To listeners not familiar with the website hardcoregaming101.net, I highly recommend you check it out. It has some in-depth features on tons of classic games, many of which weren't well known but were great titles. Recently I bought their book called The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures. I'm not finished yet, but I am blown away by this book. It dives deep into the history of a huge portion of adventure games. Almost any series from the beginning to 2000 is covered in this thing, from Kings Quest to Zork and more. It even covers the MacVenture series that included UnInvited, a game I had featured last month for Halloween.

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This book not only takes a look at the popular titles, but takes on almost every game in the respective games series as well. For example, reading on Myst the author will eventually take you down through remakes of the game like realMyst, as well as Riven, Myst III: Exile, Myst IV: Revelation, Myst V: End of Ages, and Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. I had no clue they had made Myst games past the third one, yet the author gave a great history of the entire series of Myst, even detailing the expectations in Uru and the failure to deliver them.

Anyone looking for a great read about tons of retro adventure games that is perhaps looking for something new in the genre needs to check this one out. It weighs in at 772 pages and is a good lengthy read, and is also great just as a reference book for adventure game fans. If you are interested in buying a copy you can find more info at hardcoregaming101.net.

The physical version of the book is $27, while the kindle edition is 9.99.