Most unique setting in an adventure game?

[Valentine]

I was wondering about peoples experiences with unique settings in adventure games. I think we've all played games set in modern day times, standard fantasy lands or even pirate islands, but which setting stands out most to you. Now, I'm not talking about the plot which happens *in* those settings, Zak McCracken for example undoubtedly has a unique plot, but its still set in relatively modern times (alright... '97 if you're being picky ).

I know I'm probably supposed to post my own example or opinion here to be a "good AGS forumer", but I think my own favourite escapes me, as I've mainly only experienced the LucasArts games properly.

Full Throttle has quite a unique setting it my opinion, I'm sure I've never seen the whole biker culture put into a dusty future with hovercars. All the other LucasArts games I can think of seem to have quite standard settings with only a slight twist (Monkey Island, pretty standard piracy; Loom, pretty standard fantasy).

Oh wait! How can I forget Grim Fandango! Yes, that has to rank as my personal favourite setting. A Mexican afterlife, where hopeless souls can work as Grim Reaper travel agents, industry has grown up around cat racing, and giant flaming beavers dwell in forbidden forests. Not forgetting the underground Lost Souls Alliance, and Sproutella guns - all entwined in a Brazillian, Art-deco, film-noir setting.

Tim Schafer certainly has a mind which can think outside the box.

So what are other peoples experiences? Are there more highly unique settings in adventure games out there? I'm not just refering to commercial adventure games, but also to AGS games and other amateur games. Comments?

[Akatosh]

DiscNoir. Full stop. 

Oh, and, to do some shameless self-promotion, the game I'm working on right now. It's more than unique. Unique unique. So unique unique doesn't sound like a word anymore because you have to use it so often in its description. It's unique. 

[Vel]

Riding on the Orient Express on the verge of World War I is as unique as settings get.

[Domino]

For me it would be Gold Rush by Sierra. The unique setting of 1848 in America was a change of pace from the Kings Quest fantasy world i was used too. To this day, Gold Rush is still one of my favorite games. Even today, going back and playing Gold Rush brings me back to those days, when people gave up everything they owned to head west in search of fortune.

edit: I would love to see an adventure game fully based in a run down amusement park. I think there may have been one already made, but i'm not sure.

[Akatosh]

Tony Tough and the Night of the Roasted Moths (I'm not certain about the full title, but Tony Tough is sure) played in a weird run-down halloween park.

/EDIT: Yup, it's called like that, and here's a screenshot.

[GarageGothic]

edit: I would love to see an adventure game fully based in a run down amusement park. I think there may have been one already made, but i'm not sure.

The Residents: Bad Day on the Midway and Panic in the Park come to mind. Some would say Monkey Island 1 and 2, but that's a whole other can of worms

[InCreator]

DreamWeb
KGB a.k.a Konspiracy
The Dig

All said, case closed.

P.S. Gold Rush rocked! I wonder why there's no remakes to this gem. In this particular title AGI graphics is as bad as it could get, though King's Quest and LSL series look way better... was it other artist back then?

[spann]

Trilby's Notes, or 6 Days a Sacrifice. You're essentially in two places at once. it's very clever, and anyone who hasn't played the Trilby series is a girl. Or, if you're already a girl, then you're stupid.

[Radiant]

META, hands down.

[blueskirt]

The most overused setting are definitivly fantasy, present days, space/scifi, and "The Simpsons Monkey Island did it!" piratey settings. Still, I'm quite pleased to see it's still possible to create great and often unique games in these settings. Pleurghburg, Cedric, Nelly Cootalot and AitGoFW come to my mind here.

For the most unique setting I too would say Grim Fandango and Full Throttle, but I'd also say Bad Mojo, Out Of Order and Superhero League of Hoboken.

[MrColossal]

P.S. Gold Rush rocked! I wonder why there's no remakes to this gem. In this particular title AGI graphics is as bad as it could get, though King's Quest and LSL series look way better... was it other artist back then?

Did we play the same King's Quest and Goldrush?

opening screen to King's Quest:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/kings-quest/screenshots/gameShotId,146087/

opening screen of Goldrush:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/gold-rush/screenshots/gameShotId,2129/

Goldrush is one of the prettiest AGI games ever made, in my opinion.

Anyway, as for the main thread I suppose the opening act of KQ3. Being a slave to a wizard and having to dispose of him is one of my favorite parts in any adventure games.

[LimpingFish]

Goldrush is awesome, and the background designs equally so. Definitely a high point for AGI graphics.

Not a particularly good game, but Voyage (Journey to the Moon) has a quite unique opening chapter, confined as it is to a old-timey space capsule thingie. Which contains two corpses...and a rooster.

[Tartalo]

Soviet Unterzögersdorf:

Soviet Unterzögersdorf (pronounced «oon-taa-tsee-gars-doorf») is the last existing appanage republic of the USSR. The enclave maintains no diplomatic relationship with the surrounding so-called «Republic of Austria» or with the Fortress «European Union». The downfall of her motherland -- the Soviet Union -- in the early 1990s had a particularly bad effect on the country's economic situation.

[MrColossal]

Holy Crap! Tartalo is right, how silly of me! I love the concept behind that game!

[Redwall]

No one's mentioned Linus Bruckman yet?

[Radiant]

Goldrush is one of the prettiest AGI games ever made, in my opinion.

Yes. You know why? GIF support. All other AGI games use vector graphics for their background; Gold Rush is the only one that doesn't.

Also, it's got great atmosphere, multiple game paths, and clever use of NPCs. Definitely a game to recommend.