I’m always seeing “first CD-ROM game” citations that are totally inconsistent, or which cite games like Myst, so I decided to put together a timeline of all the candidates - and ended up calling into question the point of “firsts” lists in the first place.
Fun article on retro CD-ROM games put together by @misty
I have huge nostalgia for the first CD-Rom games. When I first met my now wife we used to play the likes of the Return to Zork, 7th Guest, 11th Hour, Clandenstiny, Realms of the Haunting, etc. Still have the disks and all the boxes for them in the loft. Its a pity that kind of puzzle adventure has gone. There was nothing better than sitting down with pen and paper trying to work out the puzzles; some took days to solve but the rewards when solved were great.
Closest we have find to date are the professor Layton type games or probably our favorite one recently - The Witness.
Still gaming together after 30 years…
Wow… i remember 7th Guest and Myst… i never had a PC powerful enough for myst and i was too young to really figure out how to play 7th guest…i do vaguely remember something about walking up some grand stair case in it though… time to hit up gog and try it again :)
I think the 7th guest has a puzzle now that is almost impossible to beat due to the way it calculates the answer and todays processor speeds. (The microscope puzzle). You can read more here (Obs. Spoiler):
https://www.dosgameclub.com/forums/topic/the-dreaded-microscope-puzzle/
Can recommend clandestiny if you like the kind of puzzles in 7th guest. It’s a fantastic game.