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Best action-adventure games on GamesNostalgia

Action adventure games are a genre of games that combine the excitement and intensity of action-packed gameplay with elements of exploration, puzzle-solving, and storytelling. In these games, players take on the role of a heroic protagonist, often embarking on thrilling quests. As they progress, players must navigate through challenging obstacles, engage in combat with adversaries, and unravel mysteries while uncovering the rich narrative that drives the adventure forward.

The 1980 game Adventure, created by Warren Robinett for the Atari 2600, is considered the first action adventure. It was a simple game with rudimentary graphics and a top-down view. Instead, Ultimate Play the Game introduced isometric graphics for the fantasy action-adventure Knight Lore, a revolutionary game for the ZX Spectrum.

Hideo Kojima's masterpiece, Metal Gear, released in 1987 for the MSX, was based on stealth mechanics, partly inspired by 1984's Muse Software success Castle Wolfenstein.

In 1989, Cinemaware released the iconic It Came From The Desert for the Amiga, a story with unique gameplay elements. Before the advent of 3D, several studios adopted an isometric point of view, as we can see in Cadaver, one of the many wonderful releases of the Bitmap Brothers. Delphine Software instead adopted a platform-like side view for Another World and Flashback: The Quest for Identity, two titles that defined the story of the Amiga.

The first action adventure in 3D was probably Alone in the Dark, the survival horror created by Infogrames and released in 1992. But there is no better example of this genre than Core Design's masterpiece Tomb Raider. Released in 1996, it became the prototype of modern video games, with fantastic action, a compelling story, puzzles to solve, and a fantastic character design. Somehow, all console and PC action adventures are still following this example. That's why all recent releases, especially AAA titles, are basically action adventures.

Last but not least, Grand Theft Auto by DMA Design (aka Rockstar North), an action-adventure with a unique point of view, that introduced an open world and non-linear gameplay into a game that was initially just about car racing and crashing.

You will find many other titles here since this is a very generic genre. Feel free to explore and try the games you don't know yet.

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way windows

No One Lives Forever 2 is a first-person shooter with stealth elements created by Monolith and published by Sierra in 2002 for PC and Macintosh. As you may imagine, NOLF2 is the se...

Year: 2002 Genre: Action

3d action-adventure cold war espionage first-person fps humour shooter spy stealth

No One Lives Forever windows

The Operative: No One Lives Forever, also known as NOLF, is a first-person shooter/stealth game created by Monolith Productions. It was published by Fox Interactive for PC in 2000.

Year: 2000 Genre: Shooter

3d action-adventure cold war espionage first-person humour shooter spy stealth

Grand Theft Auto dos

Grand Theft Auto, popularly known as GTA, is a 2D open-world action game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG in 1997 for PC. At the end of that same year, it would see the light in the Playstation 1.

Year: 1997 Genre: Action

2d action-adventure automobile crime & punishment driving non-linear north america open world violence

Alone in the Dark dos

Alone in the Dark is a survival horror game developed by Infogrames Europe and published by I-Motion in 1992. It was initially released for DOS but was later ported to several other platforms.

Year: 1992 Genre: Adventure

3d action-adventure adventure horror interwar survival horror

Metal Gear Solid windows

Metal Gear Solid is a stealth action game created by Konami and released initially for PlayStation in 1998. In 1999, an enhanced version was released for Windows. It's the third ga...

Year: 1999 Genre: Action

3d action-adventure cinematic north america playstation spy stealth

Zelda Classic mac-osxwindows

Zelda Classic is a fanmade faithful reproduction of The Legend of Zelda, the legendary videogame created by Nintendo. This remake, created by Armageddon Games, is an exact replica of the NES version released in 1986.

Year: 2000 Genre: Role Playing

action-adventure adventure-rpg fangames fantasy jrpg remake rpg zelda

onEscapee windowsamiga

onEscapee is an action-adventure created by Invictus and published by Sadeness Software in 1997 exclusively for the Amiga. The decision to invest two years in developing an Amiga g...

Year: 1997 Genre: Action

action-adventure aga aliens amiga original game cyberpunk flip-screen freeware hand-drawn animations single screen

Heart Of The Alien amiga

Heart Of The Alien Redux for Amiga is a reverse-engineered version of the original SEGA CD game. Heart of the Alien is the sequel to the famous Another World (aka Out of this Wor...

Year: 2016 Genre: Action

action-adventure aliens cinematic flip-screen hand-drawn animations reverse engineered science fiction

American McGee's Alice windows

American McGee's Alice is a third-person action-adventure developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts in 2000. This entry is named after its renowned director...

Year: 2000 Genre: Action

3d action-adventure horror supernatural

Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King game-boy-advance

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King is a platform game created by Tose for the Game Boy Advance and released in 2005. The story told in the game precedes the events of Tim Burton's famous holiday horror film.

Year: 2005 Genre: Platformer

action-adventure game boy advance horror metroidvania progressive beat-em-up side-scrolling

Back to the Future Part II amiga

Back to the Future Part II is the video game adaptation of the famous film, part of the iconic series created by Robert Zemeckis. The movie was released in 1989, and the game, developed by Images Software, was published in 1990.

Year: 1990 Genre: Action

action-adventure licensed movies multi-type

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse nes

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is the third chapter in the Castlevania series created by Konami. The horror platformer was released in December 1989 for the NES. The game is set ...

Year: 1989 Genre: Platformer

action-adventure horror metroidvania nes original game platformer side-scrolling

It Came From The Desert amiga

It Came from the Desert is an action-adventure game by Cinemaware, inspired by 1950s "B" movies, initially released for the Amiga in 1989. Later it was ported to MS-DOS. With Defe...

Year: 1989 Genre: Adventure

action-adventure adventure amiga original game b-movies detective disaster interactive movie mutants mystery non-linear

Dragon's Lair amiga

Dragon's Lair is a famous cinematic video game created initially as a laserdisc in 1983 by Don Bluth and Rick Dyer. Several home computer adaptations were released during the 1980s...

Year: 1989 Genre: Adventure

action-adventure cartoon cinematic fantasy hand-drawn animations interactive movie laserdisc