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Ask Slashdot: Best Adventure Game To Start With?
canolecaptain writes "One of my daughters (10 years old) has become interested in adventure games, and started playing Fate. It's been awhile since I've had time to play this type of game (since the Diablo 2 days), and I'd like to know what Slashdotters thought would be the best set of adventure games to start her on (PC preferred). Nothing too scary yet, so unfortunately, Diablo is out for the time being. I'd prefer one with multi-player so that we could quest together on ocassion."
You can do Titan's quest its alot more PG then Diablo, and also has multiplayer.
Setup a multiplayer minecraft server at your house, thats what my dad and my little brothers and I do, they play and every once and awhile my dad and I hop on and play with them.
Cartoony, Hilarious, and not impossibly difficult. And easy to acquire. A spectacular game all around and you can run it right in scummvm.
Really I recommend all of their games, but I'd suggest that as a best "first" game. Monkey Island 2 is my actual favorite scumm game, but its SUPER hard so not really a good "first" game.
So not Amnesia The Dark Descent?
The only thing a hack'n'slash has in common with an adventure game is mouseclick-induced carpal tunnel.
monkey island, indiana jones, sam & max, full throttle, maniac manson, the one with the squirrels on mars, ...
A great place to start for anyone. It involves a bit of imagination, but a fantastic game, and it's available for free on pretty much all platforms. It's the one I always find myself coming back to every once in a while. No multiplayer that I'm aware of unfortunately.
Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda. Since she's 10, she might get a kick out of Wind Waker due to kid-friendly themes (while still not being completely kid-sanitized) and a slightly better learning curve than, say, Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time. You can't go wrong with Zelda, and Wind Waker is a really, really great game. Exploring those islands, filling my sea chart with maps of the islands and so on will live on forever in my memories because of the sense of discovery in that game. It was pretty easy to play, too, while still having challenging puzzles.
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
If you're lumping Diablo in the category of "Adventure" I'm curious as to your idea of the genre. When I think of adventure, I think of the old Sierra series (Kings Quest, Space Quest, Shivers, Phantasmagoria) or games like Myst, Syberia, Still Life, etc. I never played this Fate game, but looking at screen shots the genre you're looking for is "Action Adventure"
Depending on what she is interested in there are the Nancy Drew Mystery titles from HER Interactive.
Kudos for encouraging your daughter to go beyond the usual girly-girl commercial sites. Although there would seem to be a logical progression from imaginary adventures to adventures of an entirely different kind,
Three Squirrels
Dungeon siege isn't to bad.
...didn't include hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers/RPGs.
If you're looking for actual adventures, then the Syberia series is a good point to start. Modern in their design, accessible mechanical puzzles and a wonderful non-violent story. There's also Amerzone, Myst and The longest Journey.
..I'd say Sam & Max. Now if you didn't actually mean "adventure" games, perhaps League of Legends would be sufficiently fluffy >_> Sad fact is that good cooperative games on PC are rare, ones without blood shed are even rarer.
You seem to have adventure games confused with hack&slash RPG..
Machinarium is a good single player adventure game.
Spiral Knights is a fun co-op hack&slash RPG.
at slashdot just shot upward with the phrase "so that we could quest together on ocassion"
Relatively easy, quite long, encourages reading, extremely funny, and the story is one of the best I've ever seen. I got a tattoo of the Symbol of the Balance from that game on my back. There's two deaths that occur that come to mind that might be a bit scary to a child though.
I loved playing those games when I was younger! I think I was around 10 years old when I started playing those.
Lo and behold, for I am a sig!
I highly recommend any of the Secret of Monkey Island games. They've been updated recently enough to look great on a modern PC/MAC/IOS device.
Deep Silver keeps the Adventure genre alive and kicking in Germany, and Lost Horizons was a recent (and beautifully rendered) addition to their collection. Lost Horizon is one of the many Indiana Jones-esque clones (all based on the original 1933 Lost Horizon novella.)
If you are more of a fan of retro gaming, Torin's Passage was one of my favorites around age 8 or 9, and in a recent playthrough I was pleasantly surprised at how well the graphics held up.
I was thinking like Syberia or Dreamfall, especially for a young girl. But then I looked at the game Fate and I believe I'm maybe in the wrong genre.
In a year or two years, let her play Beyond Good & Evil (PC/Gamecube). It's a fantastic action-adventure game packed with a compelling story-line, likable characters and best of all: a (good) female heroine. Until then, you could get her the Zelda's, Mario's and other things Nintendo. If she/you owns a Wii, you have to your disposal the entire library of games from the GameCube and a large portion of games from Nintendo's older systems.
Torchlight. It was made by many of the people who made Diablo 2, but it's significantly less "scary". Good fun, if a bit repetitive towards the end. And cheap, too - It was only $20 at release, and is probably down to $10-15 by now. And it even has a "netbook" mode to run on low-end hardware, in case you haven't upgraded lately.
Funny , very clever, not so difficult and beautiful. I also recommend Grin Fandango, very funny , not too difficult and the characters are great!
The whole Monkey Island series, which ranges from 8-bit to 3D modeling, is awesome for big and little kids alike. Who doesn't like pirates?
Beautiful artwork, music, compelling story, etc. You really can't go wrong!
Neverwinter Nights can be picked up for $10 and runs on older machines. There is a huge amount of content out there, though the engine is a bit dated, people have made lots of things.
Minecraft is the mainstay in our household, perfect for a ten year-old. Build, explore, mine, and create your own world.
We had a good time with Trine, and up to three can play. It's a pretty game, though hooking up multiple mice and keyboards to a PC can be tricky.
Torchlight is very much like Diablo, but not as scary, IIRC. Look into it. You can turn off any simulated blood, IIRC. There is a demo available at Gamefront file hosting.
BTW. These are TPL's (Third Person Looters), not adventure games. Usually, Diablo and FATE get called an RPG, which is a good enough classification. I almost recommended Zork I, based on the "adventure" genre, but then decided to RTFS. You can only imagine how disappointed your daughter would be cracking open a text adventure, wanting FATE instead!
If she gets into actual "adventure" games, the HER Interactive Nancy Drew series is a lot of fun, and has light to pretty difficult puzzles to solve.
--
Toro
West of House
There is a small mailbox here.
>read leaflet
"WELCOME TO SLASHDOT! YOU
MUST BE NEW HERE!
SLASHDOT is a game of adventure,
danger, and low cunning. In it you will
explore some of the most amazing
territory ever seen by mortals. No
computer should be without it!"
Best Adventure game EVER.
Seriously. The dude runs like an idiot, but otherwise the game is simply amazing. Good Old Games (GoG.com) has it for like $5. Go get it. Now.
Pretty much all old LucasArts games are awesome.
Not sure if all of these were Lucas' but they are excelent adventure games.
Maniac Manison, Day of the Tentacle, Zak Mackraken, the Indiana Jones saga, the monkey Island saga, Full Throttle, Sam & Max, and more.
And of course, "The Dig"
Usually when I think of "Adventure" games, I'm thinking stuff like the old point and click games like King's Quest and Monkey Island, not Diablo. It sounds like you're thinking more of Action RPGs or hack and slash dungeon crawlers.
I've only played the demo, so I can't say how "scary" it might get in later parts, but Torchlight is enjoyable, and made by the same developers behind the original Diablo. The aforemention Titan's Quest is also not a bad option.
If you're not limited to PC, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1 & 2 are both pretty good, and I can't think of anything particular scary in either (although there are a lot of giant spiders at one point)
If playing together is what you're looking for, you could also consider some free MMOs, like D&D Online or LOTRO. If trying LOTRO you might both want to play the same race, so you can start in the same areas. I think you'll have to run the very first intro quest solo, but you can team up for pretty much anything after that. If you start as different races you'll usually be in the same quest areas by level 15 or so (when all races converge around Bree). You can set LOTRO chat filters to leave out the OOC channel and filter profanity if that's your concern - chat is generally pretty civil. Teamwork in DDO is definitely easier with voice chat on, so you can run into some idiots that way.
Either tic-tac-toe or Global Thermonuclear War....
In the end, they are both the same.
Oh yeah, and Rogue
Oregon trail. Learn history and epidemiology.
not multiplayer (I wish it was), but Oblivion is really good.
I gave my niece Myst as her first true "adventure" game and she loves it.
I realized she'd like it when one of her Hidden Object games was half adventure game and she really liked that aspect, so it wasn't just out of the blue.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
If you really mean adventure games, then I would recommend The Whispered World, and anything from Telltale.
But it sounds like you mean hack-n-slash RPG, in which case I would recommend Torchlight.
You can't get more classic than Crowther and Woods' Colossal Cave Adventure
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/pc/advent25.zip
It was the first adventure game ever created! (Crowther wrote it for his daughters.)
Oldie but a goodie!
It's not on the PC, but it's pretty cheap.
You can quest together on occasion.
It's generally not scary.
The creation tools are very awesome and easy to use. I can design levels for her with her input. She gets a total kick out of seeing her thoughts come to life.
Make your own quests and puzzles for her to solve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsP_twBzczg
Diablo is an action RPG, not an adventure game. Adventure games are story-heavy and typically focus on puzzle-solving rather than hacking and slashing or other tedious and repetitive "challenges". This makes a big difference, and while a game such as Diablo require little else than persistence to finish the game, adventure games require brains (or a walkthrough). If adventure games are really what you are looking for, how smart your kid is and how much you want to participate in it will matter a great deal. Most classic and PC-based adventure games have puzzles designed to challenge adults.
That said, one adventure game I would recommend pretty much no matter what is Machinarium. It has a simple and cute story, which is not told through long speeches, in fact there is no talk at all, but rather through a few animated thought bubbles. It is pretty short and has fairly simple puzzles, though you might have to give a helping hand once in a while, especially towards the end.
Other good adventure games are The Longest Journey, The Neverhood, Grim Fandango and the two Syberia games. You might also want to try Beneath a Steel Sky, which is now free, although there is one scene where a guy gets his head cut off, I think, and the end might be a bit creepy. It is an old game with pretty low resolution though, so not very graphic.
ScummVM is your one stop for Adventure games. The original point & click adventure games. It's free and available on any platform, but you will require original game files. Many can be had at Good Old Games, as well as the usual less legal options.
Start off with some of the Humongous Entertainment games. Freddie the Fish or Pajama Sam. Great for kids, and fun to play together. Then move to LucasArts games. Day of the Tentacle is very funny and colorful game. LOOM is beautiful, and fairly straightforward to play. The Dig is epic sci-fi, and not too complex either. Sierra games are for the advanced student.
Then just let her loose on Just Adventure and let her see what she likes.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
If you're looking for a good old school point-and-click adventure game, I highly recommend hunting down a copy of Torin's Passage: http://www.allowe.com/Torin/index.htm
Lowe designed the game so he could play it with his daughter - he's most famous for working on the baudy Leisure Suit Larry titles. That having been said, there's some sly humor there that only adults will understand. But at heart, it's a fun family game - there's even a hint system so little kids don't get too frustrated with it.
The Windows version never worked well even on Windows 95, but the DOS version should run perfectly in DosBox.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
just don't play Heroes of Might and Magic 4 it sucks and Heroes of Might and Magic 3 needs the Unofficial HD Patch to work in newer os / systems. http://games.softpedia.com/get/Patch/Heroes-of-Might-and-Magic-3-Unofficial-HD-Patch.shtml
The Secret of Monkey Island...
your daughter will be part of an amazing pirate world as guybrush threepwood she will learn how to use her wit and her sword...
and overall gain values... not to mention she will learn from an early age that women kick our butts at the end of the day no matter how muscular we pretend
to be... like Elaine kicked Guybrush's butt several times...
Recettear: an item shop's tale is a good one.
Torchlight is a great game and made by some of the same people as fate. http://store.steampowered.com/app/41500/
Zork is pretty much a port of the original "Adventure" game.
Great MMORPG with no monthly fees - just a one time purchase. Excellent depth, replay value, HUGE and beautifully detailed world and inherently multiplayer. It's quite complex though and I'm not sure whether 10 year old will get that much into depth.
Zork!
Ignoring the drivel that goes through trade chat (which can be turned off), World of Warcraft by itself isn't unreasonable for a father/daughter pair in her age group - it starts off easy, there's plenty of reading, it's actively rewarding, and there's lots of action and content to go through. If you want to be able to play with her, it's hard to go wrong with an MMO like that. It's designed with group play in mind. Then again, introducing her to that may be the first step down the long road of lifelong nerdiness, so exercise discretion.
I'd also give another vote for Minecraft, especially if you can set up (or find) a multiplayer server to play on with her. Double on the nerdiness there, though.
MUD or a MUSH. Get 'em reading while they're blasting something away with magic missiles!
Posted too soon. Pepper's Adventures in Time is also good. And it's freely downloadable: http://www.markseibert.com/the_full_game.htm
It has a girl as the protagonist and there's some good (if twisted) history lessons there too. Cute stuff.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
How about Falcons Eye [http://users.tkk.fi/jtpelto2/nethack.html] for a Diablo type genre, Elderscrolls [http://www.elderscrolls.com], Ryzom [http://www.ryzom.com] or perhaps or have a look on here [http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/index.php?page=games] for some more like Exult, Wesnoth
Cheers
ConceptRat
My son is 7 and likes Wiz 101. It's free up to a point, but would need to buy crowns or subscription to continue further into new areas...
While not strictly RPG, I loved playing the Lego series with my kids (Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean was recently released). There are puzzles to solve and you get to run around through movie scenes and it's easy to play 2 players at once.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
SpyFox is a great series of games. It's a bit old, but cartoon graphics
It's not super-scary and extremely funny, with great characters and interactions. I recommend the TuTu mod for it, though it does flesh out some of the darker corners of the story. For instance, she should under no circumstances ask Kivan about what happened to his girlfriend.
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
Or maybe Animal.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I would second or third the recommendation of Monkey Island. There is an remake available that's been ported to many platforms (PSN, Wii, PC, iOS, etc) called Tales of Monkey Island. My daughter (who is 7) enjoys it quite a bit. Some puzzles are a little too hard for her and I need to help her out, so it might be the right level for your girl. The humor helps a lot too, she might not get the puzzles but she enjoys some of the responses she gets for incorrect answers- keeping her from getting to frustrated with it.
My daughter also loves the Zelda series like Windwaker and the Twilight Princess. She likes these worlds and loves to play in them not just for the story line. Like playing fetch with the a dog in Twilight Princess, or placing the pigs in Windwaker in funny spots like try to get them on a roof, or in a water basin. She sometimes plays the older versions like Majora's Mask or the Ocarina of Time but sometimes seems a little turned of by the lack of detail/responses of the environment. [sigh] Kids these days! ;)
She also likes to play on my World of Warcraft account sometimes (with supervision, of course)- although I can see many reasons not to go that route (monthly $, stranger interaction, addiction/immersion). She likes to roleplay in the environment- go fishing, follow/talk to NPCs, sleep, eat, and sometimes go on a quest or two.
Nothing else ever came close.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Trigger
Different angle than what you're asking for, but I think a better game for a child than a mind-numbing hack-n-slash.
Probably best to start with King's Quest V for the semi-modern graphics. Earlier than that might turn a kid off to the series.
Ratchet & Clank for the PS3 or the PS2 are really great games they do have a bit of cartoonish violence but they are all great funny games they are pretty kid friendly too I think. I'm not acually sure if they are formally classified as Adventurer games though.
If you can find it, Darby the Dragon is absolutely wonderful. It is tons of fun, has lots of creative mini-games, and has GREAT music. My two daughters both played through it numerous times.
Vonnegut was right: Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been."
My girls and I have been having fun playing this the last few months. For a long time, our favorite thing to do was just to go ride horses together around Bree! Of course, there's plenty of adventures/quests as well, but what I like best about it is it's something I can get into (way more than they do), but we can still go have fun together, either completing some 'adventure', or just goofing off playing house or something. Since it's free to play, we don't HAVE to spend real money on it. I have, of course, but not required.
Poptropica!
best adventure/strategy game by far... toonstruck!
I was in the exact same position two years ago with my daughter. We opted then for ScummVM and the fabulous point'n'click-games of yesteryear. Day of The Tentacle was her absolute favourite, and we sure had some excellent father-and-daughter quality time...
-- I am the Monkey Guru.
I think the content is suitable, but my kids just got a 2 week suspension for not responding to an obnoxious GM (so they assumed they were botting).
I sure hope that you decided that Diablo 2 was out because of the violence, gore, and out right perverted scenery and not because of "multi-player". This child could be another Manson with this kind of up bringing.
my 10 year old LOVES Portal, and Portal 2 Co-op mode is loads of fun. It's not quite an adventure game in the pure sense, but the last level of Portal really captured her imagination, especially with the escape into the hidden areas of Aperture Labs. Portal 2 Co-op mode on an XBox is really good, because it's split screen, which makes it very easy to help out when the other player gets stuck.
NO CARRIER
Okay, people! What about ADVENTURE? Wonderful descriptive text, all puzzles solved by logical means, available on innumerable platforms in several variations. http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/info/advent.html This is the ancestor of all the textual-adventure-puzzle games like Zork and the Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Now where did I put my orange smoke...)
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. Zork of course!
Look for ZORK1, 2 and 3. They are free now and were the first "game" i played like that. But the first game i played on a pc was star treck on a 8080 S-100 color computer in the 70's. Ahhh talk about old times.
Wasn't too complicated, and with all the Disney characters and story lines she should feel right at home and comfortable. Plus, it's still fun for older players to enjoy as well.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
...Now where did I put my Vic-20?
I can see some similar replies: "It depends on what you mean by adventure"... well, no. If you say adventure, you MUST mean games similar to Zork, King's Quest, Myst, Monkey Island, Gabriel Knight, stuff like that. Otherwise, you are simply using the wrong word. This is the traditional, well-established, widely accepted definition; it is not open to debate, period.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Might as well get her used to wearing tight khaki shorts, she's going to anyway when her hormones kick in 3 years from now.
Does no-one know what an Adventure Game is (including the submitter?). The classics are essentially puzzle and exploration games, usually with some light-hearted humor and little or no combat.
I recommend:
1. Day of the Tentacle
2. Full Throttle
3. Sam and Max
4. Space Quest series
5. Hero Quest series
6. Monkey Island series
She can also gain valuable life skills.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure_Suit_Larry
Are you talking about Adventure games, like Cyberia or The Longest Journey, or are you talking about dungeon diggers, like Diablo and (apparently; I haven't played it) Fate?
Your answers are going to be pretty crappy, when your question is so ... confused.
Comment of the year
Since you're misusing genres, given Diable is not an Adventure game.
Hence no one knows if you actually want adventure games and hence they should recommend things like Monkey Island, or if you actually want an action-RPG and hence they should recommend things like Torchlight.
And of course the jerks just point out you mixed up the genres instead of answering at all.
The "Quest for glory" series (especially IV), Beneath a steel sky, Superhero league of Hoboken, System Shock 1 & 2 (maybe a bit too scary) and of course all of the Sierra & Lucas arts classics allready mentioned.
get a sinclair spectrum emulator and a copy (yes, pirated) of the hobbit
I have to second either Myst or Syberia. Syberia is probably a little easier. They're not mulitplayer though like you want but that doesn't mean you cannot play together. I think if you can power through the first few scenes in Myst she'll be hooked in no time. I still can't believe they ended the series.
Great story, incredibly cute and artistically fantastic graphics, still pretty simple and all-in-all light on violence, available for just every platform under the sun, it's a great choice.
You can't go wrong.
Lex
1)
I can't believe nobody mentioned Magicka...
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
And if she picks the wrong ending, make her play it again from the beginning.
Hands down, Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure (a.k.a. Little Big Adventure, or LBA) and its sequel, Relentless: Twinsen's Odyssey were the most enjoyable, enthralling, and satisfying adventure games of my youth. They're kid-friendly but I still go back and play them as an adult. These links should get you started.
Wiki
Fan Site
Google search for the CD-ROM
fun game, maybe a little challenging for a first adventure though. But great atmosphere and music, unique look and interesting story. It was on sale on Steam for like $5 recently. Still go back and play it occasionally. and the protaganist is a girl, so she might like that.
A lot of you seem to be forgetting Adventure Game Studio.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/
It's mostly free games (a few demos here and there), made in the old style by fans of adventure gaming.
Most are merely average (amateur work after all), but there are some gems to find. They also have them separated into short, medium, and "full" length catagories, so you can better decide how to fit them into your schedule if necessary.
Specifically in regards to the OP's request, there is a "multiplayer" game there called "Two of a Kind". you play two characters (one at a time) that you can switch back and forth to at any time (similar I suppose to Day of the Tentacle with it's 3 main player characters). It's not too bad actually for amateur work.
A few other AGS games I would recommend are:
- A Tale of Two Kingdoms (similar to King's Quest, but slightly better in my opinion)
- Spooks
- Art of Theft (stealth-action game by Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame)
- Nanobots (one-character-at-a-time teamwork game like Two of a Kind)
- Maniac Mansion Deluxe (a fan remake of the original using the AGS engine)
- Saturday School (not an adventure game, but a puzzle game made using AGS)
That's not all though, so look around for other gems.
Ico
But like someone else, I suggest text adventures too. There's lots of free or shareware ones too.. e.g. http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXzcode.html
Minecraft.
With local network and server the multiplayer aspect is wonderful. If you get into building and don't want to fight the creatures, you can turn them off.
Minecraft is a great way to introduce someone to team play, organisation, and resource management. All of these are vital for broadening one's gaming skills.
Maniac Mansion was always a fun adventure/mystery game for me when I was little. It's more fun when you have multiple people pointing out objects and giving suggestions on what to do with them. The second game, Day of the Tentacle was a bit more adventure-like, but it was also a bit harder.
You might find it interesting to take a look at the rankings of hundreds of interactive fiction works (including many adventure games) at the fine Interactive Fiction Database (http://ifdb.tads.org/) and the Interactive Fiction Wiki (http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page). The latter site is especially good at promoting the newer works using the most current authoring systems.
Just need a browser and Java. It is more lighthearted than many adventure games, with a sense of humour. It also has a nice set of skills and an economy. It can have thousands of players online, it has many quests, so you can play it with her. But I think the creators still specify it as 13+.
Great multi-player game
... is where it all began
Great adventure - beautiful worlds, amazing creatures, great sound, Nali!, bonus: learn FPS controls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal
Also, UT3 needs more players :-(
If you actually MEAN adventure games, then any of the Telltale games are good (Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace and Grommet, etc). Some of the newer ones they are developing wouldn't be appropriate for a child (The Walking Dead, Jurassic Park). There are many great older adventure games that people have already suggested, but many of them haven't aged that well and might be a turn off for a child not used to what we used to think were awesome graphics (but are, objectively, shit by today's standard).
But since you question betrays your lack of understanding of what the genre even is, it's a bit of a difficult question to answer.
If you're looking for graphical/point-and-click adventures and cheap entertainment all in one ball of wax, I highly recommend the free remakes of Sierra's King's Quest I, II and III as well as Hero's Quest. They're available from AGD Interactive and did I mention they're free?
Stop listing adventure games. They are great but the author meant action rpg's ala diablo/TQ/torchlight.
And the full collection of Infocom games is online:
http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/
Fable II. Make sure she buys a lot of hookers.
I was looking for the old dungeons and dragons games a while back and I ran across The Quest, from Redshift. They have it for iOS also. Its very cool and is only $10. They have an expansion pack as well. Also, there are good 3rd party expansions from Zarista Games. Its very fun.
http://machinarium.net/demo/
Awesome game that kids will love.
But I was shooting demons in Doom around that age, so...
If you're looking for older games, I remember Epic Megagames had a bunch of good ones like Jill of the Jungle and Jazz Jackrabbit.
I'd check out Steam, too, since it seems like they always have relatively cheap adventure games. You can even get The Secret of Monkey Island with updated graphics on there.
For console games, my nephew enjoys the Lego Star Wars games (which are actually better than most kids games).
what about secret of mana... it's 2 player and pretty simple. with an emulator you could easily play it on the computer.
Diablo is not an adventure game, not even close.
Adventure games are puzzle/story based games that come in a few flavours such as the old school text based adventures like Zork and the graphical adventures that include Myst, Monkey Island, and Syberia among a plethora of others.
I would offer suggestions but they have already been covered.
But if you were more specific in what you want I am sure I or someone else could offer a suggestion. Particularly, why is Diablo not acceptable but some other game like it would be (they all involve killing people, and yes sure it contains demons but they are just cannon fodder and I really do not think anyone would ever consider them scary).
But since she has not played many games yet maybe sticking to a single genre does not make sense because she might enjoy another one just as much.
And /. is hardly the place to ask for gaming advice, there are tons of sites dedicated to just that thing (with lists and forums for the persona touch) that will offer you better results.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Demon's Souls is perfect for her first time..
There is a Hannah Montana adventure game for the Nintendo DS.
I've never played it, and of course it depends on what you mean by "adventure game", but given that this is for a 10 year old girl, there's a good chance she'd like it.
Legend Of Kyrandia is an old but very good adventure game that runs very well in DOSBox. Very easy to control (it only uses mouse & left-click), not too hard, and rather entertaining. Graphics are hand-drawn and, IMO, look pretty nice even today - not too cartoonish, more like a fairy tale book. It's also rather "family friendly", as there's no blood and gore involved (even though it's possible to have the player character die).
As well, there are three games in the series, all looking and playing mostly the same, with connected storylines - so you get a lot of play time out of the whole thing.
Quest for glory 1 VGA remake
My 9 & 10 year old girls love Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The best of that class.
Just get the Australian version. (Quick, before their new system kicks in).
My webcomic
How about "The Neverhood"?
It's claymation puzzle adventure game, very well regarded with much critical praise.
Only tough part? Finding a copy and getting it to run.
Glad you're indoctrinating your spawn into the holy realm :-)
Try GOG.com if you're looking for a game you may have played. But those may not be multi-player. Also, if you're not particular about Adventure vs. RPG, you have more options.
I loved Trine...has fantasy violence - killing skeletons, has local co-op. You could also go through Steam for something age appropriate: http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Adventure
Also, I second the Zelda suggestion. What about Beyond Good and Evil? Metroid? (I'm not up-to-date with Nintendo games.)
Btw, she may enjoy Mario / Sonic type games, even if they are noneducational and mind-numbing. I barely ever played those and don't like them at all. Never underestimate the value of good old Tetris.
Day of the Tentacle. You quest together by trading turns using the mouse.
Perhaps, put on some hiking boots, open the front door and head out for an adventure in the real world. It'll give her a far better grounding in life than spending even more hours in front of a screen than she (probably) already does. Seriously.
marvel ultimate alliance would be good.
It's how I started my gf on playing games with me, it's forgiving, not too intimidating, good for coop
and singleplayer play whenever you want, and has recognizable characters.
Mythos was made by a couple of the old D2 devs and has very similar play style to Diablo. It's free right now, but I think only the European version is technically live. Things are in English, but some of the translations aren't so great, and there is only one half-decent website with info on finding items, though it happens to be in German. http://www.mythos-europe.com/
I got my hands on Ultima IV when I was 10 years old, and it was literally a life-changing experience. Now, more than 25 years later, I'm still hooked on the Ultima titles.
Either Loom or Secret of Monkey Island 1.
Unless you are over 18, then go for Leisure Suit Larry series. However ONLY play the ones that Al Lowe was involved in. The newer ones SUCK!!!
Still playable - Still awesome.
Pick up an emulator and the ROM somewhere..... I think someone built a c++ version for the PC about 10 years back.. that may still be around. It allowed for custom mazes to be defined.
It's simple graphics wise - but I can totally see a kid still getting into the game. :-)
Huh?
You're asking for adventure games, which are puzzles that involve no combat, but list only action RPGs like Fate and Diablo.
I can't think of either adventures or RPGs with network capability that aren't MMOs (which I'd dismiss out of hand because they're mostly grinding scams rather than games). Myst and its sequels are unbelievably awesome adventure games, and work well when a group sits before the screen too. Other such puzzle games include Monkey Island, as well as Zork and the old Infocom text adventures if you don't need graphics.
As for RPGs, my favorites are the Exile, Avernum and Geneforge series (all with turn-based combat). There's also a steampunk RPG with a somewhat Diablo-like interface, but more dialogue and options for real-time or turn-based combat. And again, if you don't insist on graphics, the Rogue-likes like ADOM and Angband are also fun.
If by Adventure game you mean point-and-click Adventure (and if you do not, how dare you soil the term "Adventure"!), then I would recommend the Wallace and Gromit series from Telltale. Solid think-hard adventuring with fun quirky logic and completely kid-friendly.
If you're ok with something less kid-friendly, the Monkey Island series is awesome. My (very) young one loved helping me play Monkey Island 4, but there were times I wondered if it wasn't a bit too gritty for her. I tried firing up version 1 and 2, but the graphics and lack of voice acting put her off.
Day of the Tentacle is superb, but requires solid adventuring skills because the puzzles are quite out there.
Syberia is a great adventure game to start with... great story, good graphics, clear progression/journey, gender and age safe.
The Nancy Drew adventure games are just ok... they are a bit girly and don't have the journey aspect.
Definitely recommend Syberia.
Get her a copy of Zak McKracken & The Alien Mindbenders.. If she can beat that, she's smarter than me, or at least smarter than me when I was at 10 years old. Note, that if you catch her playing Commander Keen because Zak McKracken was too hard, she'll probably end up failing at life... You know you've definitely lost her if she gets into Duke Nukem, as DN1 leads to DN2, and DN2 leads to Duke 3D, then it's all "Shake it, baby!" and the pixelated pornography and the patch to remove the nipple tassels and the whore headshots. Not too sure where I'm going with all of this...
Has a strong female lead character with real depth. Amazing story but might be a little bit mature for a ten year old.
/usr/bsd/games/advent
GET LAMP
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
If I was a Dad I would be playing Sleep is Death by Jason Rohrer with my kids: http://sleepisdeath.net/
Pay what you can, full source code, two player storytelling game. First Dad gets to make the world come alive, then the real fun begins as the kids learn to be the storyteller.
Complexity Happens
Ultima IX Ascension has a huge, very beautiful world, not much violence and the graphics still look awesome. Little Big Adventure 2 also still looks good, fantastic world and great soundtrack.
Diablo is an Action Adventure game, not an Adventure Game Adventure Game are like those new Back to the Future games, King's Quest, Monkey Island, etc.
Don't let 10 year olds see "leisure suit larry"! Or use google, I guess.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
The real story-driven adventure game genre slowed to a crawl more than a decade ago around the release of critically acclaimed Grim Fandango, which bombed commercially. Many of the adventure games released since are remakes or some attempt at episodic content.
If you're looking for good stories, then the Longest Journey and Syberia are fun PC adventure games with strong female protagonists that might appeal more to a 10 year old girl.
While I was growing up, I knew some girls who enjoyed the classic Monkey Island series of adventure games. Another classic is Tim Schafer's Grim Fandango for originality in art design and storytelling, plus a great soundtrack that supposedly sells on eBay for more than $100.
IMHO Diablo is the best RPG... I occasionally play Diablo1 and I'm playing it more than Diablo2, it is simple and fun, dunno if that is appropriate for 10 y/o, however :) Also, Diablo1 has multiplayer we used to play it on the LAN with friends back then.
Diablo is not an adventure game
I've been playing a bit of Tales of Monkey Island with my kids who have enjoyed it even though they don't understand English. I think it's quite enjoyable and does the originals justice.
.: Max Romantschuk
Clearly, EVE Online is the best game to start playing with your ten year old.
I play this game with my 5 year old son. The combat is card based a la magic: the gathering so less than scary. some of the undead bad guys are bit scary to him in appearance. there is zero gore. the defeated enemies fall down and fade away.
Very nice point and click adventures. Syberia on Wikipedia
Great graphics, good story and very relaxed atmosphere. These are old games -- released in 2002 & 2004 but still look pretty good even on a 27" screen.
And you can find them on Steam for less than US$ 10.
HerInteractive makes Nancy Drew mystery adventure games. They are not role playing, but my daughters enjoyed playing them starting from about your daughter's age. They played each new title that came out until about college age. Each game has a main story line with a mystery to be solved. They require you to find clues, work puzzles, and play subgames in the game. Today some 20+ titles are available, so if she likes one, you will be able to find follow-up games that are similar.
I'd go for one of the old cartoon games: day of the tentacle, willy beamish, ...
or go for the modern variant: the Sam & Max episodes! up to date graphics, nice drawings, very funny and quite short games.
I love this game and NWN2 as well, because of it's capabilities to create own adventures. Coop questing, Solo adventures, persistent worlds, you name it.
NWN1 has a native Linux client and NWN2(with all 3 addons) runs without problems in wine.
On the downside, I think Atari gave up one it or something. The website didn't see an update for a long time, but the forums at Bioware are still very active. There is a huge community, that creates adventures and persistent worlds for both NWN1 and NWN2 engines.
Really fun, cute game. Down the Zelda path. I played it when I was young and loved it, but my younger sister started playing it too and beat me to the end. Not only does she rarely play computer games, but that's probably the only game she's ever played to the end.
You can't go wrong! In fact I want to play it again right now.
Serioussly? That things ruined my childhood and I spent every waking moment trying to finish it :(
If your thinking of action RPG i'd recommend torchlight or some of the older infinity engine games like Baldur's Gate 2 if you have a more story-driven/strategy leaning. When it comes to adventures try The Longest Journey. You and your daughter will love it, hell you should try it even if you really ment Action-RPGs.
Well, it all depends on what kind of game you really want to play, IMHO diablo doesn't fall into the 'adventure' category but more in the reign of RPG (which is something completely different).. You want adventure games? then play the old sierra/lucasarts games (or visit sites like Scummvm.org where you can find a lot more info on these kind of point and click adventures).. You want 'diablo' kind of games (which IMHO also means World of Warcraft), there are so many mmo's out there.. and honestly? nobody can tell you what's the best 'adventure' game to start with, because it all depends on YOUR preference of gaming..
Legend of Kyrandia or Hand of Fate would be my choices :)
A good adventure game for kids is the King's Quest series by Sierra (you can get enhanced versions from AGDInteractive ( http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html ) and the whole collection from Steam. After all it's any princess' dreamworld.
The original Star Control II came out when I was her age, so I can tell from personal experience that It'll remain her favourite game for the next 1.5 decades.
It's basically a cross-genre space adventure game, whose arcade-style combat sequences are also available in good old split-screen multiplayer.
The recommended version is the cross-platform port called "The Ur-Quan Masters", available for free from sourceforge.
Moria on VAX/VMS I found to be a great start ;-)
You're mentioning Diablo 1 & 2, but those are not adventures by far. ... these games are not necessarily new, but they are fun to play and Broken Sword especially is a game that one generation has grown up on.
...
If you are asking for good adventures, the answer is Broken Sword 1 & 2, The Longest Journey, Siberia, Gabriel Knight 3, Lost Horizon,
If you are asking for RPG (Diablo-like games), then the answer is Fallout 1, 2, 3, Tactics; Albion (old), Final Fantasy VII, Oblivion, Baldur's Gate 2, and there are hundreds of other good RPG's - they vary in genre, so you can pick one your children prefer - fantasy, scifi, futur noir,
anyway, most of the RPG's are single player and include violence in more or less brutal way. If you like your children to play some good, multiplayer, non-violent game, maybe you could go for MMORPG's like Eve Online, where you don't get to (1) fights with other pilots (2) person-to-person fights; if you don't want to... You can actually play peaceful career and it's still a lot of fun.
Id suggest Star Control 2. It has action, adventure, and it teaches a lil about resource managment. I think the ending of that one would be reached.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
At age 10, I guess Myst, The Dig, Loom and Day of the Tentacle are good examples. If she was slightly older I'd suggest the older text-based adventures as these really capture the imagination. The only one I can think of for the PC is 'Jacaranda Jim' (written by Graham Cluley many years before he joined Sophos AntiVirus).
Earlier (home) computers had a huge number of text adventure games, like Snowball and Lords of Time (by Level 9) and The Hobbit (by Melbourne House). These offered hours of challenge and gave a real sense of achievement as you progressed through each game.
If you're feeling really off the wall, try 'The Boggit' which is a fantastic Tolkien parody.
What the hell has happened to "Adventure" Games? Back in my times, adventure games had names as Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle or Zak McKracken or stuff like that. You had The Longest Journey or Grim Fandango later, you had Kyrandia, Broken Sword, and whatnot.
Adventure games where games in which you solved riddles - Diablo was some Hack&Slash RPG type thing.
Why do you ask for "Adventures" when you are clearly not interested into them and want some mindless hack & slash?
Advice: start your daughter on adventures and THEN introduce her to mindless hack and slash. I think it's better to do the "smart and nice" thing for real and just throw in the "mindless fun" in later as distraction. Othervise, you grow some short-tempered hack&slasher instead of someone who values story over collecting King's Swords of Haste and XP.
I'm sorry, but this is one occasion I cannot pass up.
"The Neverhood", by Microsoft, is a hilarious and not too challenging point and click adventure which requires almost no language skills (save for a few very specific bits of knowledge, such as the meaning of "bobby"). It may me a bit hard to come by, though. :-(
"Good news, everyone!"
Then maybe nothing else but Myst Online.
King's Quest and Space Quest have always been on the list of my favourite game series, the latter of which, as an added bonus, is filled with humour (PG-13 i believe).
Some may tell you that they're too hard, especially the first games of the series (keep in mind that point and click didn't come until KQ5, so everything is typed). While that may be true, my response to that is that it gives you an added chance of bonding with your daughter by working with her (they grow up fast at that age). Some of my best memories of childhood involved my dad and I getting through King's Quest together...
Tons of great suggestions ... obviously no shortage of possibilities. Despite fear of starting a new thread alltogether, how long do you slashdotters let your "slashdaughters" adventure like this? Two hours evenings after homework and dinner in place of movies or DVDs? Six hours starting from getting home from school eating a snack in front of computer? Without constant supervision, what kind of schedule do you put your little gamers on? I personally opt for the "evening entertainment alternative".
rm -rf ms/*
Try Spiral Knights, the new game by Three Rings.
Any and all of the Nancy Drew games from Her interactive
My daughter has played them since she was 9 and still waits for the next release (she's 17)
Curse of monkey island
Curse of monkey island (third game in the installment, the best game in the series imo, but the first 2 are also really awesome)
If you haven't played The Adventures Of Willy Beamish by Sierra, this is the best place to start. Especially due to the fact that this is about a 10 year old's adventures. It's a 90's game and you should be able to download it free online.
Indiana Jones's Desktop Adventure! Too bad it won't run on Ubuntu
Syberia.
Every end has half a stick.
Happy fun loving Sunny Bunnie's flower picking empowerment festival IV?
She may be a bit bored with these games being as dated as they are now, but I suggest the King's Quest series. In fact, many now have remakes by fans that bring them up to VGA graphics and have voice packs, and Kings Quest 6 now has a fanmade sequel that I believe is 3D rendered (while keeping true to the original artwork). What is great about the King's Quest series is she is right inside of their target age-range.
Another great series, and more recent, is the Fable series. This is a great segway between adventure and RPGs, and may get her interested in the still-popular RPG games.
If she enjoys Fable, I suggest then introducing her to more RPGish games. Try Eternal Sonatra, Tales of Vesperia, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
If she enjoys King's Quest, and wants to stick with that style of game, you could try her on the Monkey Island Series, which is currently getting a makeover, or something like Day of the Tentical. And if she wants to get into something spooky without being overly scary, she may like Gabriel Knight - although that may be a year or two away if she is 10.
My daughter had a great time playing the Spy Fox games. The details of the mystery varied on each game play (a bit) so good replay as well.
Give her the game along with the spoilers - she'll end up spending as much time reading as she does playing.
I fear yuo may be remembering the glory years a bit too...glory-dly...(lets just go with that.) after having played Diablo 2, i went back for diabloe 1 and could barley make my way around the screen. imagine my surprise when i went o go see what comes after the tower...
This is a cute little love story where a boy bunny tries to woo the girl bunny he loves. There's one racy dance scene by the Pirate Bunny (who has a thing for the hero). But it's all cute and quite fun. I think the game mechanics are all understandable by a kid.
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/07/bunni_how_we_first_met.php
1. 2.
If you really want to go old school, check out sarien.net. It has flash versions of some of the older Sierra adventure games.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
http://www.ultimaforever.com/
I think that LOTRO is very well suited for the young, especially if you start out in the Shire as a hobbit, which is a very charming place. Although it does have some "scary" areas, such as the Barrow downs (wights and such). You develop virtues such as Compassion, Charity, Honesty, Innocence, etc that adds to your abilities. You don't get killed, you get defeated. And yes, it is multiplayer. And the artwork of some of the areas are just beautiful. I especially like the elven areas. Falathlorn and Rivendel are very nice, and Lothlorien (a high level area) is just breathtaking in my opinion.
It's good for old timers too. I love the game, and I'm almost 49 years old.
You'll have to face the truth:
When it comes to electronic gaming, your daughter fits squarely into the Nintendo demografic. (As does mine, btw.)
Get her a used DS(i) and any of the Zelda Titles or aim for 'Dad of the year 2011' and shell out the money for a 3DS and the Zelda Title that comes with it. It's an Ocarina of Time remake, AFAICT. The 3DS costs 250$ / 225€, which is a bizar pricepoint for a childrens gadget, but I've seen it in action and have played with it a bit and you have to hand it to Nintendo: It *is* an awesome device. ... And since my employer gave me a DSi for christmas I didn't need to buy it myself. ... But then again, I'm also a game developer, so I've even got some extra "awesome cool dad" score with built-in bragging-rights for my sweetheart on top of that. :-)
You'll be a "Dad of the decade" if you get yourself one too and play Mario Cart or some other multiplayer funtitle with her and her friends once in a while.
I do that once in a while, it's a good unsuspicious way of peeking into the girly-clique mechanisims currently going on every once in a while.
One more advice on the Nintendo portables thing:
Do think twice if you'll buy her some mini-social title like those of the "Animal Crossing". Those are freakishly addictve, as they press the right 'doll playing' buttons with pre-teen and teeny girls. You'll have to impose some rules if you introduce that to your little girl. As for Zelda, she'll probably ask you to help her out from time to time when she gets frustrated with some riddle. We report to each other on our progress every once in a while, which can be a nice conversation piece.
And expect a regular-basis ass-whooping in Mario Cart after half a year or so, once she gets the hang of it. ... Just telling. :-)
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I am unsure whether this title is "unscary" enough for her, but it is less bloody than the LOTR movies.
It is simply one of the best and most unusual adventure quest titles ever made. It has a solo campaign and multiplayer mode. You can also play the solo levels co-operatively online or on a LAN. Make sure you have the latest patch.
Most multiplay nowdays is on Myth II though, but Myth TFL has a much better solo storyline.
I'd recommend the King's Quest series or Grim Fandango. Great puzzles, it's cartoony, it's funny and you can play together by helping her solve the harder puzzles (Grim is "harder" than King's Quest I think). Space Quest was pretty cool too.
May I recommend checking out www.gog.com 's selection of games, I'm sure you'll find something there.
~Syberz
Sixteen kilobytes of pure fun.
The mongoose, unfortunately, was really a squirrel...
How the heck did this IDIOT confuse a squirrel with a BIRD????
( Much later I realized this actually makes perfect sense, but at the time, it seemed ridiculous. )
...
Still kickin' it in 2011. The graphics aren't so fly by todays standard, but the game play is endless and you can play solo (what a fucking novel idea) or with groups as you chose.
It still has a special place in my heart 3
I'm a terrible father. I introduced my daughter to Nethack at 8 yrs old or so, she quite enjoyed it. She got down to the fifth or sixth dungeon level on her first go at it, asking lots of questions as she went. Poor kid had no idea how hard it is to actually "beat" Nethack though.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Syberia is a wonderful, kid-friendly adventure game with thoughtful puzzles and no violence. I'd recommend it to any parent looking to work through a game with their child - or even an adult after some relatively easy puzzles with great art direction.
... adventure games. Although, if Diablo is your marker for what makes an "adventure game" you might be better off looking to something like the newer Zelda games. They're not multi-player, but sometimes the best way to roll through a game like that is to sit on the couch with a friend and take turns working out the puzzles / fights.
Wizard 101 is a good fit for that age group and very kid-safe. It has the added advantage that the base game is free (though you will have to pay to unlock later areas). Especially on the "free" areas, it is easy to create a second account and play at the same time as her.
Also agree with Portal/Baldur's Gate/Lego Star Wars,Harry Potter, etc / Zelda (Nintendo DS).
There are also the MySims' series of games. She may enjoy MySims Agents (I've only played on Wii)
Why the hell are you worried about "Scary" for your daughter? What's wrong with something scaring the kids? It's not a giant floating head giving somebody a blow job, it's fine, she'll get over it. I played Metroid when I was a kid a lot, that was scary as hell back then. You're all alone, on an uninhabited planet, diving deep into its core with no hope of seeing the surface again in a long time, looking for monsters that can kill you with lighting, dealing with acid pools, darkness, mutants... and you have the Wave Beam to help you get by.
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I would say that Half-life 2, Picross 3D, Starcraft 2, Super Mario World or Madden NFL '11 would be good adventure games to start with.
No one mentions Star Control 2 yet? what the hell kind of nerds are you people?
Ignoring Cost, World of warcraft is worth consideration. It's pretty much a cartoon masquerading as a Adventure game, And from a newbie prospective it's pretty vast.
Star Control 2 was one of the defining games and experiences of my life; my brother and I played through it together when we were 8 and 10 respectively, and it was monumentally influential on us. Paul Reich and Fred Ford became his idols, and he went on to became a coder. The struggle for freedom influenced me, and a few weeks later found a copy of Slackware and became a *nix admin.
Coincidence? Ok, maybe. :) But still a spectacular game with a truly epic story.
I'd actually recommend the DOS version under dosbox, without the 3DO voice acting, as it leaves more to the imagination.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
The Myst series is definitely fun. It is a bit challenging, but with the internet out there, there really isn't any challenge that is more than a google search away.
I would suggest the original Adventure (aka Colossal Cave). No multiplayer or graphics here, however this game is the cornerstone of adventure games. More information about it at: http://www.rickadams.org/adventure. If the question was indeed about RPG's then I suggest the Bard's Tale trilogy (the Amiga version is a masterpiece and can still be played via emulators).
I introduced a niece and nephew (ages 11 and 7) to Machinarium recently, and so far they've really enjoyed it. Definitely one of the best adventure games made in recent years.
How about Fable?
Torchlight. It's newer, shiny, made by the guys who made the original Diablo, and is decidedly age-appropriate (unless something happens in the latter half of the game I am unaware of, since I've never gotten more than ten hours in). You might also consider Eschalon I and II, both are a bit more involved and "adventure-ey" with detailed stories and such, but they might fit the bill, and I don't recall any age-inappropriate stuff, myself. But then, I don't honestly recall anything "inappropriate" in Diablo I or II either....so my sense of perspective on this may be skewed. And yes, as everyone is delightedly pointing out, these games are technically Rogue-likes or action RPGs, or hacknslashers but the adventure game appelation technically means "point and click and solve obscure puzzle" types.
'nuf said.
World of goo is not exactly an adventure game, but close enough...
Not too difficult. Woman Hero. Good dialog. Inexpensive. And has a sequel.
http://www.longestjourney.com/
Have fun!
:T:R:A:N:S:
Don't get me wrong, Day of the Tentacle is a great game but I think it might be a little too hard for a 10 year old. It's been decades since I last played it but as I remember some of the interactions of the different items in the game are abstract as hell. Not the same as The Dig or Full Throttle where things made contextual sense.
SMALL SPOILER: In The Dig you might get a tool and that will be used at some point as the tool. Same with Full Throttle, a motorcycle part is just that, used in a motorcycle. However, in Day of the Tentacle, you got some coins which were actually used as coins but were used to pay for a dryer that was used dry a wet sweater which would shrink it (sometime in the far future, didn't I mention 3 different time lines?) so that a wet hamster that you defrosted in the microwave because he was encased in a block of ice from the ice machine can be warmed up. Make sense? And that's not even one of the more abstract puzzles.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
what, no love for Peasant's Quest?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Try Wizard101. It's very kid friendly and age appropriate.
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:You_are_standing.jpg
Machinarium is a really cute, recent, 2d point-and.click adventure.
Tales of Monkey Island (Telltale Games) is the wonderful continuation of the classical Monkey Island series, also excellent as a first game.
I would recomend two of the best adventure games of all time:
1) Full Throttle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Throttle_%281995_video_game%29
2) Grim Fandango
Ultima IV was a great game, and for a kid great as it was turn-based. Endless exploration and discovery.
The Geneforge series is a very similar but modern one of the same type that is still around today. Try those.
Machinarium. My 6-year-old LOVES the game, and has played it through twice with me and once by himself. He has shared it with all the kids he knows, and not one has not been sucked into the game.
I bought it through the Humble Indie Bundle twice (gave a copy to a friend). I paid full price for one copy to give to one of my 6-year-olds friends, and I know one other parent that bought the game. For the rest of the copies I don't sweat it. It was the only game in the whole bundle he just went crazy over.
the best
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.
If you've played these games, you understand that they can occupy a unique place in the human psyche. I think Infocom got the point across clearly in their ads. The games are free, play on any platform, challenge you to visualize an environnment, improve your vocabulary, encourage reading and demand comprehension, engage problem-solving skills, give children open-ended control over a world, and are just plain fun.
They've formed a foundation for the way I approach problem-solving and exploration in ways I probably can't grasp. Newer games are introducing some interesting concepts, and others show how powerfully prose can evoke strong emotion. All in a few hours.
The submitter perpetrated a great troll here by getting to broaden "adventure" to encompass tripe like Diablo. The result is 400+ posts pandering to a mouthbreather who could have easily used the vast gaming resources available on the internet to educate himself instead of wasting everyone's time.
Apparently most are fondly remembering their youthful days of Lucas and/or MUD adventuring. I too love my days of MUDding and Lucas was revolutionary and influential -- my kids (and I) loved them back in the day! However, I don't believe a contemporary 10-year old would have much patience with a MUD or GOG-updated 10-15 year old games (with the exception of the Monkey Island remakes).
:) Today I'm playing "The Next Big Thing" -- she would love it! Hilarious!
If you want a great contemporary adventure game (and, yes, I'm ignoring the fact that you apparently aren't asking about adventure games per se), I would highly recommend "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout" from 2011, easily one of the best games I've played in years. Very traditional but has both a fascinating story line, great voice acting and the wonders of a different (and usually quite witty) response to 98% of combination attempts. None of the repetitive "No, that doesn't work", but a unique on-point retort. The programmer claimed 30,000 lines of dialogue!
Another one from the same company is "The Whispered World". Artistic backgrounds, great story, great voice action. Highly recommended.
Both of these are from Germany -- the Germans are the ones making the best adventure games these days). Another is "The Book of Unwritten Tales" from 2009. This is more 3-D, a bit of action, delightful story. Problem: it's only in German but you can grab fan-written subtitles.
Black Mirror II & Black Mirror III are also recommended. Culpa Innata. The Runaway & Broken Sword series are good for a Lucas-like experience. And, yes, I'm still a connoisseur of adventure games at 57.
The only down side is that this is a free mmo so you can't guarantee the other people around you, but if you play with your daughter it should be fine. It is basically diablo with cartoon style robots and dungeon crawling. The good thing as that she can't play for too long because you use energy to do basically everything. Once you run out, you will need to wait for it to generate before you can continue on.
The protagonist, Jade, is female and awesome, is treated as a real person wearing clothes a woman would actually want to wear.
The characters and world are fully developed.
The story is amazing and highly acclaimed.
Seriously. Jade is pretty much the best female role model in video games.
Start with the grand-daddy of them all: rogue.
Why not start her where it all began with 'Colossal Cave Adventure'. Every child should learn how to get out of a twisty maze of passages all alike.
If she takes to that, then Zork, and other classic text adventures could be tackled. Introduce her then to the Monkey Island adventures, Day of the Tentacle, etc - slowly letting her work her way through all those years of classic gaming.
Best game for her is Titan Quest. She will LOVE it!!!
The multiplayer MystOnline is free. Great environments and puzzles.
http://mystonline.com/en/
great old game
The Lego Games are fun and multiplayer. And they have familiar storylines so you can just jump right in and have a feel for what you need to do in the game.
Probably shouldn't let her do online gaming just yet, she probably shouldn't be exposed to the idiots in the world of online gaming at 10 years old.
Lord of the rings Online.
Not only is it group friendly, but solo also.
The majority of the community is rather nice for an online game.
It is also free to play up to level 50.
A lotro Life-time account holder
Great RPG with both kid friendly and adult complexity play. My wife and I both played it and loved it.
Lots of good new adventure games to choose from. I'd recommend the new incarnations of Sam & Max and Monkey Island. Or you could start with the Sierra classics and go up from there, though the 8-bit graphics might put her off.
It's been a couple years since I've played it, but my friends and I used to really enjoy this game. From what I know, it's very similar to WoW, but it uses the free to play with cash shop items available model. Realistically, if you will be playing on a semi regular basis, there are a few things from the cash shop that you need, and that may make WoW a better choice depending on the costs involved. But this is one game that I downloaded for my wife, who doesn't play any games, and she actually played it for a month or two of her own accord, which surprised the heck out of me.