Return of the Point and Click Adventure

I love that casual games is a space where older game genres can be reborn and updated for today's players.

The puzzle game genre which was left for dead in the stampede to 3D has more than made a home in the space with the likes of Bejeweled, Zuma and dozens of other games. The Eye Spy style of games that were a blip on the PC game landscape many years ago have made a resurgence with some cool new twists to the game play with the likes of the Mystery Case Files series.

And now the humble 2D point and click adventure is starting to come back. Azada from Big Fish Games and Dream Chronicles from KatGames are very reminiscent of Myst in their look and storyline, but are 2D point and click through and through. The player has to solve some brain bending puzzles on single screens or locations in order to progress in a linear fashion. As each section is solved more of the mystery is revealed.

These games are more analogous to Myst than Monkey Island but I don't think it will be long before we see non-linear character driven point and click games emerge.

Oddly enough I've recently been re-playing Flight of the Amazon Queen... hmmm.