The adventure game genre has always been a reliable staple of gaming. It’s historically found in pretty much every person’s library, in one form or another. From RPGs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls to open-world games like Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, a little sprinkling of adventure is the icing that makes these cakes delicious.

Red Dead Redemption II

But just why are adventure games so popular? What is it about adventure that lets gamers appreciate it so much? How does it keep finding its way into all manners of genres? This is Why We Play, and today, let’s look at what makes adventure games so darn good!

Unique Experience, Unique Trials

It’s easy to underestimate an adventure game, given how broad a genre it can be. When you overlap with more popular, conventional genres, it might fool an unsuspecting audience into thinking the genre lacks bite.

However, adventure games blend seamlessly with other genres, which is why they are so popular. Unlike games that fall into neat, understandable categories like shooters, horror, roleplaying, and the like, an adventure game can mesh with pretty much every other genre. Do you want one with a dash of action, RPG gameplay, and magic? You can play Dark Souls and explore the lands of Anor Londo or dive into Elden Ring and tackle the Lands Between. Do you want an adventure game with horror elements, guns, and explosions? How about losing yourself in Spain in Resident Evil 4 or wandering around in Romania in Resident Evil: Village? Go play Kenshi if you want to be lost in a strange, alien world, or do some bounty hunting in Oddworld: Stranger’s Mark if the call of fighting weird, strange creatures appeals to you. Sky’s the limit as far as this genre goes, and your experiences are as varied as the places you’ll be exploring.

Elden Ring

This kind of variety is what keeps the genre feeling fresh. No two adventure games are ever truly alike, and each presents its own spins that keep the gameplay flowing. More puzzle, horror-focused, point-and-click experiences like Sanitarium share the space with games like RPG/story-heavy Baldur’s Gate 3 or the action-adventure Ghost of Tsushima. Because each game is different, your experience always feels different. The trials you face, the skills you learn, and the settings you explore all vary and change enough to make the genre feel ever-green and interesting.

Ghost of Tsushima, courtesy of Shirrako

Exploring the Unknown

This variety isn’t to be underestimated, especially when it’s the genre’s key strength. Monotony and tedium are devastating emotions, especially when playing games. There is too much of both, and your audiences will likely slide off their current titles and move on to another. After all, why bother with a game that doesn’t respect your time? Some adventure games fall into this trap, notably Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, whose repetitive exploration and quest design turns what should be an interesting adventure in the frozen lands of Norway into a far more boring, by-the-numbers series of monotonous encounters.

That’s why a good adventure game keeps its players on their toes. A lot of the fun one can enjoy from the genre relies on keeping the momentum going. You always need something new, interesting, or strange to keep engagement high, and like any adventure, the weird and unknown get the most attention.

Silent Hill: The Room

That’s why the genre stands so strong. Its flexibility allows game designers and authors to put just enough new ideas to keep their audience interested. Like birds chasing breadcrumbs, good adventure strings you along and takes you on a journey, one that you’re loath to abandon.

A Test of Understanding

Ultimately, this is why people love adventure games. The genre tests a person’s intuitive, analytical, and observational skills and rewards a gameplay loop of searching and understanding. The games make their players think and decide. Who wouldn’t want to play a game that constantly tests you with new problems to solve and stories to share?

Adventure games really do benefit the most from this type of arrangement. When understanding is a key concept to the genre, you can get away with ideas that don’t always depend on skill to keep someone’s attention. For instance, story-driven adventure games are able to stoke their audiences with tales of horror, dread, and love, much like in Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Action-adventure ones bring players across different continents, locales, and plains, ranging from forgotten lands to ruined dungeons, as seen in Morrowind and Oblivion. Puzzle-adventure games get trickier, incorporating basic puzzle-solving elements and stranger, more cryptic encounters like those found in Harvester and Dark Seed.

Morrowind

When adventure games are at their best, their histories, stories, puzzles, and settings are all things that elevate the genre to what it really is. A masterpiece. When a game’s atmosphere, game design, and overall game feel are all motivating factors that can keep its players interested, you’re sure to have a genre that can keep players coming back.

So, dear reader, why do we play adventure games? It’s to escape into the fantasies and stories that an adventure game can offer. It’s to get immersed and lost in another world. It’s to be lured in by the game’s siren song and the call of a different setting, different place, different land. 

The Call of Adventure Satisfied

As we wrap up, here are a few personal recommendations that adventure game fans shouldn’t skip if they can play it.

If you’re looking for a modern adventure game, titles like Greedfall, Witcher 3, and Dragon Age: Origins should catch your eye. They’re full-game experiences that are cheap but engaging and give you the most bang for your buck. If you don't mind more expensive titles, Dragon's Dogma II is a fantastic sword-and-board experience of magic and blades. So is Elden Ring and its accompanying DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Personally, I’ve always had a softer spot for older, retro-style titles, and the likes of games like Zelda: Link to the Past are more my thing. Oldies like Alone in the Dark speak to me, and point-and-click adventure games like Sanitarium and Harvester are right up my alley.

Alone In The Dark

Here at Mega Cat, we have our own offerings of adventure games you might enjoy. While our story typically caters to more retro-style games, one of them, Kudzu, follows in the footsteps of classic adventure titles like Zelda. From graphics to gameplay, Kudzu has you exploring a gameboy-style world, all to rescue your master. With nothing more than an assortment of garden tools, you fend off overgrown plants and mutated animals and fight off bosses, all to rescue your beloved master.

Kudzu

Another adventure title you might enjoy is WrestleQuest! This JRPG-inspired adventure game has you traveling the land to prove yourself as a world-renowned champion! Test your wrestling skills in some good old turn-based action, and lose yourself in a world of muscles, manliness, and macho men. The world of WrestleQuest is yours to explore, and its different locales, arenas, and wrestling rings provide a unique take on a world that glorifies its wrestling tradition. WrestleQuest is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch,

WrestleQuest

These are just a few titles I can recommend, though. There are so many more adventure games to play and discover, and all of them are titles that keep the spirit of the genre burning strong. 

Join us next time in Why We Play, where we examine another game, genre, or series and figure out why we are playing them!