Page 2: Heirs of the Earth (1994)

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"The Dreamers Guild" is not a name with a particularly powerful ring to it. This is probably due to the fact that the majority of their portfolio consisted of MacOS conversions of games such as "The Legend of Kyrandia" or "PGA Tour Golf". From time to time, however, the dreamy guild also ventured into completely self-developed games, primarily point-n-click adventures. The best-known result of these efforts is probably the 1995 game adaptation of the science fiction book classic "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", developed in collaboration with Cyberdreams. But the much more interesting game had already appeared the year before: "Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb", which was called "Erben der Erde: Die große Suche" in Germany.

Despite the boring title, the great quest is a highly unusual adventure. For a change, you don't play a standard-beautiful hero here, but the fox Rif, who is accused of stealing the so-called "Storm Orb", an extremely important artifact. Just like in "Planet of the Apes", the whole thing takes place in an undefined future in which the animals have taken over the Earth because the humans have disappeared – but their traces can still be found everywhere.

"Inherit the Earth" is not a particularly challenging adventure game; you won't need much longer than one or two rainy afternoons to prove Rif's innocence. And his borrowings from the LucasArts role models could hardly be clearer. And yet this is yet another one of those lovely, creative, unusual adventures whose world you can sink into like a comfy seat cushion and feel sad when you've mastered it. Available on GOG and Steam.

"Torin's Passage" (1995)

When "Sierra Entertainment" and "Al Lowe" are mentioned, the case is crystal clear, isn't it? This is a game from the legendary "Leisure Suit Larry" series. HA! No way! Because good Al has created much more for Sierra than just the adventures of the lovable loser Larry Laffer: including educational games (such as "Donald Duck's Playground", 1984), movie adaptations (such as "The Black Cauldron", 1986) and a ton of games that have nothing to do with pick-up attempts gone wrong.

As well as "Torin's Passage", which follows the point-n-click maxim that dominates Al Lowe's vita, but goes in a completely different, much more light-hearted and family-friendly direction than the adventures for which the American has become famous. This game revolves around the eponymous boy Torin, who sets off with his shape-shifting friend Boogle to rescue his parents, who have been kidnapped by the evil magician Lycentia.

Al Lowe has deliberately designed the game so that it can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. The hand-drawn cartoon graphics are lovingly designed and full of playful little details. The puzzles invite experimentation and trial and error, without punishing players with spontaneous deaths as is usual with Sierra. And there is even an internal help system in case you get stuck at some point. Or to put it another way: "Torin's Passage" still works wonderfully today – and even best in a large/small player combination! Available from GOG.

"Eternam" (1992)

For the grand finale of our list of recommendations of six possibly not quite so well-known old-school adventure games, we go to France – which was the birthplace of some completely crazy games, especially in the late 80s and early 90s. "Eternam" from Infogrames is not quite as bizarre as "Robinson's Requiem", "Commander Blood " or "Gobliiins", for example, but it is definitely a very unique mixture of adventure, skill game and 3D shooter.

Players take on the role of, ahem, Don Jonz, who must escape from a theme park spread across five islands: Enemies await on the 3D overworld, while conversations with NPCs (including TV-addicted statues, a surprisingly talkative skeleton and a crazed German scientist), jump passages, lots of puzzles and many unexpected deaths, some of which are staged in a rather gory manner, await in the 2D towns and buildings.

"Eternam" is difficult and often frustrating, the controls, which rely purely on keyboard control, are rather awkward and fiddly, the puzzles only really make sense in the rarest of cases – this is without question a highly unusual game, definitely the big outlier in this list of otherwise rather classic point-n-click games. At the same time, however, it offers a very unique, sometimes irresistible atmosphere and an absolutely unusual gaming experience. Just typically French. Available on GOG and Steam.

(mki)