EVE is a notoriously perilous universe where corporate espionage is intensified by real-world money scams and the innocent act of farming space rocks leads to “suicide ganking” as non-consensual PVP griefers unabashedly toy with the unwary, fully exploiting the game’s clone and security mechanics. The MMO’s developer, CCP, staunchly defends all duplicity and piracy falling under the open-ended software agreement, so no amount of clapping will restore the wings to billions of stolen ISK or real-world dollars. Knowing of its reputation and [entertaining] tales of dev-endorsed greed, I downloaded the trial and jotted notes during all 14 days of my experience within the villified EVE (Everyone Vs. Everyone).

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I must admit a mere passing interest in Adventure gaming over the years. They were never the flashiest, never the most exciting. I would become awestruck by a new release in all other genres, rushing out to pick up a copy of an Action title or the latest RPG. In contrast, I would sometimes stumble across an Adventure game even a decade after it was originally released, purchasing the promises of mind-bending puzzles and twisting narrative with only a bemused chuckle as I embarked on something “new” to me, something different than my current library of shooters and relatively shallow challenges. In this list, you’ll find a series of games that helped define “Adventure” as I know it, and are a great change of pace from your typical blockbuster titles that have unfathomable budgets.

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(Or “Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G” in Japan.) Branded with a bizarre string of Engrish, this game is centered around near-impossible, bland, and repetitive boss fights. But then why am I so utterly hooked?! My workflow goes something like this: mash the square button until I have collected all the plants/rocks from my Pokke farm, have my Felyne Chef dance while I scarf down a Frozen Apple Rib Roast, stock up on potions and paintballs, hunt down the monster, die in a frustrating way, rinse and repeat.

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I love it all. From text-based adventure games to grand strategy to puzzle to full-fledged RPGs. I cut my teeth on the ridiculously-hard 8-bit horrors of my youth, lost hundreds of dollars to the Arcade, marveled at the “golden age” of gaming’s ingenuity, was floored by the graphical power of modern platforms, and cheered at the sheer variety of ways that I can now enjoy the experiences, old and young, refined and rough, mobile and non, social and single player. Sifting through the generations that I’ve witnessed, however, I’m starting to see some emergent trends that I’m not very enthusiastic about in contrast to the bright future that video games seem to hold.

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Arcen Games is full of great ideas. I want to get that out there. This indie company is going places and I want to see it happen due to brilliant contributors, great support, and creativity that pours into every product. That said, I’d love to report that I was floored by how amazing A Valley Without Wind is, but that just isn’t the case. This title is chock-full of promise, a real amalgamation of classic gaming archetypes merged with modern technological scale, but I ultimately set my hopes a little higher than the watermark that it did achieve. An emphasis on breadth cuts into the depth of the game’s core foundation, an unfortunate sacrifice for a game that could be one of the “greats” with more effort.

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