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General discussionBest GOG Games for Learning German?(31 posts)(31 posts)
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Posted February 11, 2019
Hallo!

I'm a U.S. native but I've always wanted to learn German, both because it's a good language for industry and game development, and also because that's where my family immigrated from generations ago (probably Rheinland-Pfalz on the border with Baden-Württemberg). I finally had the chance to spend a few months there for work and started picking up some casual and "restaurant" German. Since then, I've been using Duolingo until I can take formal classes. Aside from 1) taking formal classes and 2) interacting with native speakers, the other big recommendation is reading books which are already familiar in English and/or watching movies and TV, especially with captions.

Are there any good games, particularly in the adventure genre, which would be similarly useful, ideally where I could mix German audio and English text (or vice versa? Playing entirely in German would be perfectly acceptable, too.

Vielen dank!
Posted February 11, 2019
I think the Artifex Mundi hidden object games feature german.

Hidden Object games are really great for vocabulary. Maybe not grammar, but vocabulary yeah.

(apart from that, the best tools for a language, for memorizing words and sentence structures, are songs. get yourself some groenemeyer.)
Post edited February 11, 2019 by Telika
Posted February 11, 2019
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Telika: I think the Artifex Mundi hidden object games feature german.

Hidden Object games are really great for vocabulary. Maybe not grammar, but vocabulary yeah.

(apart from that, the best tools for a language, for memorizing words and sentence structures, are songs. get yourself some groenemeyer.)
Great suggestion for hidden object games, thank you!
Posted February 11, 2019
The Deponia games can be played in german since it's the original language for the games.
Post edited February 11, 2019 by user deleted
Posted February 11, 2019
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DadJoke007: The Deponia games can be played in german since it's the original language for the games.
I do have the first one, thank you! The reviews for the rest of the series were too much of a mixed bag, but given the amount of dialogue, I'm sure Deponia will help.
Posted February 11, 2019
I like Albion a lot. Not an adventure though (but an rpg), and doesn't have voiceover.
Can't think of much else tbh. Curse of Monkey Island has a German version on Gog though, maybe try that.
Posted February 11, 2019
Gabriel Knight 2 is in English but has tons of German in it. It's a really enjoyable adventure game with live action cutscenes.
Posted February 11, 2019
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morolf: I like Albion a lot. Not an adventure though (but an rpg), and doesn't have voiceover.
Can't think of much else tbh. Curse of Monkey Island has a German version on Gog though, maybe try that.
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Reynard_Muldrake: Gabriel Knight 2 is in English but has tons of German in it. It's a really enjoyable adventure game with live action cutscenes.
morolf: I'm definitely familiar with Curse of Monkey Island -- that could be a great choice.

Reynard: That was one of my first exposures to German culture/history in entertainment, and probably my first several words, as well!
Posted February 11, 2019
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DMonath: Are there any good games, particularly in the adventure genre, which would be similarly useful, ideally where I could mix German audio and English text (or vice versa? Playing entirely in German would be perfectly acceptable, too.
You should play Gothic 1-2.
True German adventure action-RPG, Ultima7 style, a lot of dialogue.
You can mix German audio and English text. Download both version and replace English Data\speech.VDF with German speech.VDF.
Use unofficial patches for stability on Win7-10, like "Gothic 1/2 mem fix" and bigger font.
Post edited February 11, 2019 by serzh_ak
Posted February 11, 2019
I think Telika already had the best idea, and adventure games are a good choice in general, also because there are several who originated in Germany (check Daedalic's catalogue; apart from Deponia, the Edna & Harvey games and The Whispered Word and Silence come to mind; be aware though that GOG still doesn't offer the original German version of Chains of Satinav and Memoria).

If you're into oldschool RPGs, you could also try to play the Realms of Arkania in its original German version. Risen could be another choice, as a Gothic type game with slightly more convenient controls. Or, if you own Oblivion, you could play the total conversion Nehrim in its original German language.

Not sure if you can play any of the above with English subtitles though. My guess would be no.

Maybe you could also find a game to play with a German in co-op mode, so if there's something you don't understand, you can just ask your co-op partner about it. (Time zones might be an issues though.)

Or do the same as you plan to do with books and play the German version of games that you're already familiar with?
Post edited February 11, 2019 by Leroux
Posted February 11, 2019
If you want something outside GOG, there are a bunch of games that are not officially available in English, but have fan patches that add English subtitles to German games, so you can listen to German audio while reading English translation.

Like this:

http://shinji-nerd-life.blogspot.com/2014/12/black-sails-ghost-ship-in-english.html
Posted February 11, 2019
Wolfenstein
Posted February 11, 2019
Desperados Wanted Dead or Alive.Wonderful game with an amazing voice cast.It was developed by the ex Spellbound which was a german developer and the german version is superior in every possible way.Cheers
Post edited February 11, 2019 by deja65
Posted February 11, 2019
I would also go with the German translation of the Monkey Island games. Just remember to read the books in the library on Phatt Island in Monkey Island 2. They are funny and help with some of the more difficult translations. (some of the puns don't make sense in German and the translators were so nice to include some help books in the library)

Then of course Gothic 1+2 and Deponia, which were already mentioned and, if you like old graphics, the Realms of Arkania games. Good, old school RPGs in THE German RPG system 'Das Schwarze Auge'. They also have both German and English text and audio. So you can choose to your liking.

Unfortunately the more modern games in that world (Chains of Satinav and Memoria) aren't available in German here on GOG, even though they are natively German games. If you can get them somewhere in German, I heartily recommend Chains of Satinav ("Satinavs Ketten") and the Drakensang games, which aren't on GOG at all.

One thing about Drakensang, though, is that it might be difficult to get it to run under Win10. It does work nicely under Linux via 32-bit Wine, though.
Post edited February 11, 2019 by Lifthrasil
Posted February 11, 2019
I think point-and-click adventure games are one of the best genres to learn or practice a language. Every action, every item you can interact with, and every character have their name spelled on screen (this might change depending on how experimental the interface is). They are usually dialogue-heavy (so more chances to practice) and slow-paced (so no biggie if you need more time to process information).

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Lifthrasil: I would also go with the German translation of the Monkey Island games. Just remember to read the books in the library on Phatt Island in Monkey Island 2. They are funny and help with some of the more difficult translations. (some of the puns don't make sense in German and the translators were so nice to include some help books in the library)
I am guessing... "monkey wrench"? In the Spanish version they changed too one of the books to turn it into a hint.
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General discussionBest GOG Games for Learning German?(31 posts)(31 posts)
(31 posts)