LynetteC: Why are achievements so important? Serious question - I've never understood the appeal of them.

LynetteC: I expect there is a lot of scope for replaying, getting caught retrieving evidence, making different decisions, etc. On the strength of Ether One, I'm happy to take the chance.

PixelBoy: Define "game of this type" and "fixed time objective" to get more meaningful answers, but there are adventure games where time is a critical element.

The Colonel's Bequest has an internal clock of sorts, and some actions trigger time to move forward, and it is possible to miss some events if you are in the wrong place. It's not a very sophisticated system, but for a game that comes from the 80s it's kind of unique.

http://www.gog.com/game/the_colonels_bequest

If you mean that the game would have a timer running and you need to complete the game within that time, you have plenty to choose from.

Freddy Pharkas has several annoying and invisible timers which mean that you will get killed many times trying to achieve some loosely defined objective within that time.

http://www.gog.com/game/freddy_pharkas_frontier_pharmacist

If you just want a fixed time to solve the game, one of the best ones is the freeware escape room kind of game Sidekick High, you can see available time running on the screen so no invisible clocks there, and the game is even voice acted.

http://cmmn-clrs.itch.io/sidekick-high

wormholewizards: These achievements are something that added at later stage of game development or perhaps during post-development. That's why they vary with each platform.

wormholewizards: No achievement != second class citizens.

MarkoH01: Addition: I think one important thing is also that you are able to show others that you achived said goals by unlocking such achievements (which are shown in your profile). Otherwise you could just set youself random additional goals and try to "achieve" those.

higix: It sounds interesting, but 5 hours of gameplay is pretty short for the price. I just paid under $20 for What Remains of Edith Finch + Donut County, which were on sale. And even that feels a bit steep, given that these games are something like 3 hours each. It was my first foray into these sorts of games (looking for different sorts of games to try), and I probably won't be buying more unless the prices feel like a good value.

And I'm not saying that I want games that are artificially filled with pointless time killers. But there is a time of playthrough value that I expect. For example, most action-rpg's are something like 30-60 hours of playthrough time, which comes out to $1-2 per hour of playthrough at release time for a $60 game. And most action-rpg's do have good replayability. But for these new fangled sorts of games, we are looking at something like $6-7 per hour of playthrough at release. $20 / 3 hours = $6.7 per hour of playthrough. $30 / 5 hours = $6 per hour of playthrough.

I suppose that someone crunched the numbers and came up with these prices per expected sales, but I think the prices are likely keeping many people from trying them. So maybe it's a wash or worse.

I'm adding it to my list in case the price reaches an acceptable value.

Carradice: The description of the game brings to mind The Last Express. Albeit in a more open playground.

Good if they follow the path of the jewel that TLE is (with graphics and appeal pretty much atemporal).

PixelBoy: http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/819966-the-secret-of-monkey-island-fm-towns-screenshot-ain-t-that.png

axl: It was done purely for enjoyment, nor for bragging rights

MarkoH01: The Last Express is one that comes to mind - time is really important in this one as well.

PixelBoy:

maladroid:

Vythonaut: Game of this type = adventure game
Fixed time objective = played in real time / what's about to be done, will be done even without the player's input

I actually like the idea of an adventure game that runs in real time with all the NPCs and events happening in the background, even when the protagonist isn't there to actually take notice. Didn't know that this gameplay mechanic actually exist until now. Not sure about how difficult is the Last Express, but i'm going to give it a try just to see how it works. That said, thanks for the input, i'm writing down the rest of the games you've mentioned to check them out in depth later.