Most of us have not tried video games from the 1980s. Some of us have, but we have been gaming for a while now, and for some, curiosity got the better of them, and they eventually ended up playing video games from almost 40 years ago.
Old video games, such as those from the 1980s, have a tendency to be graphically challenging, in the sense that they can barely be adapted to work correctly, certainly not with modern widescreen monitors, or standard ones, as we call them. The 16:9 aspect ratio is standard nowadays and 4:3 is a thing of the past.
Adventure games began in the 1980s and some classics are still from that decade. Are they worth playing? You be the judge, here are some titles you could try.
Maniac Mansion
The name of the game is Maniac Mansion, and the creator is none other than Ron Gilbert, a man who is known for creating one of the most iconic adventure games of our time, Monkey Island.
Maniac Mansion is a game filled with dark humor, where you are cast into a mansion, where crazy doctors and nurses perform various experiments. Watch what you do and which characters you pick at the beginning, because all of them can help you get through the game, or make your progress slower.
It is one of those rare adventure games which has consequences. This is the game Day of the Tentacle is the sequel to, so it is worth playing. You can even play it in DooT, in Weird Ed Edisson’s room.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Released in 1987, this game was made by Lucasfilm Games, which was to become LucasArts at some point later. LucasArts games are a standard of the industry, which can be seen by the game mentioned above.
This game puts you in the shoes of Zak, a writer for the National Inquisitor, a tabloid newspaper. You, alongside other characters in the game, discover that there are aliens on Earth, who are not there to help you, but rather make you stupider. You are on a quest to stop them.
This is a great game with an interesting story, and even better execution.
King’s Quest I
Sierra is one of LucasArts’ major competitors in the adventure game department and King’s Quest was one of their masterpieces. This is the first game that had the character animated, so the focus is not on the static images, but rather the character which is able to move through the scenes.
You play as Sir Grahame, whose quest is to find the artifacts scattered throughout the kingdom, and if you succeed, you will be named king. It’s simple, or sounds like it, but Sierra games have really hard puzzles.
Space Quest II
Another one of Sierra’s masterpieces, Space Quest II puts you in the shoes of Roger Wilco, a janitor who ended up being a hero, but still a janitor.
These are some of the best 80s adventure games. Try and see if they’re worth playing.