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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.

Metal Gear commodore-64msxnes

Metal Gear is a stealth action-adventure designed by Hideo Kojima and originally released in 1987 by Konami for the MSX2. It was later ported to the NES, Commodore 64, and DOS. Not...

Year: 1987 Genre: Action

action-adventure espionage msx original game spy stealth top-down top-down action

Mercenary commodore-64amigaatari-8-bit

Mercenary: Escape from Targ is a sci-fi action-adventure game designed by Paul Woakes. It was released by Woakes' company, Novagen Software, initially for Atari 8-bit in 1986. It w...

Year: 1985 Genre: Action

action-adventure first-person science fiction virtual world wireframe

Jurassic Park dosamiga

Jurassic Park is the video game adaptation of the Steven Spielberg film, developed and published by Ocean Software. It was released in 1993 for the Amiga and DOS. The game and the film were released the same year.

Year: 1993 Genre: Action

action-adventure aga history movies multi-type prehistoric

Flashback: The Quest for Identity amiga

Flashback: The Quest For Identity is a sci-fi platformer/action-adventure published by U.S. Gold, and developed by Delphine Software. The game is the brainchild of Paul Cuisset, cr...

Year: 1993 Genre: Action

action-adventure amiga original game cinematic cinematic platformer cyberpunk flip-screen science fiction

Survival Kids game-boy-color

Survival Kids is a survival adventure game developed by Konami and released in 1999 for Game Boy Color. This unique entry in Konami's catalog stands out as one of the most innovati...

Year: 1999 Genre: Action

action-adventure adventure-rpg game boy original game jrpg role-playing

Sid Meier's Pirates! amigacommodore-64

Sid Meier’s Pirates! is the original award-winning pirate life simulation game developed and published by MicroProse in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was also released for the Apple II, Amstrad CPC, and PC Booster.

Year: 1987 Genre: Simulation

action strategy action-adventure caribbean history naval open world pirates real-time simulation

Rayman 2 game-boy-color

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is an adventure platformer developed by Ubi Studios UK and released in 2001 by Ubisoft for Game Boy Color. This portable adaptation of Michel Ancel's cel...

Year: 2001 Genre: Platformer

2d action-adventure cartoon comedy game boy original game hop and bop platformer side-scrolling

Cybercon III amiga

Cybercon III is a first-person sci-fi adventure game released in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga and later ported to MS-DOS in 1993. Designed by Ricardo Pinto, it stands as a remar...

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

3d action-adventure polygons science fiction virtual world

Darkmere: The Nightmare's Begun amiga

Darkmere (or Darkmere: The Nightmare’s Begun) is a fantasy RPG-action-adventure game developed by Zero Hour Software. It was published by Core Design in 1994 for the Amiga. There...

Year: 1994 Genre: Role Playing

action-adventure adventure-rpg fantasy isometric rpg sword and sorcery

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos nes

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos is an isometric puzzle-platformer developed by the UK-based studio Software Creations. It was released for the NES in 1990. It marked th...

Year: 1990 Genre: Platformer

action-adventure fantasy flip-screen isometric nes original game puzzle platformer puzzler

Castlevania: Bloodlines genesis

Castlevania: Bloodlines, released in 1994 for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis, marked the iconic franchise’s only appearance on SEGA’s 16-bit console. Konami developed and publishe...

Year: 1994 Genre: Platformer

action-adventure anime dark fantasy genesis original game horror parallax scrolling platform-adventure vampires

Enemy: Tempest of Violence amiga

Enemy: Tempest Of Violence is a platformer action-adventure created by Anachronia for the Amiga and published originally in 1997. The developer released an improved version, called...

Year: 1997 Genre: Action

2 players action platformer action-adventure amiga original game co-op flip-screen freeware platformer

Conan: The Cimmerian amiga

Conan: The Cimmerian is an action-adventure with RPG elements created by Synergistic Software for PC and Amiga and released in 1991 by Virgin Games. The game is officially based on...

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

action-adventure adventure-rpg fantasy licensed multi-directional novel sword and sorcery

Another World amigados

Another World is a cinematic platformer designed by Éric Chahi for Delphine Software and originally developed for the Amiga in 1991. The game's remarkable success led to ports acr...

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

action-adventure amiga original game cinematic cinematic platformer platformer science fiction