Interactive movies: adventures with cinematic scenes

Interactive movies are a subgenre of adventure games that heavily incorporate cinematic scenes and scripted gameplay to create a narrative-driven experience. These games are designed to closely resemble movies, featuring pre-rendered or live-action video sequences that play out as the player progresses through the story. The gameplay typically involves making choices or performing actions at critical moments, which influence the direction of the narrative and the outcome of the game.

One of the defining characteristics of interactive movies is their emphasis on storytelling and visual presentation. The game mechanics are often simplified compared to other adventure games, focusing more on the player's ability to react to on-screen prompts and make decisions that impact the story. This results in a highly immersive experience, where players feel like they are part of an interactive film.

Perhaps the most popular and iconic adventure interactive movie series for PC is Dragon's Lair, developed by ReadySoft. Dragon's Lair was groundbreaking for its use of full-motion video (FMV) and high-quality animation.

Most popular interactive movie games

Voyeur

adventureWindows XP/98/95, Mac OS, DOS

Phantasmagoria

adventureWindows XP/98/95, DOS, Mac OS