Best Adventure Game of 2012 - Article
by Joseph Trotter , posted on 18 December 2012 / 6,827 Views
Life is an adventure, except for most people it really, really isn't. Strangled by the mundane, muffled by circumstance and hampered by the norm, we reach out for any sort of escapism in what are tough times for most. It was a stellar year for the adventure genre, and the nominees below show that there are still some adventures worthy of your time, including two emotionally striking gems in The Walking Dead and Journey. It does offer an interesting change of tack for adventure games. Adventure with soul? The times they are a changing.
Here are the Nominees:
The Walking Dead
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav
And the Winner is...
As successful as the Walking Dead franchise has been across the various media it has permeated, none of its iterations has received quite the universal acclaim that Telltale's episodic game series has. Recently named VGA Game of the Year, the Walking Dead Season One deserves every piece of praise it receives. Not much was expected when the first episode was released in April, yet the level of anticipation came to match the increasing quality of the episodes, enforcing the cult status it enjoys today.
An unusual game, the Walking Dead builds its adventure credibility around a stirring and open-ended narrative; if you're familiar with Robert Kirkman's world, then you know it is a difficult and grim place. Starkly human and painful, this is a tough game, not in terms of gameplay but emotionally, breaking one awful videogame taboo with shocking matter-of-factness. The Walking Dead takes you on a journey of pitiful highs and appalling lows, but is gripping in every respect.
Was the ending predictable? A little; anything else would have been unfaithful to the source material. The only thing more certain is the undoubted brilliance of the game, and its worthiness in winning our Adventure Game of the Year Award.
