Computer quests as an awesome tool for learning English words

Learning English in computer games is already an established practice. Because games combine good leisure and the ability to completely immerse themselves in the ecosystem of the language, learning it without effort.

Today we look at games in the genre of quests that are great for pumping the language and will definitely bring a lot of fun to the players. Go!

First, a little tediousness: what are good quests for pumping the language

Quests are a special genre of computer games in which the main gameplay revolves around the plot narration and direct interaction with various objects.

It is a combination of these two features that makes quests an excellent tool for learning English.

The plot involves and makes empathy with the heroes. The player listens to the dialogue, reads the text. Quests have a better effect on memory, because they stimulate the creation of associations.

On the Dale training pyramid, quests can be put on the middle rung next to watching a demonstration and watching a specific action. Indeed, in essence, you control the actions of a character who fully interacts with the world.

Thus, ordinary reading gives only 10% of memorization, watching video – 30%, and quests and other games – 50%. Which is very good for a variety of leisure activities.

A “point and click” system or interaction with objects allows you to study vocabulary. In many games of the genre, it is enough to hover over an item or click on it, as its description opens. Here, for example:

In the inventory, the player always has a bunch of different items, the descriptions of which also make up with a fair amount of humor and ingenuity.

In addition, in quest mini-games like “item search”, the player must find these same items by their name. Naturally, in English. Most of the items to be searched will be quite familiar, but the names will certainly not be familiar to everyone. So arm yourself with a translator on your phone or immediately drive words into a dictionary application for further study.

Usually, everything happens like this:

1. You see an unfamiliar word on the screen and have no idea which item you need to find. In this case, we took the “garden hose”.

2. See the word in the dictionary on the phone. In our case, the phrase “garden hose” means “garden hose”.

3. Then simply enter it in ED Words app – The phrase will come across every day until you remember its meaning. Profit!

But enough about tediousness. Let’s look at the best quest genre games that can and should learn English.

Syberia

The legendary game, the first part of which was released in 2002. She tells about the adventures of lawyer girl Kate Walker, who comes to a small alpine town to conclude an agreement on the purchase of a factory, but is drawn into a series of rather strange and exciting events.

The plot of the game is addictive. Well-written characters and many interesting dialogues prompt to go through this story to the very end. Moreover, with each new part, the story becomes more and more confused and interesting.

As for the gameplay, there are a lot of point and click mechanics. It is necessary to solve puzzles, to figure out where to use this or that object. The gameplay itself does not cause any particular difficulties – interaction with most objects is quite logical.

As for language learning, the Siberia series of games has very literary and well-established dialogues.

Despite the fact that the original script was written in French, the English version is also considered the main one – the publisher released the game in two languages ​​at once.

English difficulty: 5 out of 10.
Level: Intermediate

Most phrases in dialogs and cutscenes are simple and with fairly common vocabulary. But to understand the inventory and description of items, you need a dictionary.

Deponia

Another quest series. But this time in the setting of a kind of dystopia. Rufus, the protagonist of history, considers himself an inventor and wants to fly away from his home planet, which has turned into one big dump.

This desire leads Rufus to new acquaintances, a number of stupid situations, and it turns out that the whole of Deponia – the planet on which the hero lives – is in danger.

In general, a rather funny quest with unusual humor and very non-standard gameplay. Rather, the gameplay itself is quite ordinary – the long-known “point and click”, but the use of most items in the inventory can cause a great surprise.

In one episode, Rufus will need to put a sock on a doorknob to open the door, and in another, make coffee from chili peppers. This is weird but fun.

The original game is published in German, but the English localization is very, very good. She correctly conveys the features of the original idea. In addition, the humor remained at the level – and this is probably one of the most important features of the series.

English difficulty: 6 out of 10.
Level: Intermediate

Dialogues in Deponia are quite simple grammatically, but slang and vernacular words are often found. Yes, they make the atmosphere of the game richer and more interesting, but sometimes they interfere with full perception, because you have to go into the dictionary.

Nancy drew

A huge line of computer games, which as of February 2020 has as many as 33 full stories!

The games tell a story about a young detective girl who is investigating strange and unusual things. She studies evidence, interrogates suspects and witnesses, and solves puzzles. In general, he is engaged in ordinary detective activities (this is a surprise).

The beauty of the game is in interaction with objects. There are simply a huge number of them in each series. And most of them are thematic. For example, in the Ransom of the Seven Ships series, where Nancy is looking for the treasures of a sunken ship, there are a lot of objects and dialogues related specifically to the marine theme. So you can learn quite a thematic vocabulary right during the game.

Of course, a whole team of scriptwriters and editors are working on the games, which have since 1998 been replaced more than once in full force. Therefore, the style of English in different series will be different. In our subjective opinion, in later games of the series, English is better – the dialogs are more accurate and logical, the vocabulary in them is more extensive and interesting. But keep in mind that the scriptwriters of the series love complex sentences.

English difficulty: 4 to 7 out of 10 (depending on the series)
Level: Intermediate – Upper-intermediate.

An excellent line of quests for pumping a wide variety of vocabulary. You will have to interact with objects a lot, so the names are remembered almost by themselves.

King’s quest

King’s Quest is a true veteran and one of the founders of the quest genre as a separate direction in the development of computer games. It was at King’s Quest that first used animations in adventure games. The first part came out already in 1984. In total, 7 parts of the series were created, except for a complete restart of the first in 2015.

Immediately warn that there is no graphics here. If in part 7, for example, the game is similar to a Disney cartoon, then the first is like a picture from Paint’a. For 1984, the schedule was just a breakthrough, but now it causes only nostalgia.

In this case, the plot is pretty good. The story revolves around the royal family of the state of Daventry and tells of the various adventures that family members face. All this in a pleasant fairytale setting, where the theme of English mythology and folklore is revealed quite well.

For learning English, the game is of particular value, because the dialogs are quite simple, and the text itself is voiced by a slow and understandable speech – ideal for beginners to understand.

English difficulty: 3
Level: Pre-intermediate – Intermediate

Because of the setting of the game, you will find a number of words that you will have to look in the dictionary – basically, they refer to some concepts of folklore and mythology. But in general, the language of the game is very simple and understandable. It can be used as a good guide even for beginners.

Do you think quests really help in learning English, or is it worth playing for entertainment only? We will be interested to hear your opinion.

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