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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 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

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Tomb Raider dos

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive in 1996 for PC, Sega Saturn, and PlayStation. Eidos Interactive, formerly known ...

Year: 1996 Genre: Action

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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

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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

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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

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Another World amigados

Another World, also known as Out of This World, is a cinematic platformer action-adventure designed by Éric Chahi for Delphine Software. It was released in 1991 initially for Amig...

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

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

Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel game-boy-color

Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel is a stealth action game developed by Konami for the Game Boy Color. The game was released in 2000 and is a spin-off title in the Metal Gear series,...

Year: 2000 Genre: Action

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Landstalker: Treasure of King Nole genesis

Landstalker: Treasure of King Nole is an action-adventure (+part RPG) with a Japanese flavor, created by Climax Entertainment. It was developer for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and released in 1992.

Year: 1992 Genre: Action

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Rocket Ranger amiga

Rocket Ranger is a cinematic action game, with some strategy elements, created by Cinemaware originally for the Amiga and released in 1988. It was later ported to Apple IIgs, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and other platforms.

Year: 1988 Genre: Action

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Exile amiga

Exile is an action video game ported by Audiogenic to the Amiga, Commodore 64, and Atari ST in 1991. The original title was developed in 1988 by Superior Software for the BBC Micro.

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

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Tomb Raider (nGlide version) dos

This is a version of Tomb Raider using the 3Dfx Voodoo Glide wrapper. This version has been prepared specifically for GamesNostalgia by one of our most faithful readers - a massive...

Year: 1996 Genre: Action

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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

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Mercenary commodore-64amiga

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

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

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