It's that time of year again, a time when Defunct Games celebrates the holidays by posting a daily theme article that should inform and delight gamers all over the world. This year we're counting down the days until Christmas by looking at 30 different video game genres. From the most popular games to the tiniest niche titles, everything fits into a genre and we're going to be there to shed absolutely no new information about that genre in this month-long feature. Join us as we celebrate this joyous season with the 30 Genres of Christmas!


How Do You Know You Are Playing a Adventure Game? You've spent all month working on a quest that just won't end. No matter how many dragons you slay or treasure chests you open, it feels like there's yet another dungeon waiting for you. It sounds like you might be in the middle of an Adventure Game. You'll also take note that many Adventure Games are turn-based, have massive amounts of written (sometimes spoken) dialogue and can take you dozens of hours to complete.

Patron Saint: Going somewhere you've never been and doing something you've never done before.

Typical Story: The King's daughter has been kidnapped and has asked you and a small fellowship of town warriors to go rescue her. After spending three months fighting your way through the desert, snow-covered mountains and swamp regions, your team's black mage turns on the group and kills the good looking woman you were starting to have feelings for. From there you resolve to not only save the Princess, but also take down that traitorous black mage. Before long you have found yourself allied with a town full of chickens and have learned a super secret magic spell that literally rains boulders from the heavens.

What Your Grumpy Roommate Says: "So let me get this right, at the beginning of the game you are given a special sword you have to throw into a huge volcano at the edge of the world. And in order to do that you have to get a bunch of people together and walk it over snow, desert, water, fire and dirt. In other words, you have to take the longest, most taxing path possible, running into countless dangers and potentially dying before even getting there. Is that right? Why didn't they just fly straight to the mountain in their fancy-ass flying contraption? Surely that would have saved us the last 80 hours of our life!"

But Aren't ALL Games Adventure Games? Well, yes ... most genres do have adventure elements. Grand Theft Auto IV may be an open-world sandbox game, but it's also an Adventure Game. Same with Super Mario Bros., Sam & Max and The Legend of Zelda. Almost every game has somebody going on an adventure. Heck, even the puzzle genre has Puzzle Quest. But I wouldn't pull that thread if I were you; this whole Christmas feature could unravel right before your eyes. If you look too closely you'll discover that there are only a few different genres, hardly enough to base a whole 30 day show around. So quit pulling, leave that sweater alone.

Then vs. Now? There are certainly good arguments on both sides of this debate. Many of my favorite Adventure Games come from the old school, including Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, etc. However, I can't ignore the impressive amount of diverse Adventure Games hitting the market these days. There's such a nice variety and so many different voices adding their two cents to the mix. It may seem like a cop-out, but I'm not partial to any one era of Adventure Games.