks for this. Really brings back a lot of memories!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks for watching!

[@Wasabialt]

Full list: Day of the Tentacle The Dig Cruise for a Corpse Discworld Maniac Mansion Beneath a Steel Sky Flight of the Amazon Queen Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet Sam & Max Hit the Road Lure of the Temptress Leisure Suit Larry 1 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Simon the Sorcerer Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father King's Quest VI The Secret of Monkey Island It Came From the Desert Space Quest V Full Throttle Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness

[@onaretrotip]

👌

[@danbauer3669]

I used to love these kind of games! I haven't played or even heard of many of the games you covered here but I did play and finish Sam & Max Hit The Road, Maniac Mansion (on NES), Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the Secret of Monkey Island, also Day of the Tentacle, King's Quest V, Space Quest IV. I remember playing Police Quest and Hugo's something haunted jungle or whatever, but I didn't beat those ones. Sometimes you needed a hint book or a friend who had played the game before you. Oh, yeah, and Willie Beamish was another I didn't get too far in. And Return to Zork was cool, but I couldn't beat it even with a guide. I also played a few of the Telltale games a few years back which seemed to be a modern return to this type of game, although none of them had the same magic that the older ones had. I played The Wolf Among Us, Walking Dead season 1 and Game of Thrones. There was no getting stuck in those games. But, yeah. Sierra and Lucas Arts were both great. And, sadly, both gone now. So is Telltale, but I don't care so much about them. Great video! Thanks for making it. Hit me right in the nostalgia's.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I quite liked some of the Telltale games, like Wolf Among Us, but yeah, not the same as the classic adventure games really. Those were the days.

[@avalonjustin]

Great video gentlemen. As a Canadian it makes me happy to hear our friends across the pond enjoy LucasArts classics I played growing up.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Funnily enough, they were much more popular across the pond (especially Germany).

[@TheInfiniteMiseryJumper]

What a FANTASTIC selection, top work lads! I was a Sierra kid, and I remember picking up a disc only copy of KQ6 from a computer auction my Dad was at...spent literally years going back to it and trying to complete the logic cliffs without the guide to the green Isles. 10 years later, when I was at uni I finally found a guide and completed it. Such great childhood memories.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you!

[@groovyshoos5200]

Would have loved to have seen Loom! It had such a unique control system and awesome story. The original packaging came with an audio tape with a story-book reading to bring players up to speed on the underlying story. Also loved the post apocalyptic world of Inherit the Earth.

[@onaretrotip]

Such a cool concept. Also love Mark Ferrari's box art, which he drew in coloured pencil!

[@nicolashrv]

There are several other Adventure games which are on my top list, and are a must: 1) BLACK MIRROR (for those who love Gabriel Knight, they will love this one, it has two sequels) 2) SECRET FILES: TUNGUSKA (for all the X-Files fans, it has 3 sequels) 3) BROKEN SWORD (I got all of them, the 5th on DVD was extremely hard to find!, only played the first 2 so far, they need the SCUMM engine to run on Windows 7 or up, and you also have to do some fugazzi with the directory names, in order for the game to run and the saved games to be readable) 4) POLICE QUEST (another sierra classic, it has 4 releases, but the first 3 are the usual 2D point and click) 5) NI BI RU (great story, a bit of x-files stuff in it) 6) GEMINI RUE (a sort of blade-runneresque environment) 7) SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ADVENTURE/THE AWAKENING (a mix of Lovecraft and Holmes, with a Cthulhu rituals involved! game is creepy as hell the more you progress) 8) SHERLOCK HOLMES: LOST FILES (similar graphics to Lure of the Temptress) 9) I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM (a bizarre futuristic horror game) 10) FUTURE WARS (a total classic, awesome story, involving time travel) 11) DARKSEED (another classic horror game, using the HR GIGER artwork as a paralel dimension where our character leaps into)

[@onaretrotip]

Good list! My favourite of those is Broken Sword, but that never got a DOS release.

[@knivesron]

theres a fan made broken sword 2.5. check it out if you like the rest. bs1 bs2 and bs5 are super good bs 3 is very meh and annoying push stuff around puzzles.

[@nicolashrv]

@@knivesron I really don't understand why they changed from 2D to those 3D horrible "alone in the dark-tomb raider" ripoffs (same with Indiana Jones)......this is what happenes when developers become corporations. They start to copy the same crap that is selling, so all games end up looking the same (happened with Prince of Persia, and Commandos too)

[@knivesron]

@@nicolashrv I think that was part of it, but 3d at the time was all the rage. I remember reading about bs3 and was blowen away, only to play it years later and be so depressed I've never played bs4. But bs5 was fantastic

[@istrate20009]

Hi, Out of your list, I strongly recommend : Black Mirror (attention it gets very horror towards the end, don't play it late at night) Gemini Rue (fantastic) I have no mouth and I must scream. Born in 84 writing hee

[@isd8894]

Alone in the Dark is my favorite DOS adventure game. Still playing it to this day on my 486DX4/120. 😀

[@onaretrotip]

Nice! I'd love a 486. Currently I just have a Pentium III set up, which kind of does it all, and plays DOS games well. But can't beat a 486.

[@nicolashrv]

CINEMAWARE games got remastered edition with improved graphics, but I still cannot get a hold on the IT CAME FROM THE DESERT! remake (I don't even know if it had......I do have 3 Stooges, Defender of the Crown, and Wings!.....I saw you can get it on STEAM, but I was hoping to find the physical copy)

[@onaretrotip]

I saw a display at an expo years ago that had physical copies, but that was before release. Not seen one since.

[@Gladson]

Full Throttle... my absolute favorite PC game of all time. I've finished it so many times, too bad it's way too short and a sequel was never released.

[@onaretrotip]

Great game.

[@acresir]

I remember playing Mixed-up Mother Goose (1987) back in the '90s. My grand-uncle had it on his 386. A sequel called Mixed-up Fairy Tales came out in 1991. He had it, but we never got around to it.

[@onaretrotip]

never heard of that one!

[@davejones6733]

Great video! I would like to add Dark Seed, Under a killing moon and Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! 👌

[@Kaiman_Gyoza]

One of my favorites is Toonstruck. It had such a unique Atmosphere to it - wacky and silly, but also grim and dark.

[@onaretrotip]

Ooh, not played that! Will have to check it out.

[@Kaiman_Gyoza]

@@onaretrotip you should! It's great!

[@akalyx]

i got this one on the winter steam sale

[@honestabe411]

I was a big fan of the Delphine game Future Wars

[@onaretrotip]

I've not played that one!

[@SuperHns]

There are good Star Trek games,, those 2 shooters (elite) made on the Quake engine are great xD

[@onaretrotip]

I'll need to try those then!

[@stigkenobi7525]

Glad to see It Came From the Desert getting a mention. It is grossly overlooked.

[@onaretrotip]

It sure is!

[@ryancantu2141]

Day of the Tentacle/Sam And Max are just nostalgia in can❤

[@onaretrotip]

Absolutely!

[@marcellosalis5063]

I think one can't leave Loom out of this list.

[@onaretrotip]

Loom so nearly made the cut, it was a tough decision. It was bumped at the last minute. The list would have had a lot more LucasArts games actually, but we obviously didn't want any one developer dominating the list too much.

[@marcellosalis5063]

@@onaretrotip could you please make an episode about RPGs?

[@onaretrotip]

Of course! I'll be doing almost every genre eventually.

[@wizarian]

Nice choice. Zak Mckracken, Indiana Jones and the last crusade and Future Wars deserve a spot.

[@onaretrotip]

LOL I could've easily had so many Lucasfilm adventures on the list, but we agreed to be selective.

[@Letstalkretro]

Great video guys. Loved all those point and click adventure games back in the day. A real trip down memory lane. 👍

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks mate! Me too. So many fond memories here for me.

[@kev25811]

Not a graphic adventure, but a text adventure. No game every captivated me more with its writing than Humbug by Graham Cluely. Just an absolute delight. Highly recommend.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, not heard of that one. Thanks!

[@moregamemusic]

Great list! :) One Favorite adventure series I miss here is the Tex Murphy series, It's not really a see the guy you are control type of game but still needs to be mentioned

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Not played the Tex Murphy series myself, but I'll check it out.

[@KX5Kat]

Adventures of Willy Beamish is great too

[@onaretrotip]

👍

[@thedutchretrogamer]

myst , the 7th quest, castle of dr brain, dragons lair, eco qeust, gobliins

[@onaretrotip]

👍

[@robinmattheussen2395]

Small thing I noticed: Simon the Sorcerer does not actually run on the SCUMM engine, it runs on the AGOS engine (which was developed by Adventure Soft itself). However, the source code to the engine was released publicly and the engine was incorporated into ScummVM, which is probably where the confusion stems from. (Additional note, the only games NOT supported by ScummVM in this list are Shadow of the Comet, It Came from the Desert, and Star Trek 25th Anniversary)

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, I see, thanks for correcting that.

[@WeiderMystic]

Sierra and LucasArts were the kings of game development back then (really the only ones if we're gonna be honest). KQ 5 and 6, Zeliard, Monkey Island, Zack McKracken, and the Indiana Jones games were all legendary.

[@onaretrotip]

Definitely!

[@HaraldSeebus]

I got stuck on Beneath a Steel Sky back in the day. Thanks for pointing out it's free on GOG so I can have a go at it again!

[@onaretrotip]

Good luck :)

[@SuperHns]

ooh man Discworld 1 is so ffin great,

[@onaretrotip]

:)

[@ndowroccus4168]

Adventure Construction Set and Mail order Monsters…soooooooo classic

[@onaretrotip]

😃👍

[@zartdart]

What "Murder, She Wrote" episode would have a plot focusing on ritualistic voodoo murders?

[@onaretrotip]

Don't underestimate Jessica Fletcher!

[@cluckeryduckery261]

Ahhh excellent! Was waiting for this one. I was an adventure game junkie as a kid.

[@onaretrotip]

Me too!

[@ukeyaoitrash2618]

Star trek are two games. There is 25th anniversary, and judgement rites, which is a whole other game and is the one with the cd-rom version with the voice cast ;) Both are great! And there are some other good star trek games! like elite force 1 and 2 ;) Or starfleet command 2 ;)

[@onaretrotip]

I've been getting much more into Star Trek in recent years, so I need to check out more of the games.

[@SEGAZombie]

Superb video Pete and Matt, and this has wetted my appetite in point and click adventures my favourites are the mainstream as it’s a genre that I never really delved to deep in back in the day but boy I’m going to definitely be putting some serious time in playing some of these games

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Scott! Mate, there are some absolute gems here, and I hope they grace your Mega PC in the future.

[@MattyStoked]

Thanks mate! It's mainly Pete. All I did was turn up and shout my wack opinions.

[@onaretrotip]

Shut up, it was half and half mate.

[@jwalkerblck]

great stuff, you guys should do a follow up, 20 more I'd say. Adventures of Willy Beamish was not a fun game but is unique, Quest for Glory 1 remake is gold, King Quest 5 has some beautiful moments, but most of all Loom had a unique mechanic with musical notes that was so damned cool, and paired with the creepy world Loom was just pure magic. I'd definitely have put that in this first 20. So yes, 20 more please! Thank you guys we are cut from the same cloth.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! A follow-up isn't likely because it took so long to organise and put together. A lot of great adventure games that we sadly had to cut from the episode. Picking just twenty was so hard!

[@RealPi]

I love how the background music throughout is from Maniac Mansion 😆

[@onaretrotip]

It's the sequel actually - Day of the Tentacle. Love that game!

[@dudstep]

I would also recommend Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Serrated Scalpel. It's got a great art style, involving story, and memorable music. It's one of my favourites.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, not played that! Thanks for the recommendation.

[@MattyStoked]

I picked this up boxed in my local Oxfam for 99p this year. Was very pleased about that!

[@dudstep]

I'd love to get a boxed version.

[@onaretrotip]

99p! 😮

[@dannastic7160]

Excellent video!! I have to admit being more partial to SQ3, but SQ5 is objectively the best (which I also love). I was surprised to see LSL1 of all things, that is not a very good game... LS7: Love for Sail, though, is actually one of Sierra's finest adventure games in my opinion (being risqué aside). Anyway, great selections, and made me realize that I really need to play Shadow of the Comet some day! Keep up the great work, love your channel!

[@pjgathergood6987]

I'd actually agree that I prefer SQ3, followed by SQ4 (the time-travel plot was great but the game seemed a bit short for it's era). I'd have to champion LSL though. It's the original, the iconic. The crude early DOS graphics work in it's favour (it makes it somehow more seedy) and I even like the text input, as it opens up far more avenues for mischief which is limited by point-and-click. I've played and love all of the LSL series, but I probably would point to the first one as the best overall.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Everyone will have their favourites from series like Space Quest and LSL, but I always had a soft spot for the first game. I'm glad you liked the picks, and that Matt has inspired you to play SOTC. Thanks, I'll certainly try :)

[@MattyStoked]

Hey man, glad my choice made an impact. I didn't tell Pete I was putting in SotC until after I'd recorded it. It was a gamble and I'm glad it paid off!

[@starbuck]

Used to love these games, on my 486, great stories.

[@onaretrotip]

Good times indeed!

[@sekaisekai3568]

Hmm, maybe Beneath a steel sky, Under a killing Moon, Kyrandia 1&2 are worth mentioning too?

[@onaretrotip]

So many great ones. Was hard picking only 10 each!

[@darkavenger0000]

I did not like much Lure of the Temptress. Also, I played Discworld very late (2020, after the pandemic) and got hugely dissapointed by that game: I just liked the setting (the city of Ankmorpork) and the OST for the game. The puzzles were way convoluted and too "moon logic", mostly being done just by trial and error until you got something done. But the game gives almost no clue to most of them. The only good thing about that game was that made me interested on the world: after playing it, I went to read at least 3 books: The color of Magic, The light fantastic and Guards! Guards!. In fact, most of the plot of the game (revolving around a dragon getting summoned by a "secret society) is taken from this book, with some other small things from Color and light.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I was never a fan of having to resort to trial and error; there should be some sort of solvable logic to the puzzles.

[@darkavenger0000]

@@onaretrotip Take Monkey Island 2 as an example: That game has some of the hardest and most convoluted puzzles on an adventure game, but they have a kind of "twisted logic" on their own: If you want the carpenter to leave his shop, you need to cut that pirate peg's leg. Even the infamous Monkey wrench puzzle, that did not translate well to other languages! Spanish is my first language and people have complained about that puzzle, because it's not very obvious or it doesn't have any kind of hint for us. But there is a hint! I remember (in the OG, not the Special Edition) that there was a BOOK in Phatt City library that mentioned something about using monkeys as a wrench (again, in spanish). I found that book long before having to use the little guy to get past the waterfall.

[@omicroneridani7456]

An (undeservedly) unsung hero of this genre is by all means Conquests of the Longbow, by Sierra: one of the most brilliant, complete and fascinanting adventure games ever. Do try it, it's very likely to enthrall your interest for years and years. Why is that? Replayability, gentlemen... a key factor in every adventure game, as you may already know.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, not played that one!

[@omicroneridani7456]

@@onaretrotip Give it a try, mate, delve deep into its spirit and the many paths you can take, as you progress. I can't see that game not winning you over!

[@ftuT]

Nicely done. PnC's were my cup of tea back in the day. No love for live-action ones? Were there all Windows? Grabiel Knight freaked me out, specially the evil voodoo doctor and when his uncle dies. The 2nd one was a favorite of mine too, with all its live-action campiness from the era. I suffered too much finishing King's Quest V, so I remember it more as a traumatic experience. I found VI friendlier. I don't get why nobody loves VII, I don't remember finishing it, but the Disney feel was a great change, IMO. I remember fondly other ones, though I don't know if they hold up. There was a Ring World series, there was a Ripley's Riddle of Master Lu, The Orion Conspiracy was similar to The Dig. I never finished The Dig, still have it on GOG and Steam to tie that loose end. I guess for a reason you're not counting the CD-ROM Zork games? I know it has its flaws, but Return to Zork has a special place in my heart and Inquisitor is very funny. And no Broken Sword? How could you? PS: Aren't you cheating with Full Throttle, being a Windows game?

[@onaretrotip]

Don't think I've played any live action ones TBH. No, not cheating with Full Throttle; it was released on DOS and Windows, as were many of these games here. Broken Sword however was not; that was Windows only.

[@detectingretro6313]

My favourite video of yours so far. So many of my all time favourites. Are there 2 or you narrating? It’s hard to tell!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Hahahaha. Matt is the one whose voice over sounds good.

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

I realize that the Scumm bar in Monkey Island, is a reference to the SCUMM engine used by Lucas Arts, that started with Maniac Mansion. Scumm is also used as the name of the virtual machine used to play a growing library of classic point n click adventure games for preservation.

[@croquette_fr]

Good selection. There are a few that I have to try. I have played a few of Lucasart games in the last 5 years, and I found that Indy's Last Crusade and Fate of the Atlantis were quite hard. I also played Zac Mc Kracken, a very good game, but also very frustrating when after 6 hours you realise that you are stuck because of something you did wrong during the first half hour. In Indy's Last crusade, if I remember correctly there are 3 books to pick up in the library, if you don't do that you have to go through a lot of fights which are almost impossible to survive to. The same goes in the castle, you have to do everything you can to avoid fights, but if you are unlucky and already engaged a fight and have no previous savegame, you are almost doomed. And I also remember a scene in the Zeppelin where you have to walk on the metal structure and avoid guards that took me forever to go through, even though I had the walkthrough open on another computer...

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I'm really not a fan of adventure games where you can get stuck due to missing something earlier in the game.

[@samljer]

First adventure game i played with a 1 hour epic on a BBC. to this day i dont remember its name, or even most of its story but i do remember the love i had for it id love to find it again.

[@onaretrotip]

I loved those text adventures on the BBC.

[@veganfoodsYOUTUBE]

Right on I only played myst in the 90's along with more new somewhat casual point and click. Speaking of adventure and retro titles I remember finding a Game Boy game in a sandbox on the playground and it was wizards and warriors. Played still after we blew most of the sand out.

[@onaretrotip]

Hahaha awesome!

[@ELMAE1979]

Star Trek Judgement Rites is a far superior sequel to 25th Anniversary. You should play it.

[@onaretrotip]

I should!

[@alexb3d]

Extraordinaria selección de juegos ¡Gracias!

[@onaretrotip]

¡Gracias!

[@matthewquinney1628]

Flight of the Amazon Queen, Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2, Indiana Jones was my childhood

[@onaretrotip]

Good times! :)

[@MattyStoked]

Can we please have 20 Essential DOS Space Shooters? Thanks again for this Pete, was loads of fun mate.

[@onaretrotip]

Ooh, nice idea! Not sure it'll be twenty mind.

[@Matropolis]

Ah so many of these I still need to play! Great vid gents 😀

[@onaretrotip]

Nice. Definitely a good selection here for a point & click fan like yourself, mat. Thanks mate!

[@PixelsLtd]

Great video, have played most of those games and can also highly recommend them. I especially love the old LucasArts adventures, my favourites are probably Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Sam! The old LucasArts games are my favourites by far too. I'd say my favourites are the first two Monkey Islands and DOTT.

[@PixelsLtd]

Ooh yes I love the Monkey Island games as well. I'm a massive Pirates of the Caribbean (as in the Disney ride) which it was based on. Fantastic humour in those games.

[@onaretrotip]

Haha yeah I love that ride too.

[@rayceeya8659]

The first one I ever got into was Dagger of Amon Ra. But this genre is one of my favorites. More recently I played the Blackwell series and I can't recommend it enough.

[@onaretrotip]

I've not played those, thanks for the recommendations!

[@michatroschka]

are those all playable with scumm vm or something else?

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, most if not all will be playable in SCUMMVM and/or DOSBox.

[@michatroschka]

@@onaretrotip great, thanks!! id like to play on scummvm on my phone, any hints where to get the games for that? ;)

[@donwald3436]

Did Cruise For A Corpse rip fof The Colonel's Bequest?

[@onaretrotip]

No idea!

[@Nikolalana]

I will include this games to the list: DARKSEED I and II IGOR: OBJETIVO VIKOKAHONIA PRISONER OF ICE FUTURE WARS

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[@bizarroman69]

You forgot "The Legend of Kyrandia", "Freddy Pharkas" and "Prisoner of Ice"... those are the one on top of my head, but you can allways do a part 2 :D Regards from Argentina

[@onaretrotip]

¡Hola! It wasn't that we forgot, as I said we spent ages narrowing down the list to twenty (which was really hard). I don't think I'll be doing a part 2, but there are certainly a lot more great DOS adventure games!

[@bizarroman69]

@@onaretrotip Just kidding ;) It's nice to have a reply from you though. Totally worth it! Regards

[@onaretrotip]

@@bizarroman69 Any time!

[@NunoGuitarsSilva]

Great vídeo, and we are in the same page: the Dig is till today the best Adventure game ever. 😊

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you!

[@frilansspion]

great atmosphere - helluva lot of different crystals though.

[@quonomonna8126]

space quest 5 was my favorite in the series because I got to be captain of a ship with a crew....haven't played 6 yet!

[@onaretrotip]

I never really clicked with Sierra's adventure games, sadly.

[@ndowroccus4168]

(Not on list) I spent more hours creating my own game (Ultima clones) with Commodore64s “Adventure Construction Set” (looking back, I see how limited it was, but when I was 12/13 I thought I was creating a real adventure game!). “Racing Construction Set” was also cool, being able to change gravity and speeds…anyway - “Adventure Construction Set” (ACSea - Electronics Arts maker - I remember that kid screen like I remember my first girlfriend), you were able to create thumbnails and stats for items and monsters, was very engaging and pulled you in, as a youngster.

[@onaretrotip]

Those construction sets were really cool at the time. Not that I had the patience to get much out of them really.

[@choboutube]

I only ever finished one, Heart of China.

[@onaretrotip]

That's one I haven't played! Any good?

[@mogmaximus]

The world was so much better back then, whyyyyyy can't the world just have gotten stuck somewhere in the 90ies!?! life would have been so much better

[@onaretrotip]

Good times indeed.

[@pelimies1818]

Great stuff. IJ&FotA was a real adventure. Still, Blade Runner from 1997, is my favourite click&point. It's so well made, it's piece of art, more than a game.

[@onaretrotip]

I still haven't played Blade Runner. I have an old PC set up for playing DOS/90s Windows games, so I should give it a whirl soon.

[@pelimies1818]

@@onaretrotip Steam has just released a different version of this game. And it suck. Go for original.

[@SAM-ru4vx]

Ever get around to playing the original *Rogue* games with the ASCII art style or the classic gold box D&D games?

[@onaretrotip]

No, I've never played them!

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

No _Broken Sword_ ? For shame, sir, for shame! ("I'm innnocent, I'm a American!" "Make up your mind!")

[@onaretrotip]

Haha we actually had it on the shortlist (it's one of our favourites), until we realised it wasn't released on DOS!

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

Ah, I wasn't aware of that! (I only played the version for the "Classic" Mac and the - very, _very_ broken - version for the GBA)

[@MattyStoked]

Broken Sword is my favourite adventure game. I had a really gushy script written out for it until Pete pointed out that it's not on DOS. Another day!

[@YarisTex]

@@onaretrotip The DOS version is called Circle of Blood.

[@onaretrotip]

@@YarisTex As far as I'm aware Circle of Blood is the North American title, but it still never came to DOS.

[@GRose-kj4gu]

I remember when i was a kid, there's was this game where's a man was trapped in a room with a burning door... or the room was burning i don't know, well, the objective was to find a key to get out of the room or something like that. The room had no windows.

[@onaretrotip]

Hmm. Doesn't ring a bell.

[@iPlayGamespl]

I love your msdos series allways lots of good games which I play back in 90s 😍. On this episode I reckon just one game Sam & max hehe.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Paweł! Good memories. Sam & Max was awesome mate.

[@_Thrackerzod]

I have to object to there being only one good Star Trek game. There were a couple of fun text adventures that I used to play (The Kobyashi Alternative and The Promethean Prophecy), I enjoyed Klingon Honor Guard and DS9 The Fallen, Elite Force 1 and 2 were great, Starfleet Academy and Bridge Commander, and I'm sure there are more. There are lots of good Star Trek games! :)

[@onaretrotip]

I've never played a Star Trek game, so can't comment LOL

[@Hypernova-ug4ob]

great content guys thanks

[@onaretrotip]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@Nikolalana]

You forgot to add all characters in Shadow of the Comet are based on real actors (Vincent Price, Nicholson, etc...)

[@onaretrotip]

Oh well...

[@vittekantilles4178]

Great Video! And and could you include ever single Lucasfilm/arts Adventure but that's just a middleslot of a bingocard at this point, they are that good. And I Hope they eventually will be a 20 a more essential DOS adventures at one point! And I had to go with my fav. DOS adventure game that wasn't listed here it would have have been Simon the Sorcerer 2.

[@onaretrotip]

Oh, absolutely. There were many great LucasArts adventures that we had to bump off the list, as we didn't want one developer dominating it too much. You're right though, we could easily do another 20!

[@frilansspion]

Great list! Lure of the Temptress I have to check out, I missed that one. Id have picked one of the Police Quests 1-3 or the Colonels Bequest instead of Larry, The former did a pretty unique thing with the manual integration and procedures, and the latter with real-time event structure, that they dont get credit for that much.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you!

[@Epictronics1]

Love this video, you guys should make another video adding some more games to your list. 21-40?

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Unlikely I'm afraid, but we had fun doing this. Always love working with Matt, he's awesome.

[@dan44zzt231]

One of my favourites is Normality. Although that was 96 so may have also been Windows compatible

[@onaretrotip]

Not tried that one!

[@nukecorruption]

when I was a kid, It Came From the Desert felt like a horror game to me haha, maybe it was because of the soundtrack

[@onaretrotip]

Oh, same here! Very unsettling.

[@robertorizzo3159]

Veil of darkness 😢 that’s a beauty

[@onaretrotip]

😢

[@castian920]

Dream web classic and obscure game

[@onaretrotip]

Not played that one!

[@castian920]

@@onaretrotip soundtrack is amazing (dream web pc traveling) search in youtube to listen

[@PixelSlayers]

I've got to mention Star Trek The Next Generation: A Final Unity, since you said there aren't many good Star Trek games (which sadly is true!) A Final Unity uses the voices of the full TNG cast and is a great Adventure game. As for non-adventure games, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force is a solid FPS. Other than that... great Star Trek video games are unfortunately pretty few and far between.

[@PixelSlayers]

Also, great video! I'm taking note of these titles and planning to give them a go sometime soon!

[@Parallelepiped2]

It was a sad day for me when I could no longer install A Final Unity on my computer. I wish it was on GOG

[@PixelSlayers]

Yeah, me too :( Although I think a file of it may be floating around the internet somewhere? I can't recall if it was for DOS or Win95, but if it was DOS, then DOSbox should be able to run it... I need to go research this! 🤓 Also, I proudly still own my physical copy! I haven't opened it in ages, though...

[@pjgathergood6987]

I've just given a (quite long!) rundown on thoughts on the entries and also mentioned 'A Final Unity' - a great ST, seriously overlooked. Maybe the "There are no good Star Trek games" should be amended to "The only good Trek games are adventure games" as it doesn't really seem to do well outside of that genre.

[@onaretrotip]

Ooh, I've not played that one. Thanks for the suggestion! If you are still looking, it can be downloaded here: www.myabandonware.com/game/star-trek-the-next-generation-a-final-unity-3qm

[@knivesron]

i remember so many of these games as i played a bunch as a kid. im shocked thta lure of the temptress was made from borrowing 10k off someones mum. i bet little did she know that team is still making bangers to this day. well broken sword 5 came out a few years ago now but im still hoping for a broken sword 6

[@onaretrotip]

Broken Sword seems to have returned more to its original style, which is good.

[@stringanime]

cool. I wanna make adventure games. Good to see what people like about them

[@onaretrotip]

That's awesome! I hope this was at least a bit helpful.

[@SHINOBHS]

Lost in time is a good adventure game too.

[@onaretrotip]

Not played that one; thanks for the suggestion!

[@SHINOBHS]

@@onaretrotip good game, you will have many hours solving puzzles. Nice atmosphere too.

[@dreamcast8430]

Trek is awesome, and you're awesome. Dangerous Dave is my favorite MSDOS game

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much! Ah, good old John Romero. That's a contender for my upcoming platform games episode.

[@Nikioko]

No Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes?

[@onaretrotip]

Afraid not.

[@pafer876]

Hello friend, I'm from Peru, in Peru I had a pirate disk that had more than 100 games for msdos, I think I played it in 1997, I don't know the name, it was like a character like a kind of astronaut soldier, or something like that with clothes or yellow armor with light blue, I remember something like that, it was a platform game, it was very nice, do you know which one I mean? Please if you know something tell me, thanks. 

[@onaretrotip]

Hmm. Doesn't ring any bells I'm afraid.

[@DadLadsGaming]

Great video buddy. My favourite style of game growing up. Thanks,

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! The old point & clicks were one of my favourite genres too.

[@ArrestedDeveloper]

So much nostalgia. ❤

[@onaretrotip]

❤

[@ineedashave1]

Lucasarts. Unmatched.

[@onaretrotip]

Without a doubt.

[@Big_Theft_Auto]

Simon the sorcerer is super good but a little too easy, you never have to combine objects so every puzzle can be solved by trying to use all your items until one item did something

[@onaretrotip]

True.

[@Melvorgazh]

I loved Robinson Crusoe

[@onaretrotip]

I've not played that one.