I was thinking about the large amount of freeware remakes of classic adventure games earlier this week and started putting together a list for myself to see what was out there and just to have something to revisit when I want to replay some of these games. For a period in the early 00’s, a lot of these remakes were a big deal to me because I either didn’t own the original game or didn’t know how to get them working on machines at the time so this was the only way I could play these games. Here’s the list I made, with the games sorted in alphabetical order. Some of the remakes are a bit older but with ScummVM now supporting Adventure Game Studio, you should be able to load them into there without issues. Let me know if I’ve left any good remakes out. I’m not saying that these remakes are better than the original game but I think it’s interesting they exist and I like seeing how people think they can improve on a game and how. It’s an incredibly amount of effort for free projects.

The Abbey of Crime

(Taken from Wikipedia) La abadía del crimen (The Abbey of Crime) is a video game written by Paco Menéndez with graphics made by Juan Delcán and published in 1987 by Opera Soft. It was conceived as a version of Umberto Eco’s 1980 book The Name of the Rose. Paco Menéndez and Opera Soft were unable to secure the rights for the name, so the game was released as La abadía del crimen.

The Abbey of Crime Extensum is a remake that updates the visuals while maintaining the style of the original game.

Amnesia
The 1986 adventure game Amnesia has a very nice restoration where you can play the game as it was originally released on the C64, Apple IIe, and PC, but it also has a contemporary web mode with tons of quality of life features added.

Barahir
Barahir’s Adventure: Askar’s Castle is a remake of the game Barahir, originally created for the Atari 8-bit in 1993 and was only available in Polish. This remake translates the game to English and makes it playable on Windows and Linux. The remake also features 40 different palettes for you to switch between.

The Beast
This remake of the ZX Spectrum game from 1988, with the original designer’s permission, makes it playable on modern machines while making various small enhancements to make it more accessible.

The Black Cauldron
The Black Cauldron is a game based off the Disney movie, designed by Al Lowe and published by Sierra in 1986. This remake is a straightforward one that converts the game from using a text parser interface to a point-and-click one.

Black Sect
Black Sect is a 1993 first-person adventure game by Lankhor, which is sort of a remake of their 1990 game La secte noir. The remake translates the game to English and has a few enhancements that make the game easier such as (text from MobyGames): Timeflow is based on player actions. This prevents missing important events. Unlimited save slots. 2 action cursors instead of more than 20 in the original game. Smart cursor that lights up over interactive areas. Extra puzzles. Changed puzzles to suit the new interface. Updated hint system. New sounds and music

Black Sect 2
This is an English remake of the French graphic adventure game ‘La Crypte Des Maudits’, originally released for the Amstrad CPC in French language only by Lankhor. The remake also lets you choose from various palettes that you can switch between while playing.

Chaluul’s Curse
A remake in Adventure Game Studio of a game originally released in 1995 for DOS and in German language only as a bonus game on the cover CD of the German games magazine “PC Spiel”, issue 11/1995. The remake is in English and features music, rewritten puzzles to make them more logical, and extra responses to player actions.

Enclosure

Enclosure 3-D is a remake of the 2004 freeware adventure game but puts the game in an impressive 3D engine that maintains the style of the original game.

Gateway
This remake of Gateway by Legend Entertainment converts the text adventure into a point-and-click adventure in the style of their later games, while keeping the art and music of the original game.

Grandad and The Quest for The Holey Vest
This is a remake of the original Atari ST game from 1992 that makes the game playable on Windows and Linux and makes some changes to make the game easier to play:
-Point-and-click system instead of the original game’s keyboard-only system
-Graphical inventory items instead of the original game’s text-only list
-No more softlocks
-Removes time limit

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
This was a remake of the Infocom text adventure created by the BBC in the mid 00s which adds some graphics and some features to make it a little easier to play like a hint system and compass.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
It’s only a demo but fans of this game may find the 3D remake interesting.

There is also a very nice port of the game to the ZX Spectrum and turns the game into a text adventure.

Invincible Island
This remake of a ZX Spectrum text adventure converts the game to an interface that can be played by disabled folks by only having to press the space bar for actions.

King’s Quest 1

There are a couple of remakes of King’s Quest 1. The most famous one remakes the game in a VGA art style, has an option to remove the softlocks, and adds voice acting, including the voice of Josh Mandel who voiced King Graham in some of the original Sierra games. AGD Interactive did a few remakes of Sierra games that you’ll see on here and then went on to create some commercial adventure games so consider checking those out and supporting them.

The other remake, King’s Quest 1 Redux, maintains the style of the original game but builds upon it by adding new features and extra polish, while cleaning up numerous small issues.

King’s Quest 2
AGD Interactive’s remake of King’s Quest 2 is a looser remake than their remake of King’s Quest 1. Much like that remake, it features new art and voice acting but dramatically redesigns areas of the game and expands it.

King’s Quest 3
There are a couple of King’s Quest 3 out there. Just like with King’s Quest 1 and 2, AGD Interactive has created a remake. It adds new art and voice acting and redesigns parts of the game. It doesn’t change as much as their King’s Quest 2 remake but also isn’t a 1:1 remake like they did for King’s Quest 1.

Infamous Adventures also created a remake of the game that updates the art. This one is a more straightforward remake of the game that keeps the design of the original but it does add new cutscenes, a few new characters, expanded narration or dialogue, additions and changes to some of the plot, full speech, new or modified locations, and Easter eggs. After creating a couple of remakes, they went on to create a couple of commercial adventure games inspired by Sierra, so consider checking their games out.

King’s Quest 4
King’s Quest 4: The Perils of Rosella Retold is a remake that converts the game to a point-and-click interface, removes the softlocks in the original game, and adds some of the assets from the Amiga version which are considered to be an improvement.

Leisure Suit Larry 1
There’s many commercial remakes of Leisure Suit Larry but this freeware one converts the AGI version to a point-and-click game.

Leisure Suit Larry 2
This straightforward remake of Leisure Suit Larry 2 converts the game from a parser interface to being a point-and-click adventure.

Maniac Mansion
Maniac Mansion Deluxe updates the game to look more like Lucasarts adventure games from the early 90’s.

There is also a 3D remake called Meteor Mess. While I prefer pixel art, the remake does feature a lot of nice quality of life features like hotspot highlighting, removal of dead ends, and a new solution path for Jeff.

While it’s not complete, someone did a port of the NES version of the game to the Game Boy as a test.

Megacorp
Megacorp Redux is a remake of the 1987 adventure game that changes some puzzles, maps, and adds more story elements

Quest For Glory 2
AGD Interactive’s remake of Quest for Glory 2 updates the graphics to a VGA style and makes some minor enhancements. The game supports the character import/export feature so you can import your character from Sierra’s original Quest for Glory 1 and import them into Quest for Glory 3 once you’ve completed the game.

Space Quest 2
This remake by Infamous Adventures updates the game to a VGA art style, point-and-click interface, and adds voice acting, while sticking to the design of the original game.

Space Quest 3
Space Quest 3D recreates the game in 3D and features new music and voice acting as well.