My association with adventure games is a tenuous one. While Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is my favorite game of all time, I haven’t actively pursued the genre in years. The last adventure game I played seriously was Microïd’s Still Life (2005), which was good, but mostly made me feel like I should have played Post Mortem (2002) first.

However, when I see headlines like “Why Adventure Has a Future” I take notice, because there’s nothing more entertaining than reading someone’s take on why they think an entire genre is safe from a fate that never seems to happen. It’s just too bad the article did nothing to usher in this new golden age of adventure games; instead, it just made me incredibly angry after being duped by an advertisement disguised as revelation.

Here’s an idea: let’s give the representative of a game publisher/distributor (ENCORE) a column at a very prominent gaming news website (EDGE online) where they can attach a sensational headline to something that amounts to no more than a press release to advertise upcoming games in their new product line (Mystery Adventure Games). It will be sure to get attention, and will actually do more to convince readers the exact opposite. It will contain insightful phrases like:

Adventure Games rely heavily on stories from literature, film, and historical events and people.

The games in question are Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon and Nostradamus: The Lost Prophecy, which obviously form the inspiration for such a statement.

Quickly reviewing the history of the genre, some of the best adventure games have come from brand new IP such as the Monkey Island series, the aforementioned Post Mortem/Still Life series, The Dig, and everyone’s favorite Grim Fandago. A bit of cursory research past writing the introductory paragraph in this article would have shown the author that there’s more to adventure games than full motion video and “interactive storylines”. Throwing a historical figure into your game doesn’t immediately make it more appealing (even if it’s the “first game ever” to do it).

Now for some focus-grouping:

Story-based game play lends itself towards non-teen; women based audiences, who have an appreciation for the genre and the story. Women tend to appreciate the character development, and interaction along with gripping storylines.

I think any gamer that’s been following the hobby for the last 20 years can appreciate those aspects of a game. And adventure games are not the only genre to adopt these tenets, either.

In closing, a relentless assault on my intelligence:

Well crafted Adventure Games will sell and what developers and publishers must keep in mind is that the key to making great Adventure Game [sic] is to deliver good graphics, game play and gripping story line. A good Adventure Game is as addicting as a good book but with the added bonus of story line interaction and eye catching graphics it is more than a book it is an Adventure Game.

The least ENCORE could do is hire someone who can string together a readable sentence to promote their games. Based on the aggregate scores at Gamerankings, it seems to me that neither game this article was designed to sell is doing very well in reviews. So why should any consumer consider these products? Because they are the unappreciated future of adventure games?

Like any PC gamer, I grew up playing mostly adventure games. Over the years the genre has been cast aside by the majority of game reviewers as niche, as the title that usually gets thrown to the interns. Adventure games need better advocacy, and not just by specialist sites like the excellent Adventure Gamers. Shameless promotional articles like these only serve to damage the reputation of the genre, by embellishing games that are obviously ill-equipped to represent it. Not to mention what it says about the editors at EDGE online.