Hi all. I'm quite new to the forums and as the title suggested, I gave up on gaming in 1997 (Tomb Raider 2 being the last game I seriously played) and only picked it up again when I bought Far Cry 3 for a new PC I bought in 2012. I bought I new higher end rig at the beginning of last year and now I'm totally hooked on gaming (to the point where I think I'm bordering on a problem as I can't stop buying games - almost 100 games purchased this year so far!)

Anyway, I've been going back and trying to pick up the classics I've missed over the years. I've done a lot of research into click and point adventure games and have bought 20+ to get through so I probably have the best of those and likley don't need any more recommendations just now. I'd love to to hear your recommendations for other games you think I should try that I may have missed. I have played most of the obvious AAA titles from 2009 onwards so I'm looking for games earlier than that that have likely been a bit forgotton or are no longer talked about so much. I'm also not so into strategy games as they take up so much time to play that I don't really have. Some of the older games I've played and really enjoyed as flavour for the kind of games I'm searching for are as follows:

F.E.A.R 1, 2, & 3
System Shock 1 & 2
Deus Ex (Original)
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
Black Mesa
Half Life 2
Postal 2
Blood Rayne 1 & 2
Indina Jones and The Emperor's Tomb (what a pleasant surprise that one was)
Beyond Good and Evil
Clive Barker's The Undying (what a game this still is!)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R games
Mass Effect games
The Witcher games
Dragon Age Origins
Star Wars: K.O.T.O.R
Star Wars: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
The Saboteur

Hoping you guys can give me a steer towards some forgotton classics. Thanks in advance.

The Witcher released in 2007.

You missed quite a few games from Baldur's Gate 1&2, Torment etc to Dragon Age Origins, Neverwinter Nights 1&2. Also missed Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect. Probably some more, but I rarely play FPS and "action" games.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have all the Witcher games and have played all 3 Mass Effect games too. I have played Assassin's Creed 2 and have 3 in my library.

I'll have a look at Baldur's Gate, Torment and Neverwinter nights thanks I did start playing Dragon Age Origins but gave up in frustration after around 10 hours as I totally suck at the combat! I'm new to the turn based/strategic style combat and find it quite frustrating. I must go back to DAO though as I was really enjoying the story - also I'm playing Star Wars K.O.T.O.R just now which is a similar combat style and getting through it ok this time... Thanks - got all 3 although I'm stuck at Nuclear count down at the end of the 1st one - man that is one hard game! Awesome though...

I think I'll add suggested games I already have to the list on the original post. Thanks again.

I stopped gaming from 96 - 2006 in favor of drinking. In 2006 I gave up drinking and when back to gaming.

Still think that give up drinking might be the dumbest thing I've ever done. :Ping

seems that's the reason people like you - because nobody can get as low as you. it gives others confidence that there's always someone more dumb than them no matter what mistakes they make

I took a hiatus from gaming during almost the exact same period.

I highly recommend getting <i>Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut</i> which is currently on sale at its standard whopping 90% discount.

Never mind the bugs... it's a bloody fantastic experience that's not to be missed!

Other recommendations:
All Amanita Design games (although I've yet to enjoy Samorost 3)
<i>Anachronox</i>
<i>Broken Sword: Director's Cut</i>
<i>Gothic 2: Gold Edition</i>
<i>Mount &amp; Blade: Warband</i>
<i>Outcast Classic</i>
<i>Planescape: Torment</i> (the unaltered original version)
<i>Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri&trade; Planetary Pack</i>
<i>Star Wars&trade;: Jedi Knight&trade; - Jedi Academy&trade;</i>
<i>Star Wars&trade;: Jedi Knight&trade; II - Jedi Outcast&trade;</i>
<i>STAR WARS&trade;: Knights of the Old Republic</i>
<i>Thief&trade; Gold</i>
<i>Thief&trade; 2: The Metal Age</i>

I had similar problems with DAO. Every time I started a quest line, I'd be stuck somewhere in the middle of it, because of horrible difficulty spikes. I distinctly remember having to travel the world map without Leliana in the group because a "random battle" from her personal quest line kept happening and I kept being utterly destroyed by it. That and a lot other similar episodes made me quit it for quite sometime. Truth is, you have to keep changing the active questline whenever you hit said difficulty spikes and slowly leveling up your characters until you finally break through one or more of these difficult battles. As you build levels, the difficulty spikes will start melting away and you'll be able to progress more consistently.

Hell, in the end, I even managed to kill all secret bosses. And some of them are insanely difficult. Which, in turn, made the final boss a breeze.

Here is a whole bunch of GOG games I recommend you at least look at to see if you might find them interesting:

Dungeon Keeper
Dungeon Keeper 2
Sacrifice
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2004
Hostile Waters - Antaeus Rising
Psychonauts
Sanitarium
Hitman: Codename 47
Papers, please
Bastion
Don't Starve
Stardew Valley
Crysis
TRON 2.0
Imperium Galactica 2

And a few you might look into that are not on GOG and have not been mentioned:

GTA: Vice City
GTA: San Andreas
GTA V
Minecraft

If you liked Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Blood Rayne, I thinke there is a good chance you'll like The Saboteur. Plenty of killing and blowing up nazis in a very stylish action-adventure movie type way. It starts off slow, the first hour is a very boring, over long tutorial, but after that hour it becomes incredibly fun.

Knights of the Old Republic and it's sequel are must plays if you like RPGs, especially since you liked Mass Effect, and Mass Effect was pretty much a follow-up to KotOR in a new universe. There are also th Drakensang games which I love dearly and think are far superior to Dragon Age, but they are likely not nearly as accesible, you feel the pen&paper basis strongly in those.

Since you liked Fear, you may want to check out Republic Commando. I know, it's not a horror, but it's great tactical FPS.

Some other games I think are great but have no idea if you'd like them
TRON 2.0- in my opinion the best FPS ever. The world is unique, the level design is great, the story is fun (even better if you like the original movie), and the disk is a super fun weapon (and there's plenty of other, highly modify-able weapons)

Hand of Fate- part choose you own adventure RPG, part action game, part collectible card game, it's not quite like anything else I know, and it's one of my favourite games of the last couple of years. Great, unique fun on many levels.

Bard's Tale (the 2004 one)- great parody of RPG and heroic fantasy tropes. And songs! Plenty of hilarious songs, about how much it sucks to be the chosen one and other such stuff. The gamplay itself is simplistic, but the story and the humor make up for it in spades.

Armed & Dangerous- speaking about humor, this is probably the funniest game I ever played, and a good third person shooter too. Great cast of characters, great writing and weapons you won't find anywhere else (land shark launcher!). I can't recommend it enough.

Trine---the platformer for people who don't usually like platformers. A storyline, nice graphics and music, and a lot of fun to play. Not too twitchy and oh-so-satisfying when you get those boxes and planks placed juuust right, or you time Zoya's swing perfectly!

Someone likes first person action games? Take a look at

Far Cry 1 (can't link it because it's blocked for people in Germany)
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (epicly told stealth killing, but can also be played with guns blazing)
Hidden &amp; Dangerous 2
The Saboteur

Since you like adventures maybe you would enjoy Syberia.

I also agree with the poster who suggested Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, etc.

You could have a look at the Divinity stuff, too