The Grand Adventure

Image above: Chants of Sennar, released in 2023, was an innovative entry in the adventure puzzle genre. Part of a growing trend of unique approaches to the nostalgic style of classic game

In order to play adventure games as a kid, Dennis Lenart needed to solve a real-world adventure game puzzle.

Lenart is now co-founder of AdHoc Studios, the team that developed last year’s hit superhero comedy, Dispatch. But in the ’90s, he was just a kid with no games of his own, waiting for his friend’s older brother to leave the house. “He didn’t let us use his computer and he had a lock on his door,” Lenart says. “So we had to learn how to pick the lock and then wait for him to go out and hang out with friends on a weekend and then we could sneak into his room and make some progress, hit a brick wall, and then go talk about it for a week.” The next weekend, he and his friends would repeat the process.

Nick Herman, who directed Dispatch with Lenart, says those pauses were part of the appeal. Despite having no puzzles, Dispatch was able to provide something similar thanks to its episodic release model, which saw its eight installments released over four weeks. “[Players] can’t get more content, but they’re discussing theories,” Herman says, “Or they’re having an engagement at a social level about a game that is not a multiplayer game… that requires that.”