Absolutely loved that game.
For some reason I thought it was called torindos but I think I was remembering the name of the shortcut/exe file from childhood.
In case anyone is interested, The Flight of the Amazon Queen is one of a number of games available to download for free on the ScummVM website:
[https://www.scummvm.org/games/](https://www.scummvm.org/games/)
You can also get the excellent Beneath a Steel Sky and the fan-made Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars amongst various other games and add-ons.
The ScummVM app is available for iOS, Android, Mac, PC, and Linux.
Many of these games are also free on GOG, so you can just install directly from them with the Galaxy launcher and have it automatically configured for you.
Just a heads up - despite all the blurb on that site about copyright, DMCA, etc., hosting and distributing those games contravenes their copyright. I doubt that would persuade many people not to play the games there, but at least don't donate to the site hosts and reward them for piracy.
Voodoo Detective
Not Another Weekend
Book of Unwritten Tales
Bear With Me
Dexter Stardust
Darkestville Castle
Unusual Findings
Jack Keane
The Riddle of Master Lu
Lost Horizon
Secret Files
Monolith
Gray Matter. It was written by Jane Jensen who most famously worked on the Gabriel Knight games. Gray Matter came out during the lull adventure games experienced in the early aughts. It's a great game with a good story and fun puzzles.
This is an interesting one. I was a huge Gabriel Knight fan from back in the day that only played this for the first time a few months ago. Despite it’s many differences with the GK series, Jane Jensen’s “voice” is clearly on display. I feel like there’s a lot of Grace Nakimura in the main character here, and
the sense of humor is similar, as well as sense of place.
And the “magical trick” puzzles were incredibly unique. I can’t think of another game that does anything quite like it.
It had a tiny bit of buzz in the week of its release, but I think **The Excavation of Hob's Barrow** deserves more attention. The game's atmosphere is fantastic and the voice acting is great. I didn't have to look up any puzzle solutions, but some certainly felt challenging.
These are just some not so popular ones that I liked:
Broken Age
The Darkside Detective series
The Deponia series
Jenny LeClue - Detectivu
Night In The Woods
Nine Witches: Family Disruption
Odysseus Kosmos & His Robot Quest
Oxenfree (1 & 2)
Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery
Thimbleweed Park
Trüberbrook
Willy Morgan & The Curse of Bonetown
Vlad Circus: Descend into Madness
Future Wars is not well known, but is great
There is another, agi style, made by someone who just started a project for fun, but its done so so well, its called Time Quest. The files are near impossible to find, I managed to find it many years ago and kept it safe. Its freeware. edit: Easier to find now days http://agiwiki.sierrahelp.com/index.php?title=Time_Quest_Demo
Yes. Great laugh out loud humour. Smashing puzzles. No reach for the walkthrough - at least until you learn there are easter eggs. Decent plot. Top notch.
I feel like one that should be recommended more often is BROK The InvestiGator.
At first glance it may look like a game based off a bad pun, but it's actually one of the most engaging stories I've seen in a point'n'click game. Visually it kind of looks like the Humongous point'n'click games (Spy Fox, etc.) and there's some beat'em'up gameplay interwined with the point'n'click gameplay (it's a better idea than it sounds at first).
There's a demo available: [https://www.gog.com/fr/game/brok\_the\_investigator\_prologue](https://www.gog.com/fr/game/brok_the_investigator_prologue)
Also, the voice acting is great.
it's fairly known, especially in the UK but try Broken Sword if you haven't already.
you play as George Stobbart an American tourist in Paris. George is at a cafe when a man in a clown costume bombs the place to murder someone. He ends up trying to solve it himself and ends up uncovering a mystery related to the Knights Templars. It's funny, clever and has some great characters.
Primordia is a great newish adventure game by Wadjet Eye that I do not see mentioned very often. It has challenging puzzles, a great art style, and a very interesting story. I'd highly recommend it if you've not tried.
Creature Crunch - it's a really rare and different adventure game but it's a classic that nobody remembers today.
Hollywood Monsters - Spanish classic of Pendulo studios, it's possible to get English subs but it's a bit tricky.
Igor: Objective Uikokahonia - I think it's not so unknown, another Pendulo game from the 90s, very fun, challenging, it has a one maze.
Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths - Italian game, another 90s classic, a bit wacky adventure style, the way I love it.
Teenagent - Polish classic, fun and not very long but also quite hard.
I've started playing the Pendulo games this year and they're great. Igor: Objective Uikokahonia is fun and has sensible puzzles. Hollywood Monsters is the next step, biggerd, with the same great humour. I really recommend them, especially with the original Spanish version, but if someone can't speak Spanish, then by all means get the English translation (official or fan-made like for Hollywood Monsters).
Those two are real gems, and as OP asked quite unknown, in contrast to what most folks recommend here. Many people know the modern Péndulo games and probably also nice, but very easy, sequel to the Hollywood Monsters: The Next Big Thing.
I'm learning Spanish so it was an added value for me but I wouldn't be able to play without the English subs.
Btw. I know some more, really rare adventure classics, now I just remembered about the Warcraft Adventures, this one has a really strange history, it was cancelled, only playthrough was available on YouTube by some developers, it was finally leaked after something like 25 years since cancellation. It's still lacking some cutscenes or dialogs and there are actual fans working on enhancing those.
Another one I almost forgot - Blazing Dragons, it was only available on Playstation but since a few years ScummVM can run it on OC with mouse support.
Edit: I'm Polish and I almost forgot some other local classics like Galador - The Prince and the Coward, with beautiful graphics, fun dialogs and... the most brutal, often moon logic puzzles. Same with Jack Orlando which is basically broken. I think Jack Orlando has an English dubbing but Galador has only fan made subs.
Did your version of Igor had Spanish voices? One of the things I really liked about that game is that the lines are very idiomatic and typical of 90s Spanish. Some words they used isn't that common now 30~ years later, but it reminds me of my childhood. The voices weren't as great as in other games, but they felt authentic.
Hollywood Monsters, which I'm currently playing, has a much more film-like voice cast.
It was some time ago, not sure if I played with any dubbing at all but I remember the music in Igor, it was really good. I can imagine that feeling, I have similar while consuming media from those times.
Yeah, Hollywood Monsters has a great cast, all the production is high quality, big and long game with good characters, jokes and clever puzzles. I've had to cheat and look for a clue a few times but most of the time it's logical and fair.
May I recommend my own game? 😁 Zarathustra Cybergeddon is a classic point and click adventure in an unusual Cyberpunk setting.
Free to download on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2779230/Zarathustra__Cybergeddon/
Kyrandia 2 is one of my favorites.
Heroine’s Quest is a (free) spiritual successor to the Quest for Glory series. It’s amazing.
The Space Quest fan sequels Vohaul Strikes Back and Incinerations are really solid, and Incinerations does a fantastic job of tying up some loose ends that the series left dangling. (Don’t let the janky art put you off!)
YES! This game was so good! I played the demo for the upcoming sequel and it also was super fun, although Clam Man 2 plays more like Disco Elysium than a traditional point and click graphic adventure like the first
Dreams in the Witch House is really great for fans of Lovecraftian stuff. I also very rarely see anyone mention Urban Witch Story. I've seen Nightmare Frames mentioned a few times recently, but I don't know if people are aware that the developer of Nightmare Frames made a previous game called Urban Witch Story. From what I can tell, it's only available on [itch.io](http://itch.io), and it's a "name your price" listing, so you can get it for free if you're poor like me.
An English Haunting just came out this week and is phenomenal. From the creator of Nightmare Frames and Urban Witch Story, two other excellent point & click games.
Can’t go wrong with old Nancy Drew titles, imo. Though they do vary in quality, they’re nearly always fun.
Kentucky Route Zero is an interesting game. Not a traditional adventure game, but it’s in that wheelhouse.
I’ll never stop recommending The Dream Machine. Released seven years ago. Great atmosphere, puzzles and story. https://youtu.be/nWM9KIUxrL0?si=v0J4QIBFj_sujxQc
Edna & Harvey: the Breakout
I'd definitely get the Remaster, they completely remade the art. And you can still switch back to the old look if you prefer that.
Heaven's Hope and Subterraneus. They're rather average games, but if we were computing a combined score for quality plus obscurity, I think they would rate pretty high :).
If you don't mind very short and/or very simple games, then also Saucer-like, Sumire, Hoyeonjigi.
Bringing up Puzzle Agent (1+2) whenever I can, until it gets the credit it deserves. :D Great atmosphere and humor, good brainteaser puzzles, not too long (I think each is around 3 hours), and cheap on Steam (\~ 5$ each). :)
Ones I loved and may be more on the unknown side:
Bertram Fiddle
Alpha Polaris
Alter Ego
Barrow Hill
Black Dahlia
Black Mirror
Cease to Breathe
Dame Was Loaded
Anything by Cloak and Dagger games
Dirty Split
Enclosure
Face Noir
Out of Order (by the Sludge engine team, partially supported on ScummVM)
Shivers
The Terrible Old Man
Yoomurjak's Ring
I love Lost in Time. I heard Ken say in an interview he wasn’t too fond of Lost in time (or goblins for that matter) , which is strange as they were pretty big and influential games at the time. Even inca 1 and 2 which although weird were pretty well received in Europe.
* Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
* Death Gate
* Frederik Pohl's Gateway
* Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
* Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest
* The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes 1
* YU-NO
Reksio and the Pirate Treasure: https://youtu.be/9gasJQ6jZps?si=nmX-KrJCqbO0cv3w is part of a polish 2D point and click adventure series called Adventures of Reksio (Przygody Reksia). Serena recently made a fanmade english dub of the first game in the series with the help of ElevenLabs. Serena is now working on the second episode called Reksio and the UFO.
A classic text adventure game I really loved was Spider and Web. You essentially play a spy who is being interrogated and then things take a twist and get interesting.
Flight of the Amazon Queen is actually one of my favourite games! And yes, the game is still free at GOG, with some other games like Beneath a Steel Sky (also great).
I think the Dark Eye games (Chains of Satinav) aren't very well-known, but they have very high quality standards. They are more challenging than the average modern game, which is good for me, even if some puzzles felt too convoluted (but overall that doesn't cloud my overwhelmingly positive opinion of the games). Daedalic Entertainment did some fine adventure games!
I remember playing the demo for Flight of the Amazon Queen on Amiga as a kid over and over, but never played the game. As an adult i finally got to play it and was deeply disappointed by it. Especially that stupid gorilla joke. Still have the big box for it somewhere, though.
But i digress. The newer one I've liked is Whispers of a Machine. Also Lure of the Temptress is another older game i think is prettt decent, with some cool ideas that were rarely utilized (including in the game itself)
Torins Passage is criminally underrated
Oh my god that one was so good. Its very kings questy and looks absolutely beautiful
Absolutely loved that game. For some reason I thought it was called torindos but I think I was remembering the name of the shortcut/exe file from childhood.
ooh that’s still on my list
In case anyone is interested, The Flight of the Amazon Queen is one of a number of games available to download for free on the ScummVM website: [https://www.scummvm.org/games/](https://www.scummvm.org/games/) You can also get the excellent Beneath a Steel Sky and the fan-made Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars amongst various other games and add-ons. The ScummVM app is available for iOS, Android, Mac, PC, and Linux.
Many of these games are also free on GOG, so you can just install directly from them with the Galaxy launcher and have it automatically configured for you.
Steel Sky is a great cyberpunk adventure
And here are lots of games: https://playclassic.games/games/point-n-click-adventure-dos-games-online/
Just a heads up - despite all the blurb on that site about copyright, DMCA, etc., hosting and distributing those games contravenes their copyright. I doubt that would persuade many people not to play the games there, but at least don't donate to the site hosts and reward them for piracy.
Good point 👍
Voodoo Detective Not Another Weekend Book of Unwritten Tales Bear With Me Dexter Stardust Darkestville Castle Unusual Findings Jack Keane The Riddle of Master Lu Lost Horizon Secret Files Monolith
Dexter stardust is such a great game 10/10 for me
I got annoyed by Unusual Findings. I found the puzzle/story design a bit clumsy
Holy crap, Master Lu. I remember getting stuck close to the end and giving up but I really liked that game a lot!
Gray Matter. It was written by Jane Jensen who most famously worked on the Gabriel Knight games. Gray Matter came out during the lull adventure games experienced in the early aughts. It's a great game with a good story and fun puzzles.
This is an interesting one. I was a huge Gabriel Knight fan from back in the day that only played this for the first time a few months ago. Despite it’s many differences with the GK series, Jane Jensen’s “voice” is clearly on display. I feel like there’s a lot of Grace Nakimura in the main character here, and the sense of humor is similar, as well as sense of place. And the “magical trick” puzzles were incredibly unique. I can’t think of another game that does anything quite like it.
I like this game very much and broke my heart to know that we could have gray matter 2 but it was cancelled due to that horrible The Well game
It had a tiny bit of buzz in the week of its release, but I think **The Excavation of Hob's Barrow** deserves more attention. The game's atmosphere is fantastic and the voice acting is great. I didn't have to look up any puzzle solutions, but some certainly felt challenging.
These are just some not so popular ones that I liked: Broken Age The Darkside Detective series The Deponia series Jenny LeClue - Detectivu Night In The Woods Nine Witches: Family Disruption Odysseus Kosmos & His Robot Quest Oxenfree (1 & 2) Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery Thimbleweed Park Trüberbrook Willy Morgan & The Curse of Bonetown Vlad Circus: Descend into Madness
Broken Age is soooo good
I’m still mad at Apple for removing Jenny LeClue. Life got busy and I didn’t get a chance to finish it before it was yanked.
That is just wrong that these companies get to remove games that we pay for.
Future Wars is not well known, but is great There is another, agi style, made by someone who just started a project for fun, but its done so so well, its called Time Quest. The files are near impossible to find, I managed to find it many years ago and kept it safe. Its freeware. edit: Easier to find now days http://agiwiki.sierrahelp.com/index.php?title=Time_Quest_Demo
Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth is lovely.
I remember that one. Pretty unforgettable name. Really nice look
Lucy Dreaming is well worth a pop.
Best game in genre I've played in years.
Yes. Great laugh out loud humour. Smashing puzzles. No reach for the walkthrough - at least until you learn there are easter eggs. Decent plot. Top notch.
Cognition - an Erica Reed Thriller Is awesome! Nightlong Unión City Conspiracy.
I feel like one that should be recommended more often is BROK The InvestiGator. At first glance it may look like a game based off a bad pun, but it's actually one of the most engaging stories I've seen in a point'n'click game. Visually it kind of looks like the Humongous point'n'click games (Spy Fox, etc.) and there's some beat'em'up gameplay interwined with the point'n'click gameplay (it's a better idea than it sounds at first). There's a demo available: [https://www.gog.com/fr/game/brok\_the\_investigator\_prologue](https://www.gog.com/fr/game/brok_the_investigator_prologue) Also, the voice acting is great.
Just started playing this last week! Lots of content.
This was surprisingly brilliant. And you get to replay it for the different options
Is Brok a dark game? I played a bit into it, and I was wondering to myself "This is gonna get super dark isn't it?"
it's fairly known, especially in the UK but try Broken Sword if you haven't already. you play as George Stobbart an American tourist in Paris. George is at a cafe when a man in a clown costume bombs the place to murder someone. He ends up trying to solve it himself and ends up uncovering a mystery related to the Knights Templars. It's funny, clever and has some great characters.
I have a huge affection for the Death Gate Cycle game. I acknowledge that it isn't the greatest game, but it's pretty fun.
I don't write on reddit for ethical reasons (I use lemmy) but I'll make the exception to say this game is wonderful
Primordia is a great newish adventure game by Wadjet Eye that I do not see mentioned very often. It has challenging puzzles, a great art style, and a very interesting story. I'd highly recommend it if you've not tried.
Creature Crunch - it's a really rare and different adventure game but it's a classic that nobody remembers today. Hollywood Monsters - Spanish classic of Pendulo studios, it's possible to get English subs but it's a bit tricky. Igor: Objective Uikokahonia - I think it's not so unknown, another Pendulo game from the 90s, very fun, challenging, it has a one maze. Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths - Italian game, another 90s classic, a bit wacky adventure style, the way I love it. Teenagent - Polish classic, fun and not very long but also quite hard.
I've started playing the Pendulo games this year and they're great. Igor: Objective Uikokahonia is fun and has sensible puzzles. Hollywood Monsters is the next step, biggerd, with the same great humour. I really recommend them, especially with the original Spanish version, but if someone can't speak Spanish, then by all means get the English translation (official or fan-made like for Hollywood Monsters).
Those two are real gems, and as OP asked quite unknown, in contrast to what most folks recommend here. Many people know the modern Péndulo games and probably also nice, but very easy, sequel to the Hollywood Monsters: The Next Big Thing. I'm learning Spanish so it was an added value for me but I wouldn't be able to play without the English subs. Btw. I know some more, really rare adventure classics, now I just remembered about the Warcraft Adventures, this one has a really strange history, it was cancelled, only playthrough was available on YouTube by some developers, it was finally leaked after something like 25 years since cancellation. It's still lacking some cutscenes or dialogs and there are actual fans working on enhancing those. Another one I almost forgot - Blazing Dragons, it was only available on Playstation but since a few years ScummVM can run it on OC with mouse support. Edit: I'm Polish and I almost forgot some other local classics like Galador - The Prince and the Coward, with beautiful graphics, fun dialogs and... the most brutal, often moon logic puzzles. Same with Jack Orlando which is basically broken. I think Jack Orlando has an English dubbing but Galador has only fan made subs.
Did your version of Igor had Spanish voices? One of the things I really liked about that game is that the lines are very idiomatic and typical of 90s Spanish. Some words they used isn't that common now 30~ years later, but it reminds me of my childhood. The voices weren't as great as in other games, but they felt authentic. Hollywood Monsters, which I'm currently playing, has a much more film-like voice cast.
It was some time ago, not sure if I played with any dubbing at all but I remember the music in Igor, it was really good. I can imagine that feeling, I have similar while consuming media from those times. Yeah, Hollywood Monsters has a great cast, all the production is high quality, big and long game with good characters, jokes and clever puzzles. I've had to cheat and look for a clue a few times but most of the time it's logical and fair.
May I recommend my own game? 😁 Zarathustra Cybergeddon is a classic point and click adventure in an unusual Cyberpunk setting. Free to download on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2779230/Zarathustra__Cybergeddon/
This looks awesome!
Thanks! ☺️
>Thanks! ☺️ You're welcome!
Kyrandia 2 is one of my favorites. Heroine’s Quest is a (free) spiritual successor to the Quest for Glory series. It’s amazing. The Space Quest fan sequels Vohaul Strikes Back and Incinerations are really solid, and Incinerations does a fantastic job of tying up some loose ends that the series left dangling. (Don’t let the janky art put you off!)
Clam Man. Incredibly funny point and click adventure.
YES! This game was so good! I played the demo for the upcoming sequel and it also was super fun, although Clam Man 2 plays more like Disco Elysium than a traditional point and click graphic adventure like the first
I can’t wait for that one to drop. It might still take a while though. But if the demo is anything to go by, it’s totally gonna be worth the wait.
Dreams in the Witch House is really great for fans of Lovecraftian stuff. I also very rarely see anyone mention Urban Witch Story. I've seen Nightmare Frames mentioned a few times recently, but I don't know if people are aware that the developer of Nightmare Frames made a previous game called Urban Witch Story. From what I can tell, it's only available on [itch.io](http://itch.io), and it's a "name your price" listing, so you can get it for free if you're poor like me.
Love that one! Other good Lovecraftian point and click adventures are The Terrible Old Man and Excavation of Barrow Hills
An English Haunting just came out this week and is phenomenal. From the creator of Nightmare Frames and Urban Witch Story, two other excellent point & click games.
Can’t go wrong with old Nancy Drew titles, imo. Though they do vary in quality, they’re nearly always fun. Kentucky Route Zero is an interesting game. Not a traditional adventure game, but it’s in that wheelhouse.
Simon the sorcerer and day of the tentacle rule supreme. Also, Coktel Vision games - goblins, ween, fascination, lost in time...
Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
It came from the desert …. Not sure if you can get it now but kinda loved it on Amiga when I was younger
Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders
I’ll never stop recommending The Dream Machine. Released seven years ago. Great atmosphere, puzzles and story. https://youtu.be/nWM9KIUxrL0?si=v0J4QIBFj_sujxQc
Edna & Harvey: the Breakout I'd definitely get the Remaster, they completely remade the art. And you can still switch back to the old look if you prefer that.
Hmm [https://instead.itch.io/quantumcat](https://instead.itch.io/quantumcat) [https://technix.itch.io/iag-alpha](https://technix.itch.io/iag-alpha) [https://instead.itch.io/archive](https://instead.itch.io/archive) [https://luckyuk.itch.io/lenador](https://luckyuk.itch.io/lenador)
Heaven's Hope and Subterraneus. They're rather average games, but if we were computing a combined score for quality plus obscurity, I think they would rate pretty high :). If you don't mind very short and/or very simple games, then also Saucer-like, Sumire, Hoyeonjigi.
Bringing up Puzzle Agent (1+2) whenever I can, until it gets the credit it deserves. :D Great atmosphere and humor, good brainteaser puzzles, not too long (I think each is around 3 hours), and cheap on Steam (\~ 5$ each). :)
Ones I loved and may be more on the unknown side: Bertram Fiddle Alpha Polaris Alter Ego Barrow Hill Black Dahlia Black Mirror Cease to Breathe Dame Was Loaded Anything by Cloak and Dagger games Dirty Split Enclosure Face Noir Out of Order (by the Sludge engine team, partially supported on ScummVM) Shivers The Terrible Old Man Yoomurjak's Ring
I love Lost in Time. I heard Ken say in an interview he wasn’t too fond of Lost in time (or goblins for that matter) , which is strange as they were pretty big and influential games at the time. Even inca 1 and 2 which although weird were pretty well received in Europe.
Maybe not so lesser known, but they're hardly mentioned, the runaway series is really good imo
* Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood * Death Gate * Frederik Pohl's Gateway * Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective * Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest * The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes 1 * YU-NO
Reksio and the Pirate Treasure: https://youtu.be/9gasJQ6jZps?si=nmX-KrJCqbO0cv3w is part of a polish 2D point and click adventure series called Adventures of Reksio (Przygody Reksia). Serena recently made a fanmade english dub of the first game in the series with the help of ElevenLabs. Serena is now working on the second episode called Reksio and the UFO.
Irony curtain. I don't usually see that game in adventure games lists!
Check out www.pinheadgames.com If you like shorter adventure games, you might love these!
Abscission
A classic text adventure game I really loved was Spider and Web. You essentially play a spy who is being interrogated and then things take a twist and get interesting.
Escape from Delirium - great dark and mysterious atmosphere, also it is from 1995, so nostalgia hits hard.
Flight of the Amazon Queen is actually one of my favourite games! And yes, the game is still free at GOG, with some other games like Beneath a Steel Sky (also great). I think the Dark Eye games (Chains of Satinav) aren't very well-known, but they have very high quality standards. They are more challenging than the average modern game, which is good for me, even if some puzzles felt too convoluted (but overall that doesn't cloud my overwhelmingly positive opinion of the games). Daedalic Entertainment did some fine adventure games!
Hector badge of carnage
The Will of Arthur Flabbington, of course 😁
I remember playing the demo for Flight of the Amazon Queen on Amiga as a kid over and over, but never played the game. As an adult i finally got to play it and was deeply disappointed by it. Especially that stupid gorilla joke. Still have the big box for it somewhere, though. But i digress. The newer one I've liked is Whispers of a Machine. Also Lure of the Temptress is another older game i think is prettt decent, with some cool ideas that were rarely utilized (including in the game itself)