Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time!!1!

#9: Daikatana

Eidos – 2000

“All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. For while in all other works of art it is possible to distinguish the matter from the form, and the understanding can always make this distinction, yet it is the constant effort of art to obliterate it.” — William Pater

Many attempts have been made to capture the adventure gaming trifecta of storyline, characterization and gameplay. Most can get at least one. Some can even capture two. But rare is the gaming jewel that manages all three.

Certainly none has ever managed to do so with the grace and subtlety of Daikatana.

A deep, engrossing tale spanning centuries, told sublimely through intricately designed cutscenes and fantastic puzzle design and wound around some of the most fascinating characters ever created in the history of literature, Daikatana stands head and shoulders over any game in recent history.

“John Romero Wants To Make You His Bitch!” cried the first ads for the game. And he did. Oh yes he did.

The incredible cinematic opening of a man taking five minutes to die as he narrates the story’s background in monotone as the camera lurches about him like a parrot on crystal meth is only the tiniest hint of the wonders that await. Quickly, the player finds themselves engrossed in a futuristic Tokyo overflowing with places to explore and puzzles to solve. Easily the best of these is the immortal-in-the-annals-of-adventure-gaming classic “How Do You Kill A Nearly Infinite Amount of Hideously Mechanized Frogs and Mosquitos?”.

It only gets better from there, with brain teasers like “Which Lettered Key Opens Which Lettered Door?” and “How Do I Manage to Use This !@#(*!@ Weapon Without Killing Myself?”

As the gameplay progresses, you’ll meet the Hiro’s (Ha! A pun! Hiro! Hero! God what genius!) sidekicks and it is here that Daitakana truly jumps the shark to a new level of brilliance — for you are given the chance to interact with the most incredible implementation of a Non-Player Character in the history of gaming: “Superfly” Johnson.

No more needs to be said, I know. The subtle shadings of Superfly’s characterization are comparable only perhaps to Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert. The sense of realism in fighting at Johnson’s side as he constantly screams “Wazzzzzup!”, stands in your firing line, and then proceeds to shoot you in the back is one of the pinacles of adventure gaming history.

All told, Daikatana is clearly one of best games that ever made…no, that will ever be made. No amount of technological advancement will shadow the genius of its design.

Homunculus.

(D.R.)