A review by careythesixth
What Is Your Quest?: From Adventure Games to Interactive Books by Anastasia Salter

2.0

I had a lot of problems with this book but it gets 2 stars for concept. First, this read like a Masters level thesis that hadn't been taken to committee. Harsh, I know, but I've been there and seen that. The author occasionally compares adventure games to literature but long passages of the book are just summaries of games. I know that games can be seen as interactive literature, but this book never explains why that's important. I was also very confused over the idea of the death of the adventure game. Maybe I'm missing how the author defines adventure games. She relies too heavily and almost exclusively on the Kings Quest and Leisure Suit Larry franchises. Are RPGs not adventure games? Are MMOs not adventure games? Is Minecraft not an adventure game? A lot of this book focuses on the death and rebirth of the adventure game but I don't think it ever died. It changed and took on new forms, sure. Unclear definitions and missing information really sank this book.