Original, creative PC games - what titles are there?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm sick of the same old, same old.
I want something more interesting, more risky, more interesting.
eg. I loved Grim Fandango, The Monkey Island games and I'm playing Psychonauts (so far it's awesome!)

Anyone know of any other amazingly original PC games?
(They don't have to be Lucas Arts and can be more than a few years old).

Thanks peeps.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

The Myst games were always a trip. Spore is supposed to be pretty fun as well. I've always enjoyed the Sims 2, but that's usually only in short bursts. You might wanna try the Syberia games as well. They're uber cheap.

[Scarecrow]

I second myst. That is easily one of my favorite game series. Myst 5 was a little glitchy but still a good game.

Also Manhole but I don't even think thats been available on a computer since like 95. Wish they would re-release it. It was pretty much a kids version of myst (it actually came first) but I really liked it.

Titanic: Adventure out of Time if you like detective type games and exploring the titanic. Been out of print for a while but I'd think it'd still work on current windows systems. I believe my copy still worked ok on XP. Never tried vista.

Missing Since January and the follow up (well... different story, same type of game), Evidence: The Last Ritual are quite fun alternate reality games, if you're into figuring out weird puzzles left by a serial killer to try and save the missing person. Pretty brutal pictures and clips though. If you've seen movies like Se7en or the Saw series, that should give you some a feeling for these games. You get email messages from "characters" in game too and have to search "in game" websites for links and clues to puzzles and advancing the story. Great to play alone in the middle of the night if you wanna freak yourself out.

If you like monkey island games, Sam and Max are great. Basically the same type, point and click, weird quirky puzzles and you're generally trying to solve cases. Similar humor to monkey island too. I think they're only available on GameTap though (10 dollars a month or 60$ for a year gives you unlimited access to over 1000 pc games till you cancel subscription.. then the games don't work any more. I actually think Manhole is available on here as well as all the myst games)

That's all I can think of ATM...

[Tarnish]

I cannot recommend The Longest Journey enough. It combines sci-fi and fantasy settings almost flawlessly and features some of the best writing I've ever witnessed in a game. It's a bit slow-moving, but not painfully so, changing atmosphere often enough to stay quite interesting. Plus, it's cheap, being a rerelease and all.

You may want to know that the swearing can get really, really awful at times. So much so that even I had to start skipping some scenes.

[Scarecrow]

OH!!! Uplink!!! I looove uplink!! It's was a game put out by a small company of probably a couple workers but I loved it. You're a hacker and the whole game is set up like a computer hooked up to a network. You're given emails (in game, not your real email) and info about your next hack. It's been a while since I've played it but you had to sabotage the FBI (or something like that) by sending a virus, then routing the connection to someone elses computer so they don't catch you etc. As you go on through the game the puzzles become harder and faster and everything has to be timed just perfectly or you get caught. I don't remember the whole story line but it was insanely fun. It's all in game but it feels like you're actually getting into other computers, copying the info you need, getting out, sending virus', avoid getting tracked etc. One of the most fun games I think I've played.

They had talks of a multi player version that was supposed to be developed but I never heard anything about it. I should go check. Completely forgot about this game but it was fun ^_^ (of course, there is zero replay since once you know how to do everything, the suspense and stuff is lost but oh well)

Edit: Here's the website. You can download the demo too... http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/index.html

[Slater]

Pocket Tanks by Blitwise!

Or... well... just about anything from Blitwise for that manner. Neon Wars is another amazing game.

http://www.blitwise.com

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Starcraft. =)

[Fish and Chips]

Starcraft. =)

Did not read the thread title.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Did not read the thread title.

lol srsly?

[TriezGamer]

StarCraft actually may have fit this at the time the game was made...

As for my recommendation: Dwarf Fortress. The downside being that it has an EXTREMELY steep learning curve, and many people can't get past the visual style.

Also, ignore the subtitle "Slaves to Armok: God of Blood" -- it has nothing to do with the game whatsoever and is essentially a developer injoke.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

StarCraft actually may have fit this at the time the game was made...

I say it still fits. XD My roommates and I still play this game every weekend or so.

[User Name]

The only "PC" game I can think of is indeed Starcraft.

On the other hand, there's this other DOS game called "Little Big Adventure". I wanted it, but I can't get it.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Have you played the Syberia games?